THERE IS A NEW SHERIFF IN TOWN

Disney Junior introduced a new animated show to join its popular kids focused television lineup on Friday the 13^th called SHERIFF CALLIE’S WILD WEST.  The follows the exploits of a calico cat, voiced by the singer Mandy Moore, who serves as the Sheriff of the frontier town of Nice & Friendly Corner using a magical lasso and cow-girl know how to keep the peace.  The show utilizes Wild West folklore and Country music to impart social skills and lessons for young children ages 2-7 encouraging them to be good friends and neighbors.

My 5 year old son was home sick from preschool and we watched the Friday the 13^th sneak peek preview airing on the Disney Channel together.  The episode focused on dealing with the issue of “being a good sport” when one of Callie’s sidekicks becomes the best horseshoe player in town he becomes an arrogant jerk so the Sheriff teaches him a lesson by graciously beating him at his own game.  While the show has a cute premise with the Sheriff, her deputies a cactus and a red robin, and a town full of characters that look like they were pulled from a Richard Scary book, it just didn’t capture my son’s attention.  It wasn’t that the show had a girl for a main character, because he loves to watch Disney’s newer cartoon brands Sophia the First and Doc McStuffins rather the content was a little more focused towards younger children.  I’d say that if he was a few years younger that he’d love this show, though the songs in it with their country twang just aren’t as catchy as those in Sophia and Doc, so while the age rating for SHERIFF CALLIE’S WILD WEST is 2-7 I’d probably say it is more geared for children 2-4 years old.  Both my 5 yr old twins feel the Disney Junior cartoon HENRY HUGGLEMONSTER is too immature for them as well, so if you have a younger child I’d recommend this and for kids that are 5 and older they may watch but not necessarily love this new cartoon. 

This is a quality production that shows DISNEY is committed to giving PBS KIDS dominancy in quality childhood programming a run for the money as they continue to produce and air programs like SHERIFF CALLIE which really is comparable to Dinosaur Train, Daniel Tiger, and Peg + Cat in catering to a 2-5 year old audience.  As a parent, I hope this “battle” will encourage both networks to continue to develop and expand new and interesting programs for children with safe age appropriate content and dependable education and social skill development content.

The Friday the 13th Sneak Peek Show EST air times are: 8:45 am , 2pm & 7:20pm

For more information, check out the show’s website:  http://disneyjunior.com/sheriff-callies-wild-west

SHERIFF CALLIE’S WILD WEST is scheduled to join JAKE AND THE NEVERLAND PIRATES, SOPHIA THE FIRST, DOC MCSTUFFINS &  HENRY HUGGLEMONSTER on DISNEY JUNIOR’S regular weekly lineup starting January 20, 2014.