one of my biggest concerns is that the way things are presented is artificial, designed to manipulate the viewer into thinking the way the creators of the show or commercial want him or her to think

This is true, but I'm pretty sanguine about it. The reality is, my kids are going to live in a world where they are exposed to media manipulation - protecting them from it at a young age isn't going to encourage the kind of skepticism required to combat it later. Already, my almost-4-year-old seems to discount how awesome things look in a commercial due to past disappointments.