Yo Gabba Gabba is AWESOME!

I have a dirty little secret to confess.  If you turn on the TV at my house and go to the list of shows we've recorded, you will see overwhelming trend in favour of kids shows.  Not so bad, you think?  After all, I do have kids.  But we're not recording a plethora of educational programs to stimulate the growing minds of our two young sons.  In fact, we're only recording one show, any and every time it comes on the tube:  Yo Gabba Gabba.

If you ask me to describe what Yo Gabba Gabba is actually about, however, I come up short.  It's sort of Barney-meets-Pee Wee's Playhouse-meets-Fruitopia commercial, with a good dash of Sesame Street thrown in for good measure (maybe even a dash of Wonder Showzen..?..Anyone?).  And yet it is nothing like these things at all.  All I can say is...it works.

Created by a couple of Gen-X skater dudes dads, it was originally put out on the net, and was eventually picked up by Nickelodeon after getting a lot of buzz.  It has an impressive line-up of musical guests like Sugarland, The Aggrolites, The Postmarks, The Shins and Supernova, not to mention the celebrities wanting to get in on the action like Elijah Wood (LOTR), Mya (Lady Marmalade), Héctor Jiménez (Nacho Libre) and Mark Mothersbaugh (Devo).  Time Magazine voted it one of the top 10 new TV shows of 2007.

The show is hosted by the unabashedly exuberant DJ Lance Rock, who brings to life his five toy monsters each episode: Muno the Cyclops, Foofa the flower child, Plex the rockin' robot, Brobee the long-armed green one, and Toodee the..well, I really have no idea what Toodee is supposed to be, actually.

It has a simultaneously retro and fresh take on the usual educational kiddie content.  Brobee shows kids how to eat their vegetables by dancing to the Party in My Tummy (So yummy!  So yummy!).  Parker Jacobs, frontman of ska band GOGO13, sings the score to a cartoon about tidying up toys, Pick It Up.  They even have a song about not biting your friends (although they say nothing about biting your enemies..hm..).  My favourite regular segments are Dancey Dance Time, featuring celebrity guests demonstrating one of their own dance moves, Cool Tricks where an adult or a child shows off a special talent like breakdancing or hanging a spoon on their nose, and The Super Music Friends Show featuring the musical guests.

What I don't particularly like is Mark's Magic Pictures.  Mothersbaugh is not an especially good artist, and his demeanour is that of the neighbour next door who "always seemed so nice and kept to himself"...you know where I'm going with that?  I'm also not a big fan of of Super Martian Robot Girl.  While it's indie style and humour would appeal to the adults watching the show, I don't find it very kid-friendly.

But in the end, any show that gets my sedentary, scurvy-prone preschooler to dance around like a wild man AND eat carrots has got my full approval.  Even the baby likes it - he's a big fan of rap, it seems.  So try it...you'll like it!

Comments

[SciFi Dad]

We had this on Treehouse one day last week, and my daughter (three) FREAKED OUT when one of the characters came on. I don't know the name, but he looked scary enough to her to get the "Care Bears" response: closing her eyes, covering her ears, and repeating "Not safe for me! Not safe for me!" (The villain in Care Bears scares her too.)

(I'm not trying to be negative about the show; just putting in $0.02. From what I saw it appeared interesting, but like I said, I saw so little, I can't say much.)

[daysgoby]

We watched this for the first time yesterday - I was all ready to flip the channel (my standard response: This doesn't really look like it will teach you anything!) ...and then they started singing about the heart and lungs and stomach.

Yeah, we watched it all. We'll be back.

[Naomi (Urban Mummy)]

It's on our (very new) PVR as well. We are very picky about the television that the kids are allowed to watch right now, so this one is definitely on the list!

[kittenpie]

I keep hearing how awesome this is and it never seems to be on at a time when our TV is. Must go out of my way to find out when/where it's on and take a peek for myself.

[FabGirl]

GAHHHH! This show has freaked me out. Maybe it's because I have an exceptionally dirty mind, but WHAT IS UP WITH THE ONE-EYED KNOBBY GUY? And the host? His uhm,costume? It's rather form fitting, no?
We watch only to make snarky remarks about the characters, but that's because the baby really doesn't watch TV yet, outside of the theme song for Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. (AGH)

[Kyla]

It is a sometimes show here. BubTar doesn't care for it at all, but occasionally KayTar really enjoys it.

I think it is super weird, but SO catchy!

[Jana]

My girls love this show!!! That try it, you'll like it line has been brilliantly used to our advantage at meal time.

I have to tell you that when I ran into Elijah Wood during SXSW, I had to seriously hold myself back from saying "Dude, I loved your work in Yo Gabba Gabba!"

[Di]

I wish we had TiVo or DVR when my kids were little. I actually had a VHS tape that I filled with episodes of Barney. My daughter didn't care that they were repeats. I mean, the child watched Mary Poppins 324 times and ALWAYS had to start at the beginning INCLUDING the requisite Disney advertisements. Twas better than a babysitter. Mom needs a glass of wine to decompress after work? An episode of Barney is JUST the right length. Mom needs to have an uninterrupted conversation with her best friend? Yup, Barney, AND it teaches her to clean up her toys. I can STILL sing the clean-up song all the way through.

[Amy]

We checked out Yo Gabba Gabba the other day. Initially, my daughters seemed in to it, then suddenly, things went sour. They both completely freaked out, and ran from the room screaming. They refused to come back in the room until I had reassured them several times that Yo Gabba Gabba was gone.I have no idea what happened, and they are still to traumatized to talk about it. Now, it has become the evil show who's name we dare not speak.
My hip hop and pot loving childless friends, however, love it, along with In The Night Garden, the latest from the masters of trippy TV who brought us Teletubbies and BoohBah.

[Mac and Cheese]

Ohhhhh, THAT show. I just didn't know what it was called when we discussed it yesterday. I'll pay closer attention next time. Sounds like a nice break from The Wiggles.

[Jenny, Bloggess]

I always feel high when I watch it.

Mostly because I'm high when i watch it.

[Don Mills Diva]

I have not seen this yet but it sounds fun! Hopefully the kid will like it too.

[Kimberly]

I think my dad and I love this more than my daughter (15 mos.)...she's totally into it, and we're the ones walking around singing the songs to get reactions from her.

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