My sympathies to you and the morning kiddie shows..this is a must for survival when you have small children.
I can still recite the entire intro to Barney and Friends and all my children have graduated college and moved out.
I don't mind the mindlessness some times because I have other stuff on my mind that I sort out when I exercise. :)
My mornings are filled with cleaning, laundry, lurking FR, etc so I don't really mind the noggin stuff.
I can't understand how some people can stand to sit around watching that stuff though. I finally used my spa appointment gift from Christmas and I was laying there for 2 1/2 hours thinking what a waste of time it was. LOL!