Nick Jr. Grabs Yo Gabba Gabba!
Monday, January 22, 2007
By Claire Webb
This fall, a colorful group of TV puppets will be ready to sing, playand dance along for preschoolers! Produced by W!LDBRAIN and TheMagic Store, Yo Gabba Gabba! mixes live action puppets andanimation in a magazine-style format and has been picked up byNickelodeon’s preschool block Nick Jr. for 20 episodes. The half-hour show will use beat-driven music and song with a retro feel toenlighten preschoolers on simple life lessons. Yo Gabba Gabba! is punctuated by animated segments, real kids and special guests aswell as vibrant puppet friends. This will be the first project produced by neophyte studioThe Magic Store following the viral frenzy the trailer created online.
The series will also star Host DJ Lance Rock (Lance Robertson) who will bring life to thecolorful, friendly puppet characters and thus facilitate the education of youngstersthrough song and dance. The show will air on Nickelodeon’s Nick Jr. programming blockthat runs weekdays from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Yo Gabba Gabba! will begin production inSouthern California in April and should surface on the network in the fall of 2007.
“The Magic Store and W!LDBRAIN have created a hip, inventive and one-of-a-kind musicseries which furthers Nick’s commitment to be the place for top quality preschool musicentertainment,” raves Brown Johnson, exec VP and exec creative director for Nickelodeon Preschool. With characters like Muno the red Cyclops, Toodee the blue cat-dragon and Foofa the pink flower bubble, Nick’s new property will target little tykesages 2-5 with its musical content. President and CEO of San Francisco shop W!LDBRAINCharles Rivkin notes, “Shows like this come along once in a lifetime. Yo Gabba Gabba! is both fresh, fun, unique and truly original.”