I took...
quite a passionate stance over my newborn daughter and TV. Not a single minute did she watch in the house for the first year and a half, the TV wasn't even turned on (I went so far as to de-tune and took the aerial out so the wife couldn't be tempted).
The benefits she reaped from active playtime showed itself fairly quickly when put in a group of her peers.
There are some good programs out there for kids (Dora the Explorer encourages interaction and word repetition) but generally, they're fucking mince with nonsensical gibberish being spoken. There should be a greater level of enforcement from standards agencies in relation to what kids can be subjected to. I think proper use of basic English in the UK - maybe with some languages flung in (Like Dora) should be mandatory.
None of this 'Ribble wip woop grah' shite.