You Have Less Than Two Weeks To Prepare for the Fresh Beat Band

That's right, less than two weeks until the premiere of The Fresh Beat Band, the new show from Nickelodeon that everybody has an opinion on.

The live-action show will premiere with back-to-back episodes on Monday, August 24, at noon ET/PT, followed by two weeks of new episodes Tuesday, August 25—Thursday, August 27, and Monday, August 31—Thursday, September 3, at noon ET/PT. You can already watch some videos at the Nick Jr. site, in the remote chance that your child isn't seeing enough promos on your actual TV. (Though they don't currently have "Stuck On You," a song which is almost tolerable for repeated adult listening. By "repeated," I mean twice. I have limits.)

Don't say I didn't warn you. Please plan accordingly.

Video: "No One Likes To Be Left Out" - Mates of State

Yo Gabba Gabba! is pegged at your resident 3-year-old, so the song lyrics lack any subtlety. Of course, when they're as catchy as Mates of State's take on inclusion -- "No One Likes To Be Left Out" -- nobody really minds.

How much do I like this song? I'm willing to link to it, even though embedding is disabled. (Boo!)

Oh, and I totally think they ripped off one of the band's own videos...

Mates of State - "Fraud in the '80s" (kid-safe, I think, and an awesome song)

Are The JumpArounds Getting A Bit Fresh?

I think it's safe to say that The JumpArounds have been, shall we say, a polarizing band. The comments on my original post about the band are about as vitriolic as comments around here get. (Based on the few minutes of minutes of video I saw, I didn't understand the vitriol on either side -- generally forgettable but not execrable music that held the promise of being very addictive to young kids.)

Well, I'm not sure you'll have the JumpArounds to KickAround anymore. Not because they're going off the air permanently, but because they're changing their name. A listing for a NYC Central Park SummerStage concert this Sunday lists a concert featuring DJ Lance from Yo Gabba Gabba! and some group called the Fresh Beat Band, a description of whom sounds very familiar...

Check out The Fresh Beat Band consisting of four best friends -- Marina, Kiki, Twist, and Shout -- who attend music school together and love to sing and dance. The foursome will star in an upcoming Nickelodeon TV series that teaches preschoolers about music appreciation and how to express their feelings through movement and song. Packed with hip, catchy songs, dynamic choreography, and clever storylines, the band will get the whole family singing and dancing.

OK, yeah, and the picture is identical, too.

And sure enough, WHOIS searches on thefreshbeatband.com and freshbeatband.com show that Viacom (Nick's corporate parent) registered those domain names just last week (and the JumpArounds site is pretty bare, promising new videos at some future point).

So perhaps it's time to steel yourself for a Fresh Beat Band onslaught. (Though I gotta tell you, snoozer of a name.)

The Next Best Thing to Jack's Big Music Show Season 3?

Well, Jack's Big Music Show is no more, but at least the fans that make up Laurie Nation will get to see Laurie Berkner return to Noggin. On Sunday, July 12 from 7 'til 8 PM East Coast time, Noggin will premiere the Laurie Berkner Band starring in Let’s Hear It For The Laurie Berkner Band!. The special features 17 music videos from the band, including three brand-new videos -- “My Family,” which was created exclusively for NOGGIN and is not available anywhere, plus “Five Days Old” and “Fast and Slow (The Rabbit and the Turtle)” from Rocketship Run!.

I don't have a TiVo, but I'm thinkin' that a lot of TiVo-in' households are going to save this one.

Buttermilk Biscuit Busts A Move

Everybody knows who the secret weapon is on The Biscuit Brothers' TV show.

It's Tiny Scarecrow, of course.

But after Tiny, the Brothers' other secret weapon is the somewhat underutilized Buttermilk Biscuit. Well, perhaps underutilized until now, because here's a feature of her very own, "Buttermilk's Dance Party." The concept -- teaching dance moves -- is pretty basic, but the execution is simple and elegant.

Now if they could do some sort of cross-promotion with that Dance Dance Revolution game, they'd be set.

The Biscuit Brothers - "Oh Susanna" (Buttermilk's Dance Party)

If that's too easy or too hard for your kids (or, er, you), a couple more videos after the jump.
This is for the youngest of younguns, pretty easy.

The Biscuit Brothers - "Five Little Monkeys" (Buttermilk's Dance Party)

It's an introduction to the concept, but with its sheer number of moves, it might be for slightly older kids.