TV REVIEWS : Two Puppet Shows Debut for the Kids

Parents looking for new places to park their preschoolers have two new options on television today: “The Puzzle Place” and “The Adventures of Timmy the Tooth.”

“The Puzzle Place,” a much ballyhooed, ambitious series produced at KCET-TV Channel 28, is designed to teach youngsters to “celebrate diversity,” according to press material. Luckily, children don’t read press releases, or they might be turned off by that overworked, catchall generality.

Diversity is a given in this gentle song-filled show, starring an ethnic and racial rainbow of puppet kids in a fantasy playhouse setting. Judging from the first two episodes, the fundamental emphasis is on friendship, empathy, reasonable conflict-solving and common ground.

In today’s segment, “Tippy Woo,” Julie Woo, a Chinese American, confides to her teddy bear that it hurts when kids make teasing rhymes out of her name.

Puppetry is mixed with animated and live-action film clips about what names mean, the evolution of last names and naming ceremonies. Julie’s friends--Kiki Flores (a Mexican American), Leon MacNeal (an African American), Jody Silver (Jewish, of Lithuanian descent), Skye Nakaiye (an Apache) and Ben Olafson (a blue-eyed, blond farm boy)--comfort her by letting her know they’ve been made fun of, too.

In Tuesday’s “Train Driving Kids,” the boys won’t let the girls play with an electric train, saying trains are “guy” stuff. The declaration by the girls, led by Kiki, that girls can do anything, is predictable. So is the subsequent live-action film of women as train engineers, doctors and mechanics.

What happens next, however, seems to prove that this series will be more subtle than expected. Both boys and girls abandon their soapboxes when it turns out that only Leon and Kiki are really interested in trains. Julie and Ben would rather cook, and Jody and Skye want to build a play train station.

“The Puzzle Place” is frankly educational, with its heart showing on its sleeve, but it’s also amply entertaining, refreshingly unfrenetic and imaginative enough to draw young viewers in and keep them.

*

No, “The Adventures of Timmy the Tooth” is not about oral hygiene, although it does have a dental subtext--carried out in puns, in the disparagement of sweets and in the identification of the animatronic puppet characters: Johnny Paste, Brushbrush, Mr. Wisdom, Bubbles Gumm and villain Cavity Goon.

But the actual stories are little message plays about cooperation, friendship and self-esteem, aimed at the “Barney” brigade. Each features Timmy and friends at home, in fantasy sequences and overcoming bad guy mischief; there is an emphasis on healthy food, reading and creative play.

Timmy evolved from a quirky little children’s puppet theater show that played locally several years ago, and the extensive puppetry and theater backgrounds of creators Kevin Carlson, Dina Fraboni and James Murray--including “Pee-wee’s Playhouse” and Muppet credits--are evident in the series’ imaginative crafting.

Dialogue and songs, however, show less inventiveness in this visually creative, mild-mannered series, as does a too-heavy reliance on formulaic conflicts with the warty green Cavity Goon.

* “The Puzzle Place” airs weekdays at 9:30 a.m. and noon, and weekends at 8:30 a.m. on KCET-TV Channel 28, and on Mondays through Saturdays at 8:30 a.m. on KPBS-TV Channel 15. “The Adventures of Timmy the Tooth” airs this week only on KTTV-TV Channel 11, Monday through Friday at 1:30 p.m. and Saturday at 6 a.m. The first three episodes will also be available on MCA/Universal Home Video beginning Jan. 31.