Just launched: free lifetime premium for the first 1,000 members to activate their account.

Log in Start free

Best Friendzzz; Kindergarten King

Sufficient

Recommended age Unlock

Co-watching from age 4

Balanced

Exact score locked

Watch on

Netflix

Prime Video

Tubi TV

Save

Best Friendzzz; Kindergarten King

See the exact scores

The review is yours to read. Create a free account to reveal the exact SlowScreen score and every pillar score.

Create free account

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 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 half hour splits into two self-contained stories, and within each one there is a clear main thread a child can follow, such as Myron and Dana falling out and then making up. This pillar lands in the middle because of the surreal, non-sequitur logic Wayside is built on: side gags like the custodian's gadget or the toy 'Colonel Montgomery' keep interrupting the main story, and events often happen because they are funny rather than because one thing sensibly leads to the next. Beginnings, middles and ends are recognizable, but the connective tissue between events asks the viewer to accept a lot of jumps. A school-age child will keep up, while a younger one would lose the thread.

The emotional world stays light and every conflict gets repaired: Myron and Dana reconcile after admitting they miss each other, and Todd is reunited with his friends, so tension never lingers. What pulls this pillar down is the interaction style. The two best friends trade insults and put-downs ('rude and ungrateful', calling each other an 'oaf'), Dana is openly boastful about being 'perfectly perfect', and much of the humor runs on characters needling one another. There is also a small aggressive beat played for laughs, where a classmate says she shows she likes Todd by punching him. The warmth is genuine by the end, but children see a lot of sarcasm modeled along the way.

Characters do drive their own stories: Myron sets out to find a new best friend, and the group decides on its own to rescue Todd from the kindergarten room. There is even a visible attempt at planning, like dividing the schoolyard into a search grid or choosing a disguise to sneak into the castle. This pillar sits in the middle because the problems rarely get solved through real reasoning: plans are dropped for a lucky shortcut ('or we could just check out that giant castle made of kindergarten kids'), and resolutions arrive through absurd turns rather than worked-through steps. A child sees initiative, but not a clear model of thinking a problem all the way through.

Language is the strongest part of this episode. The dialogue is clear, well-formed and full of complete sentences, with a rich vocabulary ('awe-inspiring greatness', 'desperate attempt', 'affirmative') that suits school-age listeners and stretches them a little. Words are used correctly and consistently, and most lines carry real content, advancing an argument or a plan rather than just filling space. The small caveat is that the dense, sarcastic wordplay and irony can run ahead of the youngest children in this age range, who may catch the words but miss the joke.

This pillar scores low because very little of what happens transfers to a child's own life. The activities on screen, a 'brain listening glass', a gadget that 'de-stresses' for 19.99, and a castle built out of toddlers, are invented for the gag and cannot be copied or reused offline. Where the show does connect to the real world is socially: jealousy, wanting real friends over flattery, and learning that friendship needs 'give and take' are genuinely recognizable from playground life. Because the episode is aimed at school age, its fantasy is acceptable in itself, but the practical, real-world takeaway stays thin.

More information

This school comedy gives boys and girls roughly equal standing and places a brown-skinned child, Myron, at the centre of its friendships instead of off to the side. Cleverness and leadership are spread across the group, and the children express a wide range of feelings without it depending on whether they are a boy or a girl. The picture is thinner in other ways, because most of the surrounding cast is light-skinned, the world rarely steps outside the one school, and varied families or home lives do not appear. Children see fair and flexible roles, set within a fairly uniform world around the main characters.

The show is rooted in a recognizable world: a school with classrooms, a teacher, a bus, and the everyday ups and downs of friendship. Most of what drives the story is emotionally true for a child, like two best friends falling out over jealousy, or one boy feeling smothered when everyone suddenly adores him. The one caveat is that the comedy leans on playful impossibilities, such as a classmate who is always asleep and a crowd of kindergartners who build a castle out of themselves, so the world is real at heart but stretched for laughs. There is no villain in either story, since the problems come from feelings and situations and are resolved when the characters choose real friendship again.

This Wayside double feature is a genuinely engaging watch for a parent in the room. The infomercial parody around Mr. Kidswatter's 'Wizomatic 3000' stress gadget and the deadpan military search for 'King Todd' aim jokes squarely at adults, while both stories carry real arcs about what makes friendship work. The production is clean and the voices stay easy on the ears, with only the repetitive 'best best friend' patter and the energetic theme as mild irritants. An adult co-viewer will find plenty to follow and smile at.

Themes

Friendship

Both stories turn on friendship, from Myron and Dana's fallout to Todd missing his real friends while being king.

Jealousy

Myron and Dana each parade a 'better best friend' to try to provoke the other's envy.

Popularity

Recurring

A crowd of kindergarteners crowns Todd their 'King' and worships his every move.

Belonging

Recurring

Todd decides he would rather have ordinary friends with 'give and take' than be a worshipped king.

School

Recurring

The action plays out across Mrs. Jules's classroom, the schoolyard and the kindergarten room.

Apologising

After bickering and trying to find a 'better best friend', Myron and Dana admit they miss each other and make up, resolving their fight.

Activities

Secret handshake

Myron and Dana perform an elaborate step-by-step 'best friend handshake'.

Pretend play

The friends rummage through costumes to disguise themselves as a sumo wrestler, a pirate or an astronaut.

Emotions

Joy

The episode runs on absurd gags like a useless 'de-stress' gadget and a castle made of children.

Frustration

Todd grows visibly fed up at being carried everywhere and not allowed to get his own drink of water.

Jealousy

Myron stages a friendship with a sleeping girl to make Dana feel jealous.

Love

Myron and Dana warmly make up and tell each other 'you're the best'.

Pride

Dana brags about her 'awe-inspiring greatness' and dismisses Myron's worth.

Behaviour

Arguing

Myron and Dana bicker over who is luckier to have the other and declare they are no longer best friends.

Reconciliation

Myron and Dana admit they miss each other and agree to 'never be mad at each other again'.

Helping

The group plans and carries out a rescue to free Todd from the kindergarteners.

Boasting

Dana repeatedly insists she is 'perfectly perfect' and that her greatness 'inspires all'.

Teasing

Dana calls Myron 'rude and ungrateful' and an 'oaf' during their fight.

Social lessons

Friendship

Todd explains that real friendship needs 'give and take', not just flattery.

Conflict resolution

After a bitter argument, Myron and Dana realize they value each other and make up.

Belonging

Being worshipped as 'King' leaves Todd trapped and isolated until he returns to his real friends.

Teamwork

Todd's friends combine a search plan and disguises to rescue him together.

Light flashes

Contains rapid flashing that may affect photosensitive viewers.

Flashing lights

Around the fifteen-minute mark, a fast action sequence uses bright color-streaking and a burst of strong flashes that pose a photosensitivity risk.

Bullying

Myron and Dana repeatedly insult each other, with Dana calling Myron 'rude and ungrateful' and an 'oaf'.

Mild violence

A classmate says she shows she likes Todd by wanting to punch him, and characters take slapstick falls and hits.

This episode of Wayside, set in a strange thirty-story school, tells two stories. In 'Best Friendzzz', best friends Myron and Dana fall out after bickering over who is luckier to have the other, each tries to find a 'better best friend', and they eventually admit they miss each other and make up. In 'Kindergarten King', Todd is sent to the kindergarten room, where the little children crown him their king and follow his every move, until he tires of it and his friends help him escape back to normal school life.

Season 1

5 episodes

Wayside

Wayside

Pull My Pigtail; Class Cow

recommended age co-watching from 4

This is a double episode of 'Wayside', a surreal cartoon set in a school built as a tall twisting tower. In the first story a holiday-obsessed matchmaker tries to force classmates Todd and Maurecia to fall in love on Valentine's Day, until the two talk it over and decide they do not hate each other after all. In the second, the teacher Mrs. Jewels leaves for a staff retreat and her class mistakes a stray cow for their substitute, 'Mrs. Bellamy', learning to write about their feelings before the real teacher returns. Each story ends back in the familiar classroom, with Todd once again threatened with the kindergarten bus.

Wayside

Wayside

Meet the Pets; Oh, Great Leader

recommended age co-watching from 4

This is a pair of animated stories set at Wayside, an unusually tall school. In the first, a new boy named Todd is left to watch the whole class's pets, loses track of them, and gets them back with help from his classmates after remembering his goldfish King Arthur, who had died. In the second, the principal Mr. Kidswater mistakes the children's surprise birthday party for a plot against him and recruits Todd to spy on them. Both stories end with Todd feeling that he belongs and is part of the group.

Wayside

Wayside

Honors Class; Cabbage, My Boy

recommended age co-watching from 4

This is a two-part episode of the school comedy Wayside, set inside a towering, surreal school. In the first story, Maurecia scores highest on an aptitude test and is sent to an honors class she hates, so she schemes to get back to her friends by acting too foolish to stay. In the second story, Myron treats a head of cabbage as a baby brother for a class project, which makes the only-child Todd jealous enough to fake a sibling of his own. Both stories close with the friends reassuring each other that they belong together.

Wayside

Wayside

Mascot Madness; He is It!

recommended age co-watching from 4

Wayside is an animated school comedy told in two stories. In the first, the Wayside tetherball team is on a losing streak, so the class builds a giant paper-mache mascot called Big Head Todd to inspire them, and shy Todd learns to be accepted as himself. In the second, Myron becomes 'it' in a game of tag and uses stacks of rule books to control the playground, until his friend Dana tricks him into giving up the power and the two make up. Both stories end with the friends reconciled, capped by an absurd gag that leaves a cow as 'it'.

Wayside

Wayside

Best Friendzzz; Kindergarten King

recommended age co-watching from 4

This episode of Wayside, set in a strange thirty-story school, tells two stories. In 'Best Friendzzz', best friends Myron and Dana fall out after bickering over who is luckier to have the other, each tries to find a 'better best friend', and they eventually admit they miss each other and make up. In 'Kindergarten King', Todd is sent to the kindergarten room, where the little children crown him their king and follow his every move, until he tires of it and his friends help him escape back to normal school life.

Related media

Other series that fit this age group

Pinecone & Pony

Pinecone & Pony

recommended age co-watching from 4

Pinecone & Pony follows a tough young warrior girl and her pony through quests in a colourful fantasy world. The tone is warm and funny, for early-school children, teaching honesty and self-acceptance.

Stillwater

Stillwater

recommended age co-watching from 2

Stillwater follows three siblings and their wise panda neighbour, whose calm stories help them face everyday ups and downs. The tone is gentle and reflective, aimed at young children, with emotional learning throughout.

Craig of the Creek

Craig of the Creek

recommended age co-watching from 4

Craig of the Creek follows Craig and his friends exploring a wooded neighborhood creek full of kid-run games and imagined adventures. The tone is adventurous and gentle, aimed at early schoolchildren, teaching friendship and problem-solving.

Kiff

Kiff

recommended age co-watching from 5

Kiff follows an excitable young squirrel and her best friend Barry through schemes and mishaps in the animal town of Table Town. Fast and comedic, made for children around six, offering gentle social and emotional lessons.

Explore more

From this series Wayside

By age 6 years

By platform Netflix Tubi TV

By theme Disagreements Friendship Learning to work together Sadness

Just launched: free lifetime premium for the first 1,000 members to activate their account.

Create your account

We use functional cookies and Google Analytics to improve our site. Learn more