101 TV Shows to See Before You Grow Up: Be your own TV critic--the must-see TV list for kids (101 Things) Flexibound – April 10, 2017

Why didn't someone think of this before? Imagine a TV guide that encourages kids (and parents) to take control of TV/Netflix/Hulu/Amazon Video viewing.I may quibble with the exclusion of my favorite '80s kids' shows, Masters of the Universe - 30th Anniversary Limited Edition She-Ra: The Complete Series. But the authors, Samantha Chagollan and Erika Milvy, include such stalwarts as "Star Trek," "Twilight Zone," "I Love Lucy," "Gilmore Girls," "Full House," "Bill Nye the Science Guy," "You Can't Do That on Television," "Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends," "Roseanne," "Freaks and Geeks," "Wonder Woman" (but no Superman), "The Andy Griffith Show," "Sesame Street," "Mythbusters," "Schoolhouse Rock," "Monty Python's Flying Circus," "The Muppet Show" (and "Fraggle Rock"), "The Wiggles," "Diff'rent Strokes," "Facts of Life," "The Brady Bunch," and "The Simpsons," as well as the animated fare. ("Glee" Glee The Complete Series was also not included. Why?)A couple of the Comedy offerings would seem to belong in Sitcom ("Ugly Betty," "Gidget," "The Monkees"), but the book is well-organized:1) Educational2) Puppets3) Sitcoms4) Action & Adventure5) Animated Adventure6) Animated Comedy7) Comedy8) DramaAt the end of each entry, the authors feature an opportunity for kids to rate the TV shows, note who they saw it with, and what they liked and didn't like.The art is incredible. Check out the Brady Bunch picture as well as the Scooby-Doo picture. The pull-out poster is adorable.Also valuable are the TV quotes and trivia as well as the funny, heartfelt descriptions/summaries of each show. Some of them seem more tailored to parents/tweens/teens, but since parents will obviously buying this book, that's a sound move.Interesting trivia...SESAME STREET: Puppet Abby Cadabby speaks her own language, Dragonfly.THE MUPPET SHOW: Kermit is the only character to appear on SESAME STREET and THE MUPPET SHOW.BRADY BUNCH: The censors never allowed the toilet to be shown. (Maybe a good thing!)FRESH PRINCE OF BEL-AIR: Pre-White House, President Donald Trump guest-starred in 1994 as himself.THE DICK VAN DYKE SHOW: Censors objected to Mary Tyler Moore wearing pants at first.THE JEFFERSONS featured one of the first interracial couples on TV.GET SMART features more than 150 different objects that conceal phones.WONDER WOMAN: Bracelets are made from "Feminium."GOOSEBUMPS author R.L. Stine carries the briefcase in the opening sequence.THE WIGGLES perform for over a million people per year.DEGRASSI: THE NEXT GENERATION: Each episode is named after a song from the 1980s.POPEYE: His love of spinach encouraged more kids and adults to eat vegetables during the Great Depression.This is a valuable and kid-friendly TV review book. Yabba-dabba-doo and "That's All Folks!"

A few years ago I gave the book 101 Movies To See Before You Grow Up to one of my girls for Christmas. We all loved looking at that book, checking off the movies we'd seen, and recalling favorite parts. This book is much the same. I loved looking at this book with my youngest daughter last night. We recalled the many shows on this list of 101 TV shows that we have already seen, and made some plans of shows we want to watch in the future.Each page features a television show providing information such as genre, number of seasons it aired, and actors who starred in it. There is a synopsis of the program as well, along with illustrations featuring characters from the show. The shows featured in this book are all worthy of selection and ones that children will enjoy, even though some aired decades ago.This is a great little resource that will provide some good discussion, fun memories, and future plans for television watching.

101 TV Shows to See Before You Grow Up. -Maybe more like 101 tv shows to look up as you are growing up or if already grown to look back at.This is a rather interesting book filled with fun facts from 101 tv shows from over the years.I personally do not agree with every choice in this book.There are quite a few good ones that are icons in tv history though.Many will have to be looked up most likely somehow online to find any way to watch any episodes of it as they are no longer on even in syndication.I see this book is recommended for ages 8-12.Some of the shows I personally feel a bit more adult in their content than actually kid friendly so that is why I appreciate right away in the beginning it reminds kids to be sure to check with parents before watching a new show.It is broken up these 8 categoriesEducational - 9 shows listedPuppets - 2 shows listedSitcoms - 35 shows listedAction & Adventure 12 shows listedAnimated Adventure 14 shows listedAnimated Comedy 10 shows listedComedy - 10 shows listedDrama 9 shows listedIt is a good book to look up the shows together with your kids or even other family members. There is even a place your child can write when they watched it and what they rate it. They can even jot down a note or two about the show.We have been having a bit of fun with this book in a house full of teens and adults just to talk about some shows even the adults forgot about.