I can't believe how low of a rating this has overall. We love this show! It was the first show that kept my son's attention when he was a baby and he was colicky, which all moms know is EVERYTHING! We watched 2 episodes a night before bed for a long time. The stories are interesting and pleasant. The songs are infectiously catchy. The characters are a delight! And I've always thought Thomas was a bit too stuffy and boring, personally. I love that there is another type of train show to turn to. They teach about hard work, friendship and honesty. And there is a technical aspect to it too, while obviously animated, talking trains, it still shows a lot of cool engineering type creations. Also, the story and characters advance. They start as new "train-ees" and learn skills to eventually get their jobs. It's a kids show that doesn't drive a parent crazy... I mean they all can eventually if you watch them enough, but this is far better than most!