No, no, we’re not going to talk about the relentlessly overhyped American knock-off, which airs sometime this week—we’re pro-Steve Carell around here and we’re still not going to watch it. (It’s amazing—we don’t watch commercials, due to TiVo, and still we’re aware of how hyped this show is.) Do yourself a favor: just watch the original in order.

We’d heard over and over (and over and over) again about how good this series “The Office” from the BBC was. We never caught it on BBC America, but Darin, looking around for a birthday present/Christmas present/Hanukkah present for himself, decided to pick up the DVD sets of the first and second series, which included the lauded Christmas episode. He started watching it back in December, when his parents were here. I didn’t watch it with him then.

He came to bed after watching the first few episodes. He had a look of shell-shock on his face. “How is the show, honey?” I chirped merrily.

He shook his head. “It’s…painful. Brilliant, but painful.”

Hmmm. I wasn’t interested enough to start watching then, despite his growing raves about how un-fucking-believably hilarious and brilliant it was. But he kept after me to watch.

So a week or so ago we started watching it together. After the first two episodes I said, “This is the most annoying show ever. You sure I need to keep watching?” After four episodes, I was definitely interested but still cringing. After six episodes (the first series), I kept my hands near my face, but I was watching.

“The Office,” for those of you out there who are even slower on the uptake than I am, is a “documentary” about an office of a paper company in Slough, England. The boss is David Brent (writer-creator Ricky Gervais), a smarmy, incompetent boss who just wants “to have a laugh” with the team. Tim (Martin Freeman, soon to be Arthur Dent) is the competent salesman. Gareth (Mackenzie Crook), the very strange “team leader” who talks in dark and sinister ways about his army training, is quite possibly the least socially competent person ever committed to celluloid. The receptionist Dawn (Lucy Davis) and Tim have a strong attraction to one another, but Dawn has a boyfriend/fianc&eacute.

There are no “jokes.” (Except for the godawful ones David Brent tells. At one point I started shouting at the TV: “Shut up! Shut! Up! Stop it!”) The dialogue is pretty much how people actually talk. There are long, awkward pauses. There are excruciatingly embarrassing scenes. Seriously, I don’t know how Ricky Gervais wrote this stuff, considering he was going to do it.

We finished the second series last night. And it’s brilliant. It’s unbelievable. There are two scenes in the final episode that completely broke my heart, one of which prompted me to say to Darin, “They’ll never do that on American television.” The scene is done completely without any sound—speaking, music, ambient. And you can’t quite see the characters involved either.

I am really looking forward to the Christmas special now.

You must see this show on the DVD, for the “behind the scenes” documentary on the Series 1 disc. They play up the “Ricky Gervais IS David Brent” angle a little too much, but there are a couple of things in there that are so funny, all Darin has to do to make me laugh hysterically is repeat a few of the key phrases. I really want to know if Merchant and Gervais are completely improvising during their discussion of “Brain Jail,” their next project.

The most amazing thing about this show is that it’s reminded me, forcibly, of people I haven’t thought of in over a decade. People I worked with at Apple, most of whose names I’ve forgotten. The chumminess and obnoxiousness and general insanity of an office job, even a really cushy one like we had.

I told Darin about one guy I worked with. Right after I started working there, a group of us were sitting around and the conversation turned to cocaine. (It was Apple. It was the late Eighties. Let me put it this way, it wasn’t an unlikely topic of conversation.) And I said, in my snarkily smug way, “Cocaine is God’s way of telling you you haven’t put enough money in your 401K.”

And this guy says, “Of course not! You’ve spent it all on cocaine!”

The silence that ensued, the embarrassment of the other people standing around (who were, to be fair, a lot smarter than this guy), I remember to this day.

So, I know I’m totally going to give you the idea that all my kids do is watch TV, and this is completely one hundred percent not true.

However, the TV they do watch gives me something to write about, so here it is.

Forget Lazytown (as though I could forget it—it’s my single most popular entry ever)—Sophia got bored with Lazytown because it’s been the same five episodes in rotation for the past two months. The show to watch is The Backyardigans. How much do I love this show? I am tempted to watch it when the kids aren’t around. I sing the songs as I do the dishes. There are only nine episodes so far and I have all nine on our TiVo. I force people just visiting our house to watch some of this show.

I love this show.

Tyrone, Tasha, Pablo, Uniqua, and Austin

The Backyardigans is a show about five friends—Tyrone the moose, Tasha the hippo, Pablo the penguin, Uniqua the ladybug, and Austin the kangaroo (actually, I’m not sure what Austin is, and he’s the Backyardigan we see the least of anyhow)—who get together every day and have some theme to their play: ghosts, Tarzan, knights and quests, Mounties, Vikings. They all take roles in their adventure that pretty well fit with their personalities. At the end, they repair to one kid’s house for snacktime.

In between, there’s singing, dancing, and general silliness. What’s extremely excellent about this show is that there’s stuff in there for grownups that’s not sneaky or salacious: it’s just on a level most kids aren’t going to find funny in the same way. For example, three Backyardigans are chasing the Yeti across the North Pole:

             TASHA
          We need kayaks to cross
          this water.

     They suddenly spy three KAYAKS on the bank of
     the river.

             TYRONE
          Well, that certainly is
          convenient.

That line cracks me up everytime.

The songs in this show are incredibly memorable. While doing the dishes I like to sing the songs the Vikings sing as their Viking ship rounds a very powerful whirlpool, “You’ve Got To Hold On Tight”:

You've got to hold on tight
Hold on tight
You've got to hold on tight
Hold on tight
You've got to hold on tight with all your Viking might.

Darin’s favorite bit is when they sing a limbo while trying to avoid the laser beams during a super-secret spy mission.

This show has reignited my love of musicals, which has been dormant for some time. (My insistence on musical-only writing music has been helped by the fact that I dug out our CD collection and ripped about 150 of them recently. Of course, I can’t find the one I’m looking for, Linie 1. Sigh.) I want to write a children’s musical, I’m so inspired by this show.

Anyhow: The Backyardigans is on Nick Jr. I highly recommend checking it out.

(Tyrone the moose is my favorite, by the way. In case you’re wondering.)

 

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Update 2/16/05: Wow, lots of comments here! This entry is listed pretty high on Google when you search for “The Backyardigans” so I’m going to assume someone from Nick Jr. has found it. (Hi there! More Backyardigans episodes, please!)

A number of people have posted asking about Backyardigans-themed birthday supplies and other merchandise. As far as I’ve been able to find on the Web, there isn’t any! It might not be licensed yet or might not have gotten to stories yet. All I can say is: Hurry it up! You’ve got lots of customers waiting. If anyone does know of legit Backyardigans stuff, let me know and I’ll put it on this page.

I found a number of Backyardigans songs on LimeWire. I don’t know where they’re from, since a few things tell me they’re not recorded right off of the show. If the production company wanted to put out a CD with each and every song from the show on it, they’d have a bestseller. I think there are plenty of parents out there who wouldn’t mind putting that music on for their kids, and I’d rather pay royalties to the songmakers!

Evidently a new bunch of episodes will start airing in a week or two. I can’t wait…and I think the kids are excited too. All I can say is, keep ’em coming! More! More!

Update 8/11/05: The Backyardigans’ eponymously named CD is now out! The Backyardigans has 19 great songs on it, although it doesn’t include my personal favorite, “You’ve got to hold on tight.” I had downloaded some of these songs from Limewire, but I’m much, much happier having the actual CD in my hot little hand now.

Update 1/28/06: Wow. This entry has 747 comments!

There are a couple of Backyardigan DVDs out now, which means you don’t have to keep every episode on your TiVo any more.

The Snow Fort: Contains “The Snow Fort”, “The Yeti”, “Knights Are Brave and Strong”, and “Secret Mission”.

It’s Great To Be A Ghost: Contains “It’s Great To Be A Ghost”, “Monster Detectives”, “Key to the Nile”, and “Pirate Adventure”.

Polka Palace Party: Contains “Polka Palace Party”, “Heart of the Jungle”, “Viking Voyage”, and one I haven’t seen before — having tea in the Gobi desert. (Maybe it hasn’t aired yet?)

 
Update 1/05/09: Yowsa. I am amazed at how lively this entry still is!

In response to many (many, many) comments on here: I came up with the idea that Uniqua is a ladybug from my then-4-year-old (who’s now about to be 9, but still loves the Backyardigans). I’m in complete agreement with everyone who says that Uniqua is just that: unique. I wasn’t paying a whole bunch of attention at the time, and I went with my 4-year-old’s assessment of Uniqua’s identity, ‘kay?