NEW YORK – TV’s hot new characters for preschoolers are designed to get the little couch potatoes up and moving.
PBS’s “Boohbah,” Nickelodeon’s “LazyTown” and the Disney Channel’s “JoJo’s Circus” are all examples of an industrywide search for programming that responds to the increase in childhood obesity – for which all the time spent in front of the tube gets some blame. Networks are eager for parents to see them as being part of the solution instead of just the problem.
There’s a simpler idea – tell the kids to turn off the TV and go play – but that’s not exactly good for business.
“There is a certain irony in it, creating TV shows to get kids to stop watching the TV and be more active,” said Amy Jordan, an expert on children’s television at the University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg Public Policy Center. “But this is a problem that has to be addressed on several fronts. We need to get parents to understand how much children watch television.”
Some experts have found that children expend less energy watching television than they do while sitting quietly and reading a book, she said.
The success of such programs as “Dora the Explorer” and “Blue’s Clues” proved many children enjoy using television interactively, to help onscreen characters solve a problem or to follow cues in learning how to read, said David Campbell, executive producer of “JoJo’s Circus.”
With songs and games, “JoJo’s Circus” viewers are invited to walk, run, dance, jump, climb and move with the characters.
Nickelodeon’s “LazyTown” has been the top-rated show on commercial television among preschoolers since starting in August. Its creator and star is Icelandic aerobic champion Magnus Scheving.
Eight-year-old Stephanie and her friends live in a village where they are caught between a health-conscious superhero named Sportacus (played by Scheving) and Robbie Rotten, who spends his time lying around and eating junk food.
Another new Nickelodeon show, “The Backyardigans,” is an animated feature about five neighbors who take musical adventures. Each show features original songs and choreographed dance steps in genres including funk, swing and reggae.
“Boohbah” came from British producer Anne Woods, the same fanciful mind behind “Teletubbies.” The five odd objects that are the show’s “stars” encourage young viewers to do things like the “lobster dance,” or to solve puzzles. The “Boohbah” characters went on a national fitness tour this fall.
“I think PBS may be the only network that actually thinks it’s a good thing when the child turns off the television and picks up a book or goes out to play,” said John Wilson, the network’s programming director.
Public broadcasting also has the luxury of not depending on ratings to set advertising prices.
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