Until a few days ago, my 3-year-old daughter had no idea about "Doc McStuffins." Now, it's practically all she talks about.

Lots of kids love the popular Disney Channel series, about a little girl who plays doctor and fixes toys. She's got a magic stethoscope that brings the toys to life - a troubling idea to this fully-grown adult, but it's apparently delightful for toddlers.

It's actually pretty hard not to know about "Doc McStuffins," especially in a popular culture where Disney and Nickelodeon practically own everything. Other little kids talk about the show, there are entire aisles of her toys in Target and Walmart, and the Doc gets equal placement with Minnie Mouse on girls Pull-Ups. Talk about your market saturation.

But for households without cable TV, there wasn't ever an easy way to partake in this preschool phenomenon. Now Hulu has added the first season of "Doc McStuffins," bringing her strange magic to a whole new community of cord cutters.

As far as children's programming goes, "Doc McStuffins" is pretty tolerable. She doesn't repeat herself as often as Dora, aka the little girl who hangs out with a bunch of deaf animals in a dangerous jungle with no parental supervision.

Much has been written about "Doc McStuffins" and its depiction of an African-American family - something that hasn't been well-represented in children's programming in the past. That's obviously great, but I also love how the Doc has an involved stay-at-home dad. She idolizes her mom (who is a doctor), but she also has a wonderful relationship with a dad who can cook, clean and host elaborate tea parties with the best of them.

That said, I have some questions for this sorceress. The Doc has her own group of toys that come to life and help to diagnose and treat other toy patients. Those characters have memories and personalities built around their experiences with the Doc when she puts on the magic stethoscope.

That makes sense, but what about the other toys - the ones owned by her friends that need to be patched up or pieced back together? We are often seeing their first experience being "alive" around the magic stethoscope. So why is it no big deal to them that they're suddenly talking to a human girl? Do they have innate memories based on what kind of toy they are (like a just-out-of-the-box, delusional Buzz Lightyear)? Or are all the toys simply alive when humans aren't around (like all the other toys in the "Toy Story" universe)? If so, will we see Woody in a future episode visiting the Doc for a pullstring-oscopy?

I need to know these things, especially if this show is going to be a regular part of my daughter's rotation. In all fairness, I've only really watched two episodes of "Doc McStuffins," so perhaps I missed an obvious explanation.

If not, this might go into the ever-growing bag of unanswered questions I have about kids' cartoons. Like, if Ross from "Friends" couldn't legally keep a monkey in his apartment, why does nobody question the Man in the Yellow Hat about the legality of owning Curious George? And why does the Man keep telling George to "be a good little monkey" when he knows darn well the monkey is going to be in some sort of mayhem in less than five minutes? It's a WILD ANIMAL. Don't let him near the hot air balloon.

I'm also waiting for the episode where Doc McStuffins has to deal with black mold or a measles outbreak. "Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood" has an entire episode about getting a cold, so I now expect more real-world medical crises in my children's entertainment. They've got to learn somewhere.

Non-Toddler Entertainment

Like many out there, I'm having a blast watching Netflix's latest original series, "Marvel's Daredevil" (not with the kids). It's dark, action-packed and well-acted, just about the opposite of the horrible "Daredevil" movie that starred Ben Affleck. More on the new "Daredevil" once I finish the season.

Netflix also added the indie horror breakout, "The Babadook" to its instant streaming catalog. The 2014 film is about a children's book that conjures some very literal night terrors for a young boy and his mother. Definitely don't mix this one into your children's TV lineup.

Tyler Wilson can be reached at twilson@cdapress.com.