The Fresh Beat Band – What kid wouldn’t enjoy them?

 

Whether you’re a toddler, preschooler, or a young school-aged child, you’ve got a plethora of television programs geared for kids your age. There are Disney, Nickelodeon, Sprout, PBS, and ABC Family to name a few. So how do you know which program is right for you and whether they’ll be interesting enough to maintain your attention for at least a half hour? Well, there are several options. You can either have your parents go online to the specific program’s website, you can watch it yourself, or my favorite, you can have your parent watch it first to make sure that it’s suitable.

As a parent of a toddler/preschooler, there really were too many TV programs to choose from when we decided he was the right age to start watching TV. But like most parents, I researched the programs beforehand to make sure that they were age appropriate and was interesting and captivated my son’s attention. That’s when we came across The Fresh Beat Band on Nickelodeon or Nick Jr. to be precise. At first my son was a bit hesitant at watching the show because of the more adult dialogue, but as he got older, he grew to love it and it became one of his favorite shows.

The Fresh Beat Band, if you’ve never heard of them before is a show about four college friends who attend “Music School” together. They all share an apartment close to Music School and within the school, they created themselves as “The Fresh Beat Band.” Although they’re not a real musical band in real life, they seem real enough to me and my son because the four of them are so talented and musically-inclined. The four characters, Kiki, Marina, Shout, and Twist have been best friends since they were little kids and throughout the years their friendship grew and they all stuck together to eventually pursue musical endeavors at their Music School. Each of the characters are unique in their own way with their own musical talent highlighted in each episode. Kiki is a talented multi-instrumental musician. She can play the violin, the piano, and many other musical instruments. And she also has a great singing voice and a superb dancer. To me, she seems like an overachiever with grounded roots (if that’s at all possible, but the show makes it apparently believeable). All of them dance and sing on the show if they’re not playing with their signature instruments and they dance very well together.  Marina plays the drums and she can play all types of drums as it is sometimes shown in the episodes. She’s also a gentle spirit and quite a comedian. Shout is the keyboards expert on the show and he can play a mean tune as well as having a great singing voice. And then there’s Twist, who is the DJ of the group and he can spin and rap like no other. He’s also the more clumsy, loafy character of the four friends.

What’s so great about The Fresh Beat Band is that their friendship really guides them in what they do. They get in trouble together but they also solve problems together towards the end of the show. Their problem-solving stems from their friendship with one another and the fact that they can do everything together as long as they stick together. Each episode is innocent and fun-loving, and you’ll evidently learn a lesson towards the end. There’s always some kind of message in their show as it is with most children’s television programs.

The Fresh Beat Band originated on Nickelodeon over 2 years ago and is going on strong. They’ve captivated audiences of all ages – not just young children. And although there have been several cast changes throughout the seasons, the characters still stayed true to form – which I imagine would be hard to do for someone to come into an already popular show. This season, Marina had a cast change and the new actress who plays Marina – Tara Perry  is just as vivacious as the character portrays except she does put a bit of her own personality into the character. My son noticed right away that there is a new Marina but Tara does such a superb job that you don’t notice much difference except of course, Marina is played by two seperate people. The new season also showcases new outfits for the four friends and some fun and exciting episodes coming up.

I was given an advanced copy of their next episode, “Cool Pool Party” which will air on July 8 (check your local listings), to review and write about. My son and I were excited to watch the new episode and when we received the DVD, we popped it into our DVD player immediately. Even my husband, who’s not a big fan of kids shows sat down to watch it because he wanted to see the new “Marina”. “Cool Pool Party” was a pretty fun episode to watch. It’s about the four friends planning a pool party with their neighbors and friends and Twist, who wanted to DJ at the party, couldn’t come up with the right tunes to play at the party. After spinning a few records of their recorded songs, the four pals found some good songs to choose from and each song helped them with a specific task. As with each episode, they sing and dance their way through their problems and solutions. My son and I both love to sing and dance along with the Fresh Beats and my son actually learned quite a few new dance moves from them! I really enjoyed the costumes in this particular episode because the back up dancers were wearing coordinated swim clothes in blue and green and it matched well against the backdrop colors of the pool party.

So in “Cool Pool Party”, what really created the laughs and imagination was when Kiki, Marina, and Shout jumped into the pool to test it out and SPLASH! – all of the water splashed out and there was no more water in the pool! Oh no, what will the four friends and their community do? You’ll have to watch the show on July 8th (9:30am ET/PT) to find out and you won’t be disappointed by the fun, songs, and entertainment!

Nickelodeon has kindly offered 2 sneak peeks at the episode, “Cool Pool Party”. You can download them here. Just download the regular download and you’re good to go! Enjoy!

Clip 1:  “DJ Get The Party Started” song:  http://www.sendspace.com/file/8huqznClip

Clip 2:  Cannonball Scene: http://www.sendspace.com/file/aopzmh

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Please read the labels and ingredients carefully and follow all manufacturer’s instructions (if any). The products selected for the giveaway were generously donated by the companies/PR to help readers learn more about their products. The winner’s choice in using/consuming these products are entirely up to the winner and will not hold the author and her family liable nor the companies/PR liable. These products are made with non-toxic ingredients but always be safe with what you use and consume.

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