Nick Jr's Go Diego Go on video on demand
Late last night my son, Everett, a huge Dora the Explorer fan, woke up and was begging for his "show." I surfed to Comcast's On Demand and discovered, entirely by accident, that Dora's cousin Diego was premiering his new series. While Go Diego Go won't be in the Nick Jr. lineup until September 7, it's available now to lucky Video on Demand subscribers everywhere. The preview episode, in which a mommy and baby sloth was saved, sets a very Dora-like tone. However, this show is clearly targeted at the preschool boy demographic. (Which riles me a bit, but whatever.) Interesting trivia: Rosie Perez voices "Click," the Diego equivalent of Dora's map.
I was surprised on how slight was the variation on the Dora formula: there is someone in trouble, you need a gadget to tell you how to get there, you have three obstacles to overcome before getting to the goal, and the main character is always asking for help and then praising the viewers for being “really good!” at whatever they just did. Of course, since I love Dora's inflections and the heavy use of Spanish, these characteristics were nothing but good news. The big difference between the shows: Diego reviews cool facts about the animal featured in the show at the end. And the music isn't, thus far, as catchy as Dora.

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