May 10, 2010
The Story So Far Olivia, the star of a well-regarded series of children’s books by Ian Falconer, made the leap to animated television in 2009, thanks to Nickelodeon. She’s the oldest of three kids, and when she isn’t enjoying being the center of attention, she’s lost in her own imagination. The computer-animated series captures the art style of the books nearly perfectly for two stories per half-hour episode. So far Nickelodeon has released one Olivia DVD, in August of 2009 and DVDTalk has a review.
The Show
My daughter’s interest in TV shows can be fleeting, as one week she’ll be obsessed with Dora the Explorer, only to throw her support behind The Wonder Pets the next week. It’s rare that a show can keep her focus for very long, but Olivia is just such a show. When that theme song begins those repetitive Olivias, she begins belting it out along with the TV, following the titular pig’s adventures with relatively rapt attention. Being the one who usually sits with her when she watches TV (we do have similar tastes, despite the 29 year age difference) I’ve been forced to endure several episodes of Olivia and can honestly say, I don’t hate this series.
The eight stories in the four episodes here follow the same loose general theme as the rest, as Olivia finds a new interest, runs into a problem as a result, and has to figure out a solution, often with the help of her family, including her mom and dad, and her two younger brothers. There’s no real goal or mission most of the time, though Olivia would probably think she’s accomplished something grand. Along the way, she often succumbs to daydreaming, where she takes her rightful place in the world (or at least the rightful place in her mind) as one of the most important people in the world. But unlike many kids’ shows, her ego isn’t coddled, as she fails on a regular basis and the people around her show themselves to appreciate when she either learns she’s wrong or doesn’t get her way.
 |
 |
Like last time, these stories are purely entertaining, without any obvious educational value. One could argue that when she tries to figure out how to pull off a carnival at school, she’s displaying some problem solving skills (or perhaps teamwork by working with her brother,) but when she uses her classmates’ fear of icky things against her after losing a vote to be class pet monitor, it’s not clear what the message is supposed to be. The same goes for her foray into ballet, during which she forces her friend Julian to join her class. The whole issue only comes about because she doesn’t want to dance by herself like the rest of the girls. There are no real consequences when she makes such selfish decisions either, so you can’t even say they offer life lessons. Sure, some light entertainment is fun, but if your little kid is going to sit in front of the TV, let’s make it worthwhile.
Recent Comments