Many many months ago I read a newspaper article about a "new" (to the US) program coming to PBS by the same creater as the Teletubbies, Ann Wood. Since, I've never been a fan of Teletubbies I marked this one off my (and my son's) watch list and we happily went our way watching Disney Channel (Wiggles) and Nick/Noggin (Blues Clues) and the occasional foray to PBS for Sesame Street. Since my son is busy with preschool on a daily basis, TV is not a big part of his life - usually working out to about an hour a day.

About Boohbah

First, the official description of the program from the Boohbah website (www.boohbah.com/parents.html)



Boohbah is an exciting new programme for children, with a format that fosters both creative thinking and creative movement. Boohbah is entirely designed to encourage physical action on the part of its young viewers. It deliberately combines infectious magical movement, for children to imitate, with inset stories for them to predict outcomes.

The design of the show - visually and otherwise, draws upon early concepts in science, maths and art and combines these with ‘televisual magic’ to create a uniquely funny television experience.

The Boohbahs, five magical atoms of power, light and fun travel in their Boohball around the world, from child to child. Fifteen countries are visited throughout the changing title sequence.

The Boohbahs represent the imaginative power and light which allows children to control the screen action by the use of the magic word “Boohbah”, and send presents into an imaginary Storyworld for the Storypeople - Grandmamma, Grandpappa, Mrs Lady, Mr Man, Brother and Sister, Auntie and Little Dog Fido to play with and make a story in partnership with them. We hear the children intervening in the screen action by the sound of their blowing and their use of the word “Boohbah”. This motivates the action and moves the story along. Only Little Dog Fido is not wholly in their control! Children are totally engaged and have a lot of fun guessing which Storyperson will appear and what will happen next.


You got that? I know I've read that description many many times and watched the program more than I can count. And, well, I admit. I don't get it!

So, here's my interpretation/explanation of the program Boohbah.

The program Boohbah, from the same creator of the program Teletubbies can be found on PBS stations once or twice a day (check your local listings). The program runs 30 minutes and there's supposedly over 100 different episodes of it - yet, I've managed to see the same 10 or so over and over.. go figure. In a similar vein to the Teletubbies (or even The Wiggles), there are 5 Boohbah characters, each a different color. They are named:


Jumbah - Blue
Zumbah - Purple
Humbah -Yellow
Jingbah - Pink
Zing Zing Zingbah -Orange


A Boohbah, which according to the creators is actually a magical atom of power, light, and fun looks sort of like a cross between a pear and a hershey's kiss - except wearing a bright furry chenille turtleneck sweater. They have cupie like heads which go in and out of the turtleneck (keep your mind out of the gutter - this is a kids program), big eyes and instead of eyebrows an arch of lights of some sort. Yes, they are truly bizarre. In fact, they just might be the most bizarre thing that I've ever seen on TV - let alone in a children's program.

Each 30 minute commercial free episode is broken into a few segments which includes the following:

1. The Arrival of the Boohbah's
2. A present for the Story People
3. Boohbah celebration (of sorts)
4. Look what I can do
5. Boohbah Departure

The show opens with a beam of light coming out over an ocean and traveling out over what is reported to be 15 countries, accompanied by funky music and the sound of laughter and happy children. This marks the arrival of the Boohbahs, who are then shown awakening in a pod-like vessel and coming to life, dancing away. We hear a child call out each Boohbah by name to come forward and do a dance. The music is very electronic and repetitive and the dance steps they are doing extremely simple. They'll do a few moves and then make what sounds to me like a fart sound but its supposed to be a sound of blowing air (I guess). My son finds this exremely funny and loves to imitate the dance moves, make the sounds and giggle a lot.

The next part of the show is where it gets really weird. Here we see a group of small children pushing a large wrapped gift out among various rainbow swirls and computer generated background. Once the present is where they want it to be they then proceed to blow on it (as if blowing out birthday candles) and announce that it is a present for the story people. The Story People are a host of humans - Grandmama, Grandpapa, Mr. Man, Mrs. Lady, Brother and Sister, Auntie, and Little Dog Fido (excuse me if I left anyone out). They represent different races and are one big happy family - that never speaks. The segment with the Story People is set on a beautiful beach and reminds me of something you might see in Sesame Street, but slightly sillier. The Story people episode that sticks out in my mind the most is called "Squeaky Socks". In this, we see Brother and Sister out on the beach and they find something. The narrator announces that it is a squeaky sock. We see one of them (I forget who tries it first) jump into a large overgrown sock (think as large as a sleeping bag) and then bounce up and down in it. The sock squeaks sort of like a dog toy. We hear children's voice call out in the background "boohbah" (it sounds like bee-bah..though) and the sound of blowing. Then, another squeaky sock appears. More blowing and boohbahs from the voices of the children and more socks appear - enough for every one of the story people to climb in and jump around. I know its something that I am dying to do, myself. My 3 year old, however, finds this extremely amusing.

Once the segment with the story people is completed there is more Boohbah dancing, celebrating to be had similar to the opening sequence. Then, the Boohbah's go back into their pod vessel and we see it flying over several cities with a rainbow of light. The next sequence is called "Look what I can do". In this segment there is a colorful rainbow circle of light on the ground and children are shown dancing (sometimes sped up and/or slowed down) in the circle while music plays in the background. This will go on and on for what seems like an eternity.

Finally, we see the Boohbahs back in their pod flying away into the sunset. You've now survived another episode of Boohbah.

Thoughts on the program
At the risk of being really repetitive, all I can say is that this is one odd program. I freely admit that I don't "get it". I honestly wonder if my 3 year old really gets it too. I have a hard time making a connection between these dancing colorful alien blobs and "magical atoms of light and fun". It makes me wonder what the creator was thinking, or what kind of drugs they may have been doing.

Despite it being so bizarre and baffling to me. I really wanted my son to not like this program. Kids have their own mind though and my son really likes it.

One thing that I do not personally care for is that there is very little language used in this program. Like the Teletubbies, I question what value this program has for children's language development. Especially in the case of my child, where a speech delay is present. In defense of Boohbah, there are few things which it does do which are the reason I allow my son to watch this fun show (for him).

The first, is that all the blowing and odd mouth "fart" type sounds are really excellent oral motor activities for him. My son has some articulation problems and so I like to encourage any activity such as blowing bubbles, musical instruments, etc that work his mouth muscles. In Boohbah he sees the children blowing on the present and hears all sorts of these funny noises that are made with the mouth and will imitate them giving his lips and mouth a small workout that any Speech Pathologist would applaud. The best part, he doesn't even realize that he is "working".

The other big thing that I like about Boohbah is that this is a program my son will watch and not just sit there like a lump. I love that he gets up and dances and moves with the Boohbah segments and the kids in the "look what I can do segment". He even is jumping up and down, calling out Boohbah (etc etc) during the short portion of the program with the Story People. Because he is so involved with the program it makes the 30 minutes fly right by and then we can go on to a non-television activity. Works for me!

So, yes, we are a Boohbah house now and have been duly invaded by DVDs, a play-doh set, and even a dancing Boohbah toy too. I remain baffled by it, but its a program my 3 year old has seriously connected with.

Boohbah!


For more info about the program including interactive games and printable coloring pages:
http://www.boohbah.com
http://pbskids.org/boohbah/boohbah.html



For laughs, I just had to include these fun titles my husband suggested for me to title this review.
"Somebody's coming"

"*whooosh* It's a bizarre British kiddie show"

"Boohbah: Multicolored Farting Atomic Particles Who Live In A Nuclear
Warhead"

"Boohbah: How the StoryPeople Overlords Extort Tribute from Their
Preschool Serfs"

"Mr. Man: Morpheus with a lobotomy"

"If you had to design a TV show in ten minutes with a thumping
hangover, how would you do?"

His take on Boohbah can be found here (and is much more humorous than I could have written): http://www.livejournal.com/users/grandhighpoobah/76467.html


Recommended: Yes

Type of Program: Educational
Program Quality: Entertaining, but not intellectually or emotionally engaging
Best Suited For: 3 to 5 Years