Survivorman: Kid's Show?

I had never thought of "Survivorman" as a great show for children, until I watched it with some.

I was visiting my friend Everyday Father and we were watching The Blues Brothers on VH1. He was dumbfounded that while every word in the movie even close to a curse was carefully censored, the commercials for shows like Mob Wives were PG-13 level raunchy. As the movie ended, I saw that "Mob Wives" was actually coming on next, so I quickly flipped to the first nature-based show I could find.

I thought the kids would find "Survivorman" dull - instead they were entranced both by the exotic locations and by a human being actually interacting with them. I worried they might be disturbed by scenes of Les Stroud hunting, but they understood he only killed what he needed for food and the scenes were handled tastefully (unlike Bear Grylls gratuitously drinking reindeer blood on his "Man vs. Wild").

More than anything, the kids appreciated Stroud's to-the-camera assessment of his situation. Anytime the kids asked, "What's he doing?" it was only a matter of seconds before Stroud was explaining it to them.
 

New Movie to Poochify "The Lorax," Rid Story of Downer Moral Lessons?

Remember that Easter Bunny from the Illumination Entertainment movie Hop that crapped jelly beans? If that bunny ate a copy of the book The Lorax, Illumination Entertainment's new film based on adapted from vaguely inspired by the Dr. Seuss classic might be what would come out the other end.

Grist's David Roberts reviews The Lorax trailer, predicting "movie to insult all that is good, holy." The new story seems to make the destruction of the area's ecosystem less of a devastating man-made catastrophe of choice and more of a minor inconvenience that can be exploited to score with treehugging babes. As for The Lorax himself, he seems to be Poochified - less wise than wise-cracking, a punchline also ready to punch out anyone who disagrees with him.

Considering you can buy the book for less than the price of a movie ticket, seems like you should skip the film and re-read The Lorax instead.

And if you really want to embrace the book's moral - "Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It's not." - RSVP for the Tar Sands Action at the White House on Sunday.

UPDATE 2/23: It just keeps getting worse - as Mother Jones' Kate Sheppard reports, the Lorax is now a spokesman for an SUV.

"Here's The Chicken You'll Be Enjoying. His Name Is Colin."

Are you a smug treehugger? Or can you laugh at yourself?

Watch the new IFC series Portlandia starring Fred Armisen & Carrie Brownstein and you'll find out: