>THREE TO GROW ON
TIME TO CATCH UP ON SOME NEW CHILDREN'S SERIES. THE DISNEY CHANNEL'S Adventures in Wonderland (weekdays, 7:30 A.M. ET) is a live-action update of Lewis Carroll's story. This show's Alice (Elisabeth Harnois) runs with a contemporary crowd, including a Tweedledee and Tweedledum who are thin hip-hoppers in Hammer puff pants and a White Rabbit who scoots around on rollerblades. It's an innocent but hammy half hour with music by Mark Mothersbaugh of the bent pop group Devo. Mothersbaugh also scored this week's riotous kids' special A Claymation Easter on CBS (Sat., April 18, 8:30 P.M. ET). Designed for a younger crowd, the live-action Barney & Friends on PBS (weekdays; check local listings) is spun off from the popular home video series Barney & the Backyard Gang. Barney, the gentle, giggling six-foot purple dinosaur, uses songs and games to help a rotating octet of children exercise their imaginations. The show's busy but bland style should appeal to preschoolers. Shelley Duvall's Bedtime Stories on Showtime (Tuesdays, 7:30 P.M. ET) is Duvall's third and best kids' series for the cable channel. Wonderful children's books by Marilyn Sadler, Mercer Mayer and others get lively animation, backed by such celebrity narrators as James Earl Jones, Dudley Moore, John Candy and Bonnie Raitt. All right, you've had your story. Now go to bed.
Your Reaction
