''Omba Mokomba'' is an American

wildlife documentary A nature documentary or wildlife documentary is a genre of documentary film or series about animals, plants, or other non-human living creatures, usually concentrating on video taken in their natural habitat but also often including footage of tr ...

television series that aired on Disney Channel from 1997 to 1999. The series was described as "The station for animal information!", and its stated intent was to answer viewer questions about animals and wildlife.Laurel Graeber, "No More Pencils, No More Books? Try TV", ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' (July 5, 1998) .Evan Lavine, "Omba Mokomba delights and teaches viewers", ''

The Star Democrat ''The Star Democrat'' is an American newspaper published and mainly distributed in Easton, Maryland, in Talbot County, as well as in the surrounding counties of Caroline, Dorchester, Queen Anne's and Kent. ''The Star Democrat'' is published on ...

'' (July 6, 1998), p. 10; "Disney's 'Omba Mokomba' Delights", ''

Billings Gazette The ''Billings Gazette'' is a daily newspaper based in Billings, Montana that primarily covers issues in southeast Montana and parts of northern Wyoming. Historically it has been known as the largest newspaper in Montana and is geographically one ...

'' (September 4, 1998), p. 6D.Debra Goldman, "All You, All The Time", ''

Mother Jones Mary G. Harris Jones (1837 (baptized) – November 30, 1930), known as Mother Jones from 1897 onwards, was an Irish-born American schoolteacher and dressmaker who became a prominent union organizer, community organizer, and activist. She h ...

'', Vol. 23, No. 3 (May–June 1998), p. 37: "And it is surely the only channel this side of public access to title a program in Swahili: "Omba Mokomba," or 'Ask Mokomba," another ecofriendly entry, in which the host of a fictional African television call-in show answers questions about animals".Winnie Bonelli, "Animals Take Over Sunday Programming", ''

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'' (August 7, 1997), p. D5. The show was generally well-received for its educational value and positivity.

History

The show was first announced in an August 1997, as "part of a one-hour wildlife themed block" with another nature-oriented new Disney show, '' Going Wild with Jeff Corwin''. and was featured at that time in an article in the Disney Channel's ''Behind the Ears'' magazine. It was part of a "makeover" of Disney Channel premium service original programming designed to "provide families with more shared-viewing opportunities and to give them 'creative properties that are meaningful and relevant to their lives'". The title is Swahili for "Ask Mokomba", and the Disney Channel was noted to be "surely the only channel this side of public access to title a program in Swahili". Disney Channel executive Rich Ross commented on the Swahili title that "If we can have ' Hakuna Matata', we can have 'Omba Mokomba'", referencing the popularity of the song from ''

The Lion King ''The Lion King'' is a 1994 American animated musical drama film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released by Walt Disney Pictures. The 32nd Disney animated feature film and the fifth produced during the Disney Renaissance ...

'', which had been released three years earlier. The cast of ''Omba Mokomba'' included three main characters: the

title character The title character in a narrative work is one who is named or referred to in the title of the work. In a performed work such as a play or film, the performer who plays the title character is said to have the title role of the piece. The title of ...

Mokomba ("an African broadcaster and zoological expert"; portrayed by Benjamin Brown), Candace, (show producer; Natasha Pearce), and Mr. Plunkett (a

Capuchin monkey The capuchin monkeys () are New World monkeys of the subfamily Cebinae. They are readily identified as the " organ grinder" monkey, and have been used in many movies and television shows. The range of capuchin monkeys includes some tropical fores ...

, added in the second season). The

show-within-a-show A story within a story, also referred to as an embedded narrative, is a literary device in which a character within a story becomes the narrator of a second story (within the first one). Multiple layers of stories within stories are sometimes ...

motif depicted Mokomba as broadcasting from a hut in Africa, answering viewer questions about a wide variety of animal life, while navigating occasional subplots such as being forced to share the space with another show (a fictional ''Hut Improvement''), or playing pranks on his co-worker. Other segments included fake commercials and "parodies of adult television", such as a segment on cats in the style of the reality TV show, '' Cops''.

Reception

A critique of the show found it to be cheerful and educational, but very fast-paced, with an excessive number of segments, which the reviewer found made the information difficult to fully take in. In 1999, the Annenberg Public Policy Center deemed ''Omba Mokomba'' "high quality" children's programming, and expressed disappointment that it was one of only a handful of shows of this kind shown during prime time television hours. A 2001 scholarly piece found it to be one of several examples of "prosocial" programming "designed to foster intellectual activity, tolerance, friendliness, and so on". In 2020, the show was among a number of shows that fans petitioned Disney to make available on

Disney+ Disney+ is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service owned and operated by the Media and Entertainment Distribution division of The Walt Disney Company. The service primarily distributes films and television se ...

Characters

* Mokomba: (Benjamin Brown); Brown, born in Atlanta, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia in 1968, had previously appeared in small roles in films and television series like ''Fired Up (TV series), Fired''. After ''Omba Mokomba'' ended, Brown later appeared in Bellum Entertainment Group's Broadcast syndication, syndicated series ''Safari Tracks'' in the similar role of Ushaka, a South African zoological protector and expert. Unlike ''Omba Mokomba'', however, ''Safari Tracks'' was filmed in Africa.Vincent Terrace, ''Encyclopedia of Television Subjects, Themes and Settings'' (2007), p. 37. Brown was a repeat guest star on ''The West Wing'' and ''In Justice'', and also appeared in ''Star Trek: Deep Space Nine'', ''Without a Trace'', ''The Practice'', ''The Suite Life of Zack & Cody'' and ''Frasier''. * Candace: (Natasha Pearce); before appearing on ''Omba Mokomba'', Pearce had been a star of the TV series ''Roundhouse (TV series), Roundhouse''. * Mr. Plunkett: (Binx); a Capuchin monkey.

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, id=0205671, title=Omba Mokomba Disney Channel original programming 1997 American television series debuts Television series about monkeys