TV – The Backyardigans

☻☻☻☻☺

(four smiley faces out of five)

The Backyardigans is an animated show airing on the Nickelodeon networks that is aimed at kids aged two to five or six years old. It stars five creatures who are kids, three boys and two girls. There's Pablo the blue penguin; Tyrone the orange moose; Uniqua, who I've always thought of as a pink dinosaur; Tasha the yellow hippopotamus and Austin, a purple kangaroo.

Much like the variety of brightly colored puppets and monsters on Sesame Street, the creature-kids are meant to be representative of the melting pot that is the U.S. The premise of the show is that the kids meet in their backyards to play, always acting out a specific scenario that they spontaneously agree on. Once they’re into their play, the backyard scene melts away, revealing a new world created in the kids’ imaginations. The Backyardigans might be cowboys or explorers. They might travel through the dessert or to a volcano.

The CGI animation is not only easy on the eyes, but extremely well done. The plots are interesting and original, with whimsical twists.

Here’s where I’m going to get myself into trouble. Apparently the creator of the Backyardigans, Janice Burgess, prides herself on the show’s songs and dances, which encompass a plethora of genres and dance styles, and require a lot of work from choreographers and writers. These musical segments almost always earn high praise from parents and reviewers, including a review on IMDB.com that describes the songs in the Backyardigans as “Broadway caliber.”

But I just don’t care for them. To me, they seem more like time killers or fillers than anything else. Then again, I can admittedly be a grump, so I decided to get the opinion of a kid and recently asked my seven year old if she liked the songs in the Backyardigans. (In, I assure you, a completely neutral tone.) “No,” she said. “I just like the episodes.”

So, maybe the aversion to the Backyardigans music sequences is just a wacky gene that runs in our family. I dunno.

I’ve also always thought it was ironic that here we are, watching kids playing outside and using their imaginations when really, our kids should be outside playing and using their imaginations rather than watching a television show about it. But then, that’s more due to our failings as parents than the fault of the show, right? Besides, sometimes the weather is bad or there’s not time to go and play outside before school.

The fact is that the Backyardigans is a high-caliber show that you can enjoy with your kid(s). Our family just has to suffer through the musical interludes.

Oh, and incidentally, there are several really great Backyardigans video games on the Nickelodeon web site. Some are free and some you have to pay for, but they’re all really well tailored to younger kids.