Higglytown Heroes - Quattro piccoli eroi

I am the mother of a 2-year-old who loves "Higgy-tow hewos" as she calls it.

The show revolves around four preschool friends (a multi-racial group, by the way) who learn to call on the people of the town to help them, and in the process learn about different professions -- plumber, librarian, tow-truck driver, mail carrier. There are no superheroes here, just people doing their jobs and thus becoming heroes to the children to need their help.

I particularly like Fran, the squirrel who plays with the children. She is an adult voice in the group, who manages to point out flaws in their often outlandish solutions without hurting their feelings. (Twinkle: "We could get friendly mice in pretty pink tutus to fly in a spaceship..." Fran: "That's a very creative solution, Twinkle, but it would take a long time to train the mice to fly a spaceship. I think we need to find something faster." Twinkle: "Aw, pickles!") [Note: That's not an exact quote from the show, just the gist of some dialog.]

From the perspective of someone interested in the careers of actors and actresses, it's fun to listen to the voices of the various heroes the children encounter, then read the credits to see who it is. Camryn Manheim voiced the plumber in one episode; Kathy Lee Gifford was the mail carrier in another. Betty White provided the voice of Eubie's Grand-Mama in at least two episodes.

Overall, a show that my daughter and I enjoy watching together.

I love how every episode teaches kids the value of everyday heroes. I also think Wild Brain Entertainment is a good name for this show's production company, as I always found it funny when Twinkle comes up with a silly genius idea for a solution to their problem, but then someone else (usually Fran) tells her one problem with the plan she just drew up, and she says "Aw, pickles."

My 3-year-old liked this show at first. The bright colors and basic shapes are easy to watch for really small children. After a while though, her interest waned and my patience for this show is at an all-time low.

My main complaint is the all-too-obvious attempt to be politically correct. Besides all the family and ethnic stereotypes, all of the unusual or "cool" heroes (astronauts, zoo-keepers, doctors, nuclear physicists) are all women while men fill the more mundane, everyday roles (bakers, gardeners, garbage collectors). I just think it's weird and silly to try so hard.

The other thing that drives me crazy is the animation. The character's arms disappear whenever they are at rest. If you haven't noticed this, keep an eye on their arms. When someone puts their arms at their side, the arm gets sucked into their body and leaves only a hand sitting on the side of the character. It's strange, distracting and makes me think that the animators could have tried to perfect their technology before making hundreds of shows.

All in all, I don't think this is a terrible show, but I don't like it as much as others. I think it teaches kids some valuable lessons (positive thinking, respect for others) but also implies that every kid needs to find an adult or "hero" to solve every single one of life's problems. I"d like to see the kids (or Pizza Guy for heaven's sake!) succeed on their own every once in a while.

At first sight, this new Playhouse Disney animated show looks a little bit odd. However, it immediately caught the attention of my very active 2 1/2 year old daughter, Gretchen and my wiggle-worm 1 year old daughter, Heidi.

My daughters absolutely LOVE this new show and can't get enough of it. My 2 1/2 year old is entranced by the bright colors and easy to follow story line, while my 1 year old giggles at all the silly characters. I love it because it teaches them an important lesson and introduces them to interesting professions in every episode.

It's also worth notable mention that the guest stars who lend their voices as "Higglytown Heroes" make it interesting for grown ups to watch with their children too.

Hooray for Higglytown Heroes! This Mom of two toddlers gives this show a double thumbs up! A + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + !!!!!

My two year old loves this show. We have a routine starting at 10am, watching playhouse Disney for the first three hours of the day while we get the day started with breakfast and getting dressed. She loves the playhouse Disney line up, starting with the DoodleBops and ending with JoJo's Circus. The shows allow her to dance, get moving, as well as learn about the world around her. Higgleytown Heroes is a great show since she can learn what adults do for careers and has started her imagination running. We love playing dress up after Heroes has gone off. She & I imagine we're one of the Heroes from the show and play around. She always asks for me to turn back on the Heroes movies. It's hard to tell a two year old somethings over for the day, but at least playhouse Disney has thought up great fillers like "Shanna's Show" and "This is Daniel Cook". She loves the shows and I Love the content that Disney has in their shows. I love Playhouse Disney and hope it continues to have such good ideas!!! Thanks Disney!