The Backyardigans

Airing every morning at 10:30 Eastern on Nickelodeon, The Backyardigans features a group of five animated friends who share a common back yard. They are Tyrone the moose, Tasha the hippo, Pablo the penguin, Austin the kangaroo and Uniqua the “unique” animal.

The show begins with a bouncy, piano-driven theme song. “We’ve got the whole wide world in our yard to explore,” the quintet sings. This foretells the conceit of the show, that the Backyardigans are simply going to hang out in the backyard and pretend to go on fantastic adventures.

Sometimes only three or four of the characters will appear on the show, while the others will only appear in the opening song. One memorable episode found the whole gang traveling to Cheyenne, Wyoming, for a surprise birthday polka party. Another featured Detective Tyrone helping Uniqua retrieve her lost ball from Pablo the “soccer monster.”

The best part of The Backyardigans is the music. The songs are written and sung very well. It’s great to listen to a show that features kids singing on key. Also, every episode has a musical theme. If your kid watches a block of episodes on DVD, she may get the opportunity to listen to ragtime, reggae, Broadway and country music. The dancing is good, too – you can tell the people who make this show are trying hard.

Creator Janice Burgess modeled the show after her carefree childhood playtime in her backyard. Music composer Evan Lurie came up with a list of musical genres that supplement each episode. Beth Bogush is the show’s choreographers, taping real dancers and sending the tapes to the animators.

At the end of each show’s adventure, one of the characters realizes he or she is hungry. The scene morphs into the backyard again, and the kids go back into the house again. By this time, parents and kids children already satisfied. The Backyardigans is relatively new, but it already ranks near the top of the list of kids TV shows.