Curious George? What Are You Doing In My Living Room?

I would like to thank Netflix for adding new Curious George episodes and thereby inspiring this post. As soon as the new episodes banner appeared, Eldest began systematically watching each and every episode…in order… starting with Season One, Episode One… and continuing all the way through Season Five, Episode 10. During the process, somewhere after the dull, throbbing headache appeared, but before my psychotic break, the similarities between members of my family and characters on the show became undeniable. For those of you who do not watch hours of PBS, perhaps because you engage your children in more enriching activities, or maybe you just have cable, let me explain. First, a little background on the show.

Once upon a time, there was a little monkey living in Africa, going about his little monkey business. We do not know what brought The Man with the Yellow Hat to Africa (gun running? blood diamonds?), but he found the time to use said hat to catch and kidnap a curious little monkey. The Man brought the monkey home with him and named him George. In a stunning, inter-species example of the Stockholm Syndrome, George and The Man with the Yellow Hat became best friends and now live together, splitting their time between a spacious pad in the city and a sprawling country home. The Man provides nowhere near the amount of supervision a wild-caught monkey requires and high jinx ensue.

Red is George obviously. George and Red both tend towards turning a tiny mess into a colossal mess, all in the name of being helpful. Whether they clean up a small puddle of water with a box of tissues and half a roll of toilet paper or sprinkle flour on the floor in order to track a lost chameleon, the result is the same—a bigger mess. Monkey and boy both like to climb to the highest point, sit on tables, and use their feet to peel bananas. Red and George are always losing stuff and then inventing really complex ways of finding the lost objects. “Oh no, I lost my robot! But that’s okay. I’ll just build a metal detector out of a calculator and an AM radio.” They even kind of look alike. See?

Photo courtesy of Ethos3

What's with the sheep? I dunno, it's Red.

Bill is one of George’s neighbors in the country. He is a big rule follower and often says, “There’s a proper way to…” In the Christmas movie, Bill mans a Christmas tree stand and refuses to let anyone purchase a tree until they have read a dictionary-thick manual on the proper way to select a Christmas tree. Now who does that sound like? *cough, cough* Eldest *cough* And much like at my house, interactions between Bill and George tend to end in mayhem. The whole business at the tree stand wraps up with George knocking the trees down like dominoes and violating a folding chair.  

Baby Girl is a lot like Charkie the dog. Charkie can escape from anywhere—you never find her where you left her. Charkie loves to roam the city and drink from puddles. That is totally Baby Girl…if by roam the city and drink from puddles you mean eat and eat some more.

There are some odd similarities between Husband and The Man with the Yellow Hat. Both can play the tuba, paint and draw, and enjoy running. The Man and Husband enjoy bright-colored clothing, though Husband is partial to orange. Since yellow and orange are both autumnal colors, I will call it close enough. Possibly the biggest similarity is that no one has any idea what either of them do for work. We know they hang out with smarty-pants types like Professor Wiseman and talk a lot about the scientific method, but other than those factoids things are hazy. Both men have unlimited patience and see every catastrophe as a teaching opportunity. However, both The Man with the Yellow Hat and my Husband leave me shaking my head and wondering why they don’t keep a better eye on that darn monkey.

I would like to say that I am most like the character of Mrs. Renkin. She knows how to weld, is a whiz at carpentry, and grows prize-winning produce. Unfortunately, I think a more apt comparison for me is Hundley, the Doorman’s dog. Hundley just wants his lobby to be neat and orderly so that he can take a nap. Whenever he is about to settle down onto his comfy dog bed, George comes tearing in with a ball, potted plant, or some other ridiculousness. Hundley then has to get up and follow George around, worrying about the mess. Oh Hundley, I feel your pain. I would still like to learn how to weld. I’m already pretty good with a crème brulee torch.