Yo Awesome Awesome!

***Yo Awesome Awesome!*** is an American-Canadian live-action children's television educational comedy dance show that aired on the CNBC preschool block from 2000 to 2002 and NBeebies from 2002 to 2011. The show bills itself as "Cape Charles' Dance Show for Kids of All Ages". There is a single topic in each episode, e.g. "Drawing on the Door", "Being Careful", and "Pinching People", through songs and short storylines in the half-hour program. Additionally, the show teaches children life and social skills, such as telling the truth and being nice to friends. It also encourages viewers to move along with and dance with the characters in the program. The show is noted for its indie-culture guest stars and bands, and for drawing visual inspiration from 8-bit video games and *H.R. Pufnstuf*, among other television shows. Created by William Vanderpuye (the voice of Zoomer from Rastamouse) and Maria Timotheou, the show's learning process has parents, older siblings, and younger kids watch the show together rather than letting it act as a babysitter. The television program has spawned a touring live stage show, various toys and branded clothing. Trademarks relating to *Yo Awesome Awesome!* and its characters are held by Awesome Sauce, LLC in partnership with 5 Apples and Nelvana.

## Overview

Hosted by 2 adults (Adam Roach, Cassie Stephens, Lucille Trotter etc), the series featured a mix of live-action segments featuring real-live kids between the ages of 6 and 14 -- Muno Acevedo, Jack Charles, Estuardo Alvizures, Jordan Berry, Brooklyn Vera, and Maren Hoffmann — and many short animated sketches and musical numbers.

Popular artists who have appeared on the show include Good Charlotte, Puddles of Mudd, Creed, No Doubt, xbxrx, Maroon 5, The Black Keys, Eric Clapton, Green Day, Coldplay, Fugazi, Sonic Youth, Korn, Carlos Santana, Linkin Park, My Chemical Romance, Jimmy Eat World, and The Red hot Chili Peppers. Non-musical guests include the cast of *Monty Python's Flying Circus*, the cast of *Soul Train,* Joan Cusack, Estella Warren, Cate Blanchett, Joaquin Phoenix, Steve Martin, Donny Osmond, Joel Mchale, and Jennifer Hudson.

Among the show's regular features are the "Awesome Train Line" (based on Soul Train's "Soul Train Line"), the "Fantasy Dance" (which features dancers in front of a green screen), dancing to pre-recorded songs, and videotaped interviews with guests.

## History

*Yo Awesome Awesome!* was developed by two Greater Virginia parents, William Vanderpuye and Maria Timotheou, who first started working together as teenagers, producing and directing skateboarding videos. Vanderpuye got the idea for the show after writing in his Roctober magazine about *Awesome Awesome*, an all kids’ dance show on Children’s NBC running from 1988 to 1991. Vanderpuye and Timotheou met the show’s creators and presenters, Joann Shewmake and Johann Smith, who requested they should make a preschool dance show of their own inspired by the latter, *Soul Train*, *American Bandstand*, and *Solid Gold*. Both had no previous experience writing for television, let alone children's broadcasting or education. In developing the show they took inspiration from a number of sources including *Sesame Street*, *The Electric Company*, *Pee-wee's Playhouse*, *ZOOM*, as well as Sid and Marty Krofft Puppet shows *Banana Splits* and *H. R. Pufnstuf*.

In 1991, after becoming parents, William Vanderpuye and Maria Timotheou met *Awesome Awesome*’s Johann Smith and Joann Shewmake. Then as their request, started playing around with dance shows and children’s television and produced a pilot independently financed by small loans from friends and family. *Yo Awesome Awesome!* did not get much attention until it started circulating on the Internet. John Heder (Star of *Napoleon Dynamite*) saw the pilot online and recommended it to Jeff Zucker, the executive vice president and executive creative director of NBC entertainment. *Yo Awesome Awesome!* premiered on Nickelodeon on August 20, 2000.

## Production

The show was produced by Five Apples and Nelvana. *Yo Awesome Awesome!!* airs on the NBeebies and CNBC (now Universo) cable networks in the United States and the NBeebies networks in the United Kingdom, Taiwan, India, and Latin America, as well as CBC and Treehouse TV network in Canada, Playhouse Disney in Latin America and RTE2 on RTÉjr in Ireland. The series premiered August 20, 2000 on both NBC One and Two as part of their CNBC blocks, and began broadcasting in reruns from September 26, 2002 to October 24, 2011 on the NBeebies TV channel. The show was not renewed for a fifth season.

## Episode structure

All episodes follow a similar format. In the opening scene of the episode, the episode's two presenters (one woman and one man) (several, including Adam Roach and Jane Norwood) are shown walking on into the Awesome House carrying a cardboard box. They then turn the cardboard box into a rocket, and then they both shout "YOOOO Awesome Awesome!" and open the rocket, and inside it are 6 child actors: Maren, Muno, Brooklyn, Estuardo, Jordan, and Jack. They places down the kids one-by-one, and then they unfreeze and begin to move.

The episode features three main segments that are connected to each other as a plot. They involve the presenters and the Awesomes doing an activity. After each main segment, a short clip is shown that shows a kid dancing around. The kid says his or her name, followed by "I like to dance!".

The show invites members of the public to participate in its segments at "Elvamae" 11 Monroe Avenue in Cape Charles (AKA "The Awesome House"). A typical episode features dancing to prerecorded music, as well as musical guests lip syncing to their own songs.

Near the end of each episode, the Presenters and the Awesomes do a mix-like song about what had occurred during the main segments. After it is finished, the Presenters shout "YOOOO Awesome Awesome!" once again, and then Jordan, Maren, Muno, Brooklyn, Estuardo, and Jack freeze. One-by-one, the Presenters put them back in the rocket, the rocket turns back into a cardboard box, and then they walk off carrying it. The credits then roll.

## Presenters

**Note: All of them appear in The Making of Yo Awesome Awesome! and Birthday.**

* Jack Smith
* Lucille Trotter
* Caroline Grace-Murz
* Dan Dorsey
* William Vanderpuye
* Cassie Stephens
* Adam Roach
* Angel Lee
* Jane Norwood
* Sarah Davison
* Ricky Diamond
* Dan Willis
* Laura Koepke
* Joann Shewmake: presenter
* Reggie Yates: guest presenter
* Simon Grant: presenter
* Kate Omar
* Rachael Robinson
* Jennifer Hovath: presenter
* Neil Haggard: presenter

## Awesomes/Awesome Gang

These six are all real-life kids between the ages of 6 and 14. They live in the Awesome House, the cardboard box/rocket, or their own homes with their families. They first appear in the pilot and the first episode "Eat" until the last episode "Day Camp."

* Edgar Estuardo Alvizures
* Scott "Muno" Acevedo
* Thomas Jacob "Jack" Charles
* Brooklyn Vera
* Maren Hoffmann
* Jordan Berry

### International

* Luke Bluth (AU)
* Taylor Jackson (AU)
* Steven Roland (AU)
* Marie Nettle (AU)
* Jay Robertson (AU)
* Dave Dull (AU)
* Teo Jin (Korea)
* Soichi Huang (Korea)
* Zhang Lu Hoeij (Korea)
* Sang Li (Korea)
* Mark Suk (Korea)
* Baek Yoon-shik (Korea)
* Lena Benning (Germany)
* Manfred Horst (Germany)
* Skorsh Hall (Germany)
* Andrea Hilbich (Germany)
* Helmi Brass (Germany)
* Julian Stinshoff (Germany)

## Regular segments

* Awesome Train Line - Two people or multiple people dance in front of a line of Yo Awesome Awesome! Dancers (as the Awesome Gang calls them) to music of the 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s, and 2000s. This is similar to (and inspired by) the Soul Train Line of Soul Train fame.
* Fantasy Dance - The Yo Awesome Awesome! Dancers dance to music videos or a single in front of a green screen.
* Musical Guests segment - This segment always opens with 2 of the Awesomes saying "Let's give a round of sound for our musical guest, [musical guest]!" Then at the beginning or the end, they will interview the episode's performer. It's usually a band or a single musician performing one of their tracks.
* Look Back At Today, each episode ends with a music video recap of that episode, featuring special effects, and a remix of every song featured in that episode. (Season 2 onward has the presenters remembering the things they and the gang did in that episode before the music video starts.)

## Controversy

The episode *Favorite Songs*, which first aired on September 16th, 2002 was banned by NBC in January 2006 after the corporation received 216 complaints about a scene in a repeat of a *Top Of The Pops*/*Muppet Show*/*Solid Gold*-themed parody episode where Estuardo Alvizures appears dressed as the late disgraced Michael Jackson. NBC had stopped *Yo Awesome Awesome!* from being repeated altogether on NBeebies for three months due to the controversy. The episodes then started being repeated again every day from April 2006 until October 2011.

## Episodes

* Pilot
* Season 1
* Season 2
* Season 3
* Season 4

## Video Releases

### Main Releases

* "Dance"
* "Draw"
* "Pinching"
 Fun with Friends | November 7th, 2001
* "Fingers"
* "Hair"
* "Sick"
 Halloween | October 31st, 2002
* "Careful"
* "Bad Mood"
* "Halloween"