I've noticed recently that my blog I did on the children's show "PJ Masks" has been getting read a lot and there has even been some comments. There's one good one, but for the most part, people seem to think that I don't have an imagination. While that may be true when it comes to "PJ Masks", I mean, why are there no parents involved anywhere, It's insane, but, I do like a couple of shows that my four year old watches. I loved "Yo Gabba Gabba". I thought that show was super weird and really cool. I loved the lessons it taught and I thoroughly enjoyed all the musicians and bands that would make guest appearances. I also like older kids shows like "Sesame Street". Basically, I like shows that teach children some kind of practical skill that they will need when they start school. All "PJ Masks" teaches is to not go against your friends wishes. It's a veiled, and very poor attempt at lesson learning if you ask me. That show is lazy.

There is one children's show that I want to point out, that my four year old still watches and loves, that I too love, "Wally Kazaam". "Wally Kazaam" has about one thousand times more imagination than any episode of "PJ Masks", and they teach your children how to sound out letters and, eventually, how to spell. From watching "Wally Kazaam", my son knows the sound to every letter in the alphabet and he is even in the very early stages of spelling. He can spell his name, and with a little help, he can spell easy words like cat and dog. Some of that has come from my wife and I helping him and some has come from school, but a lot of it has come from "Wally Kazaam". My son gets amped when he hears the theme song for the show, and I do to. I know that both him and I are going to enjoy ourselves for the next 25 minutes, much more so than an episode of "PJ Masks". Where my son likes the colors and the animation and the goofy way the characters talk, I enjoy the joke writing and the story telling on the show.

First of all, we know we are in a fantasy world the moment the show opens on a troll finding a magical stick that helps him spell. "Wally Kazaam" doesn't try to hide that it's a possible real world situation, the kids are supposed to be real kids on "PJ Masks", they are openly letting you know that this is a cartoon. The main character is Wally Trollman, the troll with the magic stick that helps them spell and get out of sticky situations. But, we also get some great tertiary characters. Characters like Norvel, Wally's pet dinosaur. There's also Gina Giant, Wally's friend that is literally a giant, and she is the nicest person in the fake universe they've created. There's Ogre Doug, a big, but very friendly ogre that helps out the crew. There's a little singing fairy named Libby Lightsprite that is adorable. There's Stan, the old swamp creature that dislikes anything that's clean. He will only take mud baths to give you some perspective.

There are a lot of great characters on "Wally Kazaam, but the best character not named Wally is the wonderful Bob Goblin. Bob Goblin is the troublemaker, but he is also a good guy. He will get the crew in trouble, or try to get things from them, but in the end, he just wants to be part of the group, and like the good trolls and ogres and fairies and giants that they are, they always find a place for Bob Goblin. Bob Goblin is also always the best character in the episodes that feature him. There's been one when he wants to be in a rock band, but Libby Lightsprite loses her singing voice, due to something Bob goblin did, so they have to go through all these loopholes that Bob Goblin has setup, to get her voice back. They get through everything, with the help of Bob Goblin, and at the end of the episode, Bob Goblin gets a great drum solo. I love it. My favorite Bob Goblin episode is when he takes over the castle that Wally made out of magic for Norvel. He kind of walks in, plays with everything, then claims the castle as his own. It's so funny and so well animated and so well written. The episode centers around sharing and the way they talk about it, it's magnificent. The lessons learned and the spelling that goes along with the episode is great. But, the highlight is the song that Bob Goblin and Wally sing about the castle. It's so catchy, so imaginative and so well sung by the voice actors. To this day, I still walk around the house singing the song. My wife does too. So does my son. We all adore the song. I believe it's called "My Friend the King", and it's supposed to be about Norvel, but Bob Goblin turns it into his song. Wally sings about building the castle, loading it with pillows and toys for Norvel and letting Norvel stay there. But, after Bob Goblin takes over, he turns every chorus into his song. Wally will sing, then Bob Goblin will come in with the best line in a children's song, "no invaders, no dragons, no trolls". He doesn't want Gina Giant, the invader, Norvel, the dragon and Wally, the troll to get in. The end of the song even has Bob Goblin saying "and no cakes", because Wally thought he could trick him by giving him sweets, but Bob Goblin does not fall for it. As with most kids shows, they resolve the conflict and everyone gets to play and live in the castle.

Basically, "Wally Kazaam" is, by far, the best, most innovative and most imaginative children's show since "Yo Gabba Gabba". It's also the best written. It's so much better than "Paw Patrol", "Blaze and the Monster Machines" and, of course, "PJ Masks". So no, I'm not some curmudgeon with no sense of imagination or whimsy or wonder, I have all of that ten fold. I just prefer kids shows that don't talk down to the adults watching with their children and "Wally Kazaam" does not do that. The creators and writers of that show speak to both children and adults alike. I will take "Wally Kazaam" any day before I watch another episode of "PJ Masks".

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. Does Ty lack imagination, you ask? Find out for yourself by following him on twitter @tykulik.