Tot TV Watch

Wonder Pets: Save the Unicorn! is only a decent release in my opinion because it includes the “Save the Penguin” episode. Overall I really cannot stand the show, but I do still love penguins. Still this show is obnoxious with the baby talk, especially since this show is for preschoolers and not babies or so I have the impression. The release is not horrible for those that do like the show, however, the lack of Wonder Pets themed special features does not make it that great of a release even for fans of the show.

Wonder Pets Save the Unicorn! DVD release has four episodes with two half-episodes each. The included episodes are “Save the Unicorn/Save the Penguin,” “Save the Three Little Pigs/Save the Owl,” “Save the Swan/Save the Puppet,” and “Save the Bullfrog/Save the Poodle.”

This release has only two special features and neither are related to the Wonder Pets show. The first one is called “Rocket Ship” The Mighty Weaklings. This is a music video featuring the Mighty Weaklings and is one of those things that show as interstitals during the Nick Jr. segment on Nickelodeon. The other feature is called The Backyardigans “Ready for Anything.” This is also a music video. It just a short one from a Backyardigans episode (I think the Mission to Mars one).

Overall I do not recommend this release, but the biggest reason is I do not think this is a good show. Also, it is pretty disappointing to see it give the hope of special features, but not actually have any related to the show this is a DVD of.

Check out the other TV on DVD reviews I have blogged about here.

Do not forget to comment and get an entry in our August 2009 Comment Contest and have a chance to win a TV on DVD.

Here is this week’s edition of new releases of DVDs that feature kids shows. Most are previously seen episodes from television while sometimes the releases are straight to DVD releases of episodes or movies based on kids TV shows.

The Backyardigans: Singing Sensation! - This release is the latest one with probably just three or four episodes of the show.

Bakugan Battle Brawlers Volume 4: Heroes Rise - This release has four episodes of the show.

Sid the Science Kid: The Bug Club - This was released today on Amazon, but I know it was released earlier at least at Target because I bought the other Sid the Science Kid DVD and saw this one also on the shelf on Friday. It is actually a pretty good deal because not only does it have five episodes of the show, but for a limited time it comes with a disc with episodes of other NCircle Entertainment shows, which offers another 2.5 hours of entertainment.

Sid the Science Kid: Change Happens - This was one of the ones released today on Amazon, but was in Target last Friday. It is also available with the same disc with 2.5 hours of NCircle Entertainment shows, but it is the same one in the other release, so it does not seem like as big a deal if you buy both Sid the Science Kid DVDs since the extra disc is the same in both.

Do not forget to comment and get an entry in our August 2009 Comment Contest and have a chance to win a TV on DVD.

For the month of August 2009 every comment on this blog gives you an entry into the contest. At the end of the month I will put one entry per comment (no limit to number of entries) into a hat and draw a winner. The winner can then select one of the six prizes below. I plan to run a monthly contest every month until I am out of prize choices.

Prize 1: Holly Hobbie & Friends: Secret Adventures DVD with a run time of 44 minutes, a trivia game Special Feature, and a music video Special Feature

Prize 2: Go, Diego, Go! Moonlight Rescue DVD, which has 3 episodes of Go, Diego, Go!, as well as a few special features, and a Nick Jr. luggage tag with a Dora and Diego in a raft

Prize 3: Hannah Montana: Life’s What You Make It with four episodes of Hannah Montana and a “Backstage Pass: The Secrets of Hannah Montana” and “Ready, Set, Don’t Go” music video bonus features

Prize 4: Cory in the House: All-Star Edition with four episodes of the show and interviews with the Rock and Raven as guest stars on the show (the two episodes featuring them as guest stars are two of the episodes on this release). This one also comes with a High School Musical 2 Extended Edition mini poster that was packaged with the DVD and I never used.

Prize 5: iCarly Season 1 Volume 2 with 12 episodes of the show in a two disc set along with some special features

Prize 6: Princess Protection Program features the newest Disney Channel movie and comes with best friends necklaces

Note that in order to win the e-mail address you enter when commenting must be valid. If I get a returned undeliverable when I e-mail you to tell you you won, then I will immediately skip you over and award it to someone else. I never realized this was an issue until I had to draw three times to find someone who gave a valid e-mail address to be able to win one month.

The winner of the July Tot TV Watch Comment Contest is meaghan with her July 28, 2009 comment on the Wizards on Deck with Hannah Montana Triple Crossover Special Premieres on Disney Channel on July 17, 2009 post. I will be contacting meaghan by e-mail shortly to choose which of the five DVDs she wants. I will give her until the end of the month to still be able to make her choice and get the prize.

I am going to post about the August contest shortly. I will remove the one meaghan chooses from this month’s five from that post when I hear from her. I am also adding a new prize this month. You can start commenting for the August contest now as all comments within the month of August 2009 will count as entries even if posted before I officially announce the contest in its own post. Below are the five prizes for July and all except the one meaghan ends up choosing will be available for the winner of August’s contest to choose from.

Prize 1: Holly Hobbie & Friends: Secret Adventures DVD with a run time of 44 minutes, a trivia game Special Feature, and a music video Special Feature

Prize 2: Go, Diego, Go! Moonlight Rescue DVD, which has 3 episodes of Go, Diego, Go!, as well as a few special features, and a Nick Jr. luggage tag with a Dora and Diego in a raft

Prize 3: Hannah Montana: Life’s What You Make It with four episodes of Hannah Montana and a “Backstage Pass: The Secrets of Hannah Montana” and “Ready, Set, Don’t Go” music video bonus features

Prize 4: Cory in the House: All-Star Edition with four episodes of the show and interviews with the Rock and Raven as guest stars on the show (the two episodes featuring them as guest stars are two of the episodes on this release). This one also comes with a High School Musical 2 Extended Edition mini poster that was packaged with the DVD and I never used.

Prize 5: iCarly Season 1 Volume 2 with 12 episodes of the show in a two disc set along with some special features

Welcome to this week’s edition’s list of kid’s television shows that have new episodes airing this week. I try to make this as complete as possible, but I may sometimes miss something. Please comment and let me know if I forgot to include something that has a new episode airing this week. All times are listed as Mountain Standard Time as given by TV Guide for my local DirectTV listings, but may vary depending on your location, especially when the shows are on local stations like PBS.

Monday, August 3, 2009

8am on PBS - Super Why!: This new episode is called “The Three Little Pigs: The Return of the Wolf.”

5:30pm on Disney XD - Zeke and Luther: This new episode is called “Cup Stacking.”

6pm on Disney XD - Aaron Stone: This new episode is called “My Stakeout with Stan.”

Friday, August 7, 2009

5pm on Disney Channel - Wizards of Waverly Place: This new episode is called “Wizards vs. Vampires: Dream Date.”

5:30pm on Disney Channel - Suite Life on Deck: This new episode is called “The Spy Who Shoved Me.”

Saturday, August 8, 2009

5:30am on Disney Channel - Handy Manny: This new episode is called “Picture Perfect/Some Assembly Required.”

10:30am on ABC - Power Rangers RPM: This new episode is called “Three’s a Crowd.”

Sunday, August 9, 2009

3pm on Discovery Kids - Saddle Club: This new episode is called “Flying Change.”

4:30pm on Disney Channel - Hannah Montana: This new episode is called “For (Give) a Little Bit.”

5:30pm on Disney Channel - JONAS: This new episode is called “Three Musketeers.”

Do not forget to comment and get an entry in our August 2009 Comment Contest and have a chance to win a TV on DVD.

Fans of Playhouse Disney’s Imagination Movers show should be happy that the second season of the show is coming this fall. The new season will premiere on September 5, 2009 with a new episode at 10am Eastern Time/Pacific Time. As part of kicking off the new season their will be a new episode of the show every Saturday in September. The show about the New Orleans alternate rock band for preschoolers will feature more than 25 new songs from the band.

This second season will feature plenty of guest stars. Just a few are Joey Fatone (’N Sync and Dancing with the Stars) as a baseball player, Jason Dolley (Cory in the House and upcoming Disney show Good Luck Charlie) as Prince Charming, and Nicola Anderson (JONAS) as Cinderella.

Mickey Mouse Clubhouse: Mickey’s Big Splash is a fun Mickey Mouse Clubhouse DVD for kids to enjoy during the summertime. The episodes are not exactly all summer themed, but the main one is. They do at least all definitely follow the splash/water theme that the DVD’s title suggests. This DVD has four episodes (two being new and were not shown on TV before this DVD was released) and one bonus feature.

The episodes on this release are “Donald’s Ducks,” “Pluto’s Bubble Bath,” “Mickey Goes Fishing,” and “Pete’s Beach Blanket Luau.” “Donald’s Ducks” is a new episode about Mickey and Donald help 8 ducks get to the beach for winter. “Pluto’s Bubble Bath” is about Mickey and Pluto getting stuck in giant bubbles and floating away while giving Pluto a bubblebath. “Mickey Goes Fishing” is about Mickey watching a cat for Goofy and having to go catch some red gooey fish because that is all the cat will eat. “Pete’s Beach Blanket Luau” is a new episode about helping Pete set up a Luau to cool off on a hot day.

This DVD has one special feature called Fun in the Sun with Mickey and the Gang. This is a game bonus feature with three mini games in it. They are all based on helping Mickey and the gang with the luau. The games include making a tiki mask, choosing things that do not belong at the beach, and choosing the right hot or cold option. Overall a decent although rather limited bonus feature.

Check out the other TV on DVD reviews I have blogged about here.

Do not forget to comment and get an entry in our July 2009 Comment Contest and have a chance to win a TV on DVD.

The hour long Ni Hao, Kai-Lan special called “Kai-Lan’s Great Trip to China” will premiere on Nickelodeon as part of the Nick Jr. programming block. The premiere will be at 10am Eastern Time/Pacific Time on August 14, 2009. It will also show for the first time on Noggin on August 16, 2009 at 7pm Eastern Time. This special double length episode is about Kai-lan, Yeye, and her friends going on a trip to China to visit her great aunt. On the trip they also attend the naming ceremony of a baby panda. This is supposed to be an episode with a lot of Chinese cultural traditions worked into it, such as Chinese noodles and decorative slippers. This episode also teaches about trying new things as the viewers help Rintoo, Tolee, Hoho, and the baby panda overcome their fears of trying new things. Note that this episode is already available on the Ni-Hao, Kai-lan DVD called “Kai-lan’s Great Trip to China,” which also features two new to DVD episodes and a new game.

As part of the roll out of promoting this new special, Nickelodeon will be releasing clips of the special on Nickelodeon on Demand on August 3 along with new-to-VOD episodes of the show and a two-minute sneak peak on various wireless carriers starting August 10. Also, the special will simulcast on Nickelodeon Mobile on August 14. On the Nick Jr website they will have to games themed to this episode. One is called “Meet The Baby Panda” and is already available and the other is called “Kai-lan’s Great Trip to China” and will be available August 5.

Here is this week’s edition of new releases of DVDs that feature kids shows. Most are previously seen episodes from television while sometimes the releases are straight to DVD releases of episodes or movies based on kids TV shows.

Green Lantern: First Flight - This release is a Green Lantern movie. It is being released as a one disc set, a special edition two disc set, and on Blu-Ray. The Blu-Ray version comes with a digital copy of the movie. I believe the special edition has some episodes of Justice League.

Red Hand Gang - This release is a two disc set of this 1970s kids television series featuring five inner city kids.

Spectacular Spider-Man: Complete First Season - This release is a two disc set of the show’s entire first season. The first season has 13 episodes. The special features are to include two featurettes called “Spider-man: Reanimated” and “Stylizing Spidey.”

Voltron: Fleet of Doom - This release is of the Voltron television special called “Fleet of Doom.”

Do not forget to comment and get an entry in our July 2009 Comment Contest and have a chance to win a TV on DVD.

Welcome to this week’s edition’s list of kid’s television shows that have new episodes airing this week. I try to make this as complete as possible, but I may sometimes miss something. Please comment and let me know if I forgot to include something that has a new episode airing this week. All times are listed as Mountain Standard Time as given by TV Guide for my local DirectTV listings, but may vary depending on your location, especially when the shows are on local stations like PBS.

Monday, July 27, 2009

5:30pm on Disney XD - Zeke and Luther: This new episode is called “Luke Be a Rodent Tonight.”

6pm on Disney XD - Aaron Stone: This new episode is called “Mind Games.”

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

6pm on Cartoon Network - The Othersiders: This new episode is called “Fred C Nelles Youth Correctional Facility.”

6:30pm on Cartoon Network - Survive This!: This new episode is called “Deep Woods Conclusion.”

Thursday, July 30, 2009

4:30pm on Cartoon Network - Chowder - This new episode is called “Endive’s Dirty Secret/Big Food.”

6pm on Cartoon Network - Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack - This new episode is called “Jar She Blows/Behind the Curtain.”

6:30pm on Cartoon Network - Stoked: This new episode is called “Board and Confused.”

7pm on Cartoon Network - Total Drama Action - This new episode is called “One Flu Over the Cuckoos.”

7:30pm on Cartoon Network - 6teen: This new episode is called “Awake the Wyatt Within.”

Friday, July 31, 2009

5pm on Disney Channel - Wizards of Waverly Place: This new episode is called “Wizards vs. Vampires: Tasty Bites.”

Saturday, August 1, 2009

5am on Disney XD - Phineas & Ferb: This new episode is called “No More Bunny Business/Spa Day.”

5:30am on Disney Channel - Handy Manny: This new episode is called “Saving the Turtles/Abuelito’s Sister.”

5:30am on Cartoon Network - Secret Saturdays: This new episode is called “Kur Rising”

6am on Disney Channel - Mickey Mouse Clubhouse: This new episode is called “Minnie’s Bee Story.”

8am on Cartoon Network - Bakugan Battle Brawlers

9am on Cartoon Network - Slamball: Semifinals

Sunday, August 2, 2009

9am on Cartoon Network - Slamball: Semifinals

5pm on Disney Channel - Sonny With a Chance: This new episode is called “Tales From the Prop House.”

5:30pm on Disney Channel - JONAS: This new episode is called “Love Sick.”

Do not forget to comment and get an entry in our July 2009 Comment Contest and have a chance to win a TV on DVD.

On August 29, 2009, Playhouse Disney will have a special Pluto themed marathon of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse episodes. The marathon will feature six episodes of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and every episode is related to Pluto. The marathon includes the premiere of a new episode called “Pluto’s Playmate,” which is based on a 1941 Pluto cartoon of the same name. This is sure to be a fun morning of Playhouse Disney for fans of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, especially those who love Pluto. The line up for the Pluto themed marathon is below.

7am Eastern Time/Pacific Time – “Pluto to the Rescue” about Pluto helping Donald and Goofy after they build a snowman and cannot get around or over it

7:30am Eastern Time/Pacific Time – “Pluto’s Puppy-Sitting Adventure” about Pluto helping Clarabelle by taking care of her puppy, Bella

8am Eastern Time/Pacific Time – “Pluto’s Ball” about looking for Pluto’s super bouncy ball when Goofy loses it playing catch

8:30am Eastern Time/Pacific Time – “Pluto’s Best” about Pluto and Butch competing in the Doggy Games

9am Eastern Time/Pacific Time – “Pluto’s Playmate” about helping Salty the Seal do tricks at the circus

9:30am Eastern Time/Pacific Time – “Pluto’s Bubble Bath” about Pluto and Mickey getting stuck inside giant bubbles during Pluto’s bath

Tomorrow, July 25, 2009, Playhouse Disney is hosting a Pet Party line up. The line up is made up of mostly pet themed episodes of some favorite Playhouse Disney shows. The Pet Party begins at 6am Eastern Time/5am Central Time and continues until 11am Eastern Time/10am Central time. Below is the full line up for the Pet Party on Playhouse Disney.

6am Eastern Time/5am Central Time - Little Einsteins’s “Melody, the Music Pet” episode

6:30am Eastern Time/5:30am Central Time - Mickey Mouse Clubhouse’s “Goofy’s Petting Zoo” episode

7am Eastern Time/6am Central Time - My Friends Tigger & Pooh’s “Buster’s Ruff Day/Lumpy’s Pet Project” episode

7:30am Eastern Time/6:30am Central Time - Little Einsteins’s “Melody and Me” episode

8am Eastern Time/7am Central Time - Special Agent Oso’s “For Your Nice Bunny/For Pancakes With Love” episode

8:30am Eastern Time/7:30am Central Time - Handy Manny’s “A Night With Abuelito/Canine Case” New episode

9am Eastern Time/8am Central Time - Mickey Mouse Clubhouse’s “Daisy’s Pet Project” episode

9:30am Eastern Time/8:30am Central Time - Mickey Mouse Clubhouse’s “Pluto’s Puppy Sitting Adventure” episode

10am Eastern Time/9am Central Time - Imagination Movers‘ “A Puppy Problem” episode

10:30am Eastern Time/9:30am Central Time - Handy Manny’s “Pet Problem/Felipe’s New Job” New episode

Earlier this month I posted about the Wizards vs. Vampires programming event coming up. Now here is a friendly reminder that the special four episode plot begins with its first episode tomorrow and continues with a new episode each Friday for another three weeks. Read more about this event in my original post about it here.

A special battle of the stars type episode of iCarly is coming to Nickelodeon on August 7, 2009. Nickelodeon is calling the hour length episode a movie event, but seriously who calls something with a run time of probably less than 45 minutes without commercials a movie. If you ask me it is basically just a double length episode like they call the Nick Jr. specials. Anyways this hour long episode is called “iFight Shelby Marx.”

“iFight Shelby Marx” is about Shelby Marx (played by Victoria Justice), a female championship fighter, challenging Carly to a meet her in the ring. Carly brings it on herself by jokingly challenging Shelby to a match. Shelby takes her seriously and proposes a win win promotion mixed martial arts exhibition between the two with the money raised being donated to charity. It turns into a real fight, however, after Carly accidentally pushes Shelby’s grandmother during a press conference. Shelby is ready to fight Carly for real and knock her out. Carly must try to calm Shelby down and avoid being pummeled by the championship fighter, Shelby. Meanwhile the iCarly show’s nemesis Nevel has his own plans to cause trouble at the main event.

Cartoon Network already ruined its name by beginning to air live action reality shows. Now they are taking it a step further and producing a live action drama series called Tower Prep. Just yesterday they announced the cast for the show. I honestly think some of their new live action stuff sounds good and I never have been much of a fan of their cartoons, but that does not mean I agree with a channel with the name cartoon in it beginning to show things that are not cartoons/animated. It just does not make that much sense. Hopefully, this is just a lead up to them creating a spin-off CN Real network and returning Cartoon Network to just cartoons.

Tower Prep will be Cartoon Network’s first hour long live action drama series. Note the title Tower Prep is still just the working title, so it might end up with another name when it finally airs. The show begins production this August in Canada. The show is about a rebellious teen named Ian (played by Drew Van Acker) suddenly ending up trapped in a Prep School. He forms a secret society with CJ (played by Elise Gatien), Gabe (played by Ryan Pinkston) and Suki (played by Dyana Liu). The four work together to try and find out what they are being trained for at the prep school. They also are trying to escape from the school.

It sounds like it could be an interesting show, but going live action seems like the wrong thing to do for a channel that is supposed to be about cartoons. The show sounds like it could work just as well animated if not better.