TCM, aka Turner Classic Movies, is doing a mini-marathon of musicals by composer Frank Loesser tonight, starting at 8 p.m. (or 5 p.m., if your system doesn’t get the Turner West Coast feed) with How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. The film was made in 1967, with the Broadway show it was based on debuting a few years earlier, so plan to talk about how attitudes toward women in the workplace have changed over the years. And I don’t think it’s a bad thing to expose our children to movies and other art expressing out-moded, inappropriate ideas. They need to know from where we come and how these ideas came to be.
Secondly, Lifehacker.com, one of my all-time fave geek sites, is reporting today that Hulu.com is offering invite-only monthly subscriptions to download whole seasons of TV shows, including Glee, House and a host of others. The part that might get some parents worried is that you can watch your season pass on all kinds of devices, including iPhone, iPad, as well as your TV – trust me, all it takes is a cord to hook up your laptop.
How do I know? While visiting my daughter last month, her roommate hooked up her laptop and we watched two episodes of The Big Bang Theory that she’d downloaded from iTunes (I think).
The TV part is convenient. The iPhone and other portable devices are a matter of concern for parents who want to monitor what their kids are watching. Even if your kid doesn’t have such a device (and there are good reasons to say no), that doesn’t mean his or her classmates don’t and that their parents are as responsible. In short, it’s becoming harder and harder to monitor all the media our kids are exposed to. Which makes having one single family TV set all the more important – not because you’ll be able to keep your kids from watching inappropriate shows, but because you’ll be able to watch those shows with them and put your spin on it.
And keep in mind, for those shows you really find abysmal, you can say no. It is your house and your job to pass on your values. It’s just that with all the ways kids have to get to programming, you might want to think twice before creating an enticing forbidden fruit situation. Pick your battles. Give your kids their chance to argue in a show’s favor (which means listening and giving them their due) and save your no’s for shows you find exceptionally offensive. That way, when you do put your foot down, chances are your kids are going to respect it and probably (secretly) agree with you.
What do you think? Is the Hulu Plus plan a good way to access TV programming? Let us know in the comments box below.
You should check out this tribute written by Bill Russell, the Tony-nominated book-writer and lyricist of Side Show here