American Academy of Pediatrics

Most parents who allow their young children to watch TV spend a lot of time fretting over issues such as which shows are age-appropriate, which ones are educational or improving, and which ones could be harmful.

The latest kids' show to be called into question is Nickelodeon's long-running cartoon series, 'SpongeBob SquarePants.' According to The Wrap, a study due to be published online Monday by the journal 'Pediatrics' found that watching just nine minutes of 'SpongeBob' had a negative effect on four-year-olds' attention spans.

Nickelodeon questioned the validity of the findings, criticizing the small size of the control group and pointing to the fact that 'SpongeBob' is targeted at children aged six to eleven, not four.

Eli Stone, the new ABC legal drama, is already in trouble. This is interesting news since the first show hasn't even premiered yet. The trouble is stemming from the American Academy of Pediatrics, who want the first episode of the series canceled because it feeds into the myth that vaccines can cause autism.

In the series premiere, which airs after Lost this Thursday, lawyer-turned-reluctant-prophet Eli Stone argues in court that a flu vaccine made a child autistic. Dr. Renee R. Jenkins, president of the AAP, said that both ABC and its parent company, Walt Disney, are being irresponsible by airing the show because it will be perpetuating the vaccine=autism belief. Dr. Jenkins added that the network would share in the responsibility for the suffering and deaths if parents who watched the program chose to deny their children immunizations. Dr. Jenkins also mentioned that many viewers trust the health information presented on fictional television shows.