The Federal Trade Commission ruling from the 1990s requiring all networks to air three hours of educational programming daily seemed well-intentioned, but it really reflected a culture where some parents treated TV like a babysitter, similar to public school. This questionable ruling still exists today and could easily make an appearance on the Festivus Report.
Here are examples of entertainment shows awkwardly attempting to appear more educational for a broad audience—often stretching beyond the show’s original purpose—because of the parents who left their kids in public school or simply set them in front of the television.
Note: PBS had no issue with this ruling, as they were already considered educational.
My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic Hub (now Discovery Family) airings from the early 2010s carried an E/I (educational and informative) bug, likely because it’s a kids’ show centered on friendship. In reality, the show offers little educational content beyond the brief moral or friendship letters that Twilight Sparkle writes to Princess Celestia in the early episodes.
The Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog featured "Sonic Says" skits that were clearly shoehorned in to meet the FTC ruling, since the fast-paced, surreal, and wacky show is otherwise far from educational. For example, the "Sonic Says" segment in the episode "Musta' Been a Beautiful Baby" is largely a tangent from the storyline—where Tails and Sonic are turned into babies and must prevent baby Robotnik from causing trouble. The only connection to the episode is a brief reference at the start involving a simulated tumble dryer that tosses Sonic and Tails around. The skit’s moral—warning children not to sit in tumble dryers—exists solely to satisfy real-world safety guidelines and the FTC mandate. It was tangential because the show had to comply with weekly new episode schedules and the network’s requirement to fill a three-hour educational programming block.
Kids' WB Brain Snacks are arguably the worst possible “educational” promos ever. They work as entertainment, but it’s hard to see how they actually teach anything: the rap lyrics are often difficult to understand, and the visuals flash by in a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it style. Every Kids’ WB affiliate ran them to comply with FTC rules on educational programming: “networks that air mainly animated shows must broadcast three hours of educational programming per week, or they cannot air cartoons due to animation’s non-educational reputation.” These rap-based bumpers attempted to teach various topics, though the connection to actual learning was tenuous. The name Brain Snacks also evokes sugary treats rather than education. The promos recycled animation from Pinky and the Brain, Animaniacs, and Looney Tunes characters taken from different episodes.
In 2006, NBC and Qubo began airing VeggieTales on TV, presumably so the broadcasts could carry an E/I bug. Unfortunately, Phil Vischer—and many of his fans—were disappointed that NBC removed the Christian content, including Bible verses and “God made you special and…” endings, apparently in an effort to make the show more broadly “educational” for a wider audience.
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