Common Sense Note
Parents need to know that this series is good, clean fun. It entertains and provides quite a few laughs while at the same time incorporating an educational element by offering interesting trivia about the animals that figure in the pranks.
Families can talk about each prank and how it played out. Which type of animal was the center of the prank? What did you learn about this animal? How did the hosts try to fool the kids who were involved in the prank? Did the kids fall for it, and what were their reactions? Which prank did you find the funniest? How would you react if someone tried to pull a prank like that on you? Did any of the jokes go too far?
Common Sense Review
Reviewed By: Larisa Wiseman
SKUNKED TV hosts Chuck Cureau and Madai Zaldivar pose as zookeepers or tourists at a zoo, aquarium, or theme park in order to pull clever pranks on unsuspecting visitors. Their ultimate goal, of course, is to capture some very surprised or puzzled -- and extremely funny -- reactions on hidden camera. When the victims of the pranks are finally let in on the joke, they get to put on skunk hats and say "They got me on Skunked TV!"
The pranks typically have to do with getting park visitors -- usually kids -- involved in a task or activity concerning a particular animal or getting them to believe what the hosts are telling them about the animal. One of Cureau's pranks is to dress in pink clothes and a pink-feathered hat, climb into the flamingo pen and get chummy with the animals. The children left in charge of the flamingos get increasingly frustrated with this strange man who acts like a flamingo and won't get out of the pen.
In another prank, Zaldivar asks two boys to take some notes about the different types of barks, howls, and other sounds they hear the New Guinea singing dogs make. She then proceeds to play a hidden tape of a barked version of "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" -- making it seem as if the song is coming from the dogs' burrow.
And in one of the funniest hoaxes, Cureau and Zaldivar pull young visitors aside and excitedly inform them that they've been chosen to take home a rhinoceros and keep it as a pet. The hosts then proceed to run through a list of rhinoceros care instructions, from feeding the very large animal to scooping its poop.
The bewildered looks on the children's faces are priceless as their brains try to sort through the bizarre or awkward situations -- and as expected, some of the comments, especially from the younger ones, are hilarious. Besides being a highly entertaining show that's sure to make kids laugh, Skunked TV also teaches interesting facts about animals; whenever a new prank is introduced, trivia about the animal that figures in the prank pops up in the corner of the screen. All in all, the series is good, clean fun that the whole family can enjoy.
Young animal lovers may also like Hi-Jinks and the Discovery Kids' reality show Adventure Camp, in which kids get up close and personal with various animals.
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