At the risk of careening even further off-topic...
Picasa and other software: I agree that there's little use of having functionality that you're never going to use. I just happened to mention Picasa's "maturity," because it was just a clunky gallery kind of thing when Google first bought it. That they made it useful is good to hear.
Sesame Street: I watched religiously as a kid (and by "kid," I probably mean "occasionally through high school and college"), and have always been shocked at the downslide. Part of that is the downward revision of their target age, I'm sure, with the introduction of Muppets with screechy voices and baby-talk. But there's also the weird vibe from the married couples all being of the same ethnicity (not to mention old) and the obsession with words like "cooperation," when they really mean something more like sharing.
Mr. Rogers: As bchat points out, while it's easy to get the impression from his tone, Mr. Rogers never talked down to the audience, and in fact handled some heavy issues pretty well, in my opinion. Even just the (repeated) distinction between fantasy and reality is interesting for children's television. And yeah, all the models were great. And the music, too--there was a lot of nice, light jazz throughout most episodes that I'm surprised nobody has tried to capitalize on.
(The only thing I can fault Mr. Rogers for is the occasional bit of "why didn't anybody tell him!?" I remember recently seeing an episode discussing art, where he showed a brightly colored painting of a flower, and he's running his fingers over it to point out the colors, and how vivid it is, and how it--his words, not mine, here--makes you want to "climb inside" the picture. If it hadn't been a Georgia O'Keefe painting, it probably would have been substantially less creepy, but instead we got art appreciation with a side order of Freud...)
The Electric Company: Same deal as the others. I waited for "Spidey" and a couple of other bits, like "Fargo North, Decoder," and what I now know were Tom Lehrer's music. But otherwise, I found it more annoying than fun or educational. They've revived the show, I noticed, and now it...it doesn't make any sense. It's about young kids with language-related super-powers who bicker with their arch-nemeses who clumsily cheat at things. Then they finish that up (after a mid-episode recap with tiny puppets, for the caring-impaired) and one of the main characters raps with a random celebrity and a skinny white kid who beatboxes. I...errr...yeah.
Oh, and I don't remember the specific game in question, but I do remember that weird period in the '80s where toys were designed with the sole excuse of packing in a tub of green slime. Someone must've gotten a heck of deal on it in bulk, is all I have to say. My house was disturbingly permissive, but like the rest of you, there was no interest in having any such thing going on.
