If you have kids, or if you've been around my kid for any length of time, then you are aware of the current state of cartoons for the youngest set.
They're NICE. Everybody's nice. Even when someone does something wrong, like, say Goofy breaks something, Mickey just says, "That's alright! Now let's fix it! Oh, Toodles!!!" No anger. No blame. Just acknowledgment and then moving on.
So maybe it's not riveting. Miss Priss sure does like it!
But Daddy has a hankering for The Classics. And by Classics, I mean specifically Tom and Jerry.
I know I had watched the cat and mouse chase as a younger child, but I don't remember much of it. By the time I was school age, I didn't like them anymore. Even my young brain didn't enjoy watching the characters mindless violence against each other. I'd become much more interested in the likes of "Inch High Private Eye" and "Grape Ape" and "Jabber Jaws." (Anyone who remembers those cartoons gets a new, special level of respect from yours truly.)
But, alas, what do I find on my Tivo the other day?
"Tom and Jerry."
"What's this?" I asked the Hubster.
"I thought I'd show it to Priss and see if she likes it. You know how she likes cats."
And that's when I began to worry that she WOULD like it. Because once or twice a week we'll hit You Tube, type in "funny cats" and watch lots of video of cats falling off things and running into walls. And Priss thinks it's HILARIOUS. Especially when they fall off of counters. So there was a very real chance that this whole Tom and Jerry thing would be a winner for her.
But then what? She watches them smack around each other for no reason whatsoever and that's NOT
supposed to rub off on her? She mimics the dance Mickey does to call for Toodles. She exclaims "Double Drat," a favorite expression of her little friend on "Super Why."
Still, there it was, at 7:15 this morning, dog chasing cat, cat chasing mouse, and mouse hitting cat with a hammer.
Oh, brother.
"Sooo, how'd she like it?" I asked the Hubs, who ate his breakfast in front of the TV with her.
"Well, she didn't seem to get it. She doesn't understand that cats chase mice. And the dog was in both of them, and he's usually not there."
Whew! Experiment over. Results - total failure.
But whatever you do, do NOT tell him that Priss saw those photos of Tom and Jerry in this post and told me she wanted to watch the Kitty Cat again. That event NEVER HAPPENED!
