The fraudulence of the Fresh Beats

nickjr.com

   First of all, the former Jumparounds aren't singing but lip-syncing their songs, however in the corporate manufacture of Ashlee Simpson and Britney Spears, who cares? Especially when you are dealing with small children, who cares how authentic the content is because it's all about presentation.
   Second, before they were foisted on us with a regular time slot, they were called The Jumparounds doing links between regularly scheduled programming prior to the inexplicable name change to The Fresh Beat Band. What changed? Did they fire their manager? Convert to Scientology? It's the same four kids; it's the exact same video footage and songs, they simply changed the name.
   Third, now they're billing this hobbled-together mish-mash of skits as a "hit show." Exactly how is that determined? A massive email and texting campaign from vacuous 4-year-olds? No, it's just some trumped up copy used to shill their stupid songs on iTunes.
   What we are witnessing is the creation of something out of nothing — what Hollywood does best. You take a black, a purported Hispanic and a couple of white kids — two boys, two girls — and market them as some type of musical geniuses.
   Each show barely differs from the previous one as the 'Freshbeats' recycle a half dozen songs through flimsy plots and even flimsier transitions.
   Of course our now 4-year-old daughter eats this up and it is the musical part she enjoys the most; I've yet to hear her talk about the individual characters of the show.
   That's just fine in my book. Hopefully she'll outgrow this infatuation as we continue to feed her different types of music and fend off the ubiquitous promos that pop up on Nick Jr.
   But while the show may have appeal to the little ones, its educational value is nearly zilch.