I am late to this party, but as they say, better late than never.
The television series LazyTown, a show aimed at young kids, ran on Nick Jr. from 2004 to 2007 and later saw a reboot in 2013. I had personally never heard of it, but it enjoyed a surge of popularity after one of its most beloved stars, Stefán Karl Stefánsson, who played the villain, was diagnosed with cancer in 2016, leading to a fundraiser driven in large part by fans making internet memes. The condition ultimately took Stefánsson’s life in August of 2018, resulting, in turn, in multiple homages.
The show LazyTown was the brainchild of Magnús Scheving, an Icelandic aerobic gymnast and motivational speaker who came up with the concept after multiple parents had asked him how to encourage their children to eat well and to exercise. LazyTown appeared first as a book, then as a stage play, and finally as a television series combining puppetry, acrobatic stunts, and CGI, which, at least according to the Wikipedia page, made it one of the most expensive children’s shows of all time.
I have for some time had my eye on the show’s official YouTube channel, which has for the most part posted music videos and homages to Stefánsson. There are a lot of bootlegs of the show floating around the web—unsurprising, given its recent popularity boost. The official channel has within the last week apparently decided that it’s easier to join them than beat them, and has begun to release a selection of free episodes online. Most of those episodes are available on the Full Episode Playlist, though a few strays are lurking elsewhere on the channel.
Unlike many of the fans, I didn’t watch the show as a kid (I was already grown up when it appeared), and I must limit my comments to what is freely available on YouTube, but based on this selection of episodes, I’m impressed. A lot of the kids’ shows that cross live actors with puppets are endurance tests for adults, but LazyTown is an exception. It’s really entertaining; it’s perhaps not quite on the level of classic Sesame Street, but it’s close.
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