Boomerang Press
Three attractive young women wearing leopard-print leotards in a fictional all-girl pop band are on a TV show for kids. One looks vaguely like Lady Gaga, one vaguely like Rihanna, and one like an orange-haired Katy Perry-meets-Doris Day. Is it yet another example of the contemporary hyper-sexualization of TV shows aimed at children?
No, in fact it's hardly contemporary at all. It's Josie and the Pussycats, now 40 years old and back on TV this month, every Saturday and Sunday from 2-4 pm (est), thanks to Cartoon Network's Boomerang.
The show, known by so many of us and so few of our children (save a pointless 2001 movie version), was born in 1970. That's when level-headed lead singer Josie, clueless drummer Melody, and brainy tambourinist Valerie -- the world’s first and last token genius tambourine player -- leaped from Archie Comics to the small screen. Two years later, the girls jumped off the earth in Josie and the Pussycats in Outer Space, a spin-off one can only imagine started as a joke during a Hanna-Barbera story meeting coffee break.
While it's a stretch to say that modern girl bands owe their cultural acceptance to Josie, Melody, and Valerie, it's interesting to note that the thigh-bearing, skintight outfits they wore would probably not get the green light in today's kid cartoon world. Even Kim Possible wears baggy pants.
So perhaps groups like The Cheetah Girls and The Pussycat Dolls aren't so much breaking the mold as simply going retro. And would anyone really mind if we sent them into outer space?
Does 'Josie and The Pussycats' send wrong messages for modern kids? Chime in now!
