Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Ponysitters Club’ On Netflix, Where Kids Take Care Of Animals In Need

Kids shows are always a mixed bag. Some are entertaining enough that parents can watch along. Others are more cloying than a bowlful of butterscotch pudding. But the key is if your little ones will enjoy it? With that, read on about Ponysitters Club, a live-action series on Netflix by way of Canada’s Discovery Kids. Will it hold your kids’ interest?

PONYSITTERS CLUB: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: Bucolic scenes of a lush ranch, with horses relaxing in the sun., chickens and a calf running about. Two girls walk between fences, then see a horse. “Since when did we have that horse?” one asks. “We just got him. It’s another rescue,” says the other.

The Gist: Skye (Morgan Neundorf) lives with her mother Billy (Madeline Leon) and Grandpa (Hugh Wilson) on the Rescue Ranch. The name is a pretty good indication of what it does; it takes in animals who are being neglected in their current homes, bring them back to physical and emotional health, and find them forever homes. 

Four other kids hang out and volunteer at the ranch: Skye’s best friend Olivia (Maya Franzoi), resident artist Ethan (Zyon Allen) and social media expert Trish (Khiyla Aynne), as well as Isabella (Victoria Tomazelli), who we don’t see in the pilot. Another girl, Shelby (Cailan Punnewaert), stables her show horse Apollo at the Ranch, and wishes her prized horse didn’t have to share space with the rescue animals.

Renting stable space is how the Ranch makes ends meet, but they also need to make sure they have room for new rescues, like a neglected horse named Puzzle. Skye bonds with Puzzle as she helps rehabilitate him and doesn’t want him to leave the ranch. So with the help of Olivia, Ethan and Trish, they create a website for the Ponysitters Club, with the hope that more animals will get forever homes and she can keep Puzzle around.

Our Take: Ponysitters Club is an example where we have to take off our cynical, world-weary TV critic hat and put on our parenting hat. Is the show the highest-quality kids show out there? No. It has the feel of a student film, and the acting to match, especially from some of the kids.

But, for heaven’s sake, it’s got cute animals, a great message about rescuing animals from perilous situations and how they can be rehabilitated physically and emotionally, and the scenery on the ranch makes us want to live there.

Does the show need Shelby to be the “Big Bad” of the show, doing impulsive things like letting Puzzle out of his stable so he won’t be next to her precious Apollo? Probably not. But there needs to be at least a little tension to make the story somewhat interesting. But if your kids like looking at animals, they’ll want to see this show. You may want to do the laundry while this is on, however.

What Age Group Is This For?: The show is rated TV-Y7, but considering the fact that even the most traumatized horse needs to have his whinnying dubbed in (he looked pretty placid to us), it feels like kids of all ages can watch this.

Parting Shot: Skye, who is dyslexic, reads the last page of Doctor Doolittle, after being tutored by Olivia, as part of the kids’ Ponysitters Club presentation to Skye’s mom and grandpa.

Sleeper Star: Franzoi, as the smart and funny Olivia, looks like the only kid who had any kind of actor training. Or she’s just naturally good at it. Either way, she’s the standout here.

Most Pilot-y Line: We really don’t like the character of Shelby. It doesn’t help that she’s played by the least natural-sounding kid in the cast.

Our Call: Stream It. It’s harmless and sweet. It’s got cute animals. Why not put it on for your animal-loving kid? (Did you think we were going to be heartless enough to say “Skip It?”)

Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, VanityFair.com, Playboy.com, Fast Company’s Co.Create and elsewhere.

Watch Ponysitters Club on Netflix