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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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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
8-04-2005 @ 12:28PM
Bill said...
Why were you riled about the show being directed at boys? I have two girls, so I've never really given it much thought, but I suppose Dora is more of a role model for young girls than boys. Shouldn't she have a male counterpart?
The show isn't overtly sexist or anything, is it? I haven't seen it, so I wouldn't know. Just wondering why a male-skewing toon would upset someone who has a boy.
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8-17-2005 @ 9:10AM
Daniela said...
It is not over sexist at all, infact; the male charecter Diego has a sister who helps him out! This show is amazing, and teaches kids to help out with animals and save the enviorment! Did you know that they spent thousands onhiring scientists to make this show as educational as possible? They also read stories out to pre-schools in NYC to help teach kids, and see there reaction to the stories! (I know because a relitive of mine works there)
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8-22-2005 @ 6:46PM
Heather said...
I agree with the commenters on this. I myself am 17 and although I don't have kids I have read the articles and watched the episode and I know for a fact that is a lot more simular(can't spell the word) to Dora the Explorer than you are riled about. Examples are: Diego asks the viewer(s) for assistance when needed and praises the viewer(s) for helping; Diego encourages them to sing and play along with him and Diego teaches them spanish words just like Dora always does, and if you(or your son for that matter) really loves Dora, you'll be happy to know(unless you already knew) that Dora will be making guest appearances in several episodes of the GDG series.
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