Over the hills and far away, Teletubbies are back to play. As The Hollywood Reporter notes, the beloved-yet-creepy children’s show is being rebooted by Netflix with narration from Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt star Titus Burgess.
Teletubby land, with its colorful denizens Tinky-Winky, Dispy, Laa-Laa, and Po, debuted in the UK in 1997 and hopped to PBS in 1998. The original boasted narration from Toyah Wilcox — as in that Toyah, and also that Toyah, and even this Toyah pouring water on herself. We didn’t know it 20 years ago, but Teletubbies has always rocked.
The reboot is set to premiere November 14th. It’s part of Netflix’s revamped preschool block that also features Princess Power, an adaptation of Today anchor Savanah Guthrie’s book Princesses Wear Pants; Cocomelon Lane, a new twist on the world’s most repetitive nursery-rhyme juggernaut; and a revamped Carmen Sandiego.
And while we’re a far cry from right wing loons accusing Tinky-Winky of being a secret gay icon — “He is purple — the gay-pride color; and his antenna is shaped like a triangle — the gay-pride symbol,” Jerry Falwell famously said — children’s television continues to battle at the front lines of the culture wars. On September 7th, Peppa Pig announced its first same-sex couple.
First look at Netflix’s ‘TELETUBBIES’ reboot. pic.twitter.com/kMFMWAdu5i
— DiscussingFilm (@DiscussingFilm) September 7, 2022
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