After the subject of the children’s television series Caillou came up on Twitter last night — specifically how annoying the main character is — I did a completely random and totally unscientific Twitter poll about the kids’ tv characters that we, the parents, dislike the most.
The fact that one person’s poison is often another’s preference was acknowledged. I also asked folks to stick to the current crop of children’s shows, so this could serve as a public service warning to parents of children younger than our own, and promised to do a follow-up about characters we like. Someday. Even if it means I have to include the Wiggles. They’re okay but the guy in the purple shirt creeps me out.
I also stipulated that Barney was already in the Hall of Fame of most hated characters, so there was no need to waste your vote on the purple dinosaur.
With no further ado, the results.
The winner, with my vote cast as a tiebreaker, was indeed that bilingual whinger, pebble-boy himself, Caillou.
Tied for second place, with three votes each, Dora with special mention for the shirt that doesn’t fit (@ameliasprout), her huge head (@hellcat13), and yelling (@majorbedhead), and various combinations of Max & Ruby.
Elmo, SpongeBob and Sid the Science Kid followed, with two votes each.
One vote each: Pokemon (all of them), BoBo Brother Monkeys from Diego, the entire cast of Yo Gabba Gabba, Thomas the Tank Engine, Baby Bear, Wonderpets, BooBah Kids, Charlie & Lola, Kai Lan, and Max & Emmie from Dragontales.
Here’s a bit of my own special hell.
The Suite Life on Deck, the sequel to The Suite Life of Zack and Cody, featuring two of the most annoying child characters ever to spring from the minds of a Hollywood exec, Zack and Cody, and some pretty lame adult characters as well.
To conclude, because there is no other way to end a post about the most awful children’s characters, and with apologies to the pacifists among us:
I hate you, you hate me
Let’s get together and kill Barney
With a two-by-four
Barney’s on the floor
No more purple dinosaur.
You know the tune.