Yeah, my son was never into it and we definitely didn't want him growing up with that whiny ass kid as a role model. He's like the passive aggressive Veruca Salt, which is almost worse.
I took Ro to the zoo once when he was about 2, so that we could meet Daniel Tiger. They had a little PBS booth setup with free rulers and pencils, bookmarks, coloring pages, etc. We saw Daniel Tiger close by and I asked him if he wanted to get in line for a photo. He just wanted to go look at Lions or something, so I asked him, "Are you sure? He's right there. We can get in line." I thought he might be shy, but he matter of factly responded, "It's just a guy in a suit."
So, this is what always got me about that. It's not just the fact that my 2 year old was like, "This is corny. Let's go do something real." But... what did he expect to see, when we were on our way there? A real Tiger? A cartoon moving in 3 dimensions? So, bizarre.