THE AISLE SEAT - by Mike McGranaghan

"ABCs WITH ELMO"

The truth is that kids like TV, perhaps a little too much. (And the other truth is that, more often than not, they inherit that interest from their parents.) For this reason, responsible moms and dads try to find programming that has value, both in terms of education and entertainment. Warner Home Video has teamed up with Sesame Workshop for a new series called "Preschool is Cool," which uses beloved Sesame Street characters to give preschoolers a jump-start on skills they'll need to know. The first entry in the series, ABCs with Elmo, is available on DVD now, and it's the start of what appears to be a very good thing.

In the DVD, Grover is a preschool teacher who is helping kids learn the alphabet. He does so with the help of his assistant Elmo. Together, they try to find one thing that starts with each letter of the alphabet. (Elmo is a little better at this than Grover.) Interspersed with this story are clever alphabet-themed songs and sketches. Seth Green makes a cameo in one skit: the monster Telly joins the "Letter of the Month Club" and is overwhelmed when deliveryman Green gives him the option to receive all 26 letters at one time. It's a really funny bit that will crack up adults as much as children.

Later on, Gilbert Gottfried appears as a game show host who tries to distract contestants as they struggle to recite the alphabet in under a minute. Like everything else on ABCs with Elmo, the humorous bit is designed to have a lot of repetition of the alphabet so that it becomes engrained into kids' heads as they watch.

The disc also comes with some cool bonus features - Kermit the Frog singing "African Alphabet," and an in-box growth chart so your child can measure his/her height.

I watched ABCs with Elmo with my wife and son, and everyone enjoyed it fully. It's clear that the disc has been designed to be a fun learning tool, and it succeeds on that count. All the wit and charm you'd expect from a Sesame Street product is on display, making for a DVD with high replay value. If you've got preschoolers in your home, be sure to seek it out.

( 1/2 out of four)