Maggie and the Ferocious Beast (Nick Jr.)

Five-year-old Maggie is an aspiring explorer who yearns for adventure and excitement. With a little bit of magic and imagination, her favorite stuffed animals -- the Ferocious Beast and Hamilton the Pig -- become real playmates in Nowhere Land, a land Maggie creates in her drawings. With her map, her courageous heart, and her best friends, Maggie explores Nowhere Land and discovers the treasure that is friendship.

Maggie and the Ferocious Beast's main focus is on the importance of friendship and what it means to be a good friend. Each of the three main characters has a different personality, with obvious strengths and weaknesses. These differences both complicate the group's adventures and provide ways to solve their problems together. Music is also strongly featured, since Maggie, the Ferocious Beast, and Hamilton always gather together in song while traveling through Nowhere Land.

Although the adventuring-with-animal-pals formula of Maggie and the Ferocious Beast is nothing new in children's television, the series is still cute and entertaining for the preschool set. Some kids may not like the Ferocious Beast -- not because he's ferocious (he's very friendly and loving), but because of his odd appearance (he somewhat resembles a yellow elephant with the bald head of a man). Nonetheless, Maggie and her friends are full of fun and enthusiasm, and preschoolers will enjoy their wacky expeditions in Nowhere Land.