A Frog And Toad Kind of Life

Last weekend, we were having dinner with my brother and his wife at my mom’s house. It’s a weekly ritual that keeps our family close. My brother brought up the delightful banality of the show Frog and Toad, based on the series of books by Arnold Lobel.

In the first episode of Season 1, Toad bakes some cookies and brings them to his friend Frog’s house to nosh on. You can feel the utter lack of drama as Frog and Toad have difficulty putting limits on their cookie consumption. Oh sure, they have ideas about how to hide the cookies or put them out of reach, only to realize any barrier they set up to the cookies can just as easily be reversed.

Frog and Toad try various means to dispose of their cookies only to finally give them away to the robins who have been hinting since their creation that they would love to eat them.

The lack of action beyond the most ordinary of circumstances is what makes Frog and Toad so fun to watch. As so much of TV angles for more violence and more gritty realism, a show like this is a breath of fresh air. If you are familiar with the books, the show doesn’t stray far from their stories of their overall vibe. All the better. A kid’s show can be the perfect way to reset.