What James Austin Johnson Watches (and Reads) With His Son

""It's about quality control, because the goalposts have moved since I was growing up," Johnson says. "I'd rather let him watch movies and TV shows because that at least feels like you're exercising your brain and stretching the limits of your patience and cognitive ability in a way YouTube certainly doesn't. It's gotten to this place now where I'll just say, 'You can watch any movie or TV show that's 30 minutes long, but if you want to watch YouTube, you can only watch a few minutes.'""

"Though Johnson says his son has helped him become well versed in the world of Super Simple Songs, as well as Handyman Hal, whom he calls "a deeply religious southern man who'll go on an amusement-park ride and look at how the engine works," he's committed to instead raising him on a steady diet of well-produced TV and film, much of which Johnson watched during his childhood as a self-described "indoor kid.""

"It might sound pretentious or even fantastical at times, but somehow, Johnson's desire has led to Homer absorbing a steady diet of everything from Seven Samurai to Moby-Dick. All the more impressive given the notoriously gruelingschedule of a job at 30 Rock. The SNL finale airs live this Saturday, May 16, after which Johnson will presumably have a few months free to watch as much Octonauts as he can stomach."

"My son is obsessed with the Octonauts. We're always talking about the Octonauts and playing with the Octonaut toys. He's got this "every three months" cycle where Octonauts becomes the main thing, then recedes, then comes back. We're in the thick of it right now, though. The female characters are pretty disappointing on Octonauts, too."

A parent prefers carefully chosen, well-produced movies and television for a four-year-old rather than most online content. The preference is framed as quality control, since entertainment standards and expectations have changed since the parent’s childhood. The parent allows short, structured YouTube viewing but restricts it compared with longer screen time for films and TV. The child’s interests include specific shows and characters, with cycles of obsession that come and go. The parent also notes that some aspects of certain children’s programming, including female characters, feel disappointing. Despite a demanding work schedule, the child absorbs a wide range of content, from classic films to literature.

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