I’m kinda proud but at the same time utterly freaked out that my parenting experience spans over a decade now, so you can imagine that I’ve seen my share of children’s TV shows. We’re obviously big fans of NickJr, PBS and Noggin in this house all of which mostly produce quality product.
There have been quite a few shows over the years that have been major winners. Staples like “Sesame Street”, “Reading Rainbow” and “Mr. Rogers” have been joined by the stars of children’s television such as “Blues Clues”, “Dora the Explorer”, “Lazy Town” and “The Wiggles.”
While “Oswald” may be cute, Fred Savage can’t sing. His speaking voice is calming and sweet, but his vocals really detract from the superb yet simple animation and short stories. They should really pull a “Disney” and get someone to do it for him.
Moose A. Moose, the host of Noggin seems to be tone deaf as well. If I hear “And I don’t like Candy Corn” in flat repeating notes one more time, I will seriously throw a Wii remote through my TV, on purpose. The same thing with the “Backyardagains.” Although I’ll find myself occasionally humming along with a catchy tune, the kids they got to voice the computer animated characters hit an off note every once and awhile.
Singing aside, there have been shows that I just can’t stand. “Barney and Friends” is still the number one hated show in my book. To this day, I maintain the fact that children should not look like they belong in Stepford. There is a point when overly happy and smiling faces creep me out. Luckily, my kids never really liked the big purple dinosaur that much, so I was spared the insanity.
Yet, this brings me to a relatively newer show on Nick Jr, called “Yo Gabba Gabba”. The first time I saw it, I seriously wanted to throw up. It’s not cute. It’s not endearing. It’s not really anything but a colorful, overly repetitive marketing gimmick. For those of you who have seen the show, don’t you find it odd that when they cut to the ‘real’ kids, they’re wearing nothing but Gabba Gabba garb?
Yes, I understand that they’re trying for an early 80’s children’s television show feel, but it doesn’t work. The host is too plastic with facial expressions and lipsyncing/acting that can be done better on a high school level.
The toys that come to life out of a boombox are neat concepts, I’ll give them that, but the sugary, unoriginal stories and 3 sentence songs in the 30 minute episode are just too much.
The only endearing quality happens to be the guest star Biz Markie, who teaches kids “Biz’s Beat of the Day.” I can’t help but smile at the beat box instruction, as it’s the only original and tolerable bit of the whole program. Although Biz seems like a novice with a camera, he’s atleast genuine. If they revamped the music, put Biz as host, I’d give the show another try. Right now, I try to avoid at all costs.
Hell, since Donald Faison is going to be out of work with the ending of “Scrubs”, I’d love to see him host that show. He shows more character in 10 seconds than the current host of Gabba Gabba does in any episode.
