The History of Yo Gabba Gabba!: In the Beginning...

The year was 2004, and children's TV was getting bigger and bigger. Sesame Street turned 35, Barney moved from school/treehouse to park, and shows like Blue's Clues and Teletubbies hit it big.

That same year, Scott Schultz (Majestic) and Christian Jacobs (The Aquabats) had kids - Schultz had Oliver, Maxon, Harper, and Davy, while Jacobs had Penelope and Oskar. Both Schultz and Jacobs' kids watched TV, a few of which included big Purple Dinosaurs, big Yellow Birds, and furry Red Monsters. But there was a problem - no shows featuring musical guest artists!!!

In 2005, with inspiration from Sid and Marty Krofft and Pee-Wee's Playhouse, Schultz and Jacobs filmed a pilot episode in Schultz's garage for Yo Gabba Gabba!. They sold tapes of the pilot in 2006.

The pilot was to feature Biz Markie performing simple beatboxes, and Lance Robertson hosting the show. But little did Jacobs and Schultz know, no one picked it up! That was until Jared Hess (Napoleon Dynamite, Nacho Libre) saw the pilot and recommended it to Nickelodeon's Brown Johnson. Johnson told Jacobs and Schultz that she liked the pilot due to its trippiness, and decided to pick up 20 full episodes for the series, which would premiere in 2007 on Nickelodeon and Noggin. The series was developed by Kay Wilson Stallings.

The first episode aired on August 20th, 2007, guest starring Elijah Wood, as well as Mark Mothersbaugh, who drew pictures which would become a segment on the show.

Christian and Scott got lots of positive reviews, but that's when people on websites like TheTopTens started bashing it. According to an interview, they said they don't like it when the show gets bashed.

All 20 episodes of Season 1 were a success, that Simon Schuster was thinking of publishing tie-in books, Target and Toys R Us were thinking of selling toys for the show, and there were plans for a music CD (Music is Awesome! Volume 1) and a live tour. Yo Gabba Gabba! was gaining bigger with 1 season and lots of great reviews.

YGG In Tomodachi

Note: I don’t own Tomodachi Life or any of these Miis.

Gabba Kids Shirts

Copy-Write Stuff Part 2: Zoom and Liam

As you found out in the previous part, the Baby Dolittle World Animals Forest Section was cut because the puppets couldn't fit in the background, according to an interview with Julie Aigner-Clark.

In this post I'll be talking about two things: the first being Zoom's cancellation and the second being Liam Dolan and how he was unfairly fired from CBeebies.

The year is 1999 and a young television producer named Kate Taylor is deciding to reboot Zoom due to not much live-action on children's television these days. Zoom features real-life kids doing science activities, much like the original.

A PBS Kids ident for Zoom in 2001

Fast Forward to 2004, when auditions are being announced for Season 8 and are being held in 2005. They even picked the Kids!

There is a WGBH auction, which means they are selling stuff. Things happen to be the Zoom Computer and the Map. The Computer is sold, while the Map stays alone. Fans think they are putting up the set for the new season but they're wrong.

It is Valentines Day 2005 and Someone asks WGBH for pictures of the Zoom Crew putting up the set for Season 8 put then WGBH announces that the show is cancelled due to low ratings. The Zoomers made the official announcement at an awards ceremony.

On Zoomer Noreen's official Yahoo! Group, she announces this, "It's such an impossible task going up against Sesame Street, Between The Lions, and Barney & Friends, so you've gotta consider the nomination as a win. Can't complain? PBS gave up 201 episodes and 8 Seasons!"

Zoom ends on May 6th, 2005. Zoom fans mourn the loss of their favorite show by creating petitions for a Season 8. There were 8 petitions by the end of 2005.

The year is 2002 and Chris Jarvis, a TV presenter, is entering University of Manchester, where he studies early childhood education with Sue, Sid, and Nicole. They meet Liam Dolan, who's currently presenting CBBC On Choice. Then they meet Pui "Po" Fan Lee, and have a plan to launch a new CBBC channel with a Pre-schoolers' channel. Then, CBeebies is born!

A few days after the launch, Jarvis scraps Dolan.

Dolan apologizes and wants to be a presenter again and write the continuity links. He appears in the CBeebies Morning Song upon Jarvis' request.

 Dolan still wonders why he was fired from CBeebies. BBC Studios, obviously. He was only credited as a writer in CBeebies: Treasure Hunt LIVE! in Concert. He currently writes for Channel 5's pre-school digital channel, Milkshake.

Somehow, Yo Gabba Gabba's cancellation and World Animals' Forest Section could last a while like Liam Dolan's short-lived life on CBeebies and Zoom's rights. As long as we figure out the copy-write stuff!

Updates on Yo Gabba Gabba petitions

Launch a retro Nick Jr channel. 

The return of classic Nick Jr shows for new gens to come.

Crazy Week

• I made a blog post about Yo Gabba Gabba's ratings and how the show was cancelled
• According to sources, TV for Children was losing some viewers. 
• Some networks started to air one of two Yo Gabba seasons
• One show that grew popularity in 2015 was Odd Squad, many Yo Gabba fans left to watch Odd Squad, that's when Odd Squad ratings grew higher and Yo Gabba Gabba's ratings fell

A similar story to Yo Gabba Gabba's ratings, World Animals Forest Section

• The Story of Yo Gabba Gabba's ratings is similar to the Forest Section of Baby Dolittle: World Animals
• Like Baby Dolittle: Neighborhood Animals, this was originally going to have four sections of animals; Forest, Jungle, Underwater, and Savannah. But due to complaints from test audiences in the United States, the Forest scene was cut.
• Baby Einstein's many wikis and even Lost Media Archive told the story. 
• The World Animals CD-Rom coloring book had two other animals; a penguin, which obviously went with the arctic, and a bear, which went with the forest. 
• The Classical Animals CD, which included music from both Baby Dolittle titles, featured two classical pieces by Bedrich Smenta and Edward Grieg which were in the World Animals section but didn't make it to the video.
• In December, a Baby Einstein fan interviewed Julie Aigner-Clark. Clark said that the scene was cut for two reasons; because it was less than 30 minutes and the puppets couldn't fit into the scene, both reasons would frighten kids
• After BD:NA and BD:WA were released, they both blamed on Clark, even though it wasn't her fault. 
• Since then, a Baby Einstein Discovery Kit called Wild Animal Safari featured a Forest Section based on the cancelled section in WA.

Why Change the Goal?

• Pretty much my only reason to bring back Yo Gabba Gabba Season 5 was for my sisters to be on it as kid dancers (My Sister was in the pilot at age 1, I was in the show at age 7). 
• In 2019, Yo Gabba Gabba will air on BBC and its pre-school digital channel CBeebies. Yo Gabba Gabba on CBeebies? I would love to see that!

Extra! Blue's Clues Reboot!

Another Nick Jr. show is getting a reboot, which is either cancelled or coming up in 2019. It's my Dad's favorite, Blue's Clues! There will be a new host (auditions were held already), a CGI Blue (see picture above), and everything!

What if the older Nick Jr. shows were to return?

It would contain older Nick Jr. and even Moose and Zee!

What shows will it contain?

Since this is my new goal, obviously Yo Gabba Gabba!

To mark Nickelodeon's 30th anniversary, it would rebrand all its networks except Noggin and the N. Nick Jr. and Teenick were to launch in September 2010, but were pushed back to September 2009 due to mark the spirit of Nickelodeon turning 30.

2 Older Shows added to Nick Jr. would be Wow Wow Wubbzy and Me Too!

First Up, WWW

It is actually currently re-running on various Nick Jr. stations.

Me Too!

Me Too! features Sarah Hope as Granny Murray. It currently has clip-viewing on Wizz from YouTube. It is also directed by Andrew Agnew, PC Plum himself!

Balamory, Me Too!'s predecessor 

In the Night Garden

Also returning would be In the Night Garden. When it was cancelled in 2010, the Guardian wrote an article about its cancellation. 

Moose and Zee

Also returning would be Moose and Zee. They would be featured in a serial storyline featuring real-life kids. YOU help me come up with an idea. Please comment down below about it. HoneyBee240's idea might win by default.

What would this block be called?

Answer: Nick Jr. Classics

WA Petition

I'm about to make a petition to re-release Baby Dolittle: World Animals how it was originally released with the forest scene (not the Wild Animal Safari version but the cancelled World Animals version).

Copy-Write Stuff Part 3: Yo Gabba Gabba all fired up: Zoom into CBeebies

In 1999, long time Aquabats producers Christian Jacobs and Scott Schultz asked Rachel Riddle to adapt her Yo Gabba Gabba books because they were big fans and did so for eight years until she said they could produce a pilot with her. Yo Gabba Gabba came into Tv in August 20, 2007 and became a Tv hit. The show was popular up to season 4.

In 2015 after 4 seasons, Nick Jr decided to pull the plug on Yo Gabba Gabba due to the falling ratings of increased competition in children's programming. The news upset me and my sister's Abbie and Ella, there has been no word at this time.

But There was good news for Yo Gabba fans, The Magic Store and ITunes were developing a new show called Hot Seat, which would also combine live action and animated as well as Guest stars. Hot Seat would also be aimed at 6 to 11 year olds.

Probably the most likely reason was that many Yo Gabba Gabba fans moved on to Odd Squad and left Yo Gabba Gabba alone. Hot Seat would bring in old Ygg fans as well a new ones.

In 2015, Yo Gabba Gabba aired its final episode on Nick Jr.  It was not a proper series finale.

4 years after the cancellation, I created a petition to save the show for a fifth season. I wanted to bring back Yo Gabba Gabba as the same thing happened to Zoom.

According to the producers, they said Season 5 was still cancelled and said it won't have a go for a couple of years.

On the Wildbrain, not the Magic Store, page, many parents angrily contacted them that their kids were upset the show was already done.

I hope many Friends and Tv Stars will with my petition. What's that? A petition you say? If I'm thinking that these people are on the Gabba petitions

• Me
• Lamese Patterson
• Tiernan Hopkins

If it won't happen, like Zoom Season 8 or the World Animals Forest Section, how could I move on? I guess it we figure out the copy-write stuff

For those of you who don't know the show here is a brief history


Yo Gabba Gabba was a children's television series for children aged 1-8 on Nickelodeon of educational programming. It is a musical sing-songy show hosted by a DJ named DJ Lance Rock and his 5 large puppets named Muno (Red Cyclops), Foofa (Pink Flowerbubble), Brobee (Green Broccoli Bee), Toodee (Blue Cat Dragon), and Plex (Yellow Robot) who entertain their viewers by singing songs, playing games, and teaching life lessons. the series ran for 66 episodes and 4 seasons. The series ended after Day Camp aired because of low ratings.

Yo Gabba Gabba is a sing songy show where a DJ and 5 big sized Muppets teach life lessons through music. They must teach preschool subjects during these lessons (healthy eating, hygiene, sharing) in order to complete the task.

Not only do they sing songs and teach lessons but there are guest stars and well known bands stopping by. Animation is interpreted in segments called "Jingles" and "Story Time".

Cancellation
The show was threatened due to low ratings in 2015.