a Lifestyles Editor
AP. McCredie

4 985-2131 (113)

FINDING A children’s show
whose sugar content doesn’t
make parents hypoglycaemic
is truly a challenge in these
days of Barney and Friends.

By Kate Zimmerman
News Reporter

Kids may not object to the
smarmy personality of His
Purpleness and his constant
reminders that everyone is “spe-
cial.” But mothers and fathers
raised on sensible Mr. Dress-Up
tend to stride out of the room with
teeth clenched as soon as that
obnoxious theme song sounds its
first perky notes.

Enter: Rory and Me, a new half-
hour program aimed at pre-school-
ers and available on The Learning
Channel (TLC). Moving almost as
quickly as Sesame Street with a
similar blend of puppetry, live
action, animation and claymation,
this show should be a hit with its
target audience — children aged
two to six.

Its host, a Maryland-based
singer who goes by the two-syllable
moniker “Rory,” is a reasonably
endearing presence despite her
child-like way of speaking and her
high-pitched voice. (Evidently one
theory of children’s entertainment
is that the entertainer should sound
as much like a child as possible, but
some of the most popular acts —
like Sharon, Lois and Bram — suc-
ceed admirably without such affec-
tations.)

Rory is a children’s singer and
songwriter with three recordings
under her belt. Her debut album,

North & West
Vancouver School
Districis
SATURDAY, OCT. 15
CARSON GRAHAM
2145 Jones Avenue,
North Vancouver

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i) Japanese Cooking (CF48)

Hi Homemade Bread (CF52)

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at Infant/Child CPR (FD18)

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Photo submitted

AMERICAN CHILDREN'S entertainer Rory has a new TV show aimed at pre-schoolers on The
Learning Channel. Here she is with her puppet sidekick Reddy. The half-hour series, entitled
Rory and Me, runs weekdays at 8 a.m. on channel.1& on the North Shore.

i’m Just A Kid, and her TV pro-
gram/home video, Rory’s Choice,
have already won her two Parent's
Choice Awards. Some families may
also have come into contact with
Rory’s other albums: Make Believe
Day or Rory’s Little Broadway, a
highly palatable collection of
Broadway tunes.

Here, Rory has a sidekick, a
Muppet-like red-haired personage
called Reddy. The pair discuss vari-
ous questions raised by Reddy
(such as “Why can’t animals
talk?"). These conversations, along
with songs performed by Rory,
introduce the theme for the show.

Science vignettes called See

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LUCAS CENTRE
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LUCAS CENTRE
2132 Hamilton Avenue,
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How They Grow (created by the
British production company
Dorling-Kindersley) show kids how
animals develop.

In one episode viewers get a

66 The package is
entertaining, bright,
multi-faceted and
won’t make parents’
lips curl, 99

handful of glimpses of a litter of
playful Golden Retrievers as they
grow into adolescents.

The same instaliment of Rory
and Me followed a young boy into
the forest, where he came upon a -
herd of mountain goats and the
human kid patched up the injured
leg of a goat kid.

The package is entertaining,
bright, multi-faceted and won't
make parents’ lips curl.

A little unscientific study sug-
gests Rory and Me has what it takes
to survive in this very competitive
market. Kids at a local pre-school
were glued to the tube when the
show played on the VCR there
tecently.

The preview videotape has
already become.a favorite in this
writer’s household, which is well-
supplied with alternatives, from
Beauty and the Beast to (gulp) Rock
With Barney.

Tndu
Yourse

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