GIRLS just wanna have fun and boys just wanna kick butt. Give a boy a Tinker Toy and he’ll light an imaginary fuse and toss it like TNT.
Three new shows feed into this destructive urge and will send your boy kicking and screaming around the furniture in his footed cowboy pajamas. The strangest – and most primally satisfying – is Comedy Central’s new hit show, “BattleBots.”
“BattleBots” is a celebrity death match minus the celebrities, a “Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome” without Mel. Each half-hour consists of three matches between homemade remote-controlled robots. Basically, two mobile toasters armed with anything from hammers to rotary blades.
Bill Nye the Science Guy offers technical insight – it’s amazing the part centrifugal force can play in a robot champion.
But basically, once the match begins, it’s surprising how riveting it is to watch one lawn mower thrash another into a heap of recyclables.
It put me in touch with my inner boy.
Over at Kids’ WB, they’re crowing about creating the first animated African American teen superhero in “Static Shock,” a new Saturday morning cartoon that’s formulaic but appealing.
Inner-city teen Virgil Hawkins lives with his tie-wearing Pop, naggy sister and the memory of Mom, slain by a gangbanger’s bullet.
When a flame-haired bully stalks the smart-mouthed, 14-year-old, events get even heavier when a truck-sized gang leader protects the boy – but demands he join the gang.
One fateful night, the gangs rumble on the wharf, the cops arrive and accidentally ignite a toxin that transforms Virgil into static man, a superhero powered by electromagnetic energy.
Not only can he make towels snake around him without using his hands he can protect the innocent from gang warfare and zap the disco ball into position in time for the homecoming dance.
“Static Shock” is lame, but integrated and well intentioned and deserves an audience.
More dynamic is Kids’ WB other new animated Saturday morning series: “Jackie Chan Adventures.” The show is as amiable and funny as Chan himself, who appears in live-action segments. The animated (and younger looking) Chan runs a San Francisco antique store with his uncle and spunky 11-year-old niece Jade. They use it to spearhead their search for a dozen magic talismans and save the occasional planet from the forces of evil (often a white guy with a ponytail).
Like the “Rush Hour” star himself, the animated Chan does his own stunts, leaping tall buildings without Superman’s cape and frequently hurting himself in the process.
And Chan – animated or in the flesh – is funny without being cynical or sarcastic; he’s generous enough to let himself be the butt of his humor.
That makes him incredibly appealing and a unique and welcome presence on American TV.
Let’s face it: I’d watch “Jackie Chan Adventures” in prime time and only the lucky will trip over it on Saturday mornings at 9 a.m.
Why should boys have all the fun?