The current favorite show around here is Handy Manny, which I am pretty sure is on Playhouse Disney. Honestly, I can never remember which kid’s channel is which.

Anyway, it is pretty cute.  It is a computer animated kids’ show (they all seem to be that way now) that features a super-friendly handyman and his box of talking tools.  It has a Hispanic flair, with a theme song by Los Lobos and a largely accented cast of characters, who mix in bits of Spanish with their speech to help teach the kiddies.  There are folks out there who claim the show is racist, because it features a Hispanic guy who is a repairman.  That’s a bunch of crap.  It’s a good show, with lots of stuff about helping, being useful, friendly- all that good stuff.  Plus, the neighbor guy, Mr. Lopart, has a matching combover with his cat.  Sweet.

The show does have another element, though, that I am pretty sure the kids aren’t picking up on.  You see, Manny is voiced by none other than Wilmer Valderrama.  The same Wilmer Valderrama who ruined the reputations of former good girls Mandy Moore and Lindsey Lohan.  It’s weird to think of LiLo as having a reputation to besmirch, but she did, until ole Fez came along…

Anyway, for whatever reason, Mr. Valderrama clearly has a way with the ladies.  What’s interesting, though, is that this trait seems to have passed on to his animated counterpart.  The plot of an episode of Handy Manny basically goes like this:  Manny and the tools hang around the shop until a call comes in for a fix-it job.  They go to the site, look at the job, and determine what parts they will need to take care of it.  Then they go to Kelly’s Hardware Shop, pick up the required materials, and fix the problem.  The end.

Pretty much every episode involves a lot of interaction with Kelly, the pretty blond owner of the hardware shop.  Although the show never alludes to it directly, Kelly is clearly all over Manny’s jock.  She follows him around like a puppy, desperate for the least bit of attention or approval, and says stuff that, if heard through the Valderrama prism, is highly suggestive.  It isn’t just Kelly, either.  The mayor is a total cougar, and every other female character behaves in the exact same way.  It’s hilarious.

Now, I don’t mean to suggest for a second that the show is inappropriate for kids – quite the contrary.  They would never notice any of this stuff.  Grownups, on the other hand, should be able to see it right away.   I defy anyone to watch the show with this in mind and disagree with me.