"Sugartime" to air in Tucson

Kid show involving lesbians airs today
U.S. education chief calls the episode inappropriate
By Stephanie Innes
ARIZONA DAILY STAR

A children's television show that was denounced by the new education secretary for including two lesbian couples will air in Tucson today.

The show, "Postcards from Buster," features a cartoon rabbit who sends video postcards to his mother about his travels around the country.

In the episode that upset U.S. Education Secretary Margaret Spellings, Buster learns how to make maple syrup in Vermont with some real children and their parents, who are all women. One little girl refers to her mother and stepmother.

"That's a lot of moms!" Buster remarks in the episode titled, "Sugarland!" Nothing more is said about the families.

"I think that every family, parent and caregiver certainly should make their own decision on viewing the program," said Rudy Casillas, the assistant general manager for television at KUAT, Channel 6, the local PBS affiliate.

"The episode shows two same-sex couples who have families in Vermont. But the (focus) of the program is Buster learning to harvest sugar from maple trees and make maple syrup. The families featured in it interact with Buster."

Casillas said the show, a spinoff of another popular children's program, "Arthur," has a mission of exploring and celebrating diversity.

"The way the plot works, Buster's father flies a charter airplane and a bunny band gets chartered around the country. Buster gets to go on the trips and sends video postcards to his mom and family back home about how people live," Casillas said. "The request for proposals the Department of Education put out was a post-9/11 response to provide programming about diversity."

Other episodes featured Buster visiting a Muslim family in Chicago, and meeting Mormons in Utah and people from the Gullah culture in South Carolina. Another episode, filmed in Tucson, shows Buster visiting a Hispanic family.

The producer of the series, WGBH in Boston, recently decided to provide the episode to any PBS stations that wanted to air it, after PBS announced that it would not distribute "Sugartime!" to its 349 stations.

"Congress' and the department's purpose in funding this programming certainly was not to introduce this kind of subject matter to children," Spellings wrote in a letter to PBS head Pat Mitchell. "Many parents would not want their young children exposed to the lifestyles portrayed in this episode."

Mitchell has said she will step down when her contract expires in June 2006, though she said the decision is not related to the Buster controversy.

Casillas said staff members at KUAT watched the program before deciding to air it. He expects that eventually more than half the country will see it.

"We did have a discussion about the appropriateness of the episode. But after viewing it, we felt it was well within the mission of 'Buster,' " he said. "We have had, I believe, about 12 e-mails and all but one have been encouraging."

Some local mothers said they also support the decision.

"I think it sounds perfectly appropriate," said Kelly Frieders, a Republican stay-at-home mother of triplets. "For parents who don't want their children to see it, I think it's appropriate that there's a warning. But I think parents should have a choice, and by having a choice, that means it airs."

Frieders, a 37-year-old Sahuarita resident, said her 7-year-olds have grown a little old for the show, but that she might watch it herself.

Sue Emam, a 35-year-old Tucson resident and Democrat, planned to let her 4- and 6-year-old daughters see it. It's one of their favorites, said Emam.

"The show is really about cultural diversity. That's one of the things I love about it," she said. "And I think that's really important in today's world."