Raggs Kids Club Band

 Raggs

I've recently been asked to review a show called Raggs Kids Club Band, but having never seen Raggs I had to hit the YouTube, as well as the official site, and hell even Wikipedia! Now for some reason I was immediately reminded of "The Doodlebops" which, I do not, like. But forget that! Raggs is a musically focused live-action show that stars five pooches who are in a rock band, and play a full length song in front of alive audience early on in every episode. After the concert the gang addresses some topic, usually foreshadowed in the opening before the concert. Topics range from health, friendship, well-being etc... but I will be writing strictly from the 6 episodes I've watched.

Located inside and the area surrounding their clubhouse, the Raggs world is what you'd call loudly colorful, with many contrasting color schemes. Raggs and the gang play and discuss things like what it means to pretend, the possible existence of extra-terrestrials, and catering to their high-maintenance pet cat, Dumpster. It puts a lot of importance on patience in many ways, every now and then one of the pups will do something to annoy the others, as seen in Pretending is Fun, where the surfer dog plays pretend with items and environment being used by the others trying to go about their day.

As far as character development, I think it focuses more the team than the individual, emphasizing a homogeneous mentality. As a result they're very similar, albeit with some quirks, and don't have any depth to them. They are all however curious and innocent, so it's more like they haven't "developed" distinct traits and mannerisms. So I guess it's like, a show about a bunch of young puppies. That's a hell of an analogy! The one exception being, Dumpster, the aforementioned cat. Which ironically, is also like a real cat; he just does what he wants. Dumpster also has the privilege of interviewing real kids during a break segment where he ask them what they think about stuff ("how would you go to the moon?")...

Now, the real test... Made the kids watch it, my daughter who is two loved it, screaming 'doggi-dooogggyyy-DOGGEEEE" while smacking the keyboard, and then sat quietly for over fifteen minutes watching intently. You got an odd "uh-ohh" and "ohh nooo" now and then as the situation warranted... . My four year old son however wanted nothing to do with it, he was watching Robots, the movie. Although he did glance over now and then. He seems to like Dumpster. ...He also likes Pablo the penguin(see Backyardigans)... Not sure if I should worry yet.

All in all, you need to take this show for what it is; a high-spirited, active, engaging time for young kids, specifically preschoolers. But really any child who can understand may benefit, especially form the segments about health/hygiene which are very important but not too often reiterated in children's programming (like brushing teeth, cleaning/taking your shoes before going inside). I hate when the kids walk around with their shoes on. Great for kids in the process of speaking, the dialogue is slow but articulate spoken and pronounced clearly.

I will continue to update this as the kids come into more contact with Raggs and try to streamline and tidy the blog as I go along. This is my view "as is" at a glance, and so I have yet to properly rate.

Thank you to Ben of raggsbandfansite.webs.com

The Backyardigans

The Backyardigans

I'm starting off with this one because it was just on, and it's pretty popular. Backyardigans stars five friends who all live in adjoining backyards, visiting all sorts of places using their imaginations to act out their play-time filled with singing and dancing. Usually their adventures split the gang into the antagonists/protagonists, and at the end of their play they convene for snacks at one of their homes.

The stories are fun and original, as well as some being based on existing stories, such as Journey to the Centre of the Earth. They also heavily reference things most adults would get, for example in the episode "Cops and Robots" Tyrone and Uniqua are cops chasing these bad robots, Pablonator and T-900, a clear nod at The Terminator.  The songs are top notch, and catchy, unlike most shows where you wonder if they made up the words as they went along. The episode usually follows a genre of music throughout, and not necessarily related to the locale. The dancing is oddly fluid, that's because it's made from live actors later ported to the animation studio. Thankfully the Backyardigans are not one-dimensional, the characters are full and rounded, with distinct personalities that are still subtle enough that you don't think they just wrote archetypes on a whiteboard and attached them to their characters. ...Although I've noticed Pablo does coincidentally sometimes end up playing the bad guy. ...A lot. He also rubs his flippers together when he laughs sometimes. ...I'm sure it's nothing. He's a real nice guy.

 While it doesn't teach kids to count or talk, or whatever, it teaches something far more important, how to be socially productive. Nobody cares how far your kid can count if he sucks at playing and hanging out with. This is why I gave it big-ups on the education score. Also while this show does break the fourth-wall, it doesn't treat the audience(children) like idiots.You know what I'm talking about.

    
Entertaining 10     Networks: Treehouse, Nickelodeon
Educating 7           Ages: 2-10
Enraging 0            Rating: 4.5 Stars, deal with it

Conclusion: A light, fun, and visually appealing story-oriented show that teaches interpersonal skills and doesn't insult the intelligence of your child with forced close-ended questions.

Links

Here's some websites full of Backyardigans stuff: The Backyardigans Fansite

Goodmorning, I now review Children's Programming.

[Update: Decided not to censor, made more concise]

Wondering what your kids are learning? Wondering what the hell you just watched!? So this is about half personal commentary, and half constructive review on the quality and purpose of what you sit your kids in front of. Maybe you'll find good shows to watch, maybe you'll just learn what shows are more bearable, I leave that to you. I'm going to take into account values listed below, and then give it an overall score out of five.

1. Entertaining (Is it fun?)
2. Educating (Are they learning?)
3. Enraging (Is it annoying?)

Okay let's begin!