Fairies Again: Sorry for ranting

Fairy-hello again!

OK, so it's long been my belief that there are only 30 or so actors in the whole of Australia. That's based on the fact that any time you see an Australian Film, all the cast also appear in soap operas.

Anyway, here's the problem with The Fairies. These are four actors who are too poor to get a job on Home and Away. Today we learnt about shapes. The way Australians pronounce "Equilateral" is my latest grievance about the show. Fan-fairy-tastic.

Elsewhere, Little Prairie Dogs is a poor idea poorly executed. The only silver lining on our telly box at the moment is Olivia - been a while since we've had something the adults can enjoy too.

The Fairies

Well tonight I did something I'd sworn not to do. I sat through a full episode of The Fairies. DTE is currently obsessed with those Fairy books - you know the ones - they deserve a scathing blog post all of their own.

Anyway, it was only a matter of time before an advert was spotted and the terrifying words "Can we book The Fairies into Planner?" were uttered. I'd caught glimpses of the show in the past - I feared it was bad. Jeeps I was right.

Let's kick off with the use of the word Fairy, which is randomly inserted into every sentence -"Fan-fairy-tastic" is just about OK, but when counting goes "Fairy one, fairy two..." I start to feel my hackles rise.

Next we have a "full of fun" fat bloke in a bumblebee costume, who makes Big Cook Ben look like olympic gold medalist for enthusiasm.

Then there are the fairies themselves. Each one as saccharin as the last. Next time I moan about British kids TV, remind me how lucky I am not to be a telly box watching dad in Australia.

Super Why and Wonder Pets

Well two old favourites have returned to our screens, so it must be time for my bi-annual promise to keep this blog updated regularly.

The always good value, Wonder Pets is back with a vengeance. Like all the best in kids TV, there's always plenty for the grown-ups to enjoy. Tonight there was an absolutely merciless swipe at Care Bears to enjoy, as the Wonder Pets visited Happy Forest, where no-one was happy despite constantly singing cheerful songs. Top notch.

Meanwhile, at the opposite end of things is the now completely bereft of ideas Super Why. When they pitched the (admitedly great) idea for the show to TV Execs they had precisely four ideas for shows. Despite ploughing on for several seasons since, they are yet to come up with another idea. Oh well.

Show Me Show Me

Please Show Me how it possibly took Chris and Pui six months to make this. Already it's dubbed "I Can't Believe It's Not Playschool" in our house. Hmmm! Much as we love the Pink Jumpered one and his Fag Hag pal, this isn't holding the attention at Castle Bus Stop. DTY went, as instructed by Chris and Pui, to get a toy this morning and clean forgot to come back. Such a shame - we had huge hopes.

Peppa Pig

A while since we updated you on our family viewing habits, so here we go. At the moment we are mostly watching Peppa Pig. DTE had tried it a while back, but it wasn't holding her attention. Now that she's old enough to get the jokes though, it's becoming a firm favourite. DTY even has a Peppa Pig Swimming Cossie and has developed a real obsession with George. Daddy enjoys Peppa Pig too - like all the best kids TV shows, there's enough grown-up humour there for the parents.

Can't say we didn't see it coming - after a year, the Green Balloon Club kids have hit the dole queue, and Cbeebies has ruthlessly started running the show from the start again. The old episodes are the best though - back when none of them could act (not that they improved much, except for our favourite, Cat) and "responsible adult" Sky was treated like a Galley Slave peddling away in the background and rarely spoke.

An Update on Our Telly-Box Watching

Goodness, another month goes by without a post on this blog. Anyway, I just thought I'd quickly bring you up to date with the viewing habits in our house.

Yesterday's Balamory threw up the interesting prospect of the Balamory Morris Dancing Society - about as likely as the Balamory Kurdish Community I mentioned a few posts back. It also featured our old friend Edie being sent to an oil rig to cheer the boys up - well if there's one woman for a job like that ("I can show you it all, come up and see me sometime") - all captured on video as always.

The Night Garden episode we saw this morning featured the Tombliboos riding on the Pinky Ponk desperately trying not to spill their juice. Eventually they did, of course, and needed Macca Pacca to blow them off with his Uff-Puff to get clean. No, it's too easy. I'll let you do your own jokes.

Meanwhile, 3rd and Bird, the poor man's Wonder Pets continues to bore us, and Boo! makes Dad want to launch bricks at the TV, however on the bright side, at least we got to see Smokey dragged up as Suzie from Balamory the other day and Pingu is back.

Balamory Tackles The Weighty Political Issues

It's been a while since I posted about mine, DTE and DTY's telly-box habits. However, this morning DTE requested an old-school Balamory, instead of our current fave Super Why.

We were delighted to be treated to Edie's raunchy number "Come Up and See Me Sometime", but somewhat mystified to see the popular pre-school show diving into the weighty political topic of the existance or otherwise of the state of Kurdistan. Miss Hoolie took her Kurdish guests for a picnic in a thinly disguised Bellahouston Park, and we were 'treated' to Kurdish dancing. I might be wrong, but it looked suspiciously like the BBC had rounded up all the vaguely 'ethnic-looking' children from nearby and raided the fancy dress box, as none of them looked like they had ever encountered a Kurdish dance before and shuffled around looking embarrased. Still it looked like The Kurdish Camerons (maybe I misheard the name) enjoyed it and they immediately stopped missing their intellectual homeland. Good, good.

Daddy's Favourite In The Night Garden Episode

If you too love the innuendo packed In The Night Garden, then you can't have failed to see yesterday's spectacular.

Upsy Daisy wants to show Iggle Piggle her flower, but Iggle Piggle wants to ride in the Ninky Nonk.

Includes the ultimate classic Derek Jacobi line, "Where is Iggle Piggle taking Upsy Daisy?"

Schoolboy sniggering aplenty. Marvelous stuff.

Nativity Plays and Hello Kitty

DTE took part in her first Nativity Play today. Sadly Daddy couldn't make it, but I've already perused the video. DTE was a king (how PC) and sang ever so loudly. We're very proud.

At home at the moment, TBH, DTE, DTY and myself have a new obsession. It's "Hello Kitty: Stump Village". A gorgeous, superb claymation adventure featuring loads of favourite Sanrio characters, including Daddy's favourite Badtz Maru. It's helpfully scheduled at 3:45am by Cartoonito, so you'll either need Sky+ or an insomniac toddler, but if it's Japanese and weird, of course you can count me in.

You can find out more about our experience of viewing Hello Kitty: Stump Village here.

I Hate Spam

Today, I was bored and as usual, I had a couple of hundred spam e-mails to wade through. I hate spam, but I decided it was time for some revenge and so I decided to start sending some replies.

Okay, so it's my usual juvenile attempts at humour, but if you're interested, you can see the results here.

It's Been A While..

This blog's been seriously neglected (again) of late. We've been ready getting the shop ready for Xmas but today I did manage to snatch a little while to add episode guides for Stingray and Captain Scarlet and The Mysterons. If it's your bag, check them out...

Balamory Strikes Back

Well, in a deja vu type way, I'm back on Balamory with DTY. She seems to find it every bit as entertaining as her older sister did at that age. Gosh, it feels good to be back - I've missed it. Straight in with one of the later episodes, where Balamory's (somewhat unlikely) Kurdish community gets an airing. I was rewarded for my viewing with the innuendo packed Edie song. "Come up and see me sometime, and I can show you it all." Genius.

Meanwhile over on the cartoon epsiode lists I've been continuing to relive my own childhood by adding two very different cartoons: Transformers and DangerMouse. Ahh, the memories.

Standing and Ducking

OK, so I'm a bit fuzzy about about the head today. DTY has become very proud of her new trick - standing up in her cot. The main problem is that she then doesn't know how to get back down again. Oops! Well there is always the simple solution of wailing until Mum or Dad appears to rescue you, so never mind. Having tormented us in this manner yesterday evening, the fun began again at an early hour. Lovely. Still, she is beautiful, so we forgive her.

My cartoon episode guide is becoming a bit of a mania at the moment. Yesterday I added Pokemon, today Count Duckula. The problem is, every time I add a list, I think of four more I'd like to add. Ho, hum.

Innuendo Afoot on CBeebies (Again)

Just before yesterday afternoon's episode of Green Balloon Club (watched this morning on good-old Sky Plus by DTE and I) the introduction scene featured Sid lying on the ground playing with his snake. It was the best innuendo piece on CBeebies since the last run of Something Special, with Justin lurking around in the woods/changing rooms/etc.

Top stuff!

More Cartoon News

I know my cartoon fixation is taking over this blog, but just to let you know further to yesterday's post - I've tidied up the menu at my cartoon episode guide. I've also added in The Flintstones and all it's various off-shoots like Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm. I've also get episode lists up for a couple of older Hanna Barbera shows: Loopy De Loop and Huckleberry Hound.

On the Subject of Telly Box

Anyone who knows me, knows I'm a big fan of animation. What you might not know about is my fledgling cartoon epsiodes guide section on the Bus Stop Toy Shop website. There's episode guides there for most Hanna-Barbera cartoons - my particular favourites. Anyway, at long last today I managed to get hold of episode guides for Scooby's All Star Laff-A-Lympics (would have been topical a month ago) and Josie and The Pussycats. Feel free to check them out. There's still a few I'm really on the hunt for. I'll keep you posted.

Rabbit Food and Roast Duck

DTY has embarked on a mission of, what we have come to term, "Bunny Bothering". Visiting DTE's rabbit is now the sole purpose of DTY's life. She's long since figured how to open the hutch and generously shares her affections with the somewhat frightened and bewildered rabbit at every opportunity.

DTE takes her responsibility of looking after her rabbit very seriously, and ensures that she gets a dose of treats every morning. Special Bunny Chocolate Drops, Yoghurt Drops and Crunchy Fruit things are the snacks in question. We've also been working hard on the concept of sharing recently. Therefore it was with some pride and a little alarm that we discovered that DTE was carefully sharing the rabbit treats between her bunny and her little sister. We're not sure how long it's been going on, but DTY looked absolutely delighted with her mouthful of rabbit snacks. Oh well.

Meanwhile, their normally animal-loving parents have been plotting to wring the neck of the duck with the affected lisp on Wonder Pets, and cook it for dinner. Our current vote for most annoying Kids TV character.

DTE Back to Nursery

It was with a small tear in the eye, that I trudged along the road to nursery with DTE this morning. I can't believe they're now taking our little princess away from us five mornings a week!

This morning we had a big cuddle and watched 'It's A Big, Big World' - our current morning program of choice. Smooch and Winslow discovered that Madge was missing! Panic stations all around, except for with Snook of course, who barely came out of his stoned slumber for long enough to register the dissappearance. Then, neurotic anteater Bob took us through his favourite songs from the series. Good stuff!

DTY's First Toothypeg

DTY now has another weapon to use in her battle for world domination. She has a tooth! Hooray! She's especially pleased with having her tooth brushed - it's a very funny thing to do. Meanwhile, on the tellybox front, we've been mostly watching 'Super Why' and 'Big World'. more on them another day...

Me Too CBeebies, I Love My Train

Found this on Youtube, with thanks to user, Fizzweeoo1. It amused me. I hope you like it.

Go Diego Go: Louis Gets The Horn

Last night we saw what must be the most ridiculous episode from the new GDG series yet. Diego helps, Louis, a Giant Turtle with the horn. Louis wants a woman, Diego finds an undiscovered island in The Galapagos (surely Google Maps got there first?), Alicia slopes off when there's hard work in the offing. A classic!

Granny Murray and The Gang

Another switch in the daily routine sees Me Too join the post breakfast line-up. Our favourites so far are Tina and her toy-boy Raymond. No-one seems to have noticed that their daughter must have been born when Raymond was about twelve and Tina in her mid-forties. Surely the police should be investigating?

Tina runs the worst Taxi Business in Glasgow. Yesterday she had three fares all day and still managed to double book herself. Still, we like her because she drives past our old flat in Glasgow in every episode. (Check it out - you can see the dilapidated sign for the off licence!)

DTE's First Crush

It is with great sadness, that I report that our not-yet-three-year-old has her first crush. It seems that the new CBeebies presenter, Andy, is the light of her life.

Oops, I've Been Missing...

Apologies to the regular readers. I've been away a while. Believe it or not, January is one of the busiest months running a toy shop. Clearing out old stuff in the January sale and planning ahead for the new year is all very time consuming. Sorry I haven't been around.

There's so much happened, I don't know where to start. I could tell you about the "Santa Experience" at Braehead - 2007 style - with many signs of the times. Suffice to say that Santa was younger than me and Polish, and some of his gifts from earlier in the season had been subject to product recalls. I could tell you about the wonderful family Christmas we all had. But no - I'll concentrate on my usual subject - the tellybox.

At the moment, we're most exited about new Go, Diego, Go episodes. Alicia is lazier than ever, the naughty Bobo Brothers seem to have been moved in and Baby Jaguar seems to have been sent to join the dole queue. So much to review in later posts.

We've also taken to watching Something Special. I'm getting good at sign language. I can sign 'Fat, Camp Man' and I perform it each time Justin appears. Poor Justin. It's not his fault he's a bit camp. There's no need for the producers of the show to have him (so far) lurking in the woods, waiting on the dock for sailors to arrive and myriad other stereotyped acts.

First Nights Away From DTY

It's too sad to contemplate. It's time for me to spend my first few nights away from my littlest princess. Berlin calls for a stag weekend. OK, so I am looking forward to it, but any parent knows the heartache of being away from the kids.

DTE kind of understands what's happening. She seemed to know last night that Daddy needed more cuddles than usual and told me that she loved me, when I was coming over to the shop this morning. (Holding her in one place long enough to get a quick kiss and cuddle is usually as much as I can hope for.) There will be a small tear in the eye on Friday and Saturday Night, when it's Go Diego Go time.