The Pakistani carrier of Sesame Street is unpopular because it is filled with dull talking heads, duller government news, and unslick presentation compared to the Indian satellite channels. But besides putting on the occasional qauwaal or ghazal artiste who shine above the tacky sets, what PTV should be thanked for is Sesame Street in Urdu.
Even though the Sesame Street episodes are made for American kids, there is not much lost when they get translated and dubbed for our young audience. There is enough in the little stories, educational interludes and introduction to letters and numbers for children anywhere to learn and enjoy at the same time.
Sesame Street in Urdu reminds, by standing alone among all the programmes being beamed down on us, of the dreadful situation that exists in the Subcontinent—South Asia's children have nothing good to watch on television even though they are hooked. And no one is doing anything about it. Even the media activists who call strenuously for public service content on the government and private channels are mostly calling for documentaries and other serious gown-up fare.
QUESTIONS: 1. If satellite television is a gift of the market and new technology, how come the pre-teenagers are being so completely ignored? 2. Okay, our media analysts and activists are unconcerned or too conservative, but what of Save the Children or Unicef— which even has a regional office for all of South Asia? Why are they looking the other way as South Asia's unwitting parents shove their wards in front of the television set to ingest local and Western commercial trash? ANSWER: timidity, absence of creativity and caring, and an unwillingness to rock the boat.