Back in July, media multi-hyphenate Andy Lee released a cartoon kids’ show on the ABC. It’s called Do Not Watch This Show and follows a monster called Wizz who somehow finds himself trapped in a TV show. Wizz is begging the audience to stop watching the show; otherwise, he finds himself stuck in some bizarre (yet admittedly hilarious) situations.
Do Not Watch This Show was based on his best-selling children’s book series, which Andy created for his nephew, George, for his first birthday. From there, they became best-sellers and led to a years-long process in turning them into a 12-part series, with each episode running for approximately 11 minutes.
Much to Andy’s surprise, the show was such a hit that it raked in more than one million average viewers across ABC Family and ABC iView in its first two weeks, making it the biggest launch of the year for the free-to-air streaming platform.
For Andy, the news was a shock.
“I’m overwhelmed and absolutely ecstatic to hear so many families are tuning in and enjoying Do Not Watch This Show,” he exclaimed.
“While it could be interpreted that we have a whole country of disobedient children, which sounds quite alarming, I prefer to think it’s a triumph for cheeky rascals everywhere.
“Keep on keeping on, you little ratbags.”
The amazing ratings are an incredible win for not the ABC and Andy — especially since he was “extremely passionate” about making sure the series was available free for any kids who want to watch it.
Despite having chats with some animation big dogs like DreamWorks, he went with the ABC to ensure that Do Not Watch This Show would be available to everyone.
Now, thanks to the massive success of the show, Andy confirmed that the “fun and giggles” would continue for season two. Plus, after an incredible line-up of voice actors in season one (Joel Creasey, Denise Scott, Carrie Bickmore, Dave Hughes, Chrissie Swan and Hamish Blake, to name a few!), we can’t wait to see who he’ll bring on deck for season two!
For those who might know the Gold Logie nominee best for his work alongside Hamish Blake, or as the host of The Hundred with Andy Lee, the 44-year-old’s foray into kids’ books may come as a little bit of a surprise. But for Andy, it just made sense.
“Mainly because [kids] sit at the same intellect as me,” the podcaster jokes.
“But really, it’s because I get so much joy from seeing kids have some fun and be a little bit cheeky. I like that this show encourages kids to take risks and to defy authority just a little bit.”
With the huge success of Do Not Watch This Show, he’s no doubt giving Bluey a worthy opponent in the Logies arena. However, Andy says he’s just happy to be at the table.
“If we could be a tenth as successful as Bluey is, I would be absolutely amazed,” he said.
“I’d be happy to just ride on Bluey’s coattails.”
