Over vacation, Tuned In Jr. and Tuned In Jr. Jr. developed a thing for HBO Family, a pay channel I was only vaguely aware that we had. Sadly, no, the shows do not involve the dark adventures of baby mobsters and polygamists. Rather, there’s a small stable of shows that range from Crashbox (a surreal, fetchingly stop-motion-animated kids’ quiz show) to Rainbow Fish (a spinoff of the popular book with didactic episodes like “Rainbow Learns to Respect Others,” but it’s about a pretty cartoon fish, so what’re you gonna do).
There’s also Postman Pat, an import series that’s been running in the U.K. for over 20 years but that HBO just brought over here a few years ago. It’s gentle and nicely written, but the most striking thing to me is the theme song, which ends on a note of weird emotional complexity for a kids’ show about a mailman:
All the birds are singing, and the day is just beginning.
Pat feels he’s a really happy man
Not: Pat is a really happy man. Pat feels he’s a really happy man. Ah, but is Pat truly happy, hauling around all those post bags in his van day after day? Or is he just fooling himself? Are Mommy and Daddy truly happy? And are you, little child?