No! You MUST like this show!

I'm a bad parent. Let's get that out of the way now. As parents, Kirky, (), and I watch a lot of television. As such, we also watch a lot of television with Will, (). Very slowly my TiVo is being taken over by kid shows - Dora the Explorer, Go Diego Go, Thomas and his Friends, Sesame Street, Clifford, Bob the Builder, Blue's Clues and Little Einsteins. But there's one show I've been taping that I want Will to love....because I love it - Jack's Big Music Show.

Will loves music. In fact, being an 18mo old, he doesn't understand much about what he watches. He just likes the music and dances. Little Einsteins is a predictable favorite. He was a huge fan of Baby Einstein's Baby Neptune - we used to be able to play it before bed and he'd snuggle into our laps and pass out. Dora, Diego, Blue's Clues, and Sesame Street all have music that he loves. I swear I'll never get the "Elmo's World" tune out of my head without some industrial-strength pipe cleaners.

Jack's Big Music Show is about this muppet named Jack who goes outside to play in his "clubhouse" with his friend Mary and his dog Mel. Mary plays the accordian and while she speaks, Mel does not - though he is very proficient on percussion. Jack mostly plays guitar and other string instruments.

The show is interspersed with videos by Laurie Berkner and her band as well as one of my favorite "groups", The Schwartzman Quartert - 4 identical muppets singing acappella. I LOVE them. I have a huge soft spot for acappella ever since high school when I was a baritone in our Madrigals group. Although I haven't done any community singing since, I truly, truly, love to break out into such tunes and Jack's Big Music Show has rekindled that.

The quartet is voiced by Robert Bowker, Paul Langford, Jeffrey W Morrow, and Johnny N Rutledge all well known for their vocal prowess. The main trio is voiced by Jim Henson alumni - Mary is voiced by Alice Dinnean, Jack by David Rudman, and Mel by John Kennedy. Dinnean has done Muppet Wizard of Oz, Sesame Street, Bear in the Big Blue House and even the "Smile Time" puppet-themed episode of Angel. Rudman, (also an Executive Producer of the show), voices the popular Baby Bear, Cookie Monster, and the Two-headed Monster on Sesame Street. Kennedy, appropriately, voiced "Animal" from The Muppets so it's fitting that Mel be the drummer.

A frequent visitor to the show is the incredibly talented singer/musician/producer/composer Cathy Richardson who brings musical versitality and seamless, fun interaction with her puppet counterparts.

I so want Will to like this show but it's just not happening... yet. I think this vicarious experience is just me mourning the end of the muppet show and trying to find close-enough substitutes. That's probably why my heart jumped when I saw an add for PBS's "It's a Big Big World this morning. It's created by the same guy who did Disney's "Bear in the Big Blue House" and it's main character, Snook the Sloth, is very much like Bear:

Snook, an energetic giant tree sloth is your host and guide through this new world. His friends include: Smooch and Winslow, two rambunctious marmoset siblings; Wartz, an eager-to-please singing tree frog; Madge, an ancient she-turtle with the map of the world on her back; Burdette, a bird who thinks she knows it all; Bob the Anteater, who has a complicated relationship with the ants; Ick, a braggart fish; Oko, an old monkey trickster; and more.

No news on who does the voices yet...I'll look into it.

Anyway, back to the bad parenting. we watch so much TV with Will because otherwise he goes for the laptop, remotes, mouse, cell phones, telephone and kitchen appliances. He never seems to want to play with his toys. Perhaps they're too young for him at this point and he's bored? I mean, he's only 1.5 yrs old....it's not like we have rattles for him. Perhaps we need to start reading to him more.

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