More About Evan Lurie

I found another article quoting Evan Lurie about The Backyardigans, thanks to TV for Tots. He talks a little bit about the creative process involved in creating an episode, and how they match up the episode with the musical genre. For instance, he describes Tarzan, and Gilbert and Sullivan (The Heart of the Jungle episode) as being Victorian, saying that they throw things around that seem mismatched, hoping they'll "fit together in some strange, funhouse mirror way."

Make sure you read the whole article to get more from Lurie on what makes great kids music, as well as insights into how Nick Jr. regards as the role of kids music in its shows.

My favorite quote from the article was by John Langford. "Certain DVDs and CDs deliberately were broken or thrown out the window of the van. They were pandering and patronizing, some adult’s view of what kids are supposed to like, telling them how to make the world better. They don’t fire kids’ imagination."

Oh, say it again! It's astonishing how much truly bad kids music is out there, and kind of frightening, too. Thank goodness there are new and better choices.

Other interesting information gleaned from the article:

• One of the upcoming episodes has The Backyardigans on bicycles, singing norteno.
• Another upcoming episode has the kids in space again (could this be the Cops and Robots episode?) The music will be "an homage to legendary `70s band Parliament/Funkadelic."