Max & Ruby: Neglect and Scandal

It all started a couple of days ago while Lori, Noel and I were all in the living room. Noel was sitting at her little table in front of the television eating a cut up hot dog and macaroni and cheese. On the television was a kid’s show called Max & Ruby.

Max & Ruby highlights the interactions of a three year old brother, Max, and his seven year old sister, Ruby. Each episode revolves around the solitary word that Max can say for the entire episode as Ruby is always trying to accomplish something completely opposite of what Max aspires. Ruby is always trying to get Max to go play quietly somewhere else by himself so Ruby can entertain her stuffed animal tea party or play with a friend. During each episode Ruby makes multiple bad judgment calls when acting as guardian to Max. Absolutely no adults are present with the exception of their grandmother whom resides down the street and rarely stops by for more than a few minutes. On some occasions an adult might make an appearance, such as a next door neighbor to comment on Max playing with his shadow or a bus driver which evidently will wait 15 minutes for Ruby to run back and forth from her house as she remembers individual items that she forgot, only then to realize that she doesn’t have enough money to ride the bus, as her grandmother shows up because she grew weary of waiting for Max and Ruby to show up on the bus at her house. But I digress…

While Lori and I were sitting there we started poking fun at the cartoon by mocking the voices or trying to guess what word that Max was going to say for the episode. So as any “normal” person would do, I sent out a simple tweet that at the time was meant to poke humor at one of the many idiocracies of the show. The tweet stated the following:

I personally think that Ruby is not a suitable guardian for Max. Join the fight against child neglect. Boycott “Max & Ruby“

Shortly after that I started to get replies and facebook messages that could generally be summed up by “LOL! I Agree!” I was both surprised and intrigued at the general consensus which evidently leads to me blogging the subject.

Throughout my viewings of the show I have picked up on quite a few somewhat small but largely irritating flaws (if you will) with the show. So like any blogger knows, the best way to get your point across and get more readers is to make lists. So here is a list of things that bother me about the show Max & Ruby.

• Ruby is seven years old, Max is three, and there are no parents to be found. In some states there is a legal limit for what age your child must be before leaving him/her home alone. That limit averages to be about 12 years of age.
• Max only gets one word per episode. I have a three year old and she can say more than one word per day. Perhaps if Max could say more than one word, Ruby could neglect him more efficiently by knowing what he is talking about and mitigating the problem so she can send him back into solitude.
• There is no possible way that the fences around their house can physically stand. There are no supports and each section of fence has a peculiar puzzle like end that looks as it would interconnect with the next section but the sections are separated by a large gap.
• Max has no friends; he has gravity defying toys, but no friends.
• The toys that Max plays with do everything but follow the rules of physics. If you seen the show you will know what I mean.
• Max & Ruby wastes electricity. In my case, a fifty inch DLP tuned to a standard definition television channel, such as Noggin, is not completely utilizing the television but is in fact using the same amount of electricity it would viewing high definition programming.
• I some cases, such as Max & Ruby marathons. Bleeding from orifices such as the ears and nose has occurred. If you experience this, contact emergency personnel immediately. (OK, I got carried away on this one.)

This blog post is meant to be a satire and should really not be taken seriously, or should it? Although annoying, “Max & Ruby“ is nothing more than a show produced for kids, or is it?