Flunking the Ratings Test
CBS Dumps `Educational' Children's Shows

By Paul Farhi
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, January 9, 1998; Page A01

To satisfy a new federal rule requiring stations to air "educational" children's programs, CBS this fall trotted out a new Saturday morning lineup that educators and TV critics alike applauded. Among other shows, CBS's children's schedule included "Beakman's World," which explains scientific concepts, and "The Ghostwriter Mysteries," a literacy-oriented program from the producers of "Sesame Street."

But four months later, CBS has learned something about the limitations of "educational" children's television: Children don't particularly like it. Citing some of the lowest ratings on network television, CBS this week canceled its entire educational slate and will try replacement shows next fall.

The regulation that spawned the CBS lineup was approved in 1996 after years of debate and took effect in September, affecting 1,600 stations nationwide. It requires TV stations to air at least three hours per week of "educational and informational" programs for children.

But as CBS's experience shows, mandating what one TV producer recently called "broccoli television" and getting youngsters to watch it are two different things.

In its first year, the new rule has inspired few breakthroughs like public television's "Sesame Street" or "Barney and Friends," shows that both are relatively popular and fit into the FCC's general idea of "educational."

According to Nielsen Media Research, the top-rated network series for children this year is one more likely to scare children than educate them -- Fox's "Ultimate Goosebumps," based on the popular books, a show for which Fox makes no educational claim. The top children's syndicated series -- that is, sold to stations on an ad hoc basis -- is "Beast Wars," an animated cartoon based on a toy line that features characters called Maximals and Predicons.

Despite this, advocates for better children's television maintain that the educational requirement has been a qualified success. The regulation, they say, has brought more educational or quasi-educational shows to commercial television stations, including such earnest offerings as ABC's "Science Court" and the syndicated "Popular Mechanics for Kids," based on the explanatory magazine.

"There's a much greater likelihood now that a parent or child can find a reasonable or at least benign show than they could have five years ago," says Ellen Wartella, dean of the communications program at the University of Texas. "Not every program is reaching for the sky, but the floor has gotten higher."

"It's not all terrific," agrees Peggy Charren, a longtime activist on children's TV issues, "but enough is happening to make this a meaningful ruling."

But given that children seem to prefer "Beast Wars" to "Popular Mechanics," the government's educational requirement raises a question: What if they gave an "educational" show and hardly anyone tuned in?

"You can construct a silver trough and fill it with sparkling, cool water, but you can't make kids drink out of it," says Martin Franks, the CBS executive in charge of its lobbying efforts. "I don't want to sound like a sore loser, but . . . an incredible amount of money has been spent on programs that kids aren't watching."

For example, ABC's "Science Court," a program that discusses scientific phenomena, ranks 35th among regular network children's series. Ratings are so low for the syndicated "All New Captain Kangaroo" that its distributor is considering canceling it. "Popular Mechanics for Kids" has performed better than that, but its viewer totals are still about 30 percent lower than those for "Beast Wars."

Conversely, some of the most-watched children's programs on commercial TV stations this fall stressed entertainment, not education. The top-ranked shows include Fox's "Eerie, Indiana" and "X-Men," neither of which Fox deems educational.

In addition, "Rugrats," which airs on the cable network Nickelodeon, is among the ratings leaders with children, although that show isn't in the educational category, either (cable networks aren't subject to the three-hour rule; it applies only to local broadcast stations).

Fox officials do claim that one of the network's highest-rated series, "Life With Louie," meets the educational standard (it is an animated series based on the boyhood experiences of comedian Louie Anderson). But two other programs Fox places in this category -- "Bobby's World" and "C-Bear and Jamal" -- are the network's lowest-rated among kids, ranking just above CBS's bottom-dwelling shows.

"I'm not worried" about low ratings, said Donna Mitroff, Fox's vice president of educational policies and program practices. "There's enough talent out there to make shows that are both educational and enticing to kids. We haven't been doing this long enough for the jury to be in yet."

But Dale Kunkel, an associate professor of communications at the University of California at Santa Barbara, says the commercial imperatives of the broadcasting business work against effective educational programs. Shows such as "Sesame Street" on PBS or "Blue's Clues" on Nickelodeon are successful educational tools, he says, because they are created for a narrow group of viewers, preschool children.

Unlike PBS or a cable network, however, commercial broadcast stations need relatively large audiences to attract advertising. That means their "educational" programs are often designed with the broadest possible audience in mind, addressing everyone from 2-year-olds to young teens, Kunkel says. "It becomes the kids' version of lowest-common-denominator programming," he said. "A number of shows that are called educational have no apparent strong educational message."

Network officials dispute this, saying their shows are made in consultation with experts in child development and learning and are crafted with specific age groups in mind, such as 7-to-11-year-olds (ABC's "101 Dalmatians: The Series") or 13-to-17-year-olds (NBC's "Saved by the Bell: The New Series").

But what broadcasters consider an "educational" program clearly spans a wide gamut; the networks claim as educational everything from "Science Court" to NBC's "NBA Inside Stuff," a show produced by the NBA about the off-court lives of its players.

The FCC -- which ultimately will determine which shows are educational when it reviews stations' compliance with the rule -- left the educational definition vague, mainly for constitutional reasons. It says stations must air three hours per week of programs "specifically designed" to meet the "educational and informational" needs of children up to age 16. This includes programs that address their "cognitive/intellectual" or "social/emotional" development.

Fox says "Life With Louie" fits the latter definition because it portrays a character dealing with common childhood experiences. ABC says "Pepper Ann," a popular animated show about an adolescent, also falls into that category. The title character is "a positive, academically oriented female role model," says Jonathan Barzilay, general manager of children's programming for Disney-owned ABC. Pepper Ann "enters science fairs and wins math contests, but the overall message is less about the particular science content than it is about her feeling comfortable with that interest," he says.

Although broadcasters theoretically could lose their government-granted licenses if they don't comply with the rule, several broadcasters predicted that this would be highly unlikely, given the vagueness of the regulation.