On Fireman Sam

       Recently, my daughter has become obsessed with a Welsh children’s show called Fireman Sam.  While this name may not be very familiar to US readers, I’m sure he’s a well-known character across the pond.  For those who haven’t seen the show, I suppose you could liken it to a firefighter version of Bob the Builder.. only, Sam actually talks to people instead of construction equipment.  In fact, there are several holiday specials where Fireman Sam and Bob the Builder share the spotlight.
       The current version of the show, which has graced our presence thanks to Netflix, takes place in the fictional “town” - hamlet would be more accurate a description - of Pontypandy (my apologies to fans of the show if that’s spelled incorrectly).  Watching this show as an adult, however, I cannot imagine how anything actually gets accomplished in this place other than skyrocketing homeowner’s insurance premiums.  As far as I can tell, the town has barely over a dozen inhabitants, which are almost exclusively firemen or children.  The majority of the adults have only brief appearances on occasional episodes.
       In the past few weeks, I’ve been exposed to quite a bit of Fireman Sam.  Keep in mind, however, that I am not claiming to be an encyclopedic source of knowledge of the show.  That having been said, as of the time of this writing, being inundated with almost 30 hours of it in the past three weeks is enough to count for something.
       I divide the town’s population into three groups:  Adults, Firemen, and Children:

       Adults
       1.) Dylis - Norman’s mom, runs some sort of store.
       2.) Bella - she runs the Italian restaurant, and couldn’t have a more stereotypical speech pattern if she tried.  
       3.) Bronwyn - a new-age-esque cafe owner.  Yes, this town actually has two restaurants.  Seems to be married to Charlie the Fisherman.
       4.) Trevor - bus driver.  Why this town needs a bus escapes me.
       5.) Charlie - the fisherman, and one of only two adults with a believable job on the show.
       6.) Mike - the town handyman.  With as much drama, accidents, infernos, floods, and explosions as go on in this show, he’s got to be absurdly busy.  Helen’s husband.
       7.) Helen - the town nurse.  Obviously, someone has to provide health care to these accident-prone folks, but a full-time nurse is an absurd idea.
       Firemen (and Woman)
       8.) Fireman Sam - obviously, the show’s namesake is the only person with any form of common sense, succeeds at everything on the first try, and never has anything hiccup on him.  Also, he is called for literally every single problem in Pontypandy.
       9.) Elvis - the opposite of Sam, Elvis is completely inept.  And yes, has far too many references to Elvis Presley.
       10.) Penny - the only firewoman, Penny is usually seen providing support for Sam, or piloting the aquatic rescue vessels.
       11.) Tom - he pilots the rescue helicopter.
       12.) Station Officer Steele - the old-timer who runs the Pontypandy Fire Brigade.  
       Children
       13.) Norman Price - the only character who is regularly referred to as having a full name, Norman is inconsiderate and has the common sense of roadkill.  The only reason he has a full name, as far as I can tell, is specifically so the adults and firefighters can bellow “NORMAN PRICE!” whenever any of his hijinks go wrong.
       14.) James - one of a pair of twins.  Charlie seems to be his dad.
       15.) Sarah - the other twin, voiced with quite possibly the shrillest voice outside of Japanese anime.
       16.) Mandy - the nurse’s daughter, and the most level-headed of the kids.

       Yes, I just outlined the entire cast of the show.  The number of characters that recur regularly is even smaller.  Penny, for example, I had to watch four episodes just to catch her name after I started thinking about this post.  Tom, the helicopter pilot, is absent from entire DVD’s.  Same with many of the adults.
       But I digress.  This “town” has a total of sixteen people - four of which are children, at least two married couples, which means at most there are a whopping ten households (with two restaurants and a full-time nurse).  And not a single bit of schooling visible, either public, home, or otherwise (kid’s show census data:  25% of Pontypandy’s population are unschooled children).  Five of these sixteen people are to keep the disasters down.  In fact, 31% of Pontypandy are in the fire prevention industry.  Judging by the disasters that strike this town almost daily, that fully staffed fire brigade - equipped with an engine, water truck, helicopter, and water skiff - it’s a good thing that much of the population are trained in such things.
       Every episode, some form of disaster occurs.  These range in severity from the entire town being flooded under eight feet of water to Norman Price getting himself hung from a tree by his suspenders.  More often than not, as the show’s name implies, something is going to burn.  The adult’s homes are often targets for the flames which - of course - are magically cured next episode, regardless of the degree of the blaze.  Even the fire station is a target for several fires.  If real kids were exposed to the sort of daily life-threatening situations these children were, they’d come out more like shell-shocked war zone victims than giggling.  The same goes for the adults - any parent whose child spent seven days in a row inhaling smoke in three different house fires, trapped in a cave on day four, airlifted out of a flood on day five, nearly getting barbecued on day six, and stranded on a burning boat adrift on day seven would probably have an aneurysm.  Especially if this was “normal” for the town.
       As I said earlier, oh, the insurance premiums.
       Though I suppose I shouldn’t watch any children’s show with an analytical adult mindset.  It’s a difficult thing to do, I must admit.  Particularly when the show places a great emphasis on safety and fire prevention, and in many episodes includes actual firefighting procedures (electrical vs. oil fires, for example), and they still manage to burn down half of Pontypandy every day.
       Then again, it is television.  I suppose I should know better than to analyze television for believability, regardless of whether it’s a kid’s show or not.