No.158 / Jun 13, 2022
May 5, 2022 marks the 100th anniversary of Children’s Day. As adults, Children’s Day is just a holiday, but we were all children once. As children, broadcasts meant for children entertained us. Which children’s broadcasts were popular in each era?
Kiss Mommy And Daddy Good Bye [1981]
The program, which ran for about 30 years from 1981 to 2013, was one of the three major children’s programs, along with TV kindergartens and Dingdongdaeng kindergartens. It started at 7:50 a.m. and aired until 8:10 a.m., but since it was time when elementary school students who were in the city hall went to school, there were instances where students who were far away from home could not watch it until the end. It was so popular that they were late for school because of watching the program.
Teletubbies [1997]
Since October 1998, BBC has been conducting research with early childhood education experts over the years. It is a global early childhood education program produced by the BBC to match the perspective of children aged 2 to 5 who are not fully capable of listening and speaking. Tinky Winky, who is the tallest, Dipsy, who always dances well, Nana, and Po, a cute little girl who likes to ride a scooter, are the protagonists. Although it seems a little slow, easy language and repetitive images help infants learn through wide outdoor sets, fine colors, and curiously sophisticated computer graphics that play a big role in capturing children’s attention, thus maximizing the educational effect of Teletubbies.
Porong Porong Pororo [2003]
It is a children’s program that tells the story of Pororo and his friends living in Porong Porong village that is covered in white snow and ice. Pororo, a representative work of the children’s program in the 2000s, is also nicknamed “Ppotongryeong”, who is the president of the children’s community. It effectively captures children’s attention once turned on. Parents who download Pororo videos on their smartphones when they go out with young children can often be seen. It is popular not only at home, but also abroad. In fact, it received a 1 trillion won acquisition proposal from Disney in the United States (U.S.). However, Pororo rejected the proposal, saying he felt the same way about changing his nationality. In fact, Pororo is estimated to cause an economic effect of 5.7 trillion won.
Giant peng TV [2019]
The mascot character of the YouTube channel Giant Peng TV, produced by EBS in 2019, is a penguin from Antarctica, and the size of the fandom is explosive. It is a program that depicts the history of children’s programs from TV to YouTube channels. Although the age of the main audience is somewhat high, it is significant to the process of children who once enjoyed children’s programs loving and consuming new children’s program characters as adults. Pengsoo is so popular that it was on the cover of the 2019 Suneungwanseong, a reference book for college admissions.
Various children's programs have entertained us from the past to the present, will continue to do so in the future. Why do not we all reminisce about the children’s programs we enjoyed as children?
By Joo Eun-jin, AG Reporter
jej0288@ajou.ac.kr