FETCH! With Ruff Ruffman is an educational reality game show in which an animated orange dog sends six real kids off on challenges. Now, I know what you're thinking - many people like this show, but at least to me, it has a few problems. Here they are!:
1. The contestants - Every kid on this show talks, looks, acts, and dresses alike - don't even get me started on Bridget, Noel, and Talia! In some episodes of the series, the FETCHers tell Ruff what they like and that everyone else should like them too. VERY bad lesson to teach kids!
2. The challenges - When Ruff has a problem, he turns to the FETCHers and has THEM solve it. Did I mention the fact that these problems cannot be solved inside Studio G? No - the kids have to go to faraway places in order to help Ruff. Some of his challenges make no sense too, partially due to the fact that Ruff, Blossom etc are animated while the FETCHers are live-action - Ruff fears he'll have to live in the wild, so he encourages the FETCHers to go camping. In another, a bunch of sheep come into the doghouse and Ruff encourages the FETCHers to herd a flock. Too bizarre, huh?
3. Too frightening - FETCH! Is supposed to be a kids' show, but it contains too many things that horrify kids to the point where they don't want to watch the show anymore. There were two episodes in which the kids go inside haunted houses, which are mostly frightening especially for young children, and another in which the kids go to New Orleans, where one of them is eaten alive by an alligator, and Chernobyl, in which they get chased in the dark by hybrid animals.
4. Ruff is the leader of the pack - On most children's shows STARRING kids, they're free and can do whatever they want. However, on FETCH!, there's one centric character - Ruff Ruffman himself. As mentioned earlier, they are forced to do what he does and stick around waiting to do what he wants to do. These kids must be tired by now!
5. Too fast-paced - FETCH! With Ruff Ruffman was clearly the Bill Nye the Science Guy of its era - according to DannyBoy TV, it was estimated once that Bill was the fastest-paced children's show on television, and I believe FETCH! (mainly the animated segments) was just that. Many of the portions featuring Ruff, Blossom, Chet, and the former's relatives are too quick and, once the (viewing) children understand what's going on, it's over and the next scene is almost done. Geez - fast-paced shows encourage too many children (especially autistic ones (like myself)) to be overstimulated!
6. Too lazy, especially when it comes to production - From what I've heard, when the Studio G segments were being taped, Jim Conroy (Ruff's voice actor) put on stick puppet shows for the FETCHers to watch, and commented on the kids' challenges in New York. Oh, and did I mention that he voices EVERY SINGLE CHARACTER on the show except for Blossom and Chet? Not to mention that some of the challenges are also pretty lazy - as one reviewer said, one group of kids had to get the remote which controlled a toy boat with a clue in it on across a pool from the kids. The remote was in a basket floating in the pool, so, instead of just swimming to the remote and grabbing it, they had to construct a long pole which they used to slide under a section of the remote to pick it up. BALONEY!
7. Encouraging obesity - Yes, you heard me right, this show is encouraging children to get fat, as the kids on this show barely eat anything other than pizza and ice cream, despite some challenges involving health food. Now, I eat A LOT of junk, but not once in my life have I gotten overweight, and, as a children's television historian, kids deserve better than this - they need to eat FRUIT and VEGETABLES to give them a fresh start.
Now, WGBH Boston clearly cared about kids through the other shows that they produced, such as Arthur, Between the Lions, Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?, and especially FETCH!'s predecessor ZOOM. What do these shows (aside from Ruff's) have in common? They're all very educational for children and can stick with people even as they grow into adulthood. FETCH! Should've been like this, though they should've fixed what was wrong and BOOM! - we've got an enjoyable children's show (it would've been better without the animated segments IMO).
In short, if you want your kids to have bright, smart futures, do them a big favor and SKIP THIS SHOW! Turn on ZOOM instead!
