Act Your Age

This story took place 18 years ago, when Curtis was 17 and in 11th grade, nearing the end of the school year, and before his family moved to the Hills a year later.

His brother Otis, who was 7 at the time, was a huge fan of Preschool Play (https://www.artstation.com/artwork/P6En14), and was thrilled when his family was invited to be on the show. In their episode, Adam taught Muffin and the kid hosts how to make his grandma's apple pie and Mossi played "throw and catch" with Muffin, Matthew, Joe, and Richard (some of the kid hosts at the time), but most of all, Otis learned a dirty word from Dara (another kid host) that he infamously said live on air, so Dara was fired, replaced with another kid, and the episode was pulled. Most of the owl family's friends saw the episode during its one and only broadcast and thought it was fine until the incident happened. However, when Curtis' high school classmates heard he was on TV, Keulani the Snake, being the hater of kindergarten programs that she was, put the letters spelling "Baby" with Preschool Play stickers on them on a locker, mocking her classmate for appearing on a "baby" show. This upset him so badly that at 4th period one day, he gave his class a speech about why Preschool Play matters and the things it taught him and, by extension, every child who watched the show. His teachers emailed it to his parents, who emailed it to all their friends and even the team who made Preschool Play, and his speech warmed their hearts, so much so, that Keulani was suspended from school and forced to watch Preschool Play and other kids' shows.

I'm glad Keulani (and to a lesser extent, Otis) learned her lesson, and remember that all kids' shows (except for the modern CGI ones) are special even if they have flaws - their creators intended them to be great and put so much love and care into them.