Here’s everything you need to know about the world of television for Thursday, January 29th, 2026:
EVEN IF YOU DON’T HAVE KIDS, THIS IS A KIDS SHOW YOU SHOULD BE WATCHING
When my son was young, we got hooked on watching the cable channel Noggin. It was an ad-free network that had been launched in 1999 as a partnership between Sesame Workshop and Nickelodeon, with the target audience being preschoolers. But by the early aughts, Sesame Workshop had exited the network and Noggin was split into a 12-hour daytime block of kids programming and a 12-hour nighttime block of young adult programming under the banner of “The N.”
Looking back, Noggin might have been the high-water mark for original kids programming on cable television. The network had an inventive animated duo as “hosts” of the programming (Moose & Zee), plenty of musical breaks and an impressive lineup of music-oriented original programs, including Jack’s Big Music Show and Yo Gabba Gabba.
Yo Gabba Gabba was created by Christian Jacobs and Scott Schultz, two members of the indie-music band Aquabats. Their only experience creating videos was producing and directing skateboarding videos when they were teenagers. But after they became parents, they became interested in kids TV and produced a pilot they posted online. Which led to the TV series being picked up by Nickelodeon and Noggin.
The original Yo Gabba Gabba (which is now available for streaming on The Roku Channel) was hosted by a DJ named DJ Lance Rock, and featured a mix of live-action segments featuring five costumed full-bodied puppet characters - Muno, Plex, Foofa, Toodee, and Brobee - along with short animated sketches and musical numbers.
One of the things that was most interesting to me as I watched it with my son was the impressive line-up of musical acts that popped on the show during its run, including Weezer, MGMT, The Flaming Lips, Belle & Sebastian, Band of Horses, The Shins, Biz Markie, The Roots and The Killers. We enjoyed the show so much that we even went to a Yo Gabba Gabba Live! concert, which was much an indie rock/hip hop concert as it was a performance for kids.
That original series ended its run after four seasons in 2012, but not before the Gabba Gabba Gang did a live performance at Coachella, which I am very sorry I missed.
However, reruns of the show continued to air on the Noggin streaming service and it remained a favorite of many people in the industry. So much so that when Apple TV was looking for children’s programming it could reboot, Yo Gabba Gabba was revived as Yo Gabba GabbaLand! in 2024.
The show has been updated, but in ways that still retain the charm that made the original version so essential. The series is now hosted by Kammy Kam (Kamryn Smith), but it includes the five original performers: Brobee (Amos Watene), Foofa (Emma Penrose), Muno (Adam Deibert), Toodee (Erin Pearce) and Plex (Christian Jacobs). There is still a great mix of humor, music and subtle learning lessons and while describing a show targeting kids as being “fun for the whole family” is an old cliche, it is very true in this case.
Season two of Yo Gabba GabbaLand premieres Friday, January 30th on Apple TV and I recently had the opportunity to speak with co-creators Christian Jacobs and Scott Schultz about the new season and the challenges of updating a beloved show while still retaining its original charm.
The interview has been lightly edited for clarity:
When the two of you got the chance to update the show for Apple TV, what were those discussions like between the two of you and Apple? I suspect there was a desire on everyone’s part for the new version to both stay true to the thing people loved, but also make it feel modern.
Scott Schultz: Well, it was a difficult balance. But I should first say that Christian and I hadn't worked together for over a decade. So coming back together - we're friends, but being able to do Yo Gabba Gabba again, ten years later, was such a dream come true.
And it's been just almost like a party, not a job. If I could say that for the last handful of years, it's been amazing.
Scott Schultz: I think they proved themselves as a creator-driven company to us, which is really good because they weren’t trying to force something. Because Gabba needed that balance - like you said - between the old show and something new. But keeping the essence of both, you know what I mean?
So they gave us this chance, so we could translate this to a whole new generation of kids with new experiences. They allowed us to create it in a different way to create this vast land. So now instead of DJ Lance’s imagination on the table, this is Kami’s imagination in a world of just never ending landscape, which thank you, Apple.
And thanks to everyone who’s watching it.
When you produce the first season you are just trying to figure out the best approach to update it. So what did you take away from that first season after it was released and people had a chance to see it? After you saw what resonated or didn’t resonate with fans, did you make adjustments for season two?
Scott Schultz: I don’t want to say it’s more of the same, but it’s more of the same in a good way. Because I feel like in season two, Kami is just in her element. And there are all new bands, new characters, new adventures. So with all brand new music we’re in no ways charting a course that leans on even season one.
It’s an extravagant extension that I love because we get to see more of Kami’s land. We get to see her special place. You know what I mean? Which is exciting. Finally.
Christian Jacobs: And there’s some really fun things that we were able to kind of drill down into Yo Gabba GabbaLand in season two. And I think season one, we spent a lot of time figuring out the new technology and how to make the show. Because the process is a lot different than the way we made the old show.
So I think we were just kind of getting that down in season one. And now it’s really hitting its stride here in season two, and like Scott said, we get to go to really fun places. We get to go visit Fufa’s house and Tootie and Fufa have a day date. And where does Fufa live and what is her family pictures in our house look like?
Where does Kami store all the figurines when they’re not alive or she’s not playing with them? You know, there’s like all kinds of fun stuff. And we get to go and meet new people in GabbaLand. And that’s just something we’d love to continue doing, is creating this living, breathing world for the kids watching.
That’s an interesting way to frame it because - if you work in the Star Wars Universe - there is this overall story canon that guides everything. You might have a great story, but it isn’t used because it doesn’t fit into the Star Wars canon.
And it almost sounds as it there is a bit of a Yo Gabba Gabba canon. That you might come up with something and think it’s a great idea, but it doesn’t fit into what you’re doing.
Christian Jacobs: I think to a certain extent there is. But the cool thing about Gabba is because it’s based on your imagination, the canon is very loose.
There is a universe, but it’s not as rigid as the Star Wars universe. It’s definitely like, well, today I think this can happen.
Because anything can happen in a child’s imagination. And especially when you sprinkle the magic in there and you know, there’s nothing that the characters can’t do or, or can’t go see. And it’s fun to like tie it all into the world?
Scott Schultz: It’s exciting because honestly, the core of it is we’re trying to inspire the next generation of creators through unlocking their imagination. So we’re not trying to define the world. We’re trying to just give them options almost in an absurdist weird way to see how they can create in all different ways in their outer life.
It doesn’t just have to be one way. A way that’s saying you gotta be this. You gotta be this.
It’s like, no, I can be a creator. And when that time comes, we hope that these are tools for them in their preschool lives that they can carry forward.
And after 15 years plus of doing this, we have the privilege of seeing these kids that we once spoke to before now becoming adults. And it’s such a beautiful thing to see their progress and who they’re becoming. We just love being able to be there for them at preschool age and just really singing from the rooftops, parents co-view this with your kids.
This is an experience, an opportunity you can do together. That’s where the magic lies.
As you mentioned, there is this 15-year plus history of the show. And when you are working on a show you get caught up in the process and just getting the episodes out the door and you don’t really think about the ramifications of the impact that it has on people.
I’m wondering for both of you, if coming back to the show gave you more of a sense of, “Oh, this really had a value that I wasn’t aware of at the time.”
Christian Jacobs: That is so true. When you get a little older, you look back on the past and you just remember the process and making the show. But then 10, 15 years later, it’s kind of almost like the end of Schindler’s List where people were saying “this was so important.” And I didn’t realize it at the time.
That’s what’s dawning on us. So yes, when we came back, we’re trying to do it better. We have child development specialists, and we’re really pulling into the emotional intelligence for the child and how to not get trapped in the fears and just allow ourselves through imagination to be creators and to dream.
Scott Schultz: And by putting that into the DNA of the show. There’s so many creatives involved in You Gabba GabbaLand from the music, the contributions to the music, the people performing, the people doing animation, it’s just like a huge creative popcorn ball. It’s just so much fun and our dream, our hope is that kids might not be paying attention to something in the foreground.
Maybe they’re not even listening to the song, but they’re looking off into the distance and thinking like, “I wonder what’s going on over there in Gabba Land?” Because that’s what I was doing in school. I was looking out the window thinking, I want to go skateboard over there today.
I think that’s part and parcel of helping to create a whole human being is fostering that exploration gene. To encourage kids to go out there and see what’s in the woods, feel the cold stream water and do all those things. So we try to put that stuff into an abstract world of Yo Gabba GabbaLand, but really we’re hoping that it will inspire kids to create and imagine and explore and go find the world out there.
Season two of Yo Gabba GabbaLand premieres tomorrow on Apple TV.
ODDS AND SODS
* The stand-up comedy special Katt Williams: The Last Report will premiere Tuesday, February 10th on Netflix.
* The social-experiment dating series Age Of Attraction premieres Wednesday, March 11th on Netflix. Here is the brief official logline: "Age is thrown out the window when singles search for their soulmates, but will the years come between them? In this new dating series, hosted by Nick Viall and Natalie Joy, a group of daters will discover whether love is truly ageless."
* If you find yourself saying, "I don't think there is enough Guy Fieri on the Food Network," then I have great news for you. Flavortown Food Fight premieres Wednesday, March 4th on the Food Network. Long referred to but never before seen, the mythical and delicious Flavortown will be the setting for this multi-round, culinary competition. In each episode, Fieri will
* The newest 30x30 special The Philly Special will premiere Friday, February 6th on ESPN. Here is the official logline: "The special tells the story of the moment that propelled the Eagles to an upset win over the Patriots for their first Super Bowl title in 2018, told through the perspectives of the players, coaches, and fans who experienced it. It’s also a personal look at the city of Philadelphia, with its unique mix of heartfelt optimism, notorious pessimism, and unbridled underdog passion."
WHAT'S COMING TODAY AND TOMORROW
THURSDAY, JANUARY 29TH:
* Bridgerton Season Four Premiere (Netflix)
* Next Level Chef Season Premiere (Fox)
* Scenes After A Marriage Series Premiere (Viaplay)
FRIDAY, JANUARY 30TH, 2026:
* Gangham Project Series Premiere (Netflix)
* Inside The 68th Annual Grammy Awards (CBS)
* Miracle: The Boys Of '80 (Netflix)
* Ready To Love Reunion Special (OWN)
* Terri Joe: Missionary In Miami (Tubi)
* The Woman Before Me (LMN)
* Yo Gabba GabbaLand! (Apple TV)
SEE YOU THIS FRIDAY!