Strollerderby : fall tv preview

Fall TV Preview: Toot and Puddle

Amy Kuras — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 17:01:00 GMT

Back in May, we got a screener for Toot and Puddle, a new show premiering on Noggin this November from National Geographic Kids Television.

Based on a series of kids' books, it's the story of two little pigs, globe-trotting Toot and homebody Puddle, who find adventure at home and abroad.

I finally sat down to watch it for the first time with my three-year-old a few weeks ago. On first viewing, she liked it, but I have one of those spirited little ones who locks in on things that she loves and wants to see them again and again and again and are you serious AGAIN?Back in May, we got a screener for Toot and Puddle, a new show premiering on Noggin this November from National Geographic Kids Television.

Based on a series of kids' books, it's the story of two little pigs, globe-trotting Toot and homebody Puddle, who find adventure at home and abroad.

I finally sat down to watch it for the first time with my three-year-old a few weeks ago. On first viewing, she liked it, but I have one of those spirited little ones who locks in on things that she loves and wants to see them again and again and again and are you serious AGAIN? This, she didn’t ever ask for again, and declared "boring" when I made her watch it a second time so I could review it.

And it's not, not really. The drawing of this animated series is beautiful – it looks like a well-made children's book come to life. And the stories, while a little thin, are sweet. I also loved the music and the glimpse I saw of Toot's travels.

If you have a kid who loves more gentle animated series such as Little Bear or Franklin, this will probably be a big hit in your house, as it will with somewhat older kids than my three-year-old who can understand the premise a little better. Same if you're a traveling family – if your kids have seen some of the world, they might really enjoy seeing that reflected on TV. If your kids are younger or fans of louder and brighter series like Yo Gabba Gabba, Bunnytown or Jack's Big Music Show, they might share my daughter's opinion.

Fall TV Preview: Imagination Movers - Playhouse Disney

Cole Gamble — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 13:00:00 GMT

I should start by saying my daughter and I don't have the same taste in kids’ shows. She's more of a Dora girl; I'm more of a Yo Gabba Gabba dude. I guess I can't blame her; I mostly like Yo Gabba Gabba because it’s just so strange. I can’t expect my four-year-old to share my cultured and detached sense of irony. Yo Gabba Gabba frightens my mother, which makes it a great kids’ show in my book.

What’s This Show About?

So my daughter, Jillian (age 4), and I recently sat down to watch the Imagination Movers a new show featuring a quartet of musicians who dabble in problem solving. The Imagination Movers live in the world's cleanest garage; you could eat an omelet off their work floor. The Movers’ are comprised of four dudes whose acting ranges from merely super excited to psychopathically enthusiastic. They make The Wiggles look like their hopped up on Quaaludes. In other words, just the right tone to get a girl Jillian’s age jazzed.

The Tone

With the Imagination Movers, we’re really in it for the music. So how's that? The Imagination Movers are billed as alternative rock for preschoolers. On their website the they describe themselves as “what would happen if the Beastie Boys collaborated with Mister Rogers.” This comparison isn’t quite accurate, the Imagination Movers don’t rap (the jury’s out on Mister Rogers rap skills). However, they do wear similar jump suits to those worn by the Beastie Boys in their Intergalactic Planetary video. The website further claims the Imagination Movers songs would be right at home on an MTV countdown, which is also misleading. I’d say they were more VH1-y if it weren’t for the fact neither of those music channels play any music. Personally my gold standard for kids’ music is The Backyardigans, with its loopy, surrealistic lyrics and limitless range of genres, from surf rock to folk music. That said, where do the Imagination Movers fit on a scale of kids’ music ranging from The Wiggles (insufferable) to Backyardigans? In the upper registers of the scale, catchy even. I can imagine listening to the Imagination Movers on a long trip and not wanting driving us all off a cliff, high praise indeed.

Details

The Imagination Movers have all the requisite secondary characters: a cutesy girl who drops by regularly, a puppet mouse that lives in their walls and a beige clad man named Knit Knots who represents the utter banality that apparently is anyone who isn’t as peppy as the Imagination Movers. There was a learning factor (they taught us about sound and how it travels in waves) and the show encouraged movement and problem solving. Oh, and the Imagination Movers had enough gadgets to make Bruce Wayne envious, which is a big draw. Gadgets are cool.

The Verdict

But what I think is just a bunch of noise. What did my daughter think? We sat down Ebert and Roper style to hash it out.

Me: How much did you like it?

Jillian: (Opens her arms wide) This much.

Me: Who was your favorite character?

Jillian: The guy with the long hair and the cool goggles (the most psychotically enthusiastic one).

At this point Jillian wanted no more of my questioning, and asked I play the show for her again. This time she walked up closer to the screen and danced along. The show also caught the attention of my normally amuck 2 year old for the duration. So I'd say we’ll be seeing more of the Imagination Movers in our house, and from the dad perspective, it’ll be a welcome addition.

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Fall TV Preview: Monster Buster Club on ToonDisney

Brett Singer — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 15:30:00 GMT

This animated series, airing in the U.S. on ToonDisney, is about a club. That busts monsters. Yawn.

Here are the basics: a group of four vaguely ethnically diverse kids are part of a "secret society" that protects Earth from alien intruders. Of course, no one can know that these normal (if a bit annoying) middle school kids are in fact keeping their planet safe. So they live in fear of being discovered… well, that's giving them too much credit. They mention every now and then that no one can know who they are. Of course, they could try wearing masks that actually hide their identities, and not bust monsters while the school play is being performed. In front of everyone they know. But hey, why quibble?

The episode I watched, "Acting Out," explains very little of the background; poking around the interwebs I found out the names of the four main characters, the fact that their leader is an old man who is an alien and the grandfather of one of the members, and also that it is never really explained just where this secret society came from. It doesn't really matter, because the show is a mish-mash of elements from other animated series: think "Men in Black" meets "Power Rangers" meets "Little Einsteins". I'm not going to bother giving you the specifics; if you're interested, check out this page on Wikipedia or the official web site.

The plot of "Acting Out" has the same weird obsession with fame that you find on many Disney shows ("Hannah Montana", "High School Musical"). After the club saves an eight-armed talent agent from a lizard-creature (who turns out to be a rival agent – oh, did I spoil the surprise ending? Good, now you don't have to watch the show) he offers to make them "superstars." They get excited until the old man in charge tells them, "Monster Buster Club is a top secret operation, so you can't be superstars." The kids are, of course, bummed out. One of them decides to make commercials that only air on other planets. Of course, now he thinks he's a big star and he's ignoring his Monster Busting duties. Then the granddaughter of the old man in charge, who is not from Earth, ends up playing Juliet in the school play, and the lizard guy comes after her because he can't get to the kid doing commercials… It's a little bit hard to follow, less because it's complicated and more because it's not remotely interesting.

The animation is all computer-generated; think "Jimmy Neutron" but with a smaller budget. (A review on about.com claims that Disney says the budget for the show is $21 million, but, to paraphrase Chris Rock, somebody must be walking around with $20 million in their pocket.) The voices are either just poorly synced or the show was originally recorded in a language other than English (I think it’s the latter, which is foolish.) In general, everyonetalkseallyfast, which is probably because the characters are spouting some of the lamest lines on television. When the lizard-like alien who shows up in the first four seconds escapes: "He's getting away… and even worse, he squished my fruit." When they encounter said lizard-like alien again: "Don’t stick out your tongue, it's not polite…I've seen faster tongues on an old pair of sneakers."

The show claims to be targeted at ages 6-11, but with so many better entertainment options out there, "Monster Buster Club" will only catch on because the Disney Marketing Machine will cram it down everyone's throats. Not recommended.

image: about.com

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Fall TV Preview: Martha Speaks on PBS

Madeline Holler — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 13:00:00 GMT

Oh, Martha. She talks too much. She's something of a budinsky. She gossips. She complains. But like any other dog -- and, yes, Martha's a dog -- all she really wants is to love and be loved. And for Martha, this can take some work.

See, unlike other cartoon talking dogs, Martha breaks the species barrier by actually being able to form words! Sentences! Whole, unending paragraphs! All of which are understandable to humans. This means that while she can express herself clearly, she's not always taken seriously (not altogether unlike a kid), which can be frustrating for Martha (and a kid, of course) and backfire on those who are doing the underestimating.

I sat down with my two daughters -- Beatrice, 7, and Frances, 3 -- to preview the first episode of "Martha Speaks," which premieres on PBS this fall.

The two are well familiar with the book "Martha Speaks," which is the first in a series by Susan Meddaugh featuring Martha the talking dog. It's one of the few kids books that their grandmother owns which doesn't smell like 30 years of musty basement and we've read it together maybe a million times. Watching it on TV, I could now learn the truth: was it a lack of mold spores or a good story that had made Martha such a central part of our literary lives?

Background:

One day, Martha was accidentally given a bowl of alphabet soup instead of regular ol' dog chow. Rather than filling up her stomach, the letters traveled to her brain. An articulate, quippy, verrrrry chatty dog is formed. To keep up her speech, Martha needs periodic doses of alphabet soup. Her people know this and keep her in the letters, despite their growing agony over Martha sharing their secrets, Martha talking over their favorite TV shows, Martha ordering up steaks and ribs from the local carry out, among other abuses of the tongue.

Then, Martha overhears her person wishing she never had a dog who could speak. Naturally, this shuts Martha up. She cuts the soup cold turkey. She goes silent. And then the burglars arrive.

I won't give away the ending of this first episode, except to say the underdog wins! So do the young viewers. The producers of the show are sneaky and part of their goal, according to the press packet, is to broaden kids' vocabularies by introducing big words in context. Also, unlike the books, they've mixed up character ethnicities a bit and sprinkled some Spanish throughout. There's also a Web site where all the learning is reinforced.

The show is aimed at children from 4 to 7 years old, so my girls are brain development bookends in terms of viewership. We followed up the premiere with this discussion:

The Review

Me: Close call with the burglars, huh? Why did Martha stop talking?

Frances: She didn't eat soup!

Me: Why not?

Beatrice: She was sad because the little girl said she didn't want Martha to talk anymore. Why did you watch the show with us? You never watch TV with us?

Me: I love Martha! I wanted to watch. Hey, could you ever do what Martha did? Stop talking on purpose?

Beatrice: Noooooo.

Me: Who'd you guys like in the show?

Frances: I liked the girl with the orange hair and skirt.

Me: She was fun! Why did you like her?

Frances: She's cute. I liked her pink shirt.

Me: What about Martha?

Frances: Yes. She got sad because she couldn't speak.

Me: Why couldn't she speak?

Frances: [shrugs shoulders]

Beatrice: Are you always going to watch Martha with us?

Me: Maybe? Hey, you know how we've read those other Martha books, which ones do you want to see on TV?

Beatrice and Frances: Sir Lancelot! [Sir Lancelot's a pushover pug that gets caught up in a fraudulent dog-training ring.]

Me: Oooooh, Sir Lancelot. I'll definitely watch that one with you.

Beatrice: Can we watch it again now?

Me: Sure.

Frances: Can we have a snack?

Image: Martha Speaks