Ms. Rachel is the Netflix version of the videos that Rachel Griffin Accurso has been doing since 2019; her YouTube channel has attracted over 13 million subscribers, with the most popular video getting over a billion (with a ‘b’) views. Now, some curated episodes of her show have landed for the first time on Netflix.
Opening Shot: A woman in overalls holds an animated box. “Wow! It’s a surprise box! Let’s see what’s inside!” she says.
The Gist: If you want a primer on Accurso and her YouTube show, Songs For Littles, this Parents article is a good place to start. Accurso is an educator and songwriter who started the channel when she was looking for ways to help her son, who had a speech delay. She had taught music classes to toddlers and preschoolers, and thought that slow-paced, music-focused, highly-interactive videos will help engage with the tiny set. Much of the material on the show is the product of her own research and her discussions with speech therapists and other experts.
Helping Accurso is her husband Aron, whose day job was working on the Broadway production of Aladdin. Other cast members include Beth Jean, Jules Hoffman, Natalie Kaye Clater, Frida Matute, Alexa Smith, Keisha Gilles, Angelo Soriano, Simon Kafka and Dennis Stowe.
The videos that debuted on Netflix range from 35 to 59 minutes and are for age ranges from toddlers to preschoolers. The episodes geared towards showing toddlers how to make word sounds and learn to talk and also discuss milestones in their lives. The episode geared towards preschoolers emphasizes reading their first words — for instance, Accurso asks viewers to spot the word “at” in a story she wrote — and some lessons on writing the simpler letters in the alphabet. There is also an episode that’s wall-to-wall music.
What Shows Will It Remind You Of? Marry Blippi and Sesame Street and you have Ms. Rachel. In fact, Blippi shows up in one episode, and Elmo and Abby Cadabby have appeared in a few of her YouTube videos.
Our Take: While we’re no longer the parents of a toddler or preschooler (she’s 10 now and watches things like Murder Drones), we appreciated why Accurso’s channel has been so successful. While many shows geared towards the toddler and preschool set are interactive, Ms. Rachel is almost 100% interactive, with songs and lessons that are designed to stick in kids’ minds.
Yes, Accurso and her cast talk to their audience in the slow, sing-songy fashion that likely will set parents’ teeth on edge. Let’s just say that watching 35 minutes of this show without a tiny one watching with me wasn’t the most pleasant experience. But the show isn’t for parents, is it?
The songs, whether they’re existing songs with new lyrics or brand-new songs, are the most memorable, though there are a few punny sketches that are also interspersed. We’ve always been advocates of learning through music, and Accurso, her husband and the show’s cast create songs that a toddler can absorb and recall without much effort. She also encourages her viewers to respond to her any chance she gets; a fun example is a segment where she tells Herbie, the orange monster puppet featured on the show, and the viewers to jump when she rhymes two words.
What Age Group Is This For?: We would say that these lessons are appropriate for kids 0-4.
Parting Shot: What else? Ms. Rachel says goodbye and see you next time.
Sleeper Star: Basically, someone in the cast who is not the top-billed star who shows great promise.
Most Pilot-y Line: Herbie and the other puppets are handled by Aron Accurso. The series really is a family production.
Our Call: STREAM IT. Ms. Rachel is a friendly, down-to-earth series that makes sure its target audience is participating with what’s going on instead of watching passively.
Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.