User Reviews

My son loves this show. It has nice messages about friendship and the characters are all jovial and fun critters. People are salty over this "ruining Mr. Rogers Legacy" and I can tell you right now, my son has no idea who Mr. Rogers is but he loves his Donkey Hodie.

Mr. Rogers will be just fine.

Super cute show for what it is. I have a baby less than 1 who loves the critters. IMO if you're upset it's not educational, make them watch something else or get them away from the tv...

The second series based on Mister Rogers Neighborhood. Unlike Daniel Tiger, which is set in the Neighborhood of Make Believe, Donkey Hodie is set in Someplace Else. Yes, it's actually called that, because King Friday made the original Donkey Hodie build his windmill "someplace else". The original Donkey Hodie is now a loving grandfather known as Grampy Hodie, and the new Donkey Hodie is a bright yellow donkey girl with a striking magenta mane.

The series is aimed at an older audience than Daniel Tiger, featuring more character-driven stories, more conflict, and less hamfisted messages, as well as more comedy and pop culture references. Donkey Hodie is actually a reference to Don Quixote, who also knew a thing or two about windmills. Spiffy Pictures is renowned for their clever comedy on Nature Cat, which also works to Donkey Hodie's advantage to distinguish it from DTN. The show does use music to convey its messages, in typical Mister Rogers fashion, but with bigger words like "frustrated" and "compromise", a mix of old and new songs, and a 60s pop feel.

As I said, this show is a bit of an acquired taste. This means that not everyone will immediately like it at first, but as you watch more and more episodes, you might just like it. The show is definitely not for everyone, and as long as you have good criticisms of the show and not bad ones like "wah, muh nostalgia" or "wah, this show is a ripoff and the characters are brats" (which is not true, looking at you Paw Print on Google....)

The puppets and set design are by far my favorite aspect of the show. The set design is extremely stylized and absolutely gorgeous, you can tell that they put a lot of love into it. The crew also did a great job modernizing the puppets and making them look cuddly. One such example is Purple Panda. On Mister Rogers, Purple Panda could be very unsettling and many people recalling being afraid of him as children (I was a little scared of him too), but Purple Panda here is smaller and more friendly looking, plus he doesn't ping anywhere. So the show's huggable, fuzzy appearance works to its advantage.

If there's one thing PBS is good at, it's making flawed, rounded-out characters that aren't just the "always cheerful and friendly kid that everyone loves" archetype. In fact, Donkey could be considered somewhat of a deconstruction of this trope. Because everyone loves her, they expect her to always have the solution to problems and task her with stuff like walking a pet elephant. But Donkey is well-written enough that she's flawed, she experiences ups and downs, and she does get frustrated, and gets calmed down by Clyde the Cloud.

If you read all these paragraphs, I thank you for reading all of them. I think Donkey Hodie will be a hit show and is already one of my top modern PBS shows.

This show is for me. It may not be for everyone but please be more constructive with your criticisms. Some of the complaints I've read are subjective and that's ok but don't bash a children's show with good intentions. 99% of tv for kids it's not educational so support it with constructive criticisms if you must or don't comment at all.

My son is 6 months old and is absolutely in love with Donkey Hodie. I look forward to being able to purchase merchandise hopefully soon. Ill be getting dvds stuffed animals etc. When I say my son loves this show I mean he can watch it all day. We can turn the TV and he gets bad. I ended up downloading the pbs app so we can watch it on repeat he will smile and laugh so much.

I mean, this show has such rapid pacing unlike Mister Rogers' and even Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood. Donkey Hodie and her friends are too hyperactive for their own good. Seems like PBS is still approving just whatever these days, no matter if it has unlikable characters or is hyperactive and fast-paced.

This show doesn't have the same charm as its predecessor, Mister Rogers' Neighborhood. There aren't any serious moments whatsoever unlike that show. Mister Rogers is well-liked for tackling mature and serious issues, but this show doesn't want to go in that kind of direction. Instead, it decides to be loud, hyper, manic, crazed, and obnoxious, even for kids and adults. Yes, PBS approved this and I have no idea why.

Yeah I seen some of the low reviews for Donkey Hodie that are saying "how terrible it is" or "how it isn't educational". There are many other shows that are geared for kids that aren't educational. This however doesn't deserve the hate it gets. Another spin off of Mister Roger's Neighborhood next to Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood, it takes place in a land called Someplace Else, featuring the main character of the same name, Donkey Hodie, and her friends Purple Panda, Bob Dog, Duck Duck, and many more. It covers many things that kids would enjoy with creative and imaginative ideas with situations that they can solve when faced with them. The scenery, songs, and the puppets are nice. Some people even consider this more than Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood, but I like both the same. So while it may not be in everyone's tastes and may not be considered educational, it's still an enjoyable show for others.

This show has tons of annoying sounding characters and repetitive songs that are irritating to listen to.

On top of that there is ZERO educational value to this program. Its clearly written by a group of 70 year olds who threw the idea together in order to 'earn' another check.

Avoid this tripe!

PBS has sunk to a new low. Characters are almost as annoying as Callilou was.

They aren't even trying to teach anymore. No educational value what-so-ever and the characters are SUPER irritating.

Donkey hoodie sounded promising but its not good at all. Made it 5 minutes before my kids were begging to watch something else.

PBS used to be the place to get away from fast-paced, garrulous, over-stimulation. That trend seems to be switching and this show is guilty of it. The characters are loud, annoying, and constantly talking. The situations/pretend conflicts are irrational and not terribly educational. The music is awful. This show is just a poor example of how PBS is lowering its standards.

There are good shows on pbs like wild kratts, cyberchase, martha speaks and the new alma's way but this show is a stinker. Puppets can be ok if done right like sesame street but this is cringeworthy. I know it's for preschoolers but come on try a bit. 0 out of 10 stars but zero isn't allowed so I give it 1.