On the hit children’s television show JoJo’s Circus, Circus Town is an amazing place, where being a clown is an everyday thing and you have flying frog trapeze artists for neighbors. The children attend circus school, where they learn how to perform under the Big Top. Every night, the place comes alive with people who have come to see the show.
In the middle of all this is a little clown named JoJo, a sweet-tempered girl who is learning the tricks of the trade so she can grow up to be a clown just like her dad. Her adorable pet lion Goliath comes along for the ride, usually hiding in a corner or under a blanket. Every day JoJo is presented with a new challenge, which she faces with good humor and the help of her friends, and at the end of each day, she is asked what she learned.
Sometimes her problems are very complex, like how to pick a squirting flower for her father without getting wet, or how to keep a cotton candy machine from making so much candy it overtakes Circus Town. Sometimes she’s asked to use her imagination, like the day when a tennis racket fell from the sky and no one in Circus Town knew what it was, so they came up with a whole list of other things it could be used for. Whatever the situation, there is never any upsetting dialogue or violence.
This show’s strength is in the friendships and family relationships it portrays. While not an educational show in the traditional sense, it teaches children how to work together, speak to each other kindly, and how to solve problems. In addition, JoJo frequently encourages the watchers to get up and move around to act out solutions to problems or to behave like circus performers.
I recommend this show for gentle entertainment and for a very cute lion.
Tristi’s Score: 7 for Education, 8 for Entertainment, and the Parent Annoyance Factor is 0.