LazyTown

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LazyTown
Image:Lazytown.jpg The LazyTown logo. </small>
Genre	Children's television series
Picture format	HDTV
Running time	30 minutes
Creator(s)	Magnús Scheving
Starring	Magnús Scheving Julianna Rose Mauriello Stefán Karl Stefánsson
Country of origin	Iceland
Original channel	RÚV
Original run	August 16, 2004–present
No. of episodes	39
Official website
IMDb profile
TV.com summary

LazyTown's ratings
USA Image:Flag of the United States.svg	TV-Y
GBR Image:Flag of the United Kingdom.svg	U
CAN Image:Flag of Canada.svg	G

LazyTown is a children's television program that originated in Iceland (where it is known as Latibær) that features a cast and crew from both the United States and Iceland. It was created by Magnús Scheving, an aerobics champion and CEO of LazyTown Entertainment, who also stars in the show. The show formerly aired on CBS on September 18, 2004 and ended on September 9, 2006.

The show has been given the German EMIL award by the TV magazine Spielfilm.<ref>http://www.lazytown.com/newsroom/news/nr/165</ref>

The series recently wrapped production on its second season,<ref>http://www.visir.is/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060908/LIFID01/109080004/1120</ref> which debuted in the U.S. on Nick Jr. on September 25th, 2006.<ref>http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/060914/neth025.html</ref>

1 Premise
2 Filming
3 Where it airs
4 Characters
5 Robbie Rotten's disguises
6 Episodes
7 Music
8 Merchandising
9 Popularity outside the preschooler demographic
10 References
11 External links

[edit] Premise

The main character is Stephanie (Julianna Rose Mauriello), who arrives in town and urges her new friends Ziggy, Trixie, Stingy, and Pixel to go outside and be active, instead of staying inside and playing video games all day. Her uncle, the bumbling Mayor Milford Meanswell, enlists the help of Sportacus 10 (Magnús Scheving), a self-described "slightly-above-average hero". It is Sportacus' job to inspire the kids to play outside, and to help solve low-key emergencies that occur from time to time. However, all this does not sit well with Robbie Rotten (Stefán Karl Stefánsson), a lazy man who lives in an underground lair hidden just on the edge of town. Many of the episodes involve Robbie Rotten dressing up in a disguise and trying to ruin the kids' fun and/or make Sportacus leave town forever.

[edit] Filming

LazyTown is part live action, part puppetry, and part CGI animation. Stephanie, Sportacus, and Robbie Rotten are the only "humans" on the show. The rest of the characters are depicted as puppets. The show's puppets are made by the Neal Scanlan Studio and Wit Puppets. The show is produced in a 5067 m² studio in Garðabær, Iceland, which contains one of the most advanced HDTV facilities in Europe. The budget for each episode is approximately USD $600,000.<ref>http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/102/next-media.html</ref><ref>http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0396991/business</ref>

[edit] Where it airs

LazyTown airs in 103 countries, including:<ref>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pmhoxGOMSVg</ref><ref>http://lazytown.biz/newsroom/news/nr/173</ref>

Playhouse Disney in Italy
Nick Jr and Noggin (both owned by Viacom) in the United States (formerly on CBS)
YTV and VRAK.TV in Canada
RÚV in Iceland
Discovery Kids in Latin America
Discovery Kids in Brazil
Ketnet in Belgium
TV2 in Norway
RTÉ 2 in the Republic of Ireland and Nick Jr, BBC One, CBeebies and TMF from the UK.
Nick Jr, BBC One and CBeebies in the UK. It also airs on Freeview channel TMF as part of the weekend morning programs.
Nelonen in Finland
TV4 in Sweden
Super RTL in Germany
Global TV (Indonesia) Indonesia
Nick Jr in The Philippines
TV2 in Denmark
TVE in Spain

[edit] Characters

[edit] Sportacus

Image:Lazytown sportacus.jpg

Main article: Sportacus

Played by Magnús Scheving: The hero of the show. He speaks English and Icelandic and is from "an island in the North Sea". Sportacus encourages the kids of LazyTown to eat fruit (which he calls Sports Candy) and play outside instead of sitting around indoors. He wants to make sure LazyTown is happy, and knows that they have to be healthy and fit to be so. Sportacus is constantly engaged in physical activity, and even does gymnastics just to get from place to place. The children have to instruct him how to relax.

[edit] Stephanie

Image:Stephanie.jpg

Main article: Stephanie (LazyTown)

Played by Julianna Rose Mauriello: The character who inspired the citizens (and most importantly, the children) of LazyTown to get up and go. She is an 8 year old with pink hair, and all of her outfits and accessories are also this colour. She came to town visiting her uncle, the mayor of LazyTown. At first, no matter how Stephanie tried, she couldn't get the others to play along. But when she asked for Sportacus' help, the whole town worked together to make LazyTown the best place to live.

[edit] Robbie Rotten

Image:Robbierotten.jpg

Played by Stefán Karl Stefánsson: The antagonist of the show. He is always trying to get the kids to eat junk food and is forever trying to banish Sportacus from LazyTown. He wants to make sure LazyTown stays quiet and lazy like it was before Sportacus' and Stephanie's arrival. Robbie creates all sorts of plans, and sometimes comes very close to winning, but Sportacus always manages to save the day with the help of Stephanie and her friends. The amount of effort that this champion of inactivity puts into his plots is ironic; he may be the most active person in LazyTown because of it. Although many think he's an evil villain, he refers to himself as "a simple, rotten guy who's just misunderstood." He lives in an underground lair where he often spies on the people of LazyTown through a periscope. Robbie is a master of disguise, often fooling even Sportacus.

[edit] Puppets

Ziggy (voice by Guðmundur Þór Kárason) The character who loves to eat candy and sweets - particularly taffy. After Stephanie came along he found that there is more to childhood than sugary treats. He is now active and participates in any sport the gang plays, but still enjoys candy.
Stingy (voice by Jodi Eichelberger) As his name implies, the greedy and possessive character. He still plays with the gang, but he will always care about his stuff: especially his car and his prized piggy bank. He often says "It's Mine!" and has his own song by that name.
Trixie (voice by Sarah Burgess) The trouble-maker character, though she does like to play with everyone else. Trixie refers to Stephanie as "Pinky" when trying to get her attention. She also likes to draw moustaches on the mayor's posters.
Pixel (voice by Kobie Powell) The character who plays too much on the computer. He was taught not to play too much by Stephanie. He fixes up all sorts of gadgets to help him avoid doing something himself, such as a machine to tie his shoes or a remote that "does everything for you."
Mayor Milford Meanswell (voice by David Matthew Feldman) A nervous wreck who has a crush on Ms. Busybody. He loves Stephanie very much and calls Sportacus if she feels sad or depressed and doesn't want to express her feelings.
Bessie Busybody (voice by Julie Westwood) Although patronizing, she tries her best to be motherly with the children. She is aware of every new trend, and is pompous but fashionable, and she loves to talk on her cell phone.

[edit] Others

Sportacandy Ziggy's superhero alter-ego who's just like Sportacus, but he only saves sweets. He is seen for a short time in some episodes, but he did star in a whole episode called Hero For A Day.
#9 (not seen, only referred to) A superhero from an island in the North Sea, who served as LazyTown's protector and resident role model in times past. He is different from Sportacus, as he had a big number 9 on his chest, whereas Sportacus is number 10. When Stephanie was trying to think how to get the kids to play outside, Mayor Meanswell told her about #9 and how they could send messages to him through a tube that Robbie Rotten had plugged up. Stephanie tried it and Sportacus got her letter asking for help. He then came to LazyTown. It is rumored that in the Episode of Rottenbeard in the "History of LazyTown" book, the young Hero battling Rottenbeard might actually be #9. But the true identity of #9 and the nature of succession have been left unclear.

[edit] Robbie Rotten's disguises

Rob U. Blind, The Traveling Salesman (Episode 2: Defeeted)
Lazycus (Episode 2: Defeeted)
Sherlock Foams, Private Eye (Episode 6: Swiped Sweets)
Sportacus (Episode 8: Sportafake)
The Birthday Fairy (Episode 9: Happy Brush Day)
Scotty The Scoutmaster (Episode 10: Lazy Scouts)
Dr. Rottenstein (Episode 11: Dr. Rottenstein)
Rottenbeard (Episode 12: Rottenbeard)
A Purple Dinosaur (Episode 13: Cry Dinosaur)
A Royal Messenger (Episode 19: Prince Stingy)
The Rotten Kid (A Cowboy) & A Gorilla (Episode 21: Play Day)
Soccer-Bot 6000 (Episode 24: Soccer Sucker)
Miss Roberta, Manners Expert (Episode 25: Miss Roberta)
Mayor Fordmil Meansbad (Episode 27: Secret Agent Zero)
Santa Claus (Episode 29: LazyTown's Surprise Santa)
A Purple Cow (Episode 30: Robbie's Greatest Misses)
A Giant Carrot, Apple, and Banana (Episode 31: Sports Candy Festival)
Zobbie, the Space Alien (Episode 33: Ziggy's Alien)
Johnny B. Badd (Episode 35: Rockin' Robbie)
A Giant Purple Bush (Episode 36: Little Sportacus)
A Garbage Man (Episode 37: Trash Trouble)
The Mayor (Episode 38: Double Trouble)
A Ghost (Episode 39: Haunted Castle)

[edit] Episodes

Main article: List of LazyTown episodes

There are currently 52 episodes of LazyTown; 30 for season one, and 22 have been made for season two.<ref>http://www.tv.com/lazytown/show/29257/episode_listings.html?tag=tabs;episodes</ref><ref>http://epguides.com/LazyTown/</ref><ref>http://www.viacom.com/view_release.jhtml?inID=6&inReleaseID=176929</ref>

[edit] Music

The popularity of LazyTown's songs and music has led to the production of spinoff albums that feature music from the show, including LazyTown in the United States (2005) and LazyTown - The Album (2006), a double CD and DVD set in the United Kingdom. One of the songs from the latter - "Bing Bang (Time To Dance)" will be released as a single in the UK on November 27 2006 as a digital download, and in CD format a week later on December 4. LazyTown has also had soundtracks released in Germany, titled "Los Geht'S", and a soundtrack in Iceland titled "Líttu inn í Latabæ."

[edit] Merchandising

In the US, Fisher-Price made a line of toys including an activity mat, and Stephanie and Sportacus action figures. There is also a soundtrack, along with books and videos.

[edit] Popularity outside the preschooler demographic

Online and offline, LazyTown has grown to have a following beyond its target audience. Many teenagers and adults enjoy LazyTown due to its high energy presentation, high production value, and the infectious, lighthearted songs (e.g. Bing Bang, Twenty Times Time, You Are A Pirate, Lazy Scouts). The show has spawned fanclubs all over the world,<ref>LazyTown Fan Club</ref> and numerous song clips can be found at popular videosharing sites such as YouTube and Google Video.