TV – Team Umizoomi

☻☻☻☻☺

(four smiley faces out of five)

Team Umizoomi is a new show aimed at preschoolers that airs on the Nickelodeon networks. Rather than focusing on language or behavior, as so many preschool educational shows do, Team Umizoomi focuses on math by way of mostly geometry, size relationships, patterns and occasionally number concepts like temperature.

Team Umizoomi consists three ultra-small, animated characters that interact with a world that’s mostly animated but also consists of real people. When Team Umizoomi is driving to a task in their teeny-tiny “umi car,” they often pass life-sized, non animated people and buildings, and I really like the look of the mix of animation and non-animation.

Team Umizoomi is made up of a couple of little kid pseudo-superheroes:  Milli, a little girl with the power to change patters and measure objects with her ponytail, and her little brother, Geo, who is able to create objects from the shapes on his belt. They are accompanied by Bot, a robot that is able to show anything on his “belly, belly, belly screen.” Bot always has the rundown on the team’s mission for the day, which involves helping to solve some kid’s problem. (Team Umizoomi, come help! My dog buried the thermos of lemonade for the picnic somewhere in the back yard. Oh no!)

Like Dora the Explorer, this show has plenty of those pauses that allow your child to respond to questions that Team Umizoomi might ask them. The plots are so-so. The writing is pretty simple and straightforward. Though she’s really too old to be watching it, my 7 year old enjoys this show very much.

As for me, Team Umizoomi doesn’t really bother me, although just writing about it has now put Bot’s song into my head and I can’t get it out. Darn it. And I think it’s nice to see a preschool show that’s deals with math concepts. That’s not something you see much, except for maybe Sesame Street.

My only complaints are that the show seems a little … whitewashed. Very, you know. Suburban and safe and culturally bland. I also think its funny that the creators are obviously trying to cash in on the cute Japanese look and feel of tiny characters in bright clothing with a Japanese-ish name—Umizoomi—but whatever.