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'LazyTown' leads Nick Jr.'s Frosty Fridays

The Frosty Fridays programs will air Fridays, noon to 2 p.m., on Nickelodeon.

By SHARON KENNEDY WYNNE
Published December 8, 2005

The freaky health-conscious kid show LazyTown will kick off Nick Jr.'s Frosty Fridays this week - a series of marathons that will air Fridays from noon to 2 p.m. to get preschoolers even more hyped-up about Christmas.

LazyTown has been one of the top-rated shows on commercial television among preschoolers since starting last summer. Its creator and star is Icelandic aerobic champion Magnus Scheving, a health-conscious superhero named Sportacus who works against Robbie Rotten, the villain who spends his time lying around and eating junk food.

The show's look is reminiscent of Max Headroom, with CGI, puppetry and animatronic work from artists at the Jim Henson Company in New York, the Creature Shop in London and the Neal Scanlan Studio in London, whose combined credits include a closetful of Oscars and Emmy awards. In this odd world, the puppets look like people and the people look like waxy puppets.

The strange look of the show was inspired by talks with kids, Scheving said in an interview from his home base in Iceland. Girls like pink, so they made lead character Stephanie uberpink with hair to match.

"I like how when you look at it, you don't know what it is. It's not live, it's not puppets, not 3-D. It's like a cartoon come to life."

Since it's a live-action show, he hopes the kids will not just watch but imitate the jumping around and dancing they see on screen.

"That's why Sportacus doesn't have any super powers. He's just a regular guy who is healthy and that's where he gets his energy and strength."

In LazyTown's Surprise Santa, Robbie Rotten finds out that the LazyTowners are having a Christmas party but believes he wasn't invited. He sets out to ruin the party by shooting a giant snowball out of a cannon at the guests. In between there's a lesson about eating too much candy as Sportacus stops a hopped-up sugar addict with "sports candy" in the form of a carrot.

The show is from Iceland - and so is Bjork - so it kind of makes sense now. In its weirdly hypnotic way, it works.

The rest of the Frosty Fridays lineup includes:

- Blue's Room "Holiday Wishes" (12:20 p.m.)

- Max & Ruby "Max's Christmas" (1 p.m.)

- Dora the Explorer "A Present for Santa" (1:30 p.m.)

The two-hour blocs continue on Fridays through Dec. 23.

[Last modified December 8, 2005, 00:49:13]