''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 ...

'' (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 W ...

'' (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", ''

Herald News The ''Herald News'' is a daily broadsheet newspaper headquartered in Woodland Park, New Jersey, that focuses on the Passaic County, New Jersey area. Today's ''Herald News'' is descended from several papers, but did not come to be until two Pas ...

'' (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 ''Going Wild with Jeff Corwin'' is a nature documentary television series produced and aired in the late 1990s on the Disney Channel. Hosted by Jeff Corwin, the show lasted for three seasons from August 10, 1997, to June 13, 1999, before it was c ...

''. 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 Swahili may refer to: * Swahili language, a Bantu language official in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda and widely spoken in the African Great Lakes * Swahili people, an ethnic group in East Africa * Swahili culture Swahili culture is the culture of ...

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 Rich Ross is the former Group President of Discovery Channel and Science Channel. Earlier in his tenure at Discovery he also oversaw Animal Planet and Velocity (TV network). Previously he was the Chief Executive Officer of Shine America, respons ...

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 Cop or Cops commonly refers to: * Police officer Cop and other variants may also refer to: Art and entertainment Film * ''Cop'' (film), a 1988 American thriller * ''Cops'' (film), an American silent comedy short starring Buster Keaton * ''The ...

''.

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 The Annenberg Public Policy Center (APPC) is a center for the study of public policy at the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania. It has offices in Washington, D.C. and Philadelphia, where the University of Pennsy ...

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 Prime time or the peak time is the block of broadcast programming taking place during the middle of the evening for a television show. It is mostly targeted towards adults (and sometimes families). It is used by the major television networks to ...

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+ The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October 1 ...

Characters

* Mokomba: (Benjamin Brown); Brown, born in

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,71 ...

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to t ...

in 1968, had previously appeared in small roles in films and television series like '' Fired''. After ''Omba Mokomba'' ended, Brown later appeared in

Bellum Entertainment Group Bellum Entertainment Group (formerly ''LongNeedle Entertainment'') was a Burbank, California-based television production and distribution company. Bellum developed, produced, and distributed TV projects for broadcast, cable, digital, and ancill ...

syndicated Syndication may refer to: * Broadcast syndication, where individual stations buy programs outside the network system * Print syndication, where individual newspapers or magazines license news articles, columns, or comic strips * Web syndication, ...

series ''Safari Tracks'' in the similar role of Ushaka, a

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring count ...

n 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 ''The West Wing'' is an American serial (radio and television), serial political drama television series created by Aaron Sorkin that was originally broadcast on NBC from September 22, 1999, to May 14, 2006. The series is set primarily in the ...

'' and ''

In Justice ''In Justice'' is an American police procedural television series created by Michelle King and Robert King. The series began airing on Sunday, January 1, 2006, on ABC as a midseason replacement and assumed its regular night and time on Friday ...

'', and also appeared in '' Star Trek: Deep Space Nine'', ''

Without a Trace ''Without a Trace'' is an American police procedural drama television series created by Hank Steinberg that aired on CBS from September 26, 2002 to May 19, 2009 with the total of seven seasons and 160 episodes. The series focuses the cases of ...

'', ''

The Practice ''The Practice'' is an American legal drama television series created by David E. Kelley centering on partners and associates at a Boston law firm. The show ran for eight seasons on ABC, from March 4, 1997, to May 16, 2004. It won an Emmy i ...

'', ''

The Suite Life of Zack & Cody ''The Suite Life of Zack & Cody'' is an American sitcom created by Danny Kallis and Jim Geoghan. The series aired on Disney Channel from March 18, 2005, to September 1, 2008. The series was nominated for an Emmy Award three times and was also ...

'' and ''

Frasier ''Frasier'' () is an American television sitcom that was broadcast on NBC for 11 seasons. It premiered on September 16, 1993, and ended on May 13, 2004. The program was created and produced by David Angell, Peter Casey, and David Lee (as Grub ...

''. * Candace: (Natasha Pearce); before appearing on ''Omba Mokomba'', Pearce had been a star of the 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