With small children in the house, I get exposed to a lot of television and movies that I would otherwise totally miss. They’re not iPad kids, either, so TV is a communal event which is much harder for me to ignore.
Bluey? Seen every episode probably like 10 times. There are, what?, 170 of them? I’ve seen a lot of Bluey. Top episodes: Granny Mobile, Sleepytime, Baby Race, Tradies. Those are my top episodes, not the children’s.
K-Pop Demon Hunters? Regularly jamming out to “Golden” in the car. Cheeks calls the movie “Be-bop deemee hunners”. She’s two and a half. Is that too young? I don’t know. She’s fine. She asks you what your name is and when you ask her what hers is, she answers “Soda Pop.”
Power Rangers? We got about halfway through the original run, but it’s crap and the girls didn’t really click with it. However, they did click with Power Rangers Dino Fury and the subsequent Cosmic Fury and the preceding Ninja Whatever. Did you know they’ve made Power Rangers in New Zealand ever since finishing the original run? There’s something very uncanny valley about the show since it’s supposedly set in the US, but all the environments are just different enough to feel wrong. Well, that’s because they’re in New Zealand. I will say that the modern Power Ranger shows are light years more sophisticated in their integration of the Japanese source material than the original was.
My Little Pony? Meh. Vampirina? Skip. Dora The Explorah? Whatevs. Blue’s Clues? Fine, but the OG run only. Sofia the First, Bubble Guppies, Robogobo, every crappy Netflix CG princess show ad nauseam. Miss me with it. I’m good.
But somehow in all the years of the boob tube, we’ve missed Tiny Chef. This is a good show. It’s currently at the top of my Best Shows For Adults Made For Kids mental list. It’s even dethroned Bluey, mostly because of some very real Bluey fatigue. Still love you, though, boo boo.
But who is Tiny Chef? He’s a tiny, green, irrepressibly positive, vegan chef who lives in a tree trunk and cooks stuff. He’s got a bunch of buddies, talks on the phone a lot, and has a caterpillar for a pet. And he’s perfect. The stop motion animation is adorable. The production design is thoughtful with lots of fun, sneaky jokes. And Tiny Chef himself is a bundle of imperfections the way all great characters for kids are. Think The Muppets or pre-Elmo Sesame Street for the vibe.
Let me give you a taste.
He was recently at the center of some internet outrage after Paramount canceled his show. That chatter is what brought him to my attention to begin with and drove me to give the show a shot with the girls one rainy Saturday afternoon. Glad I did it! And shame on you, Paramount.
I could recount his backstory, but instead I’ll share the PBS NewsHour story they published a couple months ago.
God, that little bit where he tears up after learning they’ve been canceled? Heart breaking.
It looks like the creators of little dude have wisely retained ownership of the character so I hope we get to see some more of him in the future on a scale greater than Youtube. I love you, Tiny Chef.
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