Reviewer's Bias*
Loves: Animation, Noggin
Likes: Children's books
Dislikes: Most CG animation, Olivia
Hates: How boys are portrayed in most kids shows, bossy girl characters

The Story So Far
Olivia, the star of a well-regarded series of children's books by Ian Falconer, made the leap to animated television in 2009, thanks to Nickelodeon. She's the oldest of three kids, and when she isn't enjoying being the center of attention, she's lost in her own imagination. The computer-animated series captures the art style of the books nearly perfectly for two stories per half-hour episode. So far Nickelodeon has released one Olivia DVD, in August of 2009 and DVDTalk has a review.

The Show
My daughter's interest in TV shows can be fleeting, as one week she'll be obsessed with Dora the Explorer, only to throw her support behind The Wonder Pets the next week. It's rare that a show can keep her focus for very long, but Olivia is just such a show. When that theme song begins those repetitive Olivias, she begins belting it out along with the TV, following the titular pig's adventures with relatively rapt attention. Being the one who usually sits with her when she watches TV (we do have similar tastes, despite the 29 year age difference) I've been forced to endure several episodes of Olivia and can honestly say, I don't hate this series.

The eight stories in the four episodes here follow the same loose general theme as the rest, as Olivia finds a new interest, runs into a problem as a result, and has to figure out a solution, often with the help of her family, including her mom and dad, and her two younger brothers. There's no real goal or mission most of the time, though Olivia would probably think she's accomplished something grand. Along the way, she often succumbs to daydreaming, where she takes her rightful place in the world (or at least the rightful place in her mind) as one of the most important people in the world. But unlike many kids' shows, her ego isn't coddled, as she fails on a regular basis and the people around her show themselves to appreciate when she either learns she's wrong or doesn't get her way.

Like last time, these stories are purely entertaining, without any obvious educational value. One could argue that when she tries to figure out how to pull off a carnival at school, she's displaying some problem solving skills (or perhaps teamwork by working with her brother,) but when she uses her classmates' fear of icky things against her after losing a vote to be class pet monitor, it's not clear what the message is supposed to be. The same goes for her foray into ballet, during which she forces her friend Julian to join her class. The whole issue only comes about because she doesn't want to dance by herself like the rest of the girls. There are no real consequences when she makes such selfish decisions either, so you can't even say they offer life lessons. Sure, some light entertainment is fun, but if your little kid is going to sit in front of the TV, let's make it worthwhile.

Though these episodes are solid fun for children, the lack of content that results from having just four episodes, is accentuated by choices made in putting the DVD together. The stories in each episode are preceded by a short, wordless interstitial, which are cute, mainly because you don't have to hear from Olivia. But when you consider there are eight in this collection, and three of them are the same, with the little pig sharing a bathroom sink with her father, you have to wonder why not choose a different variety of episodes? Here are the four two-part episodes included:

• Olivia Takes Ballet/Olivia and Her Ducklings
• Olivia Runs the Carnival/Olivia Explores the Attic
• Olivia and the Anniversary Surprise/Olivia the Pet Monitor
• Olivia Goes Camping/Olivia Becomes a Vet

The DVD
Packed in a standard keepcase, this one-disc release features a static, full-frame menu offering options to watch all the shows, select episodes or check out the bonus features. If you leave the menu up long enough, the play-all option will kick in automatically. There are no audio options and no subtitles, but there is closed captioning.

The Quality
The full-frame video looks great, displaying the animation very well. The color is appropriate and even across all four episodes and the level of detail is quite high. As one would expect with CG animation, there's no dirt or damage, and there's no obvious issues with compression artifacts.

The audio is just what you would expect for modern kids shows, as the Dolby Digital 2.0 tracks are good, but not really impressive, presenting clear dialogue and clean music. Essentially the television presentation has been carried over appropriately.

The Extras
Like last time the extras are slim, as all you get is a one-minute montage of Olivia's costumes, set to a dance beat featuring her name.

The usual forced collection of Nickelodeon commercials is here as well.

The Bottom Line
While I still don't enjoy the main character, due to her grating personality, the show remains mainly unoffensive and moves at a pace that keeps it from getting boring. My mini assistant critic (my three-year-old daughter) gets to cast the deciding vote though, and to her Olivia is the best thing since sliced bread (though the simple, yet catchy theme song is a big part of the appeal.) the DVD looks and sounds quite good, but once again there's a slim number of extras and, as is usually the case with Nickelodeon, just four episodes.

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*The Reviewer's Bias section is an attempt to help readers use the review to its best effect. By knowing where the reviewer's biases lie on the film's subject matter, one can read the review with the right mindset.