Review of Wubbcast

The Wubbcast’s demographic might be too young to type, but that doesn’t mean that online video has forgotten preschoolers. After writing for NY Times and The Nation, show creator Bob Boyle switched to television with “Wow! Wow! Wubbzy!” which began airing on Nick Jr. in 2006. Boyle takes care of the screenwriting, while animation is left to Frederator Studios, who created shows like Oh Yeah! Cartoons, The Fairly Odd Parents, and Next New Networks’ online series Channel Frederator. With its online debut hailed as “the world’s first preschool video podcast,” Wubbcast allows you and your tyke to enjoy the show on your own schedule. Wubbcast has since been featured on Entertainment Television, in part for its kid-friendly Marshmallow Lasagna recipe.

The televised series follows the adventures of Wubbzy, our precociously curious and square-shaped protagonist. Often accompanied by Walden and Widget, his book-savvy and crafty sidekicks, Wubbzy springs around the screen with a can-do attitude and a crooked tail, facing some of life’s earliest lessons, like how to handle getting harassed in the schoolyard

and tracking down a missing toy. But the online series features both Wubbzy, Walden, and Widget’s myriad escapades and new animated shorts from the Boyle/Frederator collaboration, like Rob Renzetti’s Eddie and Emo series and Charles Danziger’s “Six Snails Snoring.” Sometimes Wubbcast’s weekly episodes are instructional, covering numbers, letters, colors, and spelling, but more often Wubbzy embarks on a mission to help a friend or stay inside to daydream. Wubbzy and his pals speak in clear voices and consistently repeat words to help your toddler pick up a few new phrases along the way.

In this episode, we meet Walden in his library for his erstwhile Minute of Knowledge. His whacky biology discussion on Tum-Tum Tickler trees and Shower Flowers will doubtlessly keep kids more engaged than the average classroom lesson plan. (Be prepared: your kids will be clapping along with the chorus of clams and the walrus on ukulele that help Walden conclude his lesson.)