Bing is an odd family set-up right?

[HarrietKettleWasHere]

Just watching Bing.

In today's episode, Bing did a Lenny from of Mice and Men and squished a helpless butterfly in his great big sausage fingers.

Flop, his main carer, is, inexplicably, a termite sort of creature, so couldn't bring the butterfly back to life, even though he has the lovely RSC voice of Mark Rylance. The miniature elephant thing placated the children with the idea of a funeral.

So all the children cried, and they buried the butterfly in the garden and lobbed a load of drawings into the hole.

'Butterflies. It's a Bing thing!'

The episode the other week involved Mark Rylance as a termite popping to the shop for some carrots, which provoked a meltdown in Bing, as he was beside himself that Flop had left the house.

(Lighthearted. I am stuck indoors with a broken legged child. This is mostly new to me. But while we're at it how boring are Patchwork Pals?)

It might get more exciting, they keep plugging an advert for a dog that plays a guitar, and a woman in a pink jumper emblazoned with said dog's face twirling round for the joy of it.

I've spent far too long down a Bing rabbit hole this evening. Found this quoted from the creator, Ted Dewan:

"In the original books, parents were spoken of, but there was no room in the small-format books for them in the pictures. Besides, Flop was silent and depicted as a sympathetic avatar of the narrator's text, which was presumably read by a parent or carer. So when it came to adapting the books into a TV series, and inventing new characters beyond Bing and Flop, we talked about possibly including parents. But a Bing world with adults crowding everything would have taken toddlers away from centre stage, and would also make it weird for Flop and Amma etc to be "in charge" and would reduce their authority. Toddler see themselves as the centre of the world, and so it seemed psychologically accurate (as well as convenient) to tell stories where the responsible adults were actually smaller than the youngsters. We could have gone the "Charlie Brown" route and only had adults off-screen talking in sound-effects made by a brass instrument, but once we saw Bing's world working fine without parents, it all felt OK so long as the adult/toyish characters were clearly able to handle things responsibly (although what Flop does for a living is anyone's guess). There are some kid-only preschool worlds, such as Raa-Raa the Noisy Lion, that don't even have the adult toyish characters to help out. Anyhow, I'm pleased this sort of thing matters enough for people (usually adults) to wonder about it all. I've not been asked by any young kids where the parents are yet, but they tend not to post on Facebook."

Forgot to put my two penn'orth in to say Bing's a whiny twat, Flop's a stoner and I can't wait for my toddler to realise it's a bit of a shit show.

My 2yo adores bing. It drives me nuts. Flop highlights everything that's shit about my parenting .

How do any of them carry Charlie?! He's a giant rabbit baby next to flop and would squish him easily!!

Padgett is hands down the worst- pando gets away with murder!!

I fucking hate Bing. How Flop copes with him all bloody day I have no idea!!

That butterfly episode traumatised my eldest for about a fortnight! Honestly felt like the ceebeebies presenters should've put a warning on before it.

I reckon Bing is the story of Thomas Cromwell in purgatory. He got to the pearly gates and St Peter said "Right, Thomas: You got powerful by enabling an angry overgrown toddler to get everything he wanted, now your punishment is to go and parent an angry overgrown toddler into a functional and kind human being. Also you can't reach the shelves now. ENJOY!"

bananalanacake- the mobile phone episode is on Prime, but unlike other episodes, it is not free. It's episode 8 on season 8 on Amazon Prime

I found the butterfly one really bizarre too. But 'Flop totally lost his shit today' had me pissing myself.

I first saw Mark Rylance in drag (and if I'm right, that's how he made his name - playing women's parts in dodgy Tudor makeup), so I think Flop has a much more exciting life once Bing's in bed. I see him as one of those posh-accent grammar-school boys whose altar ego down Canal Street is Madam Bazoomba and who wears nine inch heels with sparkles on them.

What the fuck is Mr Bloom, though? Does it not make you want to kill people? Why are the children 'tiddlers'? So many questions.

While we're at it, why is everyone turning a blind eye to the fact that Pat Clifton is a truly terrible post man who has fathered half the children in the village of Glendale? Sarah needs to LTB

Any male novice who can leap on a fresh pony and deliver the mail at a canter has my respect twat :)

The most annoying thing is "such-and-such is a Bing thing"

It's not as annoying as Let's Play or Show Me though. All those adults pretending to be kids while probably necking vodka and shagging each other in the dressing rooms... bizarre.

I'm pretty sure Bing and Amma have a bit of a "thing" going on...
They disappear off into the creche kitchen, leaving 3 toddlers alone at lunchtime, plus there was that impromptu sleepover between Bing and Sula. Where did Amma sleep that night???

Totally agree on Pat Clifton. He'd fit right in at Yodel.

Oh God yeah, ma and Flop... well, I bet she as a whole NEW name for him when they're alone...

Someone was talking about it being. A good example for kids without mums.

WIDE EYE!!

It's lovely and old school and the little owl and his pet flea are being raised by Dad or Grandad, as is the bossy Komodo. There are other female characters

Have been up since 5am and was practically gnawing my arm off counting down to 6am when CBeebies came on

This morning I’ve seen:
Show me show me - MEGA annoying
Bing - whiny, MEGA annoying, interesting points on thread
Hey Duggee - amazing
Twirly Woos - never quite sure wtf is going on
Tee and Mo - quite like
Yakka Dee - seriously considered a slow and painful death by plastic spoon

What I have recently noticed and now can never un-notice is the trend for slightly off key kiddy singing for theme tunes. Also, Abney and Teal is pretty weird as well - 2 kids, a turnip, a strange bubble blowing water dwelling creature and a dog who plays an accordion. Living on an island. Obsessed with porridge. Very odd.

What does wide eye mean??

I find the clangers quite relaxing.

Sorry, WIDE EYE is the name of a show. Its DVD rather than telly but it's very Daddy orientated so written the buy if that's what you're looking for

So worth the buy

Does anyone follow CBeebies on instagram? Odd I know but they’re quite funny sometimes.
They post parent captions, one for Bing said “I think flop is a figment of Bings imagination, created to help him cope after all the grown ups died from the virus” 😂

YY to the Clangers it’s lovely

Sarah and Duck I have time for but Abney and Teal seriously grates on me and DH even though we now call DS' breakfast special Abney Porridge

Ooh Bing is on!

Also like Timmy Time. Very accurate portrayal of nursery and funny too.

What the fuck is Mr Bloom, though? Does it not make you want to kill people

Nooo, I adored Mr Bloom. He is the only reason I sort of miss the cbeebies days, that accent 😍.