What the *%&$ are “Oogieloves”?

I have been annoyed for a few days by some TV commercials for a feature film about “Oogieloves”- who seem to be some sort of low-level kids’ show characters, with bright colors, irritating voices, and human co-stars. I kept thinking, have I not been keeping my hand steadily on the pulse of current broadcasting, since I had no knowledge of these characters? Granted, it often takes me a while to catch on to some of the “stars” on PBS children’s programs, or those on the Disney channel (I remember when the Disney channel actually showed classic Disney cartoons, and had lots of cool shows going behind the scenes at the theme parks- my old pal Eric Boardman, a graduate of “Second City”, used to host quite a few of them- now, the classic stuff is relegated to one of their lesser channels, and lame live action shows and odd animation fill their airtime). However, I have not seen ANYTHING regarding these Oogieloves. Are little kids enamored of them, as much as they love the Wiggles or the Sesame Street Muppets? In reading today, I learned the truth- they are NOT from any TV show. They are specifically engineered to LOOK like they are some wacky characters that kids are already familiar with- but, in reality, have never been on TV. How bizarre is that? You try to make your audience think that these are established favorites, and that you NEED to join in with them on songs and dances? Will these force-fed funsters suddenly become a kiddie craze? Let’s talk again after the next box office receipts come out- they may win by default, if there are no other movies for kids out this weekend- but- will they deserve to win? It’d be like kids actually watching the old putrid “Fox’s Peter Pan and the Pirates” in the early 90s, just because there were no other kids’ shows on at the moment… Speaking of Fox – caught some of their stellar morning show the other day. They were doing a fashion segment, all about the peplum ( that’s NOT a part of your anatomy- it’s a fashion thing, which, actually, has a tendency to look kind of weird to me- but that’s my opinion). Here’s my beef- if you’re doing a fashion segment- and you want viewers to see the clothing- why leave in a banner at the bottom of the screen, along with a continuous news crawl, THAT COVERS UP WHAT YOU”RE TRYING TO SHOW? Honestly… One final thought, and it’s one I’ve mentioned here before- as Hurricane Isaac creates havoc – isn’t it time that science and technology work out a way to make these terrible storms dissipate? I keep thinking that, with all our knowledge at this point, someone should be able to create a way to make these storms subside, or, at least, lose some power. I fully understand that you can’t fight nature- but- think of the lives and property that would be saved. I also understand that there may be ways to combat these storms that could have bad side effects, and that would end up being no solution. Then, of course, as we’ve all learned from TV and movies, there might be evil geniuses who would use such methods to harm mankind- cause drought, or, using reverse engineering, find a way to create awful storms that could be used as weapons of destruction. Can there be a way to manipulate temperature and air pressure in a finite area that would take the wind out of an Isaac’s attack? One can only hope it is a possibility…