Think back to the worst children’s show you had to endure, whether as a child, parent, or grandparent. Whatever show you just conjured in your mind, it was someone else’s favorite. As much as you abhorred each episode, another person admired everything about it. This is the nature of individual tastes.
Now think back to the oddest children’s show you saw. The chances are excellent that, to another person, everything about it made perfect sense… perhaps not in any linear way, but at least aesthetically.
Such is not the case with John Dillermand. This new children’s show on Danish television is assured of not being considered normal by anyone. The title character resembles Hercule Poirot dressed in a Where’s Waldo outfit, and he can stretch and contort and control his body to create objects that he needs.
Those who are familiar with comic books may find this less than unusual. Mr. Fantastic of the Fantastic Four has such a power, and he has been featured in a few Marvel Comics-based shows. Plastic Man, owned (though not created) by DC Comics starred in his own show in the 1980s. Dillermand has an unusual take on the elasticity superpower, though.
He can control his enormously long penis.
No, I didn’t write that incorrectly. John Dillermand is a claymation series designed to make very young children feel comfortable about their bodies by showing them the amazing things he can do with his sexual extremity. The introduction of the show even boasts he can save the world with it.
The show has received pushback from some Danish parents who suggest that, even through claymation, normalizing adult men showing off their penises to young children might not be the wisest course of action.
Question of the night: What were your favorite and least favorite children’s television shows?
