Shock Jocks
From the land that gave us Björk comes LazyTown, a new kids series dedicated to promoting physical fitness. It debuted this past Monday on Nick Jr., perhaps to coincide with the Olympics. The show is the brainchild of professional athlete and aerobic champion Magnus Scheving, who also stars as Sportacus, a jock superhero. His sidekick is Stephanie, a perky eight-year old, who I thought at first was a Japanese pop star with her crazy pink hair and pink outfit. Lazy Town is a mix of live action, CGI and puppetry and stylistically is reminiscent of Pee-Wee’s Playhouse. And with its techno-pop tunes, it appears like an over-extended Aqua Barbie Girl music video.
One other kiddie show that promotes physical activity is Boohbah on PBS. If you thought Teletubbies was weird, this one is just plain out of this world. From what I remember in one episode, it had non-speaking, phallic-like beings whirling in a dervish fashion. And soon after that, they take off into ethereal heights like out-of-body souls entering the astral plane. Let’s wait and see if Jerry Falwell has a cow over this.
Tags: boohbah, cg, exercise, falwell, lazytown, magnus, music, Nickelodeon, nickjr, olympics, peewee, scheving, techno, tv
August 19th, 2004 at 10:04 pm
I saw BooBah on TV and I was hypnotized for a bit. I couldn’t switch the channel. The characters are quite odd compared to Teletubbies but they’re quite funny jiggling around. When they go to sleep they enter this fruit-sac looking bed O.o and they end up looking like seeds.
September 1st, 2004 at 11:26 am
speaking of children’s shows…. I don’t have any kids but my cousin in LA has three (ages 8, 6, 3) so whenever I visit, I always end up watching cartoons, kids shows or whatever’s on Nickleodeon… including Sponge Bob…anyways, check out this article:
http://www.landoverbaptist.org/news0403/spongebob.html
I think some people need to get a hobby, ‘di ba?
September 1st, 2004 at 1:49 pm
Ahh… the infamous Landover Baptist site. The site is so insidious. It’s actually intended to mock Christianity. Yes, it’s a clever work of satire but to the uninitiated their articles may seem real and may attribute the foolishness to actual actions of Christians.
Oh well. I like Sponge Bob too.
October 6th, 2004 at 12:43 pm
my finace has 2 bros. 1 and 3. anyway when i am over there we watch lazytown cuz the kids will scream if we change the channel. anyway now i watch that show twice a day and the ending song is stuck in my head.
February 15th, 2005 at 8:01 pm
I am a 20 year old college student, and I make sure I never miss an episode of Lazytown! Monday thru Friday at 10:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. on Nick Jr. My first impression of the show was it’s the Muppets on crack. The puppets are kind of creepy, but I love Stefanie and her pink hair. Magnus Scheving, who play the hero Sportacus, has to be the sexiest man alive. He is twice my age, and I would marry him in a minute. I’ve actually thought about visiting Iceland just to meet him. The show itself is wonderful for kids to learn about how to live healthy and safe lives, but the only thing I pay attention to is Sportacus and his flexiblility. His flips and splits drive me nuts!