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Pet Shop

Mediocre

Recommended age Unlock

Co-watching from age 3

Stimulating

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Pet Shop

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This program is well-balanced. It remains mostly easy to follow and process. It is a good fit for the recommended age. The pacing is calm. A child has time to watch and understand what is happening. The sound is intense and continuously present. The visuals are calm and well-organized.

The episode hangs on one clear goal a child can hold onto: David wants a pet, so the brothers set out to find a pet shop. The limitation is how much is packed into each scene, with wordplay, puns and new invented places piling up beyond what a three year old can sort out. The jumps between a 'puppy room', a 'parrot room' and even the moon follow comic logic rather than a clear step by step build, so the thread is easy to lose. One steadying element is the remote control idea, where a button press reliably produces the same result, giving at least some dependable cause and effect.

The overall mood is light and friendly, and the hosts are warm toward each other and the viewer, saying please and thank you often. Feelings rarely run high, and when a squabble flares, such as the snappy 'what is wrong with you' exchange in the parrot room, it is smoothed over right away with someone saying 'everybody just calm down'. What keeps this from scoring higher is the surreal humor, which flips moods and situations without warning, so a young child meets sudden emotional shifts. The bickering is played for laughs but still models brothers jabbing at each other.

David drives the whole episode himself, deciding he wants a pet and pulling Shane into an active search, so initiative and motivation are strong. There is visible trying too: they name the problem, guess where a pet shop might be, question a parrot, and test idea after idea. What holds the pillar down is that the answers are jokes rather than real solutions, so the searching rarely shows a worked through result a child could learn from. The closing 'solution', turning a chair into a pretend pet, is a punchline rather than a meaningful fix.

This pillar is limited because the language sits above what a three year old can follow. The hosts speak in long strings built on puns and mishearings, such as turning 'parrot' into 'parent' and rhyming 'baboon, cocoon, raccoon', which depend on word skills young children do not yet have. Speech is mostly clear but often overlaps and tumbles out in idioms and asides like 'no pet shop situation' and a mock airline announcement, so meaning slips by. There is concrete, useful language in places, for example the simple dog commands 'sit, lie down, roll over', but it is outweighed by playful talk aimed over young heads.

This pillar scores low because almost everything happens in an invented world rather than one a child can carry into daily life. Doors open onto impossible places, a remote rewinds and flips reality, and the search ends with a chair adopted as a pet, none of which transfers to real routines. A few grounded threads exist, including the wish for a pet, real puppies, and recognizable dog tricks, and the brotherly relationship is something children know. Still, the heavy reliance on absurd fantasy leaves little that connects to the real world for this age.

More information

This show is built around two adult men who host together and act out nearly every role themselves, from puppies to a parrot to an astronaut on the moon. The cast around them is small and stays in the background: a woman shopper, an older man and a few people in the pet store, with no children, no families and little visible variation in age or cultural background. The two leads do show a wide, free emotional range and avoid macho clichés, playing silly and tender moments without a fixed gender script. But because the same two men hold nearly all the initiative and almost everyone else is peripheral, the overall picture of people and how they live together stays narrow.

This live-action show follows two brothers searching for a pet shop, leaning heavily on playful pretend and a make-believe remote control that fast-forwards, rewinds, and rotates what happens on screen. There is no villain anywhere; the only friction comes from situations like a lost pet shop or a parrot that repeats everything, plus light brotherly bickering that passes within seconds. The make-believe stays consistent, since each remote button reliably does what it promises, and much of the play (pretending to be puppies, imagining different pets) mirrors how young children actually play. The main caveat for a three-year-old is that the humor is fast and surreal, with reality-bending gags and a trip to the moon that reach beyond the simple, mostly realistic stories this age relates to most easily.

For a parent watching along, this one offers a lot. The comedy works in layers, with flight-safety and NASA parodies aimed squarely at the adult in the room, and the hunt for a pet shop has enough shape to follow and enjoy. The two performers keep their voices calm and the palette warm, so the energy stays easy to sit with, with only the intentional repetition bits as a minor irritant. The craft is deliberate from start to finish, from the remote-control effects to the tightly timed physical comedy and vocal sound work.

Themes

Pets

Central

David declares 'I need a pet' and the whole episode follows his search for a pet shop.

Imagination

Doors open onto invented spaces like a 'puppy room', a 'parrot room' and a pretend moon.

Slapstick

Recurring

Physical gags such as juggling cereal balls and crawling around as dogs run throughout.

Siblings

David refers to Shane as 'my brother' and the two work and squabble together the whole episode.

Exploration

Recurring

The brothers keep opening new doors and rooms trying to locate the pet shop.

Activities

Pretend play

Children and adults act out being puppies, fetching sticks and rolling over.

Exploring

They open one door after another into themed rooms looking for the pet shop.

Animal training

They give the puppies commands like 'sit, lie down, roll over'.

Juggling

David narrates Shane juggling cereal balls in the opening segment.

Emotions

Joy

The brothers clown around juggling and using silly voices for puppies and a parrot.

Excitement

David is thrilled at the idea of a pet and they press a 'really excited button'.

Determination

David insists 'I need a pet' over and over and pushes the search onward.

Frustration

The repeating parrot pushes them to snap 'just stop repeating what I say'.

Behaviour

Politeness

The hosts repeatedly say 'could you please press' and 'thank you' to the viewer.

Perseverance

After dead ends in the puppy room, parrot room and the moon, they keep searching for the pet shop.

Pretend play

Adults and children crawl and bark while pretending to be puppies fetching a stick.

Helping

They invite the viewer to help the puppy roll over by pressing the rotate button.

Arguing

In the parrot room the brothers snap 'what is wrong with you' back and forth before settling down.

Social lessons

Cooperation

The brothers 'put their heads together' to work out where the pet shop is.

Helping others

Viewers are repeatedly asked to help, such as helping the puppy do a trick.

Friendship

Shane tells David he sees him 'more as a friend than a pet'.

Mild conflict

In the parrot room the brothers argue 'what is wrong with you' in raised voices before someone says 'everybody just calm down'.

Two brothers, David and Shane, host this live action comedy on bright studio sets and speak straight to the viewer, who is asked to press buttons on an imaginary remote. David decides he must have a pet, so the pair search for a pet shop, opening doors into invented places like a puppy room, a parrot room and even the moon. Along the way they pretend to be dogs, meet a parrot that repeats everything, and try one silly idea after another. In the end David adopts a chair as his pet and invites the viewer to do the same.

Season 1

5 episodes

The Upside Down Show

The Upside Down Show

Movies

recommended age co-watching from 3

Two brothers, David and Shane, set out to find a movie theater so they can show off a film directed by their orange puppet friend. They wander by mistake into a laundromat and a dance studio, meet finger-puppet heroes and a sock named Leftie, and invite the viewer to operate a pretend remote that pauses, rewinds, and fast-forwards the action. They work through a squabble over one chair by sharing it and learn about rhyming along the way. They finally reach a real cinema where the puppet's movie plays with space, pirates, and cowboys, and they sign off encouraging children to make their own movies.

The Upside Down Show

The Upside Down Show

Barbershop

recommended age co-watching from 3

Two brothers, David and Shane, share a colourful house and a pretend remote control that the viewer is asked to operate. Shane has grown an enormous amount of hair but is too nervous to visit a real barbershop, so David helps him with encouragement and a comfort blanket named Bob. Along the way they pass through several silly imaginary rooms, meet singing hairbrushes and keep searching for the barbershop while Shane stalls. In the end Shane sits in the barber's chair, gets his haircut and hands out stickers to everyone.

The Upside Down Show

The Upside Down Show

Art Museum

recommended age co-watching from 3

Two live-action hosts, Shane and David, star in this 'Upside Down Show' episode in which Shane paints what he calls his best work and the pair set out to find the perfect place to display it. They try the refrigerator, a wall, and a door before deciding the painting belongs in an art museum, passing through a sticky room, a foggy room, and a finger-painting museum along the way. Throughout, the viewer is invited to 'press buttons on the remote' to pause, rewind, and shrink or grow things. In the end the friends find a home for the painting and hand Shane fresh paints to create another one.

The Upside Down Show

The Upside Down Show

Pet Shop

recommended age co-watching from 3

Two brothers, David and Shane, host this live action comedy on bright studio sets and speak straight to the viewer, who is asked to press buttons on an imaginary remote. David decides he must have a pet, so the pair search for a pet shop, opening doors into invented places like a puppy room, a parrot room and even the moon. Along the way they pretend to be dogs, meet a parrot that repeats everything, and try one silly idea after another. In the end David adopts a chair as his pet and invites the viewer to do the same.

The Upside Down Show

The Upside Down Show

Camping

recommended age co-watching from 3

David and Shane, two brothers who live in a brightly coloured house, discover that their bedrooms have disappeared and set out to find somewhere to sleep. They try one silly option after another, including a dog's room, sleeping standing up like horses, hanging upside down like bats and oddly shaped beds, while asking the viewer to press buttons on an imaginary remote. A neighbour, Mrs. Bell, finally explains camping and shows them how to use a sleeping bag. The episode ends with the brothers and their puppet friends climbing into sleeping bags to sleep.

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From this series The Upside Down Show

By age 3 years

By platform Paramount +

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