User blog:Mobo85/Phineas and Ferb praised in the New Yorker

Phineas and Ferb has been spotlighted among other television programs in an article in the famed general-interest publication The New Yorker, by their TV critic Emily Nussbaum. I will have to check a hard copy of the magazine since the New Yorker's content is only available online to subscribers, but the abstract of the article shows that Ms. Nussbaum talks about the shows she watches with her young children, which she believes are part of a "quiet renaissance" in children's programming. Interestingly, Ms. Nussbaum's picks (her children are under 7) are all preschool-oriented programs save for Ferb, which seems to show its all-ages appeal. In the abstract, her thoughts on the show are put thusly: "Phineas and Ferb is almost sonnet-like in its precision, and it encourages a vision of childhood as a time of unsupervised independence. It may be the first children’s series in which the moral instruction is aimed as much at parents as at children." Ms. Nussbaum also talks about the show a bit in an audio interview about the article, saying it has a "geek philosophy" and that Phineas is "a role model for our age" in his mission of eternal optimism and creativity, also mentioning that despite its formula, the series is "unbelievably detailed, witty, bold, [and] funny in both and adult and a kid way...very much a show for kids about kid experiences, but not boring to watch as an adult because it had a lot of classic television satisfaction.

Ms. Nussbaum's article is in the February 13-20th issue of The New Yorker, featuring on the cover (as the magazine does every February) its mascot Eustace Tilly, a gentleman peering at a butterfly through a monocle.