Harriet the Spy, the novel beloved by generations of young readers, has been adapted into a multi-season animated series on Apple TV+. We discuss whether Harriet’s antics are appealing when spread over twenty episodes, whether today’s parents are comfortable with their kids admiring a character who spies on others, free range parenting, and more. In Screen Time in the News, we confront our fears about AI being used in PBS’s upcoming interactive show Lyla in the Loop.
Things We Mention in this Episode
The episode of The Daily where Bing’s chatbot interface, Sidney, tells Kevin Roose to leave his marriage to be with her (it?) (https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/17/podcasts/the-daily/the-online-search-wars-got-scary-fast.html?)
Screen Time in the News article: “PBS KIDS embraces AI to launch new era of children’s educational TV” by Chase DiBenedetto
Old episodes of Mathnet are available on YouTube. You’re welcome.
We got the scoop on that tradition of saving the top tier of your wedding cake from The Knot
Louise Fitzhugh’s picture book Bang Bang You’re Dead
Episode of The Town about the importance of recognizable IP in making television and movies today
Our guest spot on the Parent Tell podcast
Harriet the Spy made us think of the following grown-up movies and shows:
Killing Eve (streaming on Acorn and AMC+)
Gossip Girl (the original and the reboot are streaming on Max)
Alias (streaming on Disney+)
Veronica Mars (streaming on Hulu)
For our gritty HBO reboot, we would cast:
- Sandra Oh or Mayim Bialik as Harriet
- Andrea Martin as Ole Golly