Tragic Sandwich

Baguette is a fan of Pajanimals. Apparently they’re going to get their own half-hour show, but for now we’re watching the short nighttime songs that air on Sprout each evening.

It’s been 20 years since I regularly watched children’s programming, and then the preference of that particular toddler confined me largely to Barney. So I was happy to find the Pajanimals, who are a collection of cute animals of varying species–a horse, a dog, a duck, and a cow. They live in a large, idyllic bedroom that has a globe and a craft station and sing various songs about nighttime routines and sleeping. According to Wikipedia:

The characters are Sweetpea Sue (a quiet and smart orange and pink pony played by Donna Kimball), Squacky (an energetic and excitable blue and yellow duck played by Victor Yerrid), CowBella (a famous Italian white and purple cow played by Alice Vernon), and Apollo (a bossy green and purple dog played by John Kennedy).

Based on the fact that they all have the same mother, I can only assume that this is a family that came together by adoption. But even in a show that lasts for only a few minutes, the characters do have distinct personalities and points of view. For example, Apollo doesn’t seem to see himself as a dog (in one song he sings about “feeding kibble to the pup” and clearly is not referring to himself), and Squacky appears to be the only one who remembers that they have a father. I have to say that CowBella might better be described as “inexplicably Italian.” There’s no evidence in the show that she’s famous–and if she is, shouldn’t she rate her own bedroom?