So it’s not advertising, or even advertising supported, but it’s about time someone around here addressed the biggest issue among toddlers since Tinky Winky was outed. I’m referring to the firing of poor Melanie Martinez, who until a couple weeks ago hosted The Good Night Show over on the PBS-backed Sprout network. (First, let’s get it out in the open that it wasn’t just the children who liked Melanie. The consensus among the dads I know was that Melanie is, in a word, hot. Probably because of the way she says “chugga chugga” before introducing a Thomas the Tank Engine video.) For those not in the know, Melanie was fired for having appeared years ago in two videotaped skits that referenced (but didn’t depict) questionable sexual behavior. Check out the videos here and here. Now, I think we can agree that the biggest offense here is that the videos are not particularly good. Not really funny. Not really edgy. Just kind of stupid. Anyway, this whole to-do has many parents up in arms. (For the record, any 9-month-old who can’t get to bed without watching some TV has bigger issues.) An online petition has been started to bring Melanie back, and Sprout’s evening programming block has been without a host for the past couple weeks. But Sprout doesn’t seem to be budging. My theory? They discovered that Melanie’s Q-rating was higher among the dads than the kids. Either that or there’s something even more racy out there.

—Posted by Aaron Baar