WHEN it comes to British imports, at one extreme is The Beatles and at the other is the ill-fated Mr. Blobby.
The BBC believes that a new show for pre-schoolers, “The Tweenies,” will be the biggest thing to hit American shores since “The Teletubbies.” And they have good reason to think that.
The three-year-old show, still in negotiations for a U.S. outlet, is selling faster than any other program in BBC history (take that Masterpiece Theater!). “Tweenies” is targeted to those sophisticated televisionistas who have outgrown Po and LaLa, and have entered nursery school, pre-K and K and those difficult questions of whether it’s polite to bite a child who refuses to share his Tinky Winky.
So let’s meet Jake, Fizz, Milo and Bella, the show’s John, Paul, Ringo and George.
The quartet is colorful, cumbersome and distinct in personality and age. Jake, still in pull-ups, is the youngest. Fizz is female and artistic, liking pink and ballet. Milo is four and a tiny terror with a passion for noise-makers and noodging. Bella, nearly five, is bossy.
When they’re not noodling in the garden, the quartet hangs out in a preschool environment under the kindly eyes of their plush “carers.” The 260 segments at 20 minutes apiece include social lessons (don’t lie or blame the dog for your mistakes), song-and-dance routines that encourage kids to get up off their potatoes and dance, easy to replicate craft ideas, mini-documentaries in the “Teletubbies” mode as well as short animated segments.
I road-tested a tape on my pre-schooler, who is the ideal audience, and my 18-month-old who is still in “Teletubbies” land (she sleeps with a stuffed Po).
Both were responsive if not mesmerized. Trevor declared Milo annoying (with no prompting from me) and I felt like I was trapped in a day-care center full of charmless children.
But the show addressed lying, which came up last week at my son’s pre-K when a little vixen refused to tell the truth.
Is “Tweenies” family viewing? No, since it’s not pleasurable for parents. I put it in the “Dragon Tales” category of shows that are good for you, if not great fun.
Will it be a success stateside? Most probably, especially if it follows “Teletubbies.”
If you would like to take “Tweenies” for a test drive with your children, check out the interactive website at http://www.bbc.co.uk/education/tweenies.
It’s “faberooney,” the site’s favorite adjective, which reminds me of one of my favorite Britishisms: twee, which means excessively cute.
How fitting.