What a wonderful day!note
Allegra's Window is a preschool TV series that aired on Nick Jr. from October 24, 1994, to October 28, 1996. The show consists of Allegra going through her daily life as a little girl and learning important lessons along the way. Usually, those lessons would be through fun activities and music for children to enjoy. The mini segments during the episodes include a bird family who sings sometimes and another one including the conversations between a tuba and a bass instrument. At the end of each episode, Allegra would reflect on all the lessons she has learned as she sits at her window.
Despite being successful, the show ended after three seasons due to Jumbo Pictures (the show's production company) being purchased by Disney in 1996.
Allegra's Window has the following tropes:
- Ageless Birthday Episode: Averted with Allegra's birthday in "Have Your Cakes". She turns four years old in the episode and is referred to as that age for the remaining episodes.
- Amazing Technicolor Population: Similarly to Jumbo Pictures' previous series Doug, the human puppet characters have skin colors like green and purple.
- Amazing Technicolor Wildlife: Riff is a blue cat. Downplayed with Lindi who's a yellow dog, but a much more saturated shade than would be seen in real life.
- An Aesop: In each episode, as it's an Edutainment Show.
- Art Evolution: Most of the puppets were rebuilt for the second season, mainly noticeable in Allegra, Riff, Sonata, and Clef.
- Art Shift: A few episodes of season one included cutaways animated in 2D.
- On the puppetry side of things, Rondo is primarily a live-hand puppet but occasionally switches to rod hands depending on the scene.
- Babysitting Episode: One episode revolves around Allegra and Rondo's parents going out for the evening, and they hire Mr. Cook to come over and babysit, much to their excitement. They end up wearing him out by the end of the night.
- Big Brother Bully: Rondo sometimes acts this way towards Allegra.
- Big Eater: Riff is obsessed with food, especially if the food in question was prepared by Mr. Cook.
- Big "NO!": Done by Allegra in "The Zootabaga Caper" when she finds out zootabagas are going to be part of her daycare's special snack of the day, combined with Eat the Camera.
- Birthday Episode: "Have Your Cakes" takes place on Allegra's fourth birthday. Subverted with "Poco's 2 1/2 Birthday", which doesn't take place on Poco's actual birthday but rather his "half birthday".
- Black Bead Eyes: Allegra (though hers are blue), Rondo, Sonata, Clef, and Poco all have eyes in this style, typical of Jim Jinkins' art style.
- Blanket Fort: Allegra and Lindi build one during their sleepover in "Kids That Go Bump in the Night".
- Bo Diddley Beat: Appears in the song "Make A Cake" from "Have Your Cakes".
- Bootstrapped Theme: "What A Wonderful Day", a song sung in the first episode, is used as the theme for the entire show. It's heard in snippets in most episodes and is used in instrumental form for the closing credits.
- Bottle Episode: The later two direct-to-video clip show specials, Play Along with Allegra and Friends and Sing Along with Allegra and Lindi take place entirely on the outdoor set and only feature three members of the cast per video in the linking material. An enforced example as the show itself had already ended production by the time production began on the two videos, meaning not only was it possible that some of the cast members were unavailable at the time, but some of the other sets may have started to be dismantled.
- Catchphrase: Several.
- Riff: "Meow-za!".
- Encora: "Do-re-mi, Delivery! ENCOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORA at your service!"
- Cannot Keep a Secret: When everyone secretly arranges to get a guitar for Riff as a gift, Allegra inadvertently tells him about their plans. Lindi gets very angry with her as a result, calling her a big mouth.
- Cats Are Snarkers: Riff is easily the most sarcastic of the main cast.
- Chickenpox Episode: In the episode "Lots of Turkey Pox", Allegra comes down with a case of the Turkey Pox, and is upset that she has to miss the big craft project at daycare. Luckily, Lindi goes back and forth since dogs can't catch the disease, and tells her how to participate from home.
- Christmas Episode: "Waiting For Grandma" and "Mr. Cook's Christmas"
- Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: Ellington doesn't appear after the first season.
- Season two introduced Jingle and Jazz, two toy balls that served as a Greek Chorus similar to Flugie and Vi and the Hummingbird family. While they only appeared in a few season two episodes, they were completely gone by season three.
- Clip Show: Three direct-to-video specials, Storytime Sing-Along, Play Along with Allegra and Friends, and Sing Along with Allegra and Lindi, were released over 1996 through 1998 (the latter two notably were released after the show's final episode aired). Each video contains clips of various songs throughout the series with new linking material.
- Civilized Animal: Lindi and Riff wear clothes and are able to communicate and interact with the humans on their level. However, they're both implied to be owned by Reed (though he acts more like a father to them than a pet owner), their doctor is a veterenarian, and they both have desires and mannerisms befitting their respective species.
- Colorful Song: "Color Me a Song" from "A Tangled Web", featuring a xylophone made out of glass bottles each filled with a different color liquid.
- Companion Cube: Allegra's stuffed octopus Godfrey and her stuffed lion Lily. Also Lindi's stuffed dog, Rufus.
- Couch Gag: In the first season, the Nickelodeon Studios ending tag would be narrated by a different character in each episode. Allegra will even refer to the show as "My window" if she's narrating.
- Dark Reprise: "Wonderful Day" gets one in "Allegra Has a Bad Day" as "What a Wonderful Day - Not". Downplayed as the music itself is exactly the same, but with snarkier, more downbeat lyrics as Allegra sings about how her day isn't going well.
- Riff's song "Goody Goodies Everywhere" from "A Hero's Tail" gets one later in the episode. The first time he sings it, it's about how he's looking forward to having breakfast. The reprise has him sadly singing about how he's going to miss it due to getting stuck in the fence.
- Deadpan Snarker: Riff (as mentioned under Cats Are Snarkers) and Rondo tend to be this the most, though Lindi and Allegra have had their snarky moments.
- Early-Installment Weirdness: Season one contains a few differences between the rest of the series:
- It's the only season where Encora and Poco don't appear, and the only season where Ellington appears.
- Several episodes would contain cutaways or imagine spots animated in 2D; these were abandoned after the first season.
- Allegra, Riff, Sonata, and Clef have noticeably different appearances in the first season; the puppets would all be rebuilt for season two.
- Eat the Camera: Allegra does this during her Big "NO!" in "The Zootabaga Caper".
- Every Episode Ending: Most episodes end with Allegra looking out her window and/or about to go to bed, recapping what she learned in that episode.
- Eye Glasses: Mr. Cook is depicted with these, however, they don't change shape like other examples.
- Feud Episode: Two between Allegra and Lindi:
- "Secret Adventures" has Lindi getting mad at Allegra after she lets a secret Lindi told her to slip out.
- "Best Friends Forever" also has Lindi getting upset with Allegra after she lets Poco join in on their special playdate, wanting it to just be the two of them.
- Filthy Fun: Lindi loves digging and playing in the dirt. She is a dog, after all.
- First Day of School Episode: The first episode of the series, "My First Day at Daycare", is about Allegra attending Little Blue Daycare for the first time.
- Friendship Song: Allegra and Lindi have "Together as Buddies, Forever as Friends", which is sung in both "Where's Godfrey?" and "Best Friends Forever". They also have "Two Heads, Two Hands" from "A Box Divided", which also gets a reprise with Rondo and Riff.
- Genki Girl: Encora. Allegra and Lindi are mild examples.
- Go-to-Sleep Ending: Most episodes end with Allegra in her room, recapping the episode's lesson to the audience as she goes to bed.
- The Greatest Story Never Told: In one episode, Allegra pretends she’s a superhero called Awesome Allegra. In the same episode, Riff gets stuck in the fence, and Allegra tries to help him get out. Due to the embarrassment of the situation, Riff asks Allegra not to tell anyone what happened, and Allegra reluctantly keeps her promise. Afterwards, she laments about not getting treated like a hero and receiving a gold medal. Riff overhears this and that night comes over with a medal for her. It was made out of construction paper and glitter rather than gold, but it was enough for Allegra.
- Greek Chorus: The show features two groups of them: Vi and Flugie, a viola and tuba respectively, and Aria, Woofer, and Tweeter, a family of hummingbirds. They frequently comment on the events going on in each episode, but usually never interact with the main cast (with the exception of Allegra taking Tweeter home after he falls out of his nest in "Nest Sweet Nest").
- Halloween Episode: "My Very Own Monster" is the closest the show has to one. While the episode doesn't take place on Halloween, Little Blue Daycare has Halloween decorations up and the episode revolves around monsters and being scared. Nick Jr. often aired the episode near Halloween.
- Happy Birthday to You!: "Have Your Cakes" have the characters sing the original songs "Birthday Today" and "I Love Birthdays".
- Hates Baths: Lindi hates baths. Justified seeing that she's a dog. Allegra ends up spending an episode showing her that Baths Are Fun.
- Height Angst: Allegra felt this way in the episode "Small is Beautiful" when she's always being told, "she’s too little". She can't play with her brother’s toys or assist Mr. Cook in his diner. Poor Allegra. But later on in the episode, she learns that small is sometimes the best size to be...
- I Do Not Like Green Eggs and Ham:
- Allegra hates blue Zutabagas without trying them. She decides to try the Zutabagas after the encouragement of her family and friends, and she ended up liking the vegetable.
- In one episode, Allegra throws a tea party for everyone in the neighborhood, but Rondo refuses to go, even though everyone else, including his best friend, Riff, is going. Allegra finally has a talk with Rondo, using her experience with blue Zutabagas as a comparison. She's finally able to persuade him to go when she mentions that he can finally show off that card trick he learned and had been trying to show everyone for the entire episode. He ends up having fun along with everyone else.
- "I Want" Song: Allegra has "I Wanna Read" in "Read Me a Story" about wanting to learn how to read, and "Wheels" from "Make It Special" about wanting her own bike.
- Innocent Blue Eyes: Allegra has these to emphasize her youth and innocence, and is notably the only puppet character in the show to have a confirmed eye color.
- Irritation Is the Sincerest Form of Flattery: In the episode "Copy Cat, Copy Cat, Go Away", Allegra copies her older brother Rondo.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Both Rondo and Riff. Rondo can be a mild Big Brother Bully to Allegra sometimes, and Riff acts as a lazy, snarky prankster to the other characters (especially Mr. Cook), but both are still just as friendly with the rest of the characters and aren't truly antagonistic, just typical 6-year-old boys.
- Kids Prefer Boxes: The children of Hummingbird Alley certainly feel this way in the episode "A Box Divided".
- Large Ham: Encora and Riff respectively. Mr. Cook & Poco maybe even more so.
- Limited Wardrobe: Downplayed with most of the puppet characters, where most of them have at least two (three for the title character) regular outfits they rotate. The exceptions are Mr. Cook and Poco.
- Minsky Pickup: The song "I'm in a Parade" features one right before the lyrics begin.
- Musical Chores: "Teamwork" from "Clean-up Kids" is sung as Allegra, Lindi, Rondo, and Riff put their toys away.
- Musical Theme Naming: Many of the characters have names related to music:
- Allegra's name comes from "allegro", a term used to get the musician to perform in an upbeat manner.
- Allegra's brother Rondo's name means the way a piece of music is organized.
- Riff's name refers to a repeated progression of chords in a song.
- Reed's name comes from an object used to produce sound for specific instruments.
- Miss Melody's last name comes from the word meaning "a sequence of notes".
- Clef's name comes from clef notes.
- Sonata's name refers to a piece of music played as a solo.
- Mystery Episode: The episode "The Big Mystery" has Rondo, Allegra, Lindi, and Riff play detective to find out who stole their toys.
- Nephewism: In the show's second season, we're introduced to Mr. Cook's nephew, Poco, who ends up joining Allegra at daycare. It's mentioned Poco's mother (whom we never see) works full time, so his uncle babysits him during the day.
- Never Trust a Trailer: A preview for Nick Jr.'s VHS releases in 1997 showed clips of both "Nothing to Do" and "Fun House", neither of which were released on VHS or had songs featured in any of the videos.
- No Antagonist: Most of the conflicts of the show come from personal problems of the main characters. The closest the show might have is Rondo whenever he gives Allegra a hard time, and possibly Riff as well, but otherwise everyone's pretty much friends with one another, and their issues are always resolved.
- No Fourth Wall: Each episode begins and ends with Allegra talking to the audience.
- Not My Lucky Day: Allegra experiences this in the episode "Allegra Has a Bad Day". Allegra first starts her day by awakening late, seeing a cloudy sky, and then knocking a drum over at Reed's workshop.
- Ode to Family: "Brothers are Forever" from "Don't Touch My Stuff!" about how despite Rondo and Allegra arguing, they'll always be siblings who love each other. A reprise, "Sisters are Forever", is also sung.
- Pep-Talk Song: A few have appeared:
- "Butterflies" is sung by Reed to Allegra in "The Big Concert" to help her get over her stage fright.
- "Gonna Blossom" is sung by Ellington to Riff in "Read Me a Story" when Riff is struggling with trying to read, letting him know that everyone learns at their own pace.
- "Learn to Laugh" is sung by Miss Melody to Allegra in "Allegra Has a Bad Day" to encourage her to not let a bad day get her down.
- "Your Best Shot" from "Spring Has Sprung!" is sung by Clef to Allegra to encourage her to do her best in the scavenger hunt, even if she doesn't win.
- "Don't Clam Up" from "Best Friends Forever" is sung by Reed to Lindi to encourage her to tell Allegra why she was upset at her.
- "It Looks Like a Rainbow" is sung by Encora to Allegra in "Doodlehead" when Allegra feels embarrassed about her "doodly" hair after Rondo makes fun of her.
- Miss Melody sings "Hula Hoop" in "The Wishing Stone" to encourage the kids that they can learn how to do anything rather than just wish for it.
- "The Memory Game" from "A Tangled Web" is sung by Sonata to Allegra to help her try to remember where she lost Sonata's ring.
- Performance Anxiety: In one episode, Allegra is given the chance to perform a song in front of the neighborhood alongside Rondo and Riff, but she gets so nervous beforehand, she ends up getting the hiccups. Reed finds her before the show and manages to cure her hiccups as well as her stage fright. However, by the time they're supposed to go on, Rondo and Riff are now both nervous and Allegra has to snap them both out of it.
- Picnic Episode: "Sticky Situation" features Allegra all set to go on a picnic with Lindi, Miss Melody, and Riff, only to end up getting trapped in her room when the door gets stuck.
- Polka-Dot Disease: Allegra catches the "turkey pox" in "Lots of Turkey Pox".
- Precious Puppy: Lindi is a puppy and very adorable.
- Reused Character Design: In appearance, Allegra's brother Rondo looks like a purple Doug with red hair.
- Savvy Guy, Energetic Girl: A word like "savvy" may be a bit of a stretch in a preschool show like this, but Rondo's the calmer older brother to Allegra's Energetic Girl.
- Shave And A Haircut: Happens at the end of the song "Ring Your Bell".
- Shout-Out: At the beginning of "Stop Making Sense", Allegra is playing with a toy pig and pretending it's a "famous movie star". The aforementioned pig has blonde hair and purple gloves.
- A Spotty Dotty jewelry box can be seen in Allegra's room in "Lots of Turkey Pox".
- Sick Episode: There have been several.
- Allegra comes down with a case of the turkey pox and is upset that she has to miss the big craft project at daycare. Luckily, Lindi goes back and forth since dogs can't catch the disease, and tells her how to participate from home.
- One episode has Allegra getting some things for Rondo when he's sick with a cold.
- Something Blues: "Best Friend Blues" in "Best Friends Forever", sung by Riff and Miss Melody after Rondo leaves Riff to go shopping with his mom.
- The Something Song: The pony song Miss Melody and the kids sing in "Pony, No Baloney" is called "The Neighing Song".
- Something We Forgot: In one episode, Reed plays hide n' seek with Lindi and Mr. Cook. He deliberately lets Lindi catch him cheating by peaking when he's supposed to be counting in order to prove a point to her about how important rules are. It then occurs to him that he forgot something, but isn't sure what. He remembers by the end of the episode when everyone stumbles across Mr. Cook in Lindi's doghouse. He had been hiding there the entire time and had fallen asleep. They decide it's best to just let him sleep.
- Sticky Situation: Discussed in one episode. Reed musically recalls when Rondo and Riff were younger and playing hide n' seek. He ended up finding the two of them in a pot of glue and they were stuck together for a week.
- Stop Copying Me: In one episode, Allegra's admiration for her brother becomes annoying when she begins to mimic his every action.
- Supreme Chef: Everyone loves to get food from Mr. Cook, especially Riff.
- Team Dad: Reed appears to be the owner of both Lindi and Riff, but the way he acts towards the both of them he seems more like their dad.
- The Teaser: One opens each episode.
- Thanksgiving Episode: "Mitten Weather" is the closest the show has to one. While it's not specifically taking place on Thanksgiving (instead focusing on the Falling Leaf Festival), the festival itself plays out like a big Thanksgiving dinner with the neighborhood and the episode originally premiered in November.
- Third-Person Person: Poco talks this way. Justified since he's two years old and since he's related to Mr. Cook, who also does.
- Time Out: Allegra and Rondo are both put in a time-out by their mother in one episode when they get too rowdy at breakfast, and the rest of the episode revolves around the importance of following rules.
- Title Drop: In "Sticky Situation", Allegra gets stuck in her room after the door gets stuck when she was supposed to be going on a picnic with her friends. She ends up using a mirror to reflect the light from outside to show Lindi where she is, prompting Lindi to say "It's coming from Allegra's window!".
- To the Tune of...: Several songs in the series use to the tune of.
- "This is Poco" was to the tune of "The Hallelujah Chorus" during the chorus; the rest of the song was an original piece.
- "The Senses Song" was to the tune of "Alouette".
- "Ring Your Bell" was to the tune of "If You're Happy and You Know It".
- "Flip Your Wig" was to the tune of "Old MacDonald".
- "Twirly Whirly" was to the tune of "I'm a Little Teapot".
- "Birthday Today" was to the tune of "Down By The Bay".
- Within the show's original songs, "I'm Not Sneezin'" was to the tune of "Presto Change-O", and "Kitty What'cha Doin'?" was to the tune of "Cool Cats".
- The soundtrack release Shake Your Doodles: Allegra's Favorite Songs contains several of these exclusive to the album. "I've Been Cooking Zootabagas" was to the tune of "I've Been Working on the Railroad", "Oh Where, Oh Where is Lindi?" was to the tune of "Oh Where, Oh Where Has My Little Dog Gone?", "L-I-N-D-I" was to the tune of "Bingo", and "Rock Goes the Riffster" was to the tune of "Pop Goes the Weasel".
- Verbal Tic: Lindi often barks or howls when she speaks. Riff often calls people "man" as well.
- Vocal Evolution: Riff's voice was a little higher in the earlier episodes.
- What the Hell Is That Accent?: Both Mr. Cook and his nephew, Poco, speak with a strange accent that can only be described as vaguely European. What part of Europe is anybody's guess.
- Your Favorite: When Rondo is sick with a cold, Allegra goes to Mr. Cook to get him his favorite food: applesauce. Unfortunately for Rondo, his nose is so stuffy, he can't taste it.
