Kathy Hanrahan: Oranges, children's TV and road raging beavers

Children's television has evolved since I was a kid. I used to watch a mix of Nickelodeon, PBS and Disney. But now my daughter watches two beavers run from police ducks all while a sea of oranges rains down from the sky.

Children's programming is different now from when I was a kid, but I was surprised when some of my favorites from growing up started to become my children's favorites.

My son and daughter have both loved "Sesame Street" - or as my 2 year old calls it "The Street." My son loved "Mickey Mouse Clubhouse," while my daughter has gotten into the "Muppet Babies" reboot on Disney Plus.

Both children have been obsessed with Elmo and watched all of his videos on YouTube. That's where they also found their other favorite station - Busy Beavers.

Busy Beavers is a YouTube channel with live action and cartoon characters teaching children numbers, letters, colors and shapes. My mom found it when my son was little and turns out those beavers stayed busy because they created a bunch of new videos before my daughter was born.

At first my daughter wasn't into watching those cartoon beavers, but now she asks to see them. We use the YouTube app on our TV to show her the videos on the large screen.

At 27 months old, my daughter knows all her colors, shapes (including oval, diamond and hexagon), numbers (counting up to 13 on her own) and letters. She can also identify objects like the toilet (which she still won't use!) and book bags.

For all the good that Busy Beaver has done for my daughter's education, I have to admit that some of their videos make no sense. There is this one about oranges - the color and the fruit. It appears to be encouraging road rage and potentially running from law enforcement.

Here's what happens: The two beaver main characters go on a car ride in the desert in their orange car. They sing "The Orange is Orange," a song with one those words in it! (You will hear this in your sleep! It will haunt your dreams.) The girl beaver is driving fast and the boy beaver looks scared in the passenger seat. Then, a duck on a police motorcycle tries to pull them over. Girl beaver manages to get away. A monkey in a car then tries to run the beavers off the road, but instead ends up being pushed into a lake. The beavers then are followed by more ducks in police cars. To escape a blockade with two ducks in bulldozes on the road, the girl beaver hits a button in the car and the ground lifts up to make a ramp so she can jump it. (It's basically like that scene in the movie Speed when they jump the bridge that is out!)

The beavers then get out of the car and look up at the sky which is raining oranges. Now all this time an alligator wearing headphones and talking into a microphone is singing "The Orange is Orange."

When I first saw this video I was convinced I was having some type of mental break. Or maybe I had eaten some old food?? Nope. Saw it again and it is the same. Who comes up with this stuff? How did they decide that this was the best way to teach my child about orange? It did work though, she knows the color and the fruit now. Hopefully she won't run from the police in her PowerWheels anytime soon.

What shows are your kids watching and what were your childhood favorites?

I could write a dissertation on the issues in that Paw Patrol town! Who keeps electing that mayor anyway?

Here were my favorite shows as a kid:

• Sesame Street - This was B.E. - Before Elmo.
• Today's Special - this weird Canadian show on Nickelodeon with a mannequin named Jeff that came to life at night in a department store) - please tell me someone else remembers this?!
• Dumbo's Circus on Disney - This was a live action show with puppets. It had to have been a happy show because I cried so bad at the movie Dumbo that I refused to ever watch it with my kids!
• Strawberry Shortcake - I remember nothing about this except that I wanted to be Strawberry Shortcake when I grew up.
• Rainbow Brite - My grandmother made me a Rainbow Brite costume for Halloween. It made my life.
• "Annie" - I loved that movie musical so much
• He-Man and G.I. Joe - I watched everything my older brother did!
• Muppet Babies - OG version was best show ever!
• Golden Girls - What? This wasn't a kid's show? I learned my comedy and sarcasm from Sophia.