These days, even monsters have handlers.
On a recent morning at a cavernous design studio here, a quintet of colorful, uncategorizable creatures -- or, at least, a group of people dressed to look like them -- were being instructed on how to stand atop a long, narrow float that will soon make its maiden voyage in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.
Crew members from the children's television show Yo Gabba Gabba! were positioned around the float, directing a pink flower-bubble beast named Foofa on her ballet steps and telling a furry green unibrowed animal called Brobee how wide he could sweep his exceptionally long arms when he waves to parade watchers.
On Thursday, when this menagerie makes its way through midtown Manhattan on a float (with a giant boombox), Yo Gabba Gabba! will take its most significant step into mainstream popular culture, sharing a parade route with the likes of Spider-Man and Mickey Mouse. At the same time, a live tour based on the television series continues to travel the country.
These things highlight how rapidly Yo Gabba Gabba!, a show aimed at a preschool audience and broadcast on Nickelodeon's Nick Jr. channel, has built a fan base of young (and not-so-young) viewers with a mix of charming characters, catchy music and hip celebrity guests.
They are also occurring at a time of growing pains for the show, when its producers are wondering if Nickelodeon -- which does not produce Yo Gabba Gabba! itself -- values their show as much as its other children's franchises.
"Everyone we work with creatively at Nickelodeon is so super-into the show," co-creator Christian Jacobs said. "But we're at a place in the business model where they're like, ‘We don't own that show, so we don't necessarily want to push it.'"
Now in its second season, Yo Gabba Gabba! has taken off in many measurable ways since its August 2007 debut: It is shown three times a day, seven days a week, on Nick Jr., and draws about 524,000 viewers an episode, according to Nielsen, about a third of whom are 18 and older. Nickelodeon said that Yo Gabba Gabba! videos averaged more than 1.3 million streams a month at the nickjr.com Web site.
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