The Hoobs
The Hoobs is a children's television series created and produced by The Jim Henson Company and Decode Entertainment for Channel Four. Five series of 250 episodes were produced for the series. Concept. Channel 4 announced in November 2000 that a new educational series, titled 'The Hoobs', had been developed for a pre-school audience. In a £20 million joint venture between Channel 4 and The Jim Henson Company, the channel commissioned 250 half-hour episodes which were to be broadcast from early 2001. The series was set to be the biggest pre-school series on British  television as it was said that "Channel 4 hopes its Hoobs will be the new Teletubbies" and wished from it to match its success. Executive vice-president, Angus Fletcher, of the Jim Henson Television Company commented that "We are delighted to have the opportunity to pioneer a groundbreaking format which will address the needs of the first truly multi-media generation." Plot. It stars five creatures called Hoobs (Hubba Hubba, Iver, Groove, Tula, and Roma) from the fictional Hoobland, and their interactions with earth and the human race. In each episode, they try to find the answer to a question  to be put in the great Hoobopaedia created by Hubba Hubba, back in Hoobland, in hopes of learning all there is to know. Hubba Hubba remains in Hoobland to await the report from the other Hoobs, Iver, Groove, and Tula live in the Hoobmobile, and Roma travels to all parts of the world. The five creatures are muppets, but the show also includes some animated sequences as well as live motion of human children who explain concepts to the Hoobs. Series. A typical episode format involves: Broadcast history. United Kingdom. The series premiered on Channel 4 on 15 January 2001  from 6:00am to 7:00am, with two episodes being broadcast each weekday morning. The episodes were repeated from 11:00 am, finishing its run of 250 episodes on 3 January 2003. Although the series ceased production in the United Kingdom in 2002, it was regularly repeated in the same early morning time slot for several years afterwards. It was temporarily taken off the schedule every year during the Christmas period and returned in the new year. However, 2014 was the final year that the series had been screened as it did not return following the Christmas holidays. It also aired on Nick  Jr UK from 2002 to 2004. International. It has also been shown in other countries, including North America (repeats formerly airing on Sprout) and Australia airing on both ABC and ABC2 from 4 February 2002 to 2 July 2011. The show was aired on Nick Jr. awards. In Poland it aired on Polsat JimJam and TV4. In Sweden, it was on SVT Barnkanalen. It aired in Hungary on JimJam. In Spain, it was on Telemadrid. Hop! in Israel, In Italy, "Hello Hoobs" was on JimJam. In Germany, the show aired on KiKA. In Latin America, the show aired on Semillitas . Episodes. Season 1 (2001) Season 2 (2001) Season 3 (2001) Season 4 (2001–2002) Season 5 (2002 - 2003) Home Media releases. Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment released VHS tapes and a DVD of the series from 2001-2003 in the United Kingdom. HIT Entertainment later released a DVD in 2005. VHS DVD Video game. A video game based on the show was released for the PlayStation on 7 June 2002, developed by Runecraft and published by Sony Computer Entertainment Europe.