Cynical Cinema

Wayside School is a popular kids’ TV show based on a series of popular kids’ books of the same name. Season One of Wayside School comes to DVD today, August 19th, from Paramount Home Entertainment. The best thing about the DVD is that it comes with the first volume of the books, Sideways Stories From Wayside School. I started flipping through the book as I put on the DVD, and before long I was completely engrossed. Thirty two-page stories from Wayside School, each one about one of the students on the thirtieth-story classroom at the school. You see, the school was supposed to be one floor, with thirty classrooms, but because of a design flaw, it ended up being thirty floors, each with one classroom…anyway.

The TV show features some Grade-A voice talent. Nancy Cartwright (voice of Bart Simpson and Ralph Wiggum, among others) does Maurecia, Mrs. Jewls and Dana. Phil LaMarr (famous from MAD TV) does the voice of Mr. Kidswatter, the principal. Other well-known voice actors include Tara Strong, Jason Marsden, and Terry McGurrin.

By the time I finished the book, I realized I had barely been paying attention to the TV show itself, and two episodes had already gone by. So I began paying attention. Where the book deals with each child in the classroom equally, the TV program focuses more on a few students, like Todd who is always getting into trouble, and Maurecia, who wears a helmet and roller skates at all times. The books are incredibly charming and ridiculous in a kid-logic sort of way, and the TV show comes close to capturing that spirit of silliness and twisted mayhem that the books do so well. With the packaging of Sideways Stories From Wayside School along with Wayside School: Season One on DVD, this is a great pickup for anyone with young kids.