Tuesday, June 24, 2014

PBS Kids- Review of My Childhood (part 4)

Hi, I'm the Whatsoever Critic. I review just about anything.

It's been a while since Part 3 of my review on PBS kids. So this is Part 4. For this part, I'm going to cover the shows that came out in 2006-2009.

Curious George

This show, like Clifford, was based on the book series of the same name.
-But... I don't think that's what made this show popular.
Ever since the feature-length film of the same name became popular with the young children, there seemed to be this temptation that PBS fell into, because they decided to make the movie into an educational show.

Did it work?
To be honest, it did not. Why? Because there seemed to be a push to make Curious George more and more popular by going from a book series to a movie to finally, a TV show that would be destined to be so forgettable. With that said, there wasn't any more substance to make Curious George any more popular.

-Thus, it feels like one of the nails that would pierce PBS Kids inside a dark coffin.

Fetch! with Ruff Ruffman

-Now for this show... It seemed pretty decent.
It's a TV competition where a group of kid contestants compete to win a mystery prize from the cartoon host, Ruff Ruffman.

Okay, how would one describe Ruff?

Well, he's comical; he possesses a good hard; and he's super smart. Yeah, I think this show gave this dog some good character traits as a TV host, and even as a standalone character.
I think this was the first time that PBS Kids reinvented kids' game shows by having a cartoon host the show, as well as pouring in something that kids would be educated on, besides just watching a game show.

It's A Big Big World

I'm not sure why this show didn't catch on.
The show centers around a talking sloth who lives in the rainforest with his animal friends...


-Starting to sense the similarity here?
Well, it turns out that most of the performers in this show came from former Playhouse Disney shows like Bear In The Big Blue House and The Book of Pooh, which was pretty impressive.
-Maybe the performers wanted more dough, because Disney put a stop to the shows that they were devoted to before Disney wanted to "expand its horizons" by getting rid of such memorable shows... Just a theory.
Well, I really wish this show was given another chance- a reboot.

Super Why!

Many people know this show by heart... because of PBS Sprout and merchandising.
Think of this as a G-rated version of the Avengers mixed into a Between the Lions-kind-of scenario, and you get the most stalk-boring pieces of educational-and-boring bullshit that any kids'-show-producing... producer would ever conceive.
-Enough said. It's boring. Why are so many people attracted to this boredom?

WordWorld

A world made of words...
-Next.

Sid the Science Kid

Okay, this show was... I don't know. It's decent, I guess.

I mean, it's from the same people that gave us the Muppets. In fact, they made the show CG-animation instead of live-action like the Muppets and Sesame Street, which was... impressive, seeing how many shows and movies are milking CG-animation like a prized cow nowadays.

It was fun; it was sophisticated; it was PBS's prized show, which is still going on today.

Dinosaur Train

-Land Before Time series, meet PBS.

Yeah, that was my first reaction when I first started seeing this show. Sure, the dinosaur characters have a train to ride on, while sitting there listening to a Troodon simply known as Mr. Conductor...
-...who I swear keeps like he could be the cousin of Ozzie and Strut from the Land Before Time series... Just a theory. But I'm sorry to say that there will never, in the history of PBS Kids, be a Dinosaur Train and Land Before Time crossover.

Anyway, the show was made by the same people that brought you Sid the Science Kid, which was pretty cool.

Pocoyo

This had to be one of the most boring shows on PBS. In fact, this show ran from 2009-2013- it was that not interesting. The scenarios were a bore; the characters were a bore; and it was way below PBS Kids' standards.

That was Part 4 of my review. I promise you the next on PBS Kids will be the final part. So stay tuned!

Whatsoever Critic
Sources:
Curious George
Fetch! with Ruff Ruffman
It's A Big Big World
Super Why!
WordWorld
Sid the Science Kid
Dinosaur Train
Pocoyo

Courtesy: Imagine Entertainment/Universal Animation Studios/WGBH-TV; East Hampton Airport industrial complex; Out of the Blue Enterprises/DHX Media/Decode Entertainment; The Learning Box; The Jim Henson Company; and Zinkia Entertainment/Cosgrove-Hall Films.

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