Carmen Patton

If you're anything like me and think post-Elmo Sesame Street is a disgrace to the Street's former greatness, you may be wary of ANY puppet show with Kevin Clash's name on it. But trust me, Oobi is like a showcase of the techniques that make puppetry great. It was created by people who ate, slept, and breathed Sesame Street (Josh Sellig, also known as the Wonder Pets guy, was the creator). The bizarre characters on Oobi are all hands dressed up like people. They do hand gestures to show emotions, like scratching the side of the palm to show confusion. The sheer simplicity of the concept gives the puppets this contagious, goofy energy that I've only seen created otherwise by the Muppets of Jim Henson's glory days. It would have been so easy for the actors (all of them legendary Muppeteers) to just wing this show and do it without effort but they really put their hearts into the characters, making them so believable and lifelike. My favorite has to be Kako. The quality of the puppetry will make you forget you're watching people's hands! I mean, isn't that the point of any show with puppets?