''Parpar Nechmad'' ( he, פרפר נחמד, ''Nice Butterfly'') is a long-running

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

i children's

television program Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, e ...

, aimed mainly at

pre-school A preschool, also known as nursery school, pre-primary school, or play school or creche, is an educational establishment or learning space offering early childhood education to children before they begin compulsory education at primary school ...

ers. The show premiered in January 1982 and ran until 2004. It was produced by the

Israeli Educational Television The Israeli Educational Television (also known as IETV, he, הטלוויזיה החינוכית הישראלית, ''HaŦelevizia HaKhinuchít HaIsraelit'' or just ''חינוכית'' - ''Hinuchit'') was a state-owned public terrestrial televisio ...

(IETV), and to this day remains successful in re-runs on the IETV's former home network, Channel 23, and via a reboot to the series that debuted on 5 September 2021 on

Kan Educational Kan Educational ( he, כאן חינוכית, Kan Hinuchit) is a public television channel in Israel designated for children, on behalf of the Israel Broadcasting Corporation. The channel launched on August 15, 2018 and replaced Israeli Educati ...

. The show was originally produced by Shoshana Tzachor. Its head writer was , who provided scripts for most of the early shows, as well as lyrics and music to many of the featured songs. The puppets were all designed by Yehudit Greenspan. The show's title refers to a then well-known

nursery rhyme A nursery rhyme is a traditional poem or song for children in Britain and many other countries, but usage of the term dates only from the late 18th/early 19th century. The term Mother Goose rhymes is interchangeable with nursery rhymes. From t ...

Fania Bergstein Fania Bergstein ( he, פניה ברגשטיין; April 11, 1908 – September 18, 1950) was an Israeli poet, lyricist and author who wrote and published for children and adults. Bergstein made a major contribution to the development of Modern Heb ...

Overview

The show consists of interactions between humans and

puppet A puppet is an object, often resembling a human, animal or Legendary creature, mythical figure, that is animated or manipulated by a person called a puppeteer. The puppeteer uses movements of their hands, arms, or control devices such as rods ...

s. Each episode presents the young viewers with familiar situations from everyday life, and offers creative ways of solving various problems, as each situation is dealt with through songs and games. Aside from the basic plotline, most episodes also include a story told by one or more of the human

actor An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is (), li ...

s, and sometimes short

cartoon A cartoon is a type of visual art that is typically drawn, frequently animated, in an unrealistic or semi-realistic style. The specific meaning has evolved over time, but the modern usage usually refers to either: an image or series of images ...

sketches. In the sketches about Pete and Pitagoras (different actors) professor Pitagoras tried to teach the kids but his assistant Pete always ruined everything. The location for most shows (until 1995) is a room filled with various shapes, such as poles and arches, vaguely resembling a room in a house. This deliberately surreal design is meant to give the impression of seeing the world from an infant's point of view, which is full of

imagination Imagination is the production or simulation of novel objects, sensations, and ideas in the mind without any immediate input of the senses. Stefan Szczelkun characterises it as the forming of experiences in one's mind, which can be re-creations ...

and

creativity Creativity is a phenomenon whereby something new and valuable is formed. The created item may be intangible (such as an idea, a scientific theory, a musical composition, or a joke) or a physical object (such as an invention, a printed literary w ...

Reboot

In 1995 the show's production was put on a long

hiatus Hiatus may refer to: *Hiatus (anatomy), a natural fissure in a structure *Hiatus (stratigraphy), a discontinuity in the age of strata in stratigraphy *''Hiatus'', a genus of picture-winged flies with sole member species ''Hiatus fulvipes'' *Globa ...

following the death of

Yoni Chen Yoni Chen ( he, יוני חן; August 10, 1953 – June 27, 1995) was an Israeli actor, voice actor, director and puppeteer. Biography Chen was born in Israel to a Syrian Jewish family. When he was two years old, he and his family had lived in C ...

, one of the puppeteers. It was relaunched in 1998 with a renewed and very different look. It now had a realistic house and backyard as the two main locations. The puppets were redesigned and there were considerable changes in the human cast as well. Responses for the new version were mostly negative. Original creator Datia Ben Dor said in an interview (translation from

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

is non-literal): "The work on the show was no longer done with the proper care and sensitivity... it was no longer "Parpar Nechmad"... the name remained but the essence was gone". The second version aired its final episode in 2004. On 18 July 2008 it was first revealed that

planned to reboot the show again, and that auditions for the new human cast would soon take place. Reportedly, all four puppet characters would appear on the new version, which would focus on teaching children about good

nutrition Nutrition is the biochemical and physiological process by which an organism uses food to support its life. It provides organisms with nutrients, which can be metabolized to create energy and chemical structures. Failure to obtain sufficient n ...

and

health Health, according to the World Health Organization, is "a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease and infirmity".World Health Organization. (2006)''Constitution of the World Health Organiza ...

. After some time, the new version was cancelled. In February 2020, it was announced that IPBC planned to reboot the show after 16 years of reruns on

. On 5 April 2021 it was announced that the second reboot will be in Fall 2021 in

with four new hosts - , ,

Ester Rada Ester Rada ( he, אסתר רָדָא, born March 7, 1985) is an Israeli actress and singer. Biography Rada was born in Kiryat Arba, Israel, to a religious Ethiopian-Jewish family. Her parents, originally from a village near Gondar, were res ...

and . Ami Weinberg and Ayelet Levine will return to perform Batz and Nuli, Shabi will performed by Gilles Ben David instead of Avi Yakir and Uza will performed by Meital Raz instead of Irit Shilo. The puppets were all redesigned by Maria Gurevich. The revival series premiered on

on 5 September 2021.

Cast

Puppet Characters

* Uza (אוזה) (performer: Irit Shilo / Meital Raz) - a female goose. She is very clever and a fast learner. Her character traits are those of a know-it-all big sister. * Shabi (שבי) (performer: Itzik Gier / Avi Yakir /

Gilles Ben David The Gilles are the oldest and principal participants in the Carnival of Binche in Belgium. They go out on Shrove Tuesday from 4 am until late hours and dance to traditional songs. Other cities, such as La Louvière and Nivelles, have a traditi ...

) – a male snail. He is intelligent but slightly insecure. He tends to rely on Uza for answers. He wears round glasses. * Batz (בץ) (performer:

/ Ami Weinberg) – a male turtle. He is a rather slow thinker, but far from being dumb. * Nuli (נולי) (performer: Ayelet Levine / Tzlila Yanai) – a female chick. The youngest of the puppets, she is inquisitive and gets excited easily. Her name is not related to the animal she is. She is named after Nuli Omer. * Pingi (פינגי) (performer:

Galia Yishai Galia Yishai ( he, גליה ישי; 17 May 1950 – 4 January 2020) was an Israeli actress of film, stage and television and singer. She began performing from the age of 16-and-a-half on the radio programme ' and acted on stage at most of Israel's ...

) – a human-sized

penguin Penguins (order (biology), order List of Sphenisciformes by population, Sphenisciformes , family (biology), family Spheniscidae ) are a group of Water bird, aquatic flightless birds. They live almost exclusively in the Southern Hemisphere: on ...

. He joins the show in later episodes as an immigrant from the

North Pole The North Pole, also known as the Geographic North Pole or Terrestrial North Pole, is the point in the Northern Hemisphere where the Earth's axis of rotation meets its surface. It is called the True North Pole to distinguish from the Mag ...

, and is very curious and friendly, yet tends to be obnoxious at times. His character was excluded from the new version, mostly because most viewers found him annoying. For example, he really wanted glasses but after he got a couple (actually faux glasses) he really wanted a moustache.

Human Actors

* Efi Ben Israel *

Uzi Hitman Uzi Hitman ( he, עוזי חיטמן; June 9, 1952 – October 17, 2004) was an Israeli singer-songwriter, composer, musician, actor, director and television personality. Biography Uzi Hitman was born in Giv'at Shmuel and lived all his life in R ...

* Dudu Zar * Ofra Weingarten * Shlomit Hagoel * Guy Friedman * Elinor Aharon *

Rama Messinger Rama Messenger ( he, רמה מסינגר‎; September 3, 1968 – August 18, 2015) was an Israeli actress, voice actress and singer. Biography Messinger was born and raised in Ramat Ef'al, Israel. She was named after her maternal uncle, Ram ...

Ofra Haza Bat-Sheva Ofra Haza ( he, בת-שבע עפרה חזה; 19 November 1957 – 23 February 2000), known as Ofra Haza (), was an Israeli singer, songwriter, actress, and Grammy Award-nominated recording artist commonly known in the Western world as ...

(frequent guest in early episodes)

2021 Edition

* Meshi Kleinstein *

Uri Banai Uri may refer to: Places * Canton of Uri, a canton in Switzerland * Úri, a village and commune in Hungary * Uri, Iran, a village in East Azerbaijan Province * Uri, Jammu and Kashmir, a town in India * Uri (island), an island off Malakula Isla ...

* Ben Yossipovich * Ido Mosseri

References

{{reflist

External links

Parpar Nechmad - Classic seasons
on

.
Parpar Nechmad - New season
on

. Israeli children's television series Israeli television shows featuring puppetry Israeli Educational Television 1982 Israeli television series debuts 2004 Israeli television series endings 2021 Israeli television series debuts 1980s Israeli television series 1990s Israeli television series 2000s Israeli television series 2020s Israeli television series Television series revived after cancellation