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The Bathroom: Dive in with Mercat and share her passion for Spa Science by making your own bubbly potions!
Casting Kraner was quite the process. DreamWorks, which commissioned the show in 2017, auditioned 1,500 actors on screen, then sent Johnson and Twomey 500 to whittle down. When they saw Kraner, they just knew. She had “natural spontaneity”, says Twomey. “Even when she would make mistakes, she would improv, like, ‘Oops!’ – and that’s so growth mindset,” says Johnson. Layered on top of the show’s old-school inspirations are references to internet phenomena, such as cute cat videos. (At one point Johnson and Twomey decided to “catify everything”, says Twomey. Almost everything on set has little ears – “the toaster’s catified, the refrigerator’s catified” – which has proved useful for merchandising). Another inspiration was something many parents dislike: YouTube unboxing videos. Yes, says Twomey, the endless clips of children opening toys can feel “a little creepy” – but the videos resonate with kids. “Then it was like, well, who doesn’t love to open presents? What’s better than that? So how do we make this … not creepy?” The idea was to “make that more story based, more narrative”.The Music Room: Always dreamt to be a cool kid and play with a band? Time to get loud and try all kinds of instruments: piano, xylophone and mixing board await! Join DJ Catnip and make all your musical dreams come true! Dr Maya Lennon, a children’s media and Stem researcher, believes that the quality of the shows kids watch is paramount. She is pro-Gabby’s in part because it encourages co-viewing and parental involvement, and in part for its representation. A lot of preschool TV characters tend to be male, plus, “I love the fact that she’s a brown girl,” says Lennon of Kraner, who has a Dominican father and Russian Jewish mother. “There isn’t a lot of representation of children of color in preschool shows and representation is just so important,” she says. Open the box to find a Pillow Cat collectible figure, three furniture pieces, a stuffed kitty accessory, plus two Dollhouse Delivery boxes with two more surprise accessories. Just like Gabby does at the beginning of each episode, unbox your special Dollhouse Deliveries and discover the set’s mystery accessories: a book that opens and a sleep mask that Pillow Cat can really wear. Slide the mask onto his head, pretend to turn off the kitty lamp on the bedside table and place Pillow Cat and his stuffed kitty on the bed for a cat nap. The Playroom: Let’s go for a ride with Carlita and her outgoing personality. Race around the playroom, build castles, play basketball or even tennis! Games galore in the playroom! The Bedroom: Cuddle up with Pillow Cat, hear your favorite bedtime story, play dress up with your cat friends!
The show was initially aimed towards girls, which is how the fanbase skews, though the Gabby fan in my home is a boy, and the creators say the way they think about preschool play is “very gender neutral”. They point out that many of the cat characters are boys: “We love having things where boys do so-called ‘girl’ things and girls do so-called ‘boy’ things and it’s all just imagination and creativity and fun – and everyone can play,” says Johnson.Johnson and Twomey assure me that Kraner is not secretly an adult. She was 11 when she got the role and is now 15. She lives in the suburbs on the east coast and goes to regular school. Are there concerns about her ageing out of the show? So far no, says Twomey: “The kids are 100% with her. She’s that aspirational, cool role model, the ultimate babysitter.” Gabby wears cat ears, sings cheerful songs about science and says things like ‘miaow-mazing’. Photograph: DreamWorks
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