Nickelodeon presented its latest research study about the shifting nature of the U.S. family on Thursday morning, and there were no major newsflashes to come out of the data.

There were, however, some interesting tidbits, beginning with this rather unsettling statistic: Most grandparents achieve that status for the first time at age 48. And several other findings in the survey -- which polled kids age 8-21, as well as the parents and grandparents of kids age 2-21 -- fell into line with the notion that our image of grandparents today -- many of them online, youthful and active -- is a far cry from what they were in the old days.

I think the point of this is that grandparents have more money to buy stuff for kids, but I could be mistaken.

Some other noteworthy statistics from the Nickelodeon-Harris Interactive "The Family GPS" survey:

Finally, the presentation was followed by a panel moderated by Dr. Drew Pinsky, the host of VH1's "Celebrity Rehab" and "Sex Rehab" series. That seemed like a really good time to leave, but not before research exec Ron Geraci introduced the ubiquitous "Loveline" host with this amusing one-liner: "Dr. Drew's on VH1 more than SpongeBob's on Nickelodeon."

According to my unofficial polling, 100% of BLTV bloggers agree with that.

Not to sound inordinately cranky (nah, actually, I'm fine with that), but here's a plea to all the publicists inundating us with "Earth Day" programming-related releases: Bully for you, but I really, really don't care.

To be clear, I'm all for saving the planet, and I'm not one of those wild-eyed "Global warming is a lie" types. I'm not even opposed to designating a day to get people to think about the environment.

What I don't really buy into is the idea that this arbitrary date must be marked by scores of TV specials and programming devoted to the "Earth Day" theme, a bit like producing "very special" Christmas or Halloween-themed episodes. At least with those you'd occasionally get to see one of your favorite sitcom stars dressed up like a slutty nurse or something.

PBS and National Geographic are both weighing in with Earth Day fare. As for educating the next generation that will be left cleaning up our messes, Disney Channel and Nickelodeon are also all over related tie-ins. Nickelodeon alone has sent along a parade of "Earth Day" missives (via email, so at least they're not paper-wasting hypocrites) in the last few days. Just to prove I have a heart, they include:

-- "Nickelodeon celebrates Earth Day, Wednesday, April 22, with new green-themed premieres of hit series iCarly, True Jackson, VP, The Wonder Pets!, OLIVIA, and Wow! Wow! Wubbzy. NOGGIN, Nick’s 24 hour, commercial-free, educational network for preschoolers, will also premiere new eco-friendly episodes of preschool favorites Yo Gabba Gabba! Toot & Puddle, and Pinky Dinky Doo!"

-- "Nickelodeon celebrates Earth Day with a new installment of Nick News with Linda Ellerbee: A Kid Off The Grid premiering Sunday, April 19."

OK, we get the picture. Despite being big profit-driven corporations, you love the planet, and want your viewers -- including those obese, screen-hypnotized kids that already watch too much TV -- to love it, too. Just wondering, though: Wouldn't one way to commemorate Earth Day be to encourage people to turn off the tube for a few hours and stop using all that damn electricity?

Critics can drive themselves bonkers reading what's written about their reviews online. That said, I can't resist a special shout-out to Joss Whedon fans, who have officially devoted more analysis to the premiere of Fox's "Dollhouse" than should ever be showered on a show that registered less than 5 million viewers.

Similarly, it was hard not to take note of this response on Variety's website to my review of "Spectacular!," a teen musical that recently premiered on Nickelodeon:

"This was a terrible review. I absolutally (sic) LOVED the movie Spectacular! and i absolutally (sic) HATED High School Musical 1-3! They were terrible, unlike Spectacular! i really loved this movie and would love for it to come out on dvd for me! [: in the meantime. toughen up and get your facts straight. Spectacular IS a GREAT MOVIE. So you take your little right butt (sic?) and write bad reviews about something terrible ... like HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL 1-3. Thank you. Have a nice day. -Kenzie P.S. LEARN TO WRITE GOOD REVIEWS."

Frankly, I appreciate the career advice. But more seriously, the message reflects an increasingly common mentality that has crept into our discourse as programming becomes more fragmented and tailored to narrow niches -- namely, "If you don't like what I do, we don't just disagree, but you're wrong. Please correct your opinion."

Kids, perhaps (and I'm making an assumption here about Kenzie), are to be forgiven for embracing this mind-set, but it's all-too-prevalent among adults, reflecting a real deficiency in terms of critical thinking. It's the kind of self-absorbed reasoning, frankly, that has helped poison our political discourse and injected extra belligerence into the ongoing conversation in cyberspace. The nonprofit forum Zocalo, notably, will tackle this very topic by hosting an upcoming panel in March titled, "The Age of Rage: Is the Internet Making Us Mean?"

Of course, the Internet isn't exclusively to blame, but is it a contributing factor? Absolutally.