Draft:Wee Sing (video series)

This page is about the children's home video series. For the original songbook series, see Wee Sing.

Wee Sing
Genre	Children's
Created by	Pam Beall and Susan Nipp
Based on	Wee Sing
No. of episodes	10
Original release
Release	1985-1996

Wee Sing is a direct-to-video children's fantasy musical series based on the songbook series of the same name created by Pamela Beall and Susan Hagen Nipp.

The adaptation of Wee Sign onto video started in 1984, when Beall and Nipp realized the growing home video market and the lack of quality children's videos, persuading the two into adapting the series. Transitioning the songbook series onto home video was considered "[a] big leap of faith", according to Claudia Sloan, a former executive producer for Price Stern Sloan, as the children's home video market was unproven at the time.

To adapt the series, Beall and Nipp drew inspiration from musicals, used live-action instead of animation, and used a narrative format instead of the standard magazine format that other popular children shows, such as Sesame Street, used at the time. Each video focuses on a theme familiar to young children, such as birthday parties, playtime, and family trips, each incorporating a unique magical spin.

A significant inclusion was the incorporating of social emotional developmental concepts into the videos, something that at the time was rarely explored in children's media. Each video dove into various topics such as empathy, diversity, and friendship; it was one of the first children's series to provide Asian-American representation, as well as betraying a disability and an interracial adoptive family.

In 1994, the series was acquired by Universal Pictures, who put the videos on moratorium for a year to build demand for reissues to be released under the MCA/Universal label; said reissues ended up becoming the final reissue on VHS. After the release and lukewarm reception of Wee Singdom, Universal abandoned the series and stopped producing videotapes. In addition, Universal refused to release the series on DVD, annoying customers transitioning their home video collection from VHS to the new format. After Beall and Nipp became frustrated at Universal's treatment of the series, they bought back the rights from the company in 2004, and started the process of remastering the videos for release on DVD. By the next year, all of the videos (excluding Wee Singdom) were released onto DVD.

Wee Sing received critical acclaim from critics, who praised its appeal to kids, the stories, and morals, although some critics disliked its "over-sentimental" elements and low-budget production. Retrospective reviewers in particular have commented about the social emotional elements of the videos, praising them as helping to set the series apart. Wee Sing was one of the most influential children's shows of the 1980s, helping to pioneer the children's musical format, and proved the viability of children's home video. The series is popular in EFL classes in South Korea for teaching English. The series helped inspire other successful children's series such as Barney and the Backyard Gang (which was the later basis for Barney & Friends) and VeggieTales, and helped set the stage for shows like Blue's Clues. It has since developed a cult following among older audiences, due it's unique style, progressive morals, and gentle format.

History

Wee Sing was created by Pamela Beall and Susan Hagen Nipp in 1977 after the two realized that there was a lack of booklets with children's songs and nursery rhymes. After the original self-published run of the initial Wee Sing book resulted in the sales of 20,000 copies, Price Stern Sloan acquired the rights for a nationwide publishing of the initial book in addition to future installments in the series.