Bear in the Big Blue House
Weekdays, 10 a.m., TVO
The preschool genre is rife with programs that are earnest in their efforts to instill values like co-operation among their sub-six-year-old audiences. And there's usually lots of colour and well-intentioned enthusiasm. But it's difficult to create entertaining shows for this age group that also satisfy the developmental psychologists on the payroll.
Bear in the Big Blue House is a preschooler show that manages to address the very young while maintaining a grown-up air of polish and character.
Each episode opens with the seven-foot-tall, shaggy-haired Bear welcoming viewers into the house he shares with a collection of smaller animal puppets. In the episode I watched (with a three-year-old friend who watched repeatedly in awe), Bear prepares his little friends for a visit from the doctor, skillfully allaying their fears and explaining the benefits of vaccinations.
Relaxed and authoritative, Bear has an easy warmth about him. A production of the Jim Henson Co., Bear in the Big Blue House lives up to the late puppeteer's name in quality tone. It's that rare kids' show with personality.
Quints
Saturday, 9 p.m., repeats Sunday,noon, Family
Family has been airing Disney-produced TV movies on Saturday nights, and some of the fare has been disappointing to say the least. This week's offering, Quints, is not half bad. It starts from an unpromising premise: Parents of a 14-year-old girl have quintuplets and, caught up in the whirlwind of publicity and endorsements, neglect their real parental responsibilities -- both to the babies and the big sister.
But thankfully, that cliche-ridden formula is only skin deep. Quints is really about a confused girl, Jamie Grover, finding her self-esteem. Or, as Jamie puts it: "One of those girl-finds-herself-even-though-she-didn't-know-she-was-lost kind of stories."
Kimberly J. Brown is quite convincing as Jamie, a girl who has spent her childhood clamouring for the approval of her parents. She is expected to do well academically, get into an elite high school and excel at science. Only after her parents are distracted by the birth of the quints does Jamie be-gin to discover that she has an artistic talent.
Her art teacher, Mr. Blackmer (James Kall) offers encouragement with an ironic wit and charm. "I don't have to be fair," he says more than once, "I'm a teacher. I don't have to be anything."
Scenes featuring Kall's cool and natural Blackmer are well-written and well-acted. Blackmer offers sage advice and the film has the rare courage to have Blackmer offering this honest, dangerous nugget: "Some of the most successful people in life never finish high school. And there are college graduates who never amount to anything." He's not telling Jamie that school isn't important; he's telling her that life is what you make of it.
Shot in Toronto, the film features a cameo by Don Knotts as the governor.gT