I don't know what was in the head of the producers, but my guess is that this was one of those parodies that was too good to resist. But it should have been resisted. Broadcasters can tell parents whatever they think of Fox or any other network, but you shouldn't do it through the kids.

Yup. It's especially unfortunate timing, because it politicizes Mrs. Obama's appearance, in which she'll promote her healthy-eating message. As the NY Times describes the upcoming episode,

Mrs. Obama's message on the anniversary episode isn't an exhortation to future soldiers, scientists and presidents to be all that they can be, but to tiny consumers to eat the freshest food they can find. "Veggies taste so good when they come fresh from the garden, don't they?" Mrs. Obama tells a rainbow coalition of children gathered around a soil tray, an echo of her White House kitchen garden. "If you eat all these healthy foods, you are going to grow up to be big and strong," Mrs. Obama says, flexing her fists. "Just like me."

Now, you could certainly argue that since any such joke goes over a kid's head, and it probably does. But the truth is, we live in a politicized world and, while Sesame Street has always been an aspirational nirvana - and, plenty would add, Free to be You and Me progressive - it can be that, philosophically, only by keeping their genuine care for kids' learning at the forefront. If it justifies critics' claims of politicization, well then, some kids are going to miss out on its valuable lessons in the process. And playing into O'Reilly's hands isn't a lesson any kid needs.

Grouch Trashes Fox News [YouTube]
PBS Ombud: Sesame Street Producers Should Have Resisted 'Pox News' Joke [Politico]
Michelle Obama Guest Stars on Sesame Street [Wall Street Journal]
Same Street, Different World: ‘Sesame' Turns 40 [NY Times]
To Get To Sesame Street, Hang A Left, Says One Blogger [NY Times]

Time For School is a 12-year documentary project about seven children from different countries who are struggling to get a basic education. The first two installments, Time For School and Back To School (both of which are available online) aired in 2004 and 2006 introduced the children as they started school and then checked up on them two years later. The new film, Time For School 3, revisits the students, who are now teenagers, in two episodes airing last night and on September 9.

73 million children around the world don't attend school, and of these, two thirds of those children are female. Though more Afghan children are enrolled in school than ever before, one third of the country's children are still not in school and, again, most are girls. Shugufa is an exception because her father, who is an assistant doctor, believes in educating his daughters. When Shugufa was very young the family lived in a refugee camp in Pakistan for four and a half years to escape Taliban rule. Though the Taliban is no longer technically in control, the group's attacks against women's education have grown worse in the past few years; last year, violent attacks closed down more than 600 schools in the country and Shugufa's school has been forced to tighten security.

Still, Shugufa dreams of becoming an engineer, a journalist, or a doctor. In the clip below, it's clear that Shugufa has a much different attitude toward education than many American children. "School sets you on the right path. Who doesn't love school?" she says.

Below, Shugufa's religion teacher tells her that Islam defends women's rights, which is certainly not the Taliban's interpretation. Her teacher is strict about the girls keeping their heads properly covered, but Shugufa says, "We feel comfortable wearing our scarves and we're grateful to Allah for making us Muslims."



Aside from the threat of Taliban attacks, what may ultimately put an end to Shugufa's education is the fact that girls are expected to do housework. There are 13 people in Shugufa's family and she and her sisters have to work for several hours in the morning before school, and do more chores when they return. The boys around them? The get to play. "I'm up to my neck in household chores and I have to finish all of them," says Shugufa, " My problem is that I don't have enough time to study."

Shugufa has already received more education than many Afghan girls — by age 16 three out of four have already dropped out of school. As American children are lamenting the end of summer vacation and returning to school now, one of the most striking themes in Time For School is actually how much we take education for granted.

The Time For School series is set to continue visiting the seven children through 2015, which is the date they should graduate and also the U.N.'s target date for achieving universal education. According to the U.N.'s website, the goal is to "ensure that all boys and girls complete a full course of primary schooling." While there are millions of children around the world desperate to learn like Shugufa, sadly after watching her story it's hard to imagine that many will be able to overcome the tremendous hurdles to their education by then.

Full Episode: Time For School [PBS]
Full Episode: Back To School [PBS]
Preview: Time For School 3 [PBS]
Universal Education [End Poverty 2015]

Growing up, Reading Rainbow was my favorite TV show — and not just because I was only allowed to watch PBS! Reading Rainbow wasn't comforting like Mister Rogers, or overly school-y like Square 1. Reading Rainbow was exciting. From the first bars of the opening theme, you were on an adventure. LeVar Burton was the best kind of host: as enthusiastic and genuinely interested as a friend, but with the reassuring presence of an adult. And the older kids who got to read the book reviews were something to aspire to: smart, poised, independent. In some ways, a TV show about reading is counterintuitive. But RR understood that the two need not be in conflict; that reading, for a young child, has an element of ownership and private accomplishment that nothing else can provide — and that TV is no substitute. In fact, I think the format — a real-life adventure, like a trip to a farm or the Statue of Liberty, combined with books that explored similar themes — was a really smart way of integrating reading into kids' lives. In later years, the show took on real issues: 9/11, poverty, incarceration — with a directness and lack of condescension that had always characterized the program.

Today marks the show's final episode after 26 years on PBS. Burton, the show's executive producer, has cited differences with the show's new parent company. Others have been less diplomatic. Said NPR,

[Director John] Grant says the funding crunch is partially to blame, but the decision to end Reading Rainbow can also be traced to a shift in the philosophy of educational television programming. The change started with the Department of Education under the Bush administration, he explains, which wanted to see a much heavier focus on the basic tools of reading — like phonics and spelling… Grant says that [the Public Broadcasting Service], [the Corporation for Public Broadcasting] and the Department of Education put significant funding toward programming that would teach kids how to read — but that's not what Reading Rainbow was trying to do. "Reading Rainbow taught kids why to read," Grant says. "You know, the love of reading — [the show] encouraged kids to pick up a book and to read."

That people can't see that the two are inextricably linked is sad, and upsetting. Reading Rainbow's future is uncertain, although in February Burton wrote on his Twitter that "I'm seriously moving forward with an idea for a new version of a Reading Rainbow like show. Webisodes for adults." That would be great, and I have a book report all ready to go, but I hate to think of kids growing up without the protective arc of Reading Rainbow. But, for now: I'll see you next time.

Did Education Dept.'s Shift Help Kill PBS's 'Reading Rainbow'? [Washington Post]
'Reading Rainbow' Reaches Its Final Chapter [NPR]
Old School Reading Rainbow Theme [YouTube]

When Julia and "Simca" wrote the first volume of MtAoFC, Child was the newly-taught American enthusiast, Beck the intuitive Frenchwoman. Doubtless it was this combination that led to the book's comprehensive and accessible feel. But as Julia's editor, Judith Jones, wrote in her memoir My Life in Food:

It became clear to me, in working so closely with Julia, that her relationship with Simca was growing more and more strained. How much Simca realized what a celebrity Julia had become is hard to determine...As Julia was becoming more and more confident and was looked to as an expert on everything French, Simca was more condescending and difficult. I was in Julia's Cambridge kitchen once when Volume II was just about completed, and a fat letter from Simca arrived. Julia started reading it aloud, doing a hilarious impression of the French hauteur (non, non, non, ce n'est pas francais), and finally she threw the letter on the floor and stamped on it. "I will not be treated like dog Tray any more," she cried. Paul cheered.

In this clip, from a 1971 episode of The French Chef, the tension's so thick you can cut it with a dull couteau.

Julia Child The French Chef (1971): Spinach Twins [PBS]

Earlier: Child's Play: Time For Luh-unch!
"Child's Play: The Temptation Of Eve" A Disaster
Child's Play: Collars & Cheese

In the early days, Julia cooked in a super-retro studio kitchen, in black and white, with a theme that sounds like the score of an old French cartoon. Back then, she was teaching America the basics: in this case, to look beyond sunny-side-up and towards a nice glass of wine and a crisp green salad. She was also way less poised and always seemed to have run a marathon. Can you imagine how dispiriting it must have been to deal with crappy supermarket produce after the farmer's markets of France? Today's cooks would swoon at the thought of a non-free-range egg! But we never hear a peep or a complaint; Julia wasn't about making us feel bad - rather, about sharing her enthusiasms.

Julia Child The French Chef (1964): Elegance with Eggs [PBS]

Earlier: Child's Play: "The Temptation Of Eve" A Disaster
Child's Play: Collars & Cheese

One of the most reassuring things about The French Chef was that Julia wasn't afraid to make mistakes - which is good, cause they happened, and she didn't have some perfect version waiting intimidatingly in the wings. So, when this tarte tatin turns out, not a perfect mahogany orb, but, "very badly," a sad-looking pile of pallid applesauce, well, that's when we break out the powdered sugar! But even more important than a ready supply of the white stuff is Julia's intrepid attitude: life goes on, and sugar and butter always taste good. Life lessons, people.

Julia Child The French Chef (1971): La Tarte Tatin [PBS]

Earlier: Child's Play: Collars & Cheese

The documentary, part of PBS's “Independent Lens” film series, follows five women in an engineering battalion — part of the first "Team Lioness" group which volunteered to accompany male combat units to central Iraq. The women have diverse backgrounds — from supply clerk to West Point grad — but all are thrown into an unprecedented military situation. A Pentagon spokeswoman told the Times, “A recent RAND report confirms that the Army and all other services remain in compliance with the DOD policy regarding the assignment of women in the military" which prohibits female troops from direct combat. But, she continues, “Women will continue to be assigned to units and positions that may necessitate combat actions within the scope of their restricted positioning — situations for which they are fully trained and equipped to respond,”

As the documentary makes clear, in this new military world, with its guerrilla warfare, there is no distinction between "combat" and the discharge of normal duties — which included searching and communicating with Muslim women. As a result, more female soldiers than ever before have ended up in combat, often without adequate training, and are suffering the same consequences as their male counterparts — PTSD and depression. Indeed, statistics from the British Ministry of Defense suggest that female soldiers are affected at a far higher level than their male counterparts. And, by the same token, therapists are not necessarily trained to help women in combat situations where they are not "officially" supposed to be. The film, which airs on November 13th, is apparently not polemical — one of the soldiers profiled says she is very much for women in combat, provided they're trained — but makes the need for scrutiny of women's roles in modern warfare very clear.

Women Soldiers Suffering From More Mental Problems [Telegraph]
Battleground: Female Soldiers In The Line of Fire [New York Times]

Saving Mothers, One At A Time [NY Times]

Birth Of A Surgeon [PBS]

Los Angeles Times

This is a rather melancholy, quiet film, played out under white or gray skies and in wet weather with a camera that seems to float as if in a dream. Scenes are played out in long shot or very close-up, and a low, rolling score emphasizes the feeling of being unmoored.

Hawkins is effective at times, but at too many others, she surrenders to a wide variety of vocal mannerisms and facial tics. At the end of the film, as she is about to kiss Wentworth (oh, come on, you always knew how it comes out), her mouth twitches like a bass zeroing in on a tasty side order of plankton as her face moves slowly toward its target.

For committed Austen fans, it's surely a treat; for the rest of us, it's a tribute to palpable longing, ill-timed relationships, rolling hillsides and sumptuous gowns — all of which are put to good if predictable use in this slick and stylish premiere...despite some ups and downs, the whole thing ought to work out fine for everybody, just as in an Austen story.

Persuasion, the first production from PBS' Complete Jane Austen, badly overadjusts, adding so many fussy modern flourishes and out-of-place romantic gestures it almost undermines the inherent beauty of Austen's work.

Writer Simon Burke and director Adrian Shergold have done a remarkable job of compressing into 90 minutes Austen's least-frothy novel without sacrificing the charm of her language, though the story's central "message" — doing the wrong thing for the right reason is preferable to doing the right thing for the wrong reason — does get lost in the shuffle.

Regret, Hope And Jane Austen [Los Angeles Times]
Review: Madcap PBS 'Persuasion' Sacrifices Nuance [SF Chronicle]
Masterpiece: The Complete Jane Austen - Persuasion [Variety]
Performances Prevail In PBS' Un-Jane-like 'Persuasion' [USA Today]
Persuasion: Review [Hollywood Reporter]