Wonder Showzen: Season One

A deconstructive spoof of edutainment kiddie TV, Wonder Showzen promises “stark, ugly, profound truths,” but falls somewhat short. Bloated with its own sense of gonzo-ness, this MTV2 series—which is most definitely not for children, as the DVD packaging cautions in numerous ways—exhibits flashes of brilliance but is mostly tiresome and obvious, nowhere near as radical as it believes itself to be. Imagine Sesame Street and The Muppet Show getting beaten up in a seedy Skid Row alleyway by a gang of snarksters who think aggressive, potty-mouthed puppets are subversive, and you've got the general idea. The all-around misanthropy is, of course, something any black-hearted cynic can comfortably get behind, and when creators John Lee and Vernon Chatman, veterans of South Park and Late Night with Conan O'Brien, hit their stride—as with the evilly repurposed 1950s propaganda films about farms, hot-dog factories, and happy blond people—it's a hoot, but most of the eight episodes here involve giant felt letters and numbers having sex and beating up one another. DVD extras include non-sequitur “commentary” tracks, allegedly by folks like “Screaming Stephen J. Hawking” and “Dick Gregory” (initially clever, but—like the shows—they rapidly wear out their welcome), and outtakes of the little real-life kiddies who interact with the puppets (one can only hope, for the sake of their tender sanity, that the kids were sheltered from the pop-culture barbarity edited in around them). Optional. (M. Johanson)