#NOGGIN NICK JR WIKIA MADE FOR THIS SHOW SERIES#
Selig pitched Oobi under the working title "Pipo," and it was turned into a series of two-minute shorts. In 1999, Nickelodeon started seeking pitches for shows to put on its then-upcoming cable network Noggin. Robinson and Tim Lagasse to help him develop the idea, and they built the acrylic eye props that would later become the Oobi characters' costumes. They used only their hands and pairs of plastic eyes, which inspired Selig to consider making a show about super-simple, "rudimentary" hand puppets. Josh Selig came up with the idea for Oobi while watching puppeteers audition for Ulica Sezamkowa, the Polish adaptation of Sesame Street. The show also features a supporting cast of townspeople and friends who occasionally join in on the main family's adventures. There are four main characters: Oobi, his sister Uma, his best friend Kako, and his grandfather Grampu. Oobi has three seasons in all: one season of shorts and two seasons of long-form segments.Ĭharacters Main article: List of characters The episodes were usually aired in pairs to fill up half-hour timeslots. Each short is one to two minutes long, and each long-form episode is 13 minutes long. The show started as a series of shorts, which aired during commercial breaks on Nick Jr. The long-form episodes feature bigger, more involved stories and a series of interviews, where the characters talk with real families about the episode's topic.Ĥ8 shorts and 52 long-form segments were made: a total of 100 individual stories. For example, "Uma, school, first day" is said instead of "It's my first day of school." In the season one shorts, each story focused on the puppets learning about a very basic topic: music, art, play, or nature. The characters have a very simple manner of speaking, meant to mimic how kids talk in very early childhood. Together, Oobi and his family have funny, simple adventures that celebrate the awkward steps of growing up. Kako spends so much time with Oobi that he is almost an honorary family member.
He is best friends with an African-American hand named Kako, who lives across the street. The main character is a boy named Oobi, who lives in a quaint house with his overdramatic sister Uma and his hapless grandpa Grampu. The show takes place in a neighborhood where bare hand puppets talk and act like people.