I Have Some Questions About the World of <em>Teletubbies</em>

There is a dome, post-Soviet and colorful, wired with the kind of technological doodads you might see in a Bond villain’s lair— revolving modernist chairs, disembodied voices rising out of metal speakers issuing orders for the day. A giant ball bounces ominously in the background. People disappear from time to time, but nobody leaves. Everyone seems to be constantly being watched.

I’m describing the avant-garde 1967 mystery series , but also the children’s television show , which, thanks to unfortunate life circumstances, I’ve watched more this year than anything else. First of all, a disclaimer: The American Academy of Pediatrics that no child watch television until they’re at least 18 months old, advice, a gentle stop-motion series about a slow-witted English mailman, but although my toddlers moshed wildly during the theme song, they ignored everything that followed.