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Bad Hair Day

Mediocre

Recommended age Unlock

Co-watching from age 4

Stimulating

Exact score locked

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Bad Hair Day

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This program is stimulating. It actively demands attention and can feel intense. For the recommended age, this may be on the more intense side. The pacing is fast. Images follow each other quickly, leaving little time to pause and take in what is happening. The sound is clearly present and regularly draws attention. The visuals are calm and well-organized.

The story runs on two tracks at once: Blythe filling in as Zoe's groomer, and the pets trying to turn Minka into a famous artist. Each track has a beginning, middle and end, and actions lead to sensible results, for example Blythe getting distracted and ruining Zoe's coat. What lowers the score for a four-year-old is how much is packed into each scene and the way the story keeps jumping between the two plots, on top of grown-up ideas like art critics, agents and brand-building that are hard to hold onto. A child this young will likely lose the thread.

Feelings stay mostly in comedic territory, and tense moments are generally smoothed over, such as Zoe forgiving Blythe and Russell reassuring Minka that she is fine as she is. What keeps this pillar from scoring higher is the recurring sarcasm and self-interest running through it: the pets openly scheme to get rich off Minka, the art critic is rude and dismissive, and Zoe is written as a vain diva. A warm, honest message does arrive at the end, but a young child is likely to take in the sniping tone well before the kind resolution lands.

This is the strongest of the developmental pillars. Blythe takes ownership of the mess she made and works through it, trying one fix after another before deciding the honest move is to confess, while Minka rediscovers that she paints because it is fun rather than for fame. The characters mostly act on their own initiative instead of waiting to be told what to do. What holds the score back is that the actual rescue of Zoe's looks is skipped over, so the single most important solution is hinted at rather than shown as clear steps.

The dialogue is clear, well formed and used consistently, and characters speak in full sentences rather than loose words. The catch for the recommended age is that the language sits well above a four-year-old. Phrases like 'avant-garde', 'mixed media', 'positioning the brand' and 'a true aesthetic genius destined for super stardom' belong to an older audience, and a lot of the humour is verbal satire. The writing is competent, but it is mostly meaningful only to children several years older.

There are real-world threads a child can recognise: caring for a pet, owning and apologising for a mistake, and learning to do something for the joy of it rather than for status. Hair styling and painting are activities a child could connect to offline. What limits the score is how much of the world is pure fantasy and adult satire, with talking pets running an art business complete with galleries and a luxury cruise ship, so little of what happens transfers into a young child's daily life. The clearest takeaway is the social one about being yourself and not pressuring a friend.

More information

This pet shop story uses a mostly animal cast plus a few humans, with a good range of ages and a fair balance between recurring male and female characters. Where it falls short is cultural background, which stays narrow, and home life, which appears only in conventional set-ups. Initiative is shared rather than locked to one group, since the girl at the center fixes the problem and a female character is the celebrated artist. The main drawback is how often the female characters are tied to looks, grooming, and fashion, including one dog written as an appearance-obsessed diva.

This story plays out in a recognizable everyday world of a neighborhood pet shop, with grooming, a kennel club dog show, and a busy art display, though the pets talk, paint, and chase fame in ways no real animal could. There is no villain here; the trouble comes from Blythe's accidental grooming mistake and from the pets pressuring their friend Minka toward stardom for their own gain, and they own up to it and apologize. The show keeps its own rules steady throughout, since only Blythe can understand the pets while the other people cannot. For a four-year-old the talking-pet setup is easy to relate to, with the small caveat that the jokes about art critics and talent agents are aimed at older viewers.

This show offers a lot for a parent watching alongside, built around a sharp satire of the art world and celebrity branding that runs over young children's heads. Two storylines, Blythe's botched grooming of the diva dog Zoe and the monkey Minka being turned into an overnight art star, both develop with real stakes and a clear point about doing things for joy rather than fame. The animation and voice work are polished and the jokes land. The main caveat is the energy level, with a few squeaky, melodramatic voices and an autotuned pop theme that can wear on adult ears over a full sitting.

Themes

Appearance

Central

Zoe is focused on looking beautiful for a dog show and is devastated when her grooming goes wrong.

Friendship

Blythe and the pets repeatedly help one another, and Russell steps in to support Minka when she is overwhelmed.

Creativity

Minka paints abstract canvases that an art critic calls a masterpiece, and her painting drives the side story.

Telling the truth

Blythe wrestles with hiding the bad haircut and finally decides she has to 'come clean' about her mistake.

Fame

Recurring

The pets push to make Minka a 'world famous artist' until she says she just wants to paint for herself.

Activities

Pet grooming

Blythe cuts and styles Zoe's hair as a stand-in groomer at the pet shop.

Painting

Minka creates abstract paintings that the pets display in a gallery setting.

Preparing for a show

Zoe is being readied for the Manchester Kennel Club dog show that afternoon.

Emotions

Sadness

Zoe looks at her ruined coat and cries 'look at me I'm ruined'.

Anxiety

Blythe panics about fixing the haircut before John and Clarissa arrive to collect Zoe.

Pride

Zoe is described as having 'a big ball of self-esteem for breakfast' and wants to look beautiful.

Excitement

Blythe is thrilled to groom Zoe, gushing 'I get to groom Zoe, I can't believe it'.

Behaviour

Problem solving

Blythe tries wigs, glue and other fixes in a montage to repair Zoe's coat.

Helping

Blythe volunteers to fill in as groomer when Raul calls in sick, and the pets rally around Minka.

Admitting mistakes

Blythe decides she must admit her 'crimes against good grooming' to Mrs. Twombly.

Scheming

Russell and the pets plan a website, gallery openings and a luxury cruise ship to cash in on Minka's art.

Apologising

Blythe tells Zoe 'I am so so sorry I'll fix this I promise' after the haircut goes wrong.

Social lessons

Self acceptance

Russell tells Minka to 'forget about everybody else's plans' and 'just be yourself'.

Kindness

The pets admit 'her best interest is not the same as our best interest' after pressuring Minka for money and fame.

Responsibility

Blythe accepts the bad haircut is her fault and resolves to confess to Mrs. Twombly.

Teamwork

The pets band together as a group to manage Minka's supposed art career.

Appearance focus

Zoe ties her worth to her looks, demanding mirrors and crying 'look at me I'm ruined' over a bad haircut.

Bullying

Art critic Mr. Payne snaps 'are you daft woman' at Mrs. Twombly and calls most art 'garbage spread on canvas'.

Deception

Blythe hides the mirrors, tells Zoe the haircut 'looks good', and tries to cover up the mistake before anyone sees.

Stereotypes

Gendered appearance

Blythe touts giving 'fabulous makeovers' to her dolls and her 'fashion line' while Zoe is preoccupied with being beautiful, tying the female characters to looks and fashion.

Blythe, a girl who can talk to the pets at the Littlest Pet Shop, offers to fill in as a groomer when the regular groomer calls in sick. Distracted by a commotion, she gives the appearance-conscious dog Zoe a disastrous haircut and spends the day trying to fix it before Zoe's owners arrive to take her to a dog show. Meanwhile the other pets crown the monkey Minka an art genius and scheme to get rich off her paintings, until Russell realises they are pushing her and tells her to create just for fun. By the end the pets back off, Blythe resolves to own her mistake, and Zoe is made presentable in time.

Season 1

5 episodes

Littlest Pet Shop

Littlest Pet Shop

Blythe's Big Adventure

recommended age co-watching from 4

Blythe Baxter, a teenage girl, moves with her pilot dad from a small town to Downtown City and into an apartment above a pet shop. After tumbling down an old dumbwaiter, she discovers she can understand and talk to the shop's animals, who sing and introduce themselves one by one. The pets learn the Littlest Pet Shop may close and beg Blythe to save it within a single day. The episode ends on a cliffhanger with 'To Be Continued' as Blythe agrees to help but has no plan yet.

Littlest Pet Shop

Littlest Pet Shop

Blythe's Big Adventure

recommended age co-watching from 4

Blythe Baxter moves with her father into an apartment above a pet shop and finds she can understand the animals when they talk. Learning that the Littlest Pet Shop is about to close, she promises to help. At a new school she makes two friends and clashes with the wealthy Biscuit twins, whose father owns the rival store. Blythe organizes a pet fashion show with clothes she designs; the twins try to sabotage it but fail, the crowd turns out, the shop is saved, and Blythe is hired to work there.

Littlest Pet Shop

Littlest Pet Shop

Bad Hair Day

recommended age co-watching from 4

Blythe, a girl who can talk to the pets at the Littlest Pet Shop, offers to fill in as a groomer when the regular groomer calls in sick. Distracted by a commotion, she gives the appearance-conscious dog Zoe a disastrous haircut and spends the day trying to fix it before Zoe's owners arrive to take her to a dog show. Meanwhile the other pets crown the monkey Minka an art genius and scheme to get rich off her paintings, until Russell realises they are pushing her and tells her to create just for fun. By the end the pets back off, Blythe resolves to own her mistake, and Zoe is made presentable in time.

Littlest Pet Shop

Littlest Pet Shop

Gailbreak!

recommended age co-watching from 4

Blythe and her animal friends from the Littlest Pet Shop set out to rescue Zoe's sister Gail, who they believe was mistakenly left at the rival Largest Ever Pet Shop day camp. Russell the hedgehog invents a string of elaborate heist plans to get past a robot security guard and the store's two unkind owners, Whitney and Britney, but each attempt fails and pets keep getting caught. The timid mongoose Sunil finally overcomes his fear and helps free everyone by tricking the robot's voice commands. In a final twist the rescued dog turns out to be a stranger named Tootsie, and Zoe is then reunited with her real sister before the group dances together.

Littlest Pet Shop

Littlest Pet Shop

Penny For Your Laughs

recommended age co-watching from 4

Pepper, a skunk who performs comedy at the Littlest Pet Shop, trades her pudding-prop jokes for insult comedy and gets laughs until her jabs make the sensitive panda Penny Ling cry. Meanwhile her human friend Blythe is pulled in as the exclusive BFF of the popular Biscuit Twins, then cast off when she stops playing along. Blythe's own slip teaches her that a plain apology mends things, and she passes the advice to Pepper. Pepper says sorry to Penny Ling, makes her a pistachio pudding pie, and the two friends make up.

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