nostomanic: The Nanny

Thursday, November 10, 2011

What the Kids Are Watching: Jessie

With all of my student loan problems under control, right now, my biggest concern isn't that I'll get thrown into some Dickensian debtor's prison/that I'll have the sort of horrible credit score that'll prevent me from purchasing the robo-hacienda style condo of my dreams, it's that someone will walk in on me while I'm watching Jessie--this inane Disney Channel show loosely based on the child procurement practices of the Jolie-Pitts.

Here's what the Disney Channel website has to say about the show and the characters (I've included a few annotations):

The only thing more disconcerting than being inexplicably compelled to watch Jessie is that while visiting the show's website I was actually excited about the prospect of playing "hide and seek with the Ross kids."

On one level, watching Jessie is just one more manifestation of my struggle to stay young--I really became aware of my age when I read this comment on YouTube:

What the hell is this person talking about? If you know what any of these things are or understand the use of the interrobang (!?) at the end of the sentence I am super jealous of you and your youth.

On another level, I think we're all genetically predisposed to watching shows about rich kids who are being cared for by working class people. Jessie was created by the same woman who created Charles in Charge AND the Nanny!?

Oh, and can any young people reading this please explain how Wizards of Waverly Place backfired?

Saturday, February 12, 2011

90s TV Show Valentines for You and Yours

Valentine's Day Anecdote: When I was in 6th grade, one of my teachers had us make construction paper-crayon-safety scissor valentines. Everyone was supposed to make a valentine for one other person in the class. My friends paired up, but I guess there was an odd number of kids, because I didn't have a partner. No one seemed to notice or care. I spent the entire class period begrudgingly making a valentine, while hoping that all of my "friends" would drop dead and subsequently burn in the eternal fires of hell. I was also trying to stifle my tears, and was doing a good job of it, until everyone exchanged valentines. Naturally, I broke down. Everyone was standing in the hallway by this time, and a bunch of girls from my class came up to me, wanting to know what was wrong. I told them that no one made a valentine for me. After hearing this, some of them ran back into the classroom and jerry-rigged a crude valentine out of scraps of paper. In retrospect, I suppose this was sort of sweet. But, at the time, I thought it was total bullshit, and I threw that thing away. My teacher must have seen me crying because I ended up having to go to this group for emo, "at-risk" girls, led by the school counselor every week.

I've made these 90s TV show valentines for you to share with the people you care about, in the hopes that no one you love will have to go through what I went through all those years ago.

Roseanne