One of their arguments is that kids should not call adults by their first names. Um, hello, why do you think he was Mr. Rogers to all of us, and Fred to other adults on the show!!

There’s a ton of screwed up teaching going on in the world, in high school, college, and the workplace. But to go back decades and read something else into what people like Mr. Rogers was trying to say is pushing it.

Besides, let’s put the blame where it really rests: Oprah and Dr. Phil. They’ve screwed up more people than Fred Rogers ever could. And that continues into adulthood.

via TV Squad

First, the bad, and it’s a shorter list this time around.  They have a whole new set, and while it’s more modern- and spacious-looking, it also feels a little more impersonal.  It’s not as warm.  Also, they have either new cameras or new film and new lighting, and it shows off flaws in the chefs more. 

Speaking of the chefs, here’s the good: They are a lot less annoying and more tolerable this time around… in fact, I kind of like the show now.  Allie is seeming a LOT more approachable and less stuck-up than before, and Lucinda isn’t so… well, motherly, I think… she was motherly in an annoying way, if you know what I mean.  I still love John and Margot, and Sarah seems to have mellowed out a bit.

So, overall the changes they’ve made to the show are great.

PBS Kids’ new morning show host (who talks to the kids in between shows), Miss Lori with her guinea pig friend Hooper, is a direct rip-off of Nick Jr’s Piper O’ Possum. I think the Disney Channel has some lump of clay (quite literally) hosting its shows, but I hate the Disney Channel so I won’t watch to be sure. I really can’t stand Miss Lori either… she never stops smiling. Even Hooper’s name is a rip-off – okay, an homage if you insist – of Mr. Hooper from Sesame Street.

Hey PBS, allow me to rip off your commercials and say Be More Original.

Just a warning to those who go to MeeVee, McAfee’s Site Advisor reports MeeVee’s video player as adware or spyware. Since I never watched videos there, it wasn’t a problem for me.

Anyways, MeeVee used to have a great layout where I barely had to scroll at all – all my listings were right there in the center of my screen. Now I have to scroll like mad. I’m using 1024×768 as a screen resolution, and I don’t care what percent of other people use higher resolutions – any smaller and I’ll go blind.

Furthermore, their old layout had an easy option to remove stations I don’t watch – which were the digital ones like 11.2. I only get broadcast over a plain antenna – no bells or whistles. While they claim to still have this feature, I can’t find the “create new view” button that supposedly creates it, and I spent a good five minutes clicking everything on the screen. TVGuide now offers this option since their redesign, and it’s right in front of your face.

When I e-mailed MeeVee to ask where this “create new view” button is, I got an autoreply telling me to expect an answer within 10 business days. HA! I am not waiting around 10 business days for a reply… that’s more than ridiculous.

Finally, in their new layout, the program description (when you click on a program’s name) pops up in a Lightbox-style box. In Firefox 1.5.0.7, my browser of choice, the box doesn’t go away when I click the close button… it just empties. To get rid of the box, I have to surf away from the page.

Forget all this nonsense… TVGuide has apparently taken the public’s requests to heart. I’ve gone back to them. MeeVee used to be great, but not anymore.