Whatever you do, do not watch this show.
Don’t search for it. Don’t tell your friends about it. And you certainly shouldn’t sit down and watch all 12 episodes now that it is available in North America.
At least, that is probably what Wizz would like us to tell you.
After becoming a major children’s hit in Australia, Andy Lee’s animated comedy “Do Not Watch This Show” is making the trip across the globe, with the complete first season arriving September 3 on Amazon Kids+ in the U.S. and Canada.
Based on Lee’s bestselling “Do Not Open This Book” series, the animated show follows Wizz, a rather pompous blue monster who has one very simple request for everyone watching: stop.
Wizz doesn’t believe he has any business starring in his own television series and consequently spends his time attempting to sabotage each episode. Unfortunately for him, those increasingly ridiculous attempts only make the show considerably more entertaining and give kids even more reason to keep watching.
Which, naturally, is exactly what they have been doing.
The original “Do Not Open This Book” series has sold more than four million copies and been translated into 35 languages, taking the wonderfully simple idea of explicitly telling kids not to do something and correctly assuming they will immediately want to do it.
That same formula has translated rather well to television.
“Do Not Watch This Show” originally premiered on ABC in Australia, where it averaged an audience of one million viewers across ABC Family and ABC iview during its first two weeks. According to distributor 9 Story, the series became the biggest launch for a new children’s and family program in ABC iview history and generated 115 million minutes of viewing during its first three months.
Apparently Wizz isn’t particularly good at convincing people to leave him alone.
The success has already earned the animated comedy a 20-episode second season, which will also make its way to Amazon Kids+ at a later date. For now, North American families can meet Wizz through all 12 episodes of the show’s first season, available to Amazon Kids+ subscribers through Fire TV and Fire Tablets.
Lee created the animated series, serves as an executive producer and provides the voice of Wizz, bringing the same wonderfully backwards premise of his books into a new medium. “Do Not Watch This Show” is produced by Lee Bones Productions for ABC, directed by Leo Baker and distributed internationally outside Australia and New Zealand by 9 Story Distribution International.
There is something wonderfully timeless about the entire concept. Tell a kid that they absolutely have to watch something and you might get a shrug. Put a blue monster on screen desperately pleading with them to turn his show off, and suddenly discovering what he doesn’t want them to see becomes considerably more interesting.
Now Wizz has an entirely new continent of kids capable of ignoring him.
Sorry, Wizz.
“Do Not Watch This Show” Season 1 is available beginning September 3 on Amazon Kids+ in the U.S. and Canada, with the 20-episode second season set to follow at a later date.