Charlie and Lola Reach #8

It seems like only yesterday that Charlie was teaching Lola the joys of green dots and moon squirters, but the two crazy kids from Crocodile Street are now set to release their eighth DVD collection.

Charlie and Lola were conceived by British author Lauren Child a few years back, making their debut in the award-winning book I Will Never Not Ever Eat a Tomato (moon squirters are a different matter, however) and they quickly got transformed by Tiger Aspect Productions into an amazing animated series. In the UK it airs on CBeebies and in the U.S. on Playhouse Disney. I always tend to be hyperbolic, but this is indeed my favorite television show on the air today. How much do I like them? I dressed up as Charlie for last year's Halloween party, and don’t see why not to this year. When I can get Loretta to stop pretending she’s Linny or Ming-Ming, she affects a British accent and starts calling me Charlie at least once per sentence.

I will rhapsodize on the beauties of the books and show some other time, but for now suffice it to say that the DVD, entitled I Am Collecting a Collection (featuring episodes from the most recent season, or “series” for the Brits) will be released in the U.S. on August 5. In the meantime you can preorder from amazon for a pretty remarkable $8.99 (opposed to the regular price of $14.98), less than five pounds sterling. I don’t know about the marketing in the UK, but for us here in the land of NTSC and Region 1 it’s the best way to tap into our posh British side. Yes, yes, a dollar’s less than 50p, but for my money Charlie and Lola is the best thing going on either side of the pond.