Friday, March 26, 2004

Chris Sullentrop of Slate argues that Scooby-Doo may be the most popular kids' cartoon ever:

    Maybe Scooby's appeal makes sense when you compare it to the rest of kids' TV. The most ham-handed of children's shows try to stuff a moral message down the audience's throat. But the moral code of Scooby-Doo permeates the entire enterprise without you ever noticing it. The Washington Post's Hank Stuever concisely elucidated the "Scooby worldview" when the first live-action movie came out: "Kids should meddle, dogs are sweet, life is groovy, and if something scares you, you should confront it." What needs to be explained about that?

Which is all well and good, but, damn, Scooby-Doo is really, really annoying. Particularly whatever 70s-era iteration of the show featured celebrity guest-stars. There was one in particular in which great hay was made over the fact that the guest was Dick Van Dyke. How many five year-olds in 1977 knew or cared who Dick Van Dyke was, for God's sake?

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