March 10, 2005
WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO ROMPER ROOM?:
He makes kids, and moms, flip (Valli Herman, 3/10/05, LA Times)
Years from now, we'll know that the hottest song to come out of Iceland wasn't by the super-hip Sigur Rós, or Quarashi, Gus Gus, or even from the red-carpet queen Björk. With fond nostalgia, today's preteen rockers will someday sing the "Bing Bang" song.To a disco beat: "Bing, bang digger rigger dun! First thing I say after I wake up. Bing, bang digger rigger dun!"
If you have children, cable TV and an appreciation for a fine physique, you already know that the song is from "Lazy Town," an absurdly pleasurable series that debuted in August on Nick Jr. You may also have visited the Nickelodeon website and made the videos to "Bing Bang" and "Get It Together" your secret satisfaction."Lazy Town" is a slightly surreal comic/action series about the battles between the lazy Robbie Rotten (a Jim Carrey-esque bad guy) and the townsfolk, played by a real pink-wigged girl and six rubbery puppets. Saving the day is a back-flipping, handstanding, leaping superhero named Sportacus.
Sportacus and "Lazy Town" are the creation of Magnus Scheving, a 40-year-old aerobics champion who can also call himself a writer, producer, chief executive, father of three, Icelandic superstar and, incidentally, quite competent handyman. He also has assumed the title of serious sex symbol.
On the phone from Iceland, his first words are, "I'm half-naked."
Winters here aren't long enough to make the show watchable. Posted by Orrin Judd at March 10, 2005 6:43 AM
On the phone from Iceland, his first words are, "I'm half-naked."
Sounds like Scheving really ought to be working with Nickelodeon's sister channel MTV on some sort of "Spring Break Reykjavik" show instead of that awful cartoon.
Posted by: John at March 10, 2005 9:30 AMFirst the Teletubbies, now this. The EU is waging undeclared war on us, and the only rational response is a full nuclear assault on their broadcast and production facilities.
Posted by: Mike Morley at March 10, 2005 9:35 AMLet's make a deal. They contribute this exhibitionist viking ("aerobics champion"?), we contribute Howard Stern plus the entire population of Hollywood, and we'll ship the lot of them to a dude ranch in Antarctica.
Posted by: Random Lawyer at March 10, 2005 10:04 AMThe show is stupid but Sportucus is easy on the eyes.
Hey, you guys get Sports Illustrated swim suit models, Hooters Restaurants and airlines, the blonde Wimbledon winning Russian tennis babe and the blonde non-Wimbledon winning Russian tennis babe, etc. etc. etc. And that is just from ESPN, a station supposedly that has something to do with sports(or at least that is what my husband says its there for). Its almost 24-7 for you guys!
We moms get one guy on a kids show for 1/2 hour. Can't we stay at home moms have a little eye candy between the two wormy Blues Clues guys and the ambivalent sexual orientation of the Wiggles without you guys whining about it?
Posted by: Buttercup at March 10, 2005 1:21 PMButtercup:
What woman needs more than Al on Tooltime from Tim Allen's show?
Posted by: oj at March 10, 2005 1:37 PMI've actually watched this show some, and I have no kids. I was somewhat fascinated that I couldn't place it, and assume it must be Canadian then. I was also agreeable to the production design/effects. It's a strangely catchy show....
Posted by: RC at March 10, 2005 2:29 PMButtercup: my wife's partial to MacGyver reruns. She claims Richard Dean Anderson gives her all the eye candy value of a Sportacus, with none of the brain-destroying side effects.
RC: you're in need of an intervention. I recommend megadoses of vintage Warner Brothers cartoons, especially Duck Amuck, One Froggy Evening, and the whole Road Runner series. Repeat as necessary.
Posted by: Mike Morley at March 10, 2005 2:51 PMButtercup;
What about the carpenters on HGTV? That's on in this house way more than ESPN. 0f course, it's the same person watching both (and it's not me).
Posted by: Annoying Old Guy at March 10, 2005 8:11 PMAccording to yesterday's NY Post, Nickelodeon is working with Whoopi Goldberg to develop a story about a girls' soccer team. This answers that very important question,'Whatever happened to Bialystok and Bloom?'
Posted by: Bart at March 11, 2005 9:41 AM