The Hoobs (Sprout)

Created by The Jim Henson Company, British import THE HOOBS uses colorful puppets, spirited music, and storytelling to excite preschoolers' curiosity and get them interested in exploring the world around them. Tula (Julie Westwood), Groove (John Eccleston; Brian Herring), Iver (Donald Austen), and Roma (Gillie Robic) -- Hoobs who hail from far-away Hoobland -- are sent to Earth by Hubba Hubba Hoob (Herring) to discover all they can about life here. They report back, and Hubba Hubba Hoob adds the new information to his big, scholastic Hoobopaedia. The Hoobs often get answers from "tiddlypeeps" (kids), who help the Hoobs via songs or crafts, as well as with their own age-appropriate knowledge of how the world works. The Hoobs always recap the highlights of their investigative process, and the repetition gives preschoolers the chance to see how the dots connect from the initial question through each phase of discovery up to the final answer.

The bottom line for parents is this: The colorful, peppy stars of The Hoobs will encourage your preschoolers to think creatively about the world around them, but if your kids are the type to repeat everything they hear, you might want to opt out of this one. The relentless tweaking of the English language to include Hoob-isms (like "Hooby groovy," "Hooblicious," and the overused "Hooble-toodle-do!") may be fun for kids, but for parents, they quickly get Hoobtiresome.