“My favorite childhood TV show was ‘Arthur.’ My next-door neighbor and I, beginning in kindergarten, had a routine of watching ‘Clifford the Big Red Dog,’ followed by ‘Arthur,’ every day after school. ‘Arthur’ taught people to not bully and to love your family and friends, so what else can you really ask for in a children’s show? My favorite episode is when Arthur’s baby sister is born, and my 5-year-old self always got annoyed with the episodes with the singing, middle-aged, moose guy (I think he was the town troubadour or something?). In kindergarten, all the other girls in my class had pink princess backpacks, but my backpack featured ‘Arthur and the ABCs,’ and it was one of my favorite things I owned.”

— Meredith Hargis

“Growing up without cable TV, I was forced to watch public broadcasting, which actually had a lot of good kid’s shows and contributed to my appreciation of things not related to TV. (I’m thinking of the ‘Arthur’ library card song, where Arthur and DW assured me that ‘having fun isn’t hard if you’ve got a library card.’ I still, of course, love libraries.)  But my favorite show was ‘Zoboomafoo’; Chris and Martin Kratt and their lemur puppet enthralled me with their lessons on nature and its animals.”

— Paul Brunkhorst

“My favorite show when I was little was ‘Teletubbies.’ Besides their undeniable adorableness, the song at the beginning completely roped me in because it was so catchy. My favorite part of every episode was when they went inside the dome to eat food, but the vacuum (whose name was Noo Noo, in case anyone forgot) would suck up the toast right when it popped out of the toaster and flew across the room. I will not deny that I laughed with them every time. Tinkie-Winkie, Dipsy, LaLa and Po definitely made me a more cheerful toddler in the morning, to say the least.”

— Lauren Tondl

“When I was little, I used to religiously watch ‘Cyberchase’ and ‘Between the Lions.’ The three kids, Matt, Jackie and Inez, and Digit, the robot bird, were probably the coolest way to learn about problem solving. ‘Between the Lions’ also taught me some seriously important stuff, like how to use the past tense and what a cliffhanger is. I still know the ‘Cliffhanger’ song by heart. Yay, childhood!”

— Natalie Riopelle

“As another child without cable TV, the shows available to me were limited to PBS Kids and Saturday morning cartoons on ABC and FOX. Of those shows, my favorite was ‘Zoom,’ a show created by kids, for kids. The kids would conduct science experiments, play games and perform skits. I could not get enough of it. ‘Zoom’ usually aired Monday through Thursday, and its absence in the Friday lineup was always a rough start to my weekend. I still have not gotten over the travesty that was ‘The Friday Zone,’ which was apparently an Indiana-specific program. Who knew?”

— Joshua Connelly

“For some reason, at a young age, I watched wildly inappropriate television shows. My parents didn’t monitor the shows I watched, so anything from MTV and VH1 was fair game. Although I spent a good amount of time viewing filth like ‘Flavor of Love’ and ‘The Real World,’ my favorite, by far, was the beloved, Orange County-based reality show, ‘Laguna Beach.’ The love triangle of Lauren Conrad, Kristin Cavallari and Stephen Colletti made for a deep and riveting drama for three seasons. ‘Laguna Beach’ will remain a timeless classic in my eyes.”

— Emily Higginbotham