It all began about five years ago when four New Orleans dads were reminiscing about children's television.

"One of the things we observed was that there were no live-action kids shows," explained Scott Durbin. "We grew up with 'Captain Kangaroo,' 'Mister Rogers' and 'Electric Company,' and that all sort of disappeared and was replaced by either cartoons or puppets."

So with no entertainment experience between them, Durbin - a former elementary school teacher - joined his friends - a firefighter, an architect and a journalist - to form the Imagination Movers.

"For all intents and purposes, the Movers are your next-door neighbors," Durbin said of the group, which performs next week at the Adler Theatre in Davenport.

The four decided on the name Imagination Movers as if they were blue coverall-clad workers inside the brain. They wrote their own music and - after consulting with childhood development specialists and clinical psychologists - a script for a TV series.

Their local Public Broadcasting System station said the project was too expensive, so they toured and developed a strong base of young fans in the New Orleans area.

At the urging of a fan, Disney Channel execs saw the group at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival and approached them backstage.

"They said, 'We'd love to build a TV show around you.' And we said, 'Guess what? We already have one,' " Durbin said. "It kind of went full circle."

The show debuted in September 2008 on the Disney Channel.

The goggles-wearing Durbin said the group is closer to The Monkees than its Disney cousin The Wiggles. There also are portions of Monty Python, Buster Keaton and Bill Murray thrown in, he said.

The only time he bristles, Durbin said, is at the suggestion that the group is a prefabricated entity.

"That's the farthest thing from the truth," he said. "We kind of hang our hats on the fact that this has been such an organic experience, and a little bit providential. Who would have thought that four guys from New Orleans, La., would

create something that would be on the Disney Channel, not to mention worldwide?

"It's just one of those shots in the dark that happened to hit."

Likewise, the show is all live, with no prerecordings.

"It's the idea of taking 1979 Van Halen rock 'n' roll aesthetics and appropriating it for 2- to 8-year-olds," Durbin said.

Durbin said he and the other Movers, all of whom are in their late 30s, envision going abroad on tour (Australia has a big fan base for them, he said) and even making an Imagination Movers movie.

But for the moment, he added, they'll take it one day at a time.

"If it all ended tomorrow, we'd pat ourselves on the back for a job well done and go back to our previous lives. Hopefully there's something more in the cards for us."