Pinky Dinky Doo

Pinky Dinky Doo is an American-British-Canadian animated children's television series that aired on Noggin. The series was created by Jim Jinkins.
To promote the series' debut on Noggin, one episode ("Polka Dot Pox / Come Home, Little Guinea Pig") was aired on Nickelodeon's Nick Jr. block on April 10, 2006. The show only aired on the separate Noggin channel from then on.
== Plot ==
Pinky is a girl who lives in Great Big City with her parents, her younger brother, Tyler, and their pet, Mr. Guinea Pig. When a problem arises, Pinky says, "That gives me an idea" and Tyler says, "Pinky, are you going to make up a story?" and Pinky will say, "Yeserooni positooni!", dancing to a cardboard box, her Story Box, with Tyler and Mr. Guinea Pig. Using chalk and her imagination, she tells a story. In season 2, Pinky uses the Story Pad, a notebook in which Pinky draws pictures for her newer made-up stories, whenever the Story Box is not available. During the made-up story, Pinky must "Think Big", at which point her head inflates like a balloon and she comes up with an often wacky solution to the problem while singing "If I have a problem and don't know which way to go, I think and think and think and think and suddenly I know!". In Big Blob of Talk, instead of thinking big, Pinky listens big instead. In Back to School Is Cool, Pinky's hair swells instead of her entire head due to a bad hair day. In Tyler Dinky Doo to the Rescue, Two Wheel Dreams, Go to Bed Tyler!, and Tyler's Big Idea (series finale), Tyler thinks big instead of Pinky. In Shrinky Pinky, Mr. Guinea Pig does the thinking.
== Description ==
The show helps viewers increase their vocabularies with its Great Big Fancy Word, which is featured several times during the episode. It also addresses problem-solving skills as well as the basics of narrative stories—character, dialogue, plot, details, main idea and sequence of events. After Pinky tells her story and solves the problem of the day, kids are invited to play an interactive game on the Cheese Sandwich toy, where they review details about the story. At the end of each episode, Pinky says, "I love to make up stories. I'll bet you can make up a story too." In each episode, there is also a "Great Big Fancy Word", which varies with each episode, but when somebody is about to say the word, Mr. Guinea Pig will blow a trumpet and then the character says the word (even if Mr. Guinea Pig himself says the word). In In The Dark, Tyler blows the trumpet instead of Mr. Guinea pig. In Come Home Little Guinea Pig, both Pinky and Mr. Guinea Pig blow the trumpet. In Tyler Dinky Doo's Big Boo, Go To Bed Tyler, Pinky Dinky Re-Doo, Tyler and the 4Ms, Loch Mess Lobster, and Tyler's Silly Shirt, Mr. Guinea Pig uses a different instrument when someone is going to say the great big fancy word.
This series was created by Jim Jinkins, who originally made up Pinky's adventures as bedtime tales for his children. The executive producers are Jinkins and David Campbell. It is a production of Sesame Workshop, Cartoon Pizza, Keyframe Digital, and Abrams Gentile Entertainment. According to Nick Jr., Pinky Dinky Doo is the network's second series (and its first original series) dedicated to enhancing early literacy.
The show was also shown on CBeebies in the UK, but was dubbed with a British cast. There is also a Spanish version on Univision.
In 2016, the series reran on HBO Family as part of HBO's deal with Sesame Workshop.
== Cast and characters ==
=== Main ===
* Pinky Dinky Doo (India Ennenga)
* Tyler Dinky Doo (Season 1: Felix Chrome; Season 2: Allison Wachtfogel)
* Mr. Guinea Pig (Season 1: Juan Van Michaelangelo; Season 2: John Rogers)
=== Supporting ===
* Mrs. Dinky Doo (Season 1: Heather Dilly; Season 2: Lindsie Van Winkle), Pinky's mother
* Mr. Dinky Doo (Jim Jinkins), Pinky's father
* School characters
** Nicholas Biscuit (Season 1: Justin Riordan; Season 2: Katherine Rose Riley (2008–2011)
** Bobby Boom
** Daffinee Toilette (Season 1: Carolina Hernandez; Season 2: Anabelle Berrido)
** Miss McGanza (Anne Stinkley)
=== Additional voices ===
* Eric Jacobson
* Pam Arciero
* Martin P. Robinson
* Joey Mazzarino
* Jim Jinkins
* Stephanie D'Abruzzo
* Matt Vogel
* David Rudman
== Background and production ==
Pinky began in 2000 as bedtime stories spun by Cartoon Pizza's Jim Jinkins for his then four-year-old daughter. "It wasn't pre-meditated as a kid's show," admits Jinkins. Like the eponymous star of his first hit series Doug, Pinky simply popped out of her creator's imagination. With the help of Sesame Workshop, the magenta-haired Pinky appeared in a series of children's books before making the move into animation. "The Workshop was a beautiful partner," Jinkins beams. "They didn't overhaul it, but saw it as natural literacy project." Pinky Dinky Doo started as a web series. In 2002, two episodes were available as TV episodes and was in production at that time with a scheduled availability for 2003 from Sesame Workshop and Cartoon Pizza.
== Broadcast ==
The series premiered on AFN Family on April 5, 2005, Discovery Kids in Latin America and CBC in Canada a month later. On April 10, 2006, it premiered in the US on both Noggin and Nickelodeon's Nick Jr. block. The Nickelodeon airing was a one-time event to promote the show's debut on Noggin, so episodes only aired on Noggin from then on. Prior to 2016, it was broadcast in Canada in French on TFO.
Category:Educational shows
Category:Acquired shows
Category:Noggin
Category:Cancelled shows
Category:2000s premieres
Category:Flash-Animated Shows
Category:Nick Jr. co-productions