When you think about it, “Sesame Street” was pretty hip, with its parade of guest stars and wacky Yip Yip puppets, but ever since they brought Snuffie out of the closet it seems like it’s gone downhill. Nowadays, the musically-discerning parent doesn’t have a lot of options for cool children’s programming. Enter “Yo Gabba Gabba!” which will make its debut on Nickelodeon August 20th. The first show features performances from indie-rockers The Shins and rapper Biz Markie. The show’s creator is in fact M.C. Bat Commander of the Aquabats (a.k.a. Christian Jacobs) who became interested in kids’ TV after becoming a parent himself. Future shows are slated to include guests like Shiny Toy Guns, Mark Mothersbaugh of Devo, Supernova, and Rahzel. Mostly, though, I just love the crazy striped green unibrow monster.
The Times has a nice feature on the show, and Rock Sellout has some videos and mp3s, including a link to the Shins performance, and this track, “Party In My Tummy,” which may be my new favorite song.
