"Handy Manny"
Weekdays 9:30am, Disney Channel
Easily the best thing Wilmer Valderrama has done, ever. Although since his previous credits include playing Fez on "That ’70s Show," producing MTV’s odious insult competition "Yo Momma" and allegedly deflowering Mandy Moore and Lindsay Lohan, that isn’t saying much. But "Handy Manny" really works. It’s easy to look at Manny as a Latino version of Bob the Builder, and you wouldn’t be wrong. He fixes problems with his anthropomorphized tools Felipe the Screwdriver, Stretch the Tape Measure, Pat the Hammer, Dusty the Saw and others. It’s cute, and a surprisingly low-key affair.
"Yo Gabba Gabba"
Weekdays 11am, Nickelodeon
I love this show, and so does my toddler niece, so I have a legitimate excuse to watch it. "Yo Gabba Gabba" is the hipster kids’ show. I imagine its creators grew up on "The Electric Company," worshipped the movie Breakin’, and then turned into Wilco fans, since it mixes pre-school lessons, music and dancing into an awesomely trippy bonanza. Each episode begins with DJ Lance Rock bringing out his boombox, which holds toy versions of his five monster pals, Muno, Foofa, Toodee, Plex and Brobee. The monsters come to life and sing songs, perform skits, and dance. There’s a lot of viewer participation, and every episode some too-cool-for- school band like The Shins or Shiny Toy Guns shows up to sing a song or demonstrate a new dance. Probably the most adult-friendly kids show currently on the air.
"Ben 10"
Weekdays 3:30pm, Cartoon Network
If you’ve got a boy between the ages of 7 and 10—or if you just think like one—you’ll probably like "Ben 10." The sci-fi/action cartoon was created by Man of Action, a conglomeration of forward-thinking comic book writers and artists, and the background in comics really shows. The series focuses on young Ben Tennyson, who comes into possession of an Omnitrix, a watch-like device that allows him to temporarily transform into one of 10 alien races. All of the aliens can do various cool things like shoot fire or walk through walls, and Ben uses the device to battle bad guys. Next spring, Cartoon Network plans to launch a new "Ben 10" series that will feature the character in his teenage years. Still sucks to be a kid, I guess.—Eric Rezsnyak
