Tot TV Watch

Beginning in February 2007, Nickelodeon will be touring a new live show featuring Diego from the television series Go, Diego, Go! “The Great Jaguar Rescue” will feature Diego, his sister Alicia, and his cousin Dora. In usual Diego fashion, the crew will help to rescue Baby Jaguar’s growl from the Bobo Brothers while teaching lessons about wildlife and encouraging audience participation.

The tour will begin in Louisville, Kentucky on February 1st. To see if the show is coming to a city near you, check out the schedule on nickjr.com.

Go Diego Go, Dora the Explorer, Nick Jr., live-action

I feel like I am always so behind after the holidays. There always seems to be so much to keep up with and my brain just doesn’t hold up. That’s why I wasn’t at all surprised this morning to realize that I missed the PBS special that I wanted to watch lastnight.

Sesame Workshop has created a new special for military families regarding how to keep families connected when a parent is deployed. Even though neither my husband or I are in the military, many of our family members are. This special, hosted by Cuba Gooding, Jr. is primarily addressed to parents and focuses on how to cope with the anxiety and fears that the family may have before, during, and after deployment.

The project was speared on by the overwhelming reaction to Sesame Workshop’s recent educational outreach program produced in partnership with Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. titled, “Talk, Listen, Connect: Helping Families During Military Deployment”. The bilingual DVD and print package is available for free. A free copy can be requested here or you can download both the child and parent video on your computer.

Sesame Workshop, PBS, Cuba Gooding Jr., military, deployment

As I’ve mentioned before, Jack’s Big Music Show is about to start their second season on January 6th (which cannot get here soon enough in my opinion). There is a great line-up of new music videos and clubhouse visitors slated for this season.

During Noggin’s Warm and Fuzzy Holiday Party, they showed a few sneak peeks of the new season. During one of those sneak peeks, I had the pleasure of viewing the new Steve Burns (formerly of Blue’s Clues fame) and Steven Drozd (The Flaming Lips) video that will air on the series. I have to admit it was a bit of a shock at first to see Steve with a bald head and in such a different atmosphere, but once I got over that I figured out the song was pretty good. I prefer my kid’s music to be rockin’ and this certainly was. I’m actually anxious to see it again.

Other artists that will appear this season are Lisa Loeb, AudraRox, Nuttin’ But Stringz, Angelique Kidjo, Justin Roberts, Music for Aardvarks, Anne Harris, Rebekah Jordan, The Quiet Two, Dirty Sock Funtime Band, Comic Book Heroes, Leon Thomas, The Trachtenburg Family Slideshow Players, J. Walter Hawkes, The Mighty Weaklings, Andrew Bird, Tyler Bunch and Libyah Pugh. There will also be clubhouse visits from Jon Stewart and Cheryl Hines.

Jack’s Big Music Show, Noggin, Steve Burns, Steven Drozd

The Christmas craziness if finally coming to an end at my house and hopefully I’ll get back to some regular posting here now. The holidays are enjoyable but always busy no matter how much relaxation time I attempt to schedule in. I did manage to find a few minutes here and there to sit with my son and enjoy some of the holiday specials that have been running.

Blue’s Clues has a wonderful holiday special entitled, “Blue’s Big Holiday”. In it the Blue’s Clues characters are creating patches for a memory quilt. They also learn about various holiday traditions from their friends along the way. I was particularly impressed with how they handled the explanations of other holidays and traditions. I don’t remember even hearing of some of these until I was in high school. We have seen this episode many times now and I haven’t tired of it yet.

In “Franklin’s Magic Christmas” Franklin, Harriet, and the rest of the family are traveling to spend Christmas at Faraway Farm where Mrs. Turtle grew up. Franklin grows increasingly frustrated with Harriet for always getting in the middle of things and then spilling the surprise that he and his grandmother have been secretly working on. When his grandfather gets hurt, Franklin takes it upon himself to find help and ends up needing a Christmas miracle to rescue him and Harriet. I really enjoyed the sibling dynamics portrayed in this episode even though Harriet does “baby talk” which is a big pet peeve of mine.

Dora the Explorer celebrates the holiday by bringing “A Present For Santa”. Dora and Boots venture to the North Pole to deliver a present for Santa on Christmas Eve. After traveling over snowy mountain and across and icy river, they finally reach Santa. The episode centers around the spirit of giving and even teaches Swiper a good lesson in the end.

There were many more holiday specials that I didn’t get a chance to watch. What did you and your child watch this holiday season? Is there anything I missed but should have seen?

Dora the Explorer, Blue’s Clues, Franklin, holidays, Noggin

Merry Christmas! Wishing you all of the best during this holiday season.

Why, make them walk the plank, of course! That’s how it goes in the Backyardigans version anyway. Apparently I have seen the “Pirate Treasure” episode a few too many times because I caught myself singing about scurvy pirates at work today.

In this episode Uniqua and Austin are pirates who sail away to find a buried treasure. What they don’t know is that Pablo and Tyrone are searching for the same treasure. Pablo and Tyrone have half of the map for the buried treasure and Uniqua and Austin have the other half. When the two pirate ships meet up on the sea it is determined that someone must “walk the plank”. Eventually they put the two halves of the map together and go in search of the “X” that marks the treasure. Following the letters of the alphabet, they finally encounter the X and dig for the buried treasure. The episode ends with the group heading back for snacks at Uniqua’s house.

Backyardigans, Pirate Treasure, pirates, Nick Jr., Noggin

A few minutes into The Wonder Pets, you can hear them singing a catchy little tune that always gets stuck in my head:

Wonder Pets! Wonder Pets! We’re on our way,
To help a baby [featured animal], and save the day.
We’re not too big,
And we’re not too tough,
But when we work together we’ve got the right stuff!
Goooooooo Wonder Pets! Yaaaaaaayyyyyyy!

Every preschooler out there knows who The Wonder Pets are, but something about them just leaves me skeptical. Each episode of The Wonder Pets features three superhero friends: Linny the Guinea Pig, Turtle Tuck, and Ming-Ming Duckling. The three classroom pets work together to solve problems and help another animal in trouble. Almost all of the dialogue is in song and it is uniquely animated using photo-puppetry, which allows animators to manipulate photos of real animals to create the characters.

I applaud the teamwork theme because I think it’s a great life lesson, but this show still just rubs me the wrong way. I think my biggest gripe is the fact that Ming-Ming, the duck character, talks with a bit of a speech impairment. “R” sounds are pronounced as “W” sounds. Even though this is very common in toddlers, I don’t see why the creators of a show targeted to children who are learning speech would purposely give this as an example. The last thing I want to do is encourage my child to pronounce words incorrectly.

While I have not yet completely banned the show from my TV, The Wonder Pets are certainly not in the regular rotation. I can appreciate it for what it is, but there is definitely room for improvement.

Wonder Pets, Noggin, Nick Jr., preschool, toddler

It seems like I missed the boat once again, but lucky for me I might still be able to catch it. If you didn’t watch Sesame Street’s A Christmas Carol when it premiered in November, it will air again on December 24th on Sprout. Check your local listings for times.

Personally, I was always a fan of Oscar the Grouch and I can’t think of a more perfect character to portray the grouchy Ebenezer Scrooge. I think the whole family will enjoy this version of the classic Charles Dickens tale. Pieced together from past Sesame Street holiday specials, this one is sure to please adults who are nostalgic for their old Sesame Street pals as well as toddlers who are just discovering the joys of Bert, Ernie, Elmo, and Big Bird.

Christmas is now less than a week away and many families will be traveling to spend the holiday with family and loved ones. If you have small children with you, time spent in others’ homes can be a little stressful. Fortunately, the internet is here to help you entertain those little ones if you get in a pinch. If they are anything like my son, an episode of Blue’s Clues, Backyardigans, or Dora the Explorer will calm them right down. Even if you don’t have access to cable or satellite tv, if you can find a pc and a broadband connection, you can tune in to their favorite shows on nickjr.com.

From a December 12th press release:

* Thomas & Friends(TM): — In an agreement with HIT Entertainment, a leading provider of quality preschool entertainment, Six Flags will build special Thomas & Friends playlands in several Six Flags parks in 2007. The themed areas will include attractions and rides featuring Thomas the Tank Engine and other friends from the Island of Sodor. In addition, Sir Topham Hatt, Controller of the Railway, will be available daily for meet & greets and photo opportunities. This deal marks the first of its kind for Thomas & Friends with a US amusement park.

* The Wiggles. In an agreement with world-leading children’s entertainers The Wiggles, Six Flags will build unique “Wiggles World”-themed areas in its US branded parks over the next five years. Six Flags parks will be the exclusive North American destinations to find “Wiggles Worlds,” three of which will debut at Six Flags for the 2007 season, including one at Six Flags Great Adventure in Jackson, NJ. These areas will include Wiggles-themed rides; a stage show performed by Dorothy and Friends with multiple daily performances; play areas; monitors for showing Wiggles video clips and songs; a Yummy Yummy Cafe; and kiosks to sell Wiggles merchandise. The Wiggles will also market Six Flags during their annual North American tour.

One of my favorite shows as a Kid was Fraggle Rock. I think I got more excited about it than any other show. You really can’t go wrong with a Jim Henson creation, can you? I ran across this video clip on YouTube this morning and just had to share.

If that left you wanting more, you can order the complete first and second seasons on dvd at Amazon.com.

I found yet another use for the TV tonight. Haircuts. When I couldn’t get my son to sit still long enough to cut his hair I plopped him in front of the TV and put on an episode of Noggin’s new show, The Upside Down Show. If I was thinking I would have put it on the “Barbershop” episode where Shane visits the very hairy room. While I admit this show annoys me at times (generally after watching 2 or 3 episodes with no break), it entertains my son like no other. I was amazed the first time I saw him pull himself up into the recliner and sit still for the entire 20 minutes the show was on.

Shane and David, played by Shane Dundas and David Collins, are not only goofy, they are pretty entertaining while they teach things such as relational concepts, problem solving, and new vocabulary. They encourage the viewer to push buttons on their imaginary remote control to control the characters on the screen. There are some really fun buttons on there that cause some pretty humorous reactions. For instance, the imaginary remote has buttons to fast forward, rewind, pause, turn things upside down, make them humongous or minute, rotate, and many others functions.

In each episode Shane and David are searching for a certain place, such as the barbershop or the art museum. After a series of wrong turns and mishaps they end up at their final destination where they always experience something “for the very first time”.

So there’s this show you want to watch but you don’t what channel it is on or what time it airs. So, how do you find it? You can go to tvguide.com and search for it by the show’s title and they will tell you when it is scheduled to air and even what channel it is on based on your geographic location. My guess is most of you already knew that but I just discovered it while searching for Charlotte’s Web (which is indeed playing on Friday at 9 a.m. Central on Cartoon Network).

So Charlotte’s Web is a movie, not a TV show. But it is a classic and it has been on my mind ever since I heard that there was going to be a new version out starring one of my favorite child actresses, Dakota Fanning. The deal was sealed when I also found out that Sarah McLachlan had recorded a song for the soundtrack.

I can’t wait to go see the new movie, but now I also want to watch the old cartoon version. My guess is that no one in my family will want to watch it with me. My son might hang in there a while with me, but his attention span just doesn’t allow for viewing an entire movie quite yet.

As I was flipping channels lastnight I came across the Rugrats on Nickelodeon. I first stopped to watch for a minute because the Rugrats are a bit nostalgic for me. I spent many hours watching them when I should have been studying in college. It only took me a minute or two to realize that I was watching “A Rugrats Chanukah”.

In this day and age, when Christmas seems to be all around us, it is nice to see other religious holidays being recognized, especially in cartoons and children’s shows. I vaguely remember a recent Dora the Explorer that discussed the different religious holidays as well. Since my family celebrates Christmas I tend to focus on that but I think it is important to make sure that kids are knowledgeable about other religions and celebrations. What better way to begin those discussions than introducing it with their favorite cartoons?

If you are interested in “A Rugrats Chanukah” and you missed it, it is also available on VHS.

I’m a little late to catch the drama surrounding the departure of yellow Wiggle Greg Page from the beloved super group but I thought I would still pass on this tidbit. It seems that all is well in the land of The Wiggles again. Their website reports that fans welcomed new yellow Wiggle Sam Moran with open arms at the Entertainment Centre in Adelaide on December 4th.

Personally I’m not a big fan of the Wiggles, but I hope that the many toddlers out there that are fans will recover quickly. My guess is that many of them won’t even see the difference. As for me, I’m still trying to get over the whole Steve/Joe thing.