Tot TV Watch

Discovery Kids has some of the best reality shows and best of all they feature kids. Their shows include Endurance, which is similar to Survivor, and Serious, which features kids going on extreme expeditions such as climbing in the Andes. One of the most recent of their reality shows is Adventure Camp, which is about kids from the United States and the United Kingdom coming together for an unique summer camp experience at Sea World and Busch Gardens in Florida. This show is currently airing new episodes on Saturdays at 8pm Eastern Time on Discovery Kids.

The show features 4 kids (Adriana, Cori, Brian, and Chris) from the United States and 4 kids (Warren, Ally, Alex, and Claire) from the United Kingdom. The show’s website has some short bios on the campers here. It is an interesting show about them learning about each other and working together, as well as learning about animals as they help care for animals. Beyond being zookeepers they go on other animal adventures such as a canoe trip on the Hillsborough River where they encounter alligators. In the show they have competitions and collect necklaces that allow them to have even more special experiences. The season has a total of 15 episodes and a list of the episodes and short descriptions can be found on the Discovery Kids Channel site here. Overall the show is an enjoyable one for kids who like animals and/or reality shows. It is also a good show that the whole family can enjoy together and learn more about different animals along with the campers.

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 Eastern time as given by TV Guide, but may vary depending on your location, especially when the shows are on local stations like PBS.

Monday, March 31

2:30pm on the Disney Channel - The Replacements: This new episode is called “Space Family Daring.”

Tuesday, April 1

8:30pm on Nickelodeon - KCA Cutdown: This is a highlight show from the 2008 Kid’s Choice Awards.

Thursday, April 3

8pm on Cartoon Network - Chowder: This new episode is called “The Moldy Touch/The Heavy Sleeper.

9pm on Cartoon Network - George of the Jungle: This new episode is called “Bathroom of the Apes/Beauty vs. Beasts.”

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Below are the winners of this year’s Kid’s Choice Awards. I wish I had been able to catch the show and could give a more interesting blog post on how the show went, but instead I was at the Washington Nationals Exhibition Game in order to produce an interesting post for my D.C. blog. Sorry, but the annual Kid’s Choice Award Show just cannot beat a rare chance to attend (and blog first hand) the first game at a new stadium.

Movies

Favorite Movie: Alvin and the Chipmunks

Favorite Animated Movie: Ratatouille

Favorite Male Movie Star: Johnny Depp (Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End)

Favorite Female Movie Star: Jessica Alba (Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer)

Music

Favorite Song: “Girlfriend” (Avril Lavigne)

Favorite Music Group: Jonas Brothers

Favorite Male Singer: Chris Brown

Favorite Female Singer: Miley Cyrus

Television

Favorite TV Show: Drake & Josh

Favorite Television Actress: Miley Cyrus/Hannah Montana

Favorite Cartoon: Avatar: The Last Airbender

Favorite Reality Show: American Idol

Favorite Television Actor: Drake Bell/Drake & Josh

Sports

Favorite Male Athlete: Tony Hawk

Favorite Female Athlete: Danica Patrick

Other

Favorite Video Game: Madden NFL ‘08

Favorite Book: Harry Potter series

Kids Choice Wannabe Award: Cameron Diaz

Welcome to this week’s edition of Beyond Watching the Show, where I give some ideas of activities for kids that enjoy a particular show that go beyond just watching the show. If you have more ideas of activities for this show please comment and share your ideas. Also, please comment here if you have a request of a show to feature in an upcoming edition of Beyond Watching the Show.

Hannah Montana Birthday Party Ideas: This site has some great ideas for throwing a Hannah Montana themed birthday party. It includes ideas for invitations, decorations, activities, and even party favors.

Hannah Montana Coloring Pages: It is certainly harder to find coloring pages relate to a live action show compared to the animated kid’s shows, but I did find one good site that has some Hannah Montana ones. There are more here and there are even party invites here and Hannah Montana jigsaw puzzles on this site here.

Hannah Montana Games: The Disney Channel website for the show has some online games here. This includes Oliver’s Treasure Hunt, Hannah Montana’s Rockstar Quiz, and Jackson’s Beach Treat Delivery. There are also Hannah Montana video games that you can buy for various video game systems including Hannah Montana for the Nintendo DS, Hannah Montana: Music Jam for the Nintendo DS, and Hannah Montana: Spotlight World Tour for Nintendo Wii (PS2 version expected to be released in August 2008). There is also a Hannah Montana 3 for Nintendo DS expected to be released in August 2008.

The newest My Friends Tigger and Pooh DVD is called Friendly Tales and contains 3 episodes of two mini-episodes each. It is an enjoyable collection of mysteries and problems being solved by the Super Sleuths.

The first episode called “Darby’s Solo Sleuth/Doggone Buster” is an all new episode that has not been shown on television. The first part is about Darby having to find lemons on her own to help Kanga make a soup to cure Pooh and Tigger’s cold. The second part of the episode is about trying to find Buster when Darby does not know where he went.

The other two episodes on this DVD have been shown on television before, but are anyways something that makes this DVD worth purchasing as it really would not be worth it if it only had the new regular length episode described above. The second episode is “Darby’s Tail/Tigger’s Delivery Service” about Darby wanting to have a tail and Tigger getting overwhelmed with his delivery service. The last episode is “Pooh-rates Of the Hundred Acre Wood/Tigger’s Hiccup Pickup” about playing Pirates (Pooh-rates) and following a map to find a treasure and helping Tigger get rid of his hiccups.

This DVD is very slim on special features, but the one it does have is a decent one. It is a fun game called Darby’s Super Sleuth Challenge. In this game you go through three different challenges to become a Super Sleuth. For example, you must figure out what the item is based on the clues given. The game is not extremely exciting, but it is easy for preschoolers to play on their own and pretty good for a DVD game.

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

Not many kid’s television releases this week, but the few are all of decent shows.

Arthur Season 10: This DVD release contains all the Arthur episodes from Season 10. The set includes 5 discs to fit all ten of the episodes. A list of the season 10 episodes can be found here. Not sure if there are any special features on this DVD, but from my past experience with Arthur DVDs they tend to be purely just the episodes.

Arthur: Big Brother Binky: This DVD contains the two part episodes called Big Brother Binky. In this hour long DVD Binky gets a baby sister when his parent’s adopt a baby from China. Binky learns to deal with being a big brother and the annoyance of her crying.

It’s a Big, Big World: Be Healthy and Happy: This DVD is of the show It’s a Big, Big World, which is about a giant sloth and the other animals that live in the World Tree located in the rainforest. It is an interesting show for preschoolers that teaches a little about animals and the environment. I could not find any details on what exactly this DVD contains. I assume is contains about three episodes of the show based on it saying it has a run time of around 70 minutes.

This new show H2O started a few weeks ago on Nickelodeon. The first episode was about them getting mysterious powers that turn them into mermaids whenever they come in contact with water. This, of course, can be quite problematic with water being everywhere. Now they have to deal with trying to be normal when they are not at all normal. Beyond their power of turning into mermaids they also have special control over water. One can control water as a liquid, one can turn it into steam, and the third can freeze the water.

The three main characters of the show are Emma, Cleo, and Rikki. Emma is competitive and before the incident that gave them their powers she was a swimmer. Rikki is a new girl in town, as well as a rebel and a risk taker. Both Emma and Rikki easily come to enjoy their new powers. Cleo on the other hand has trouble with them. First off, she has always had a fear of water. Thus she is hesitant at first to discover the depth of her new powers, but this changes when she finds out turtles are getting caught in nets and she could use her powers to save them.

Overall this is an interesting show that so far has them beginning to use their powers for good almost becoming underwater superheroes. I guess they could be called environmental superheroes, but that is just based on Cleo saving the one turtle in one episode so far. It certainly seems the focus is going to be another show about kids for tweens about kids trying to fit in when they are not normal and keeping the true them a secret (not really sure how this makes it a great show, as should not kids be learning to be themselves, although I guess sometimes there are extremes where you just have to keep things secret).

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 Eastern time as given by TV Guide, but may vary depending on your location, especially when the shows are on local stations like PBS.

Monday, March 24

11am on Nickelodeon - Ni-Hao, Kai-Lan: This new episode is called “Hat Parade.” Learn the Chinese for hat in this episode along with a plot about making hats for a special hat parade.

2pm on Disney Channel - Emperor’s New School: This new episode is called “Yzma Be Gone/Last Ditch Effort.”

Tuesday, March 25

10am on Disney Channel - Bunnytown: This new episode is called “King Bunny’s Birthday.”

11am on Nickelodeon - Ni-Hao, Kai-Lan: This new episode is called “The Snowiest Ride.” In this episode learn the Chinese word for snow as the gang helps Tolee overcome his fear of sledding.

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Welcome to this week’s edition of Beyond Watching the Show, where I give some ideas of activities for kids that enjoy a particular show that go beyond just watching the show. If you have more ideas of activities for this show please comment and share your ideas. Also, please comment here if you have a request of a show to feature in an upcoming edition of Beyond Watching the Show.

Horseland Coloring Pages: The Kewlopolis site for the show has two coloring pages. One is of Chloe Chili and the other is of Sara Scarlett.

Horseland.com: This is a virtual pet site devoted just to horses. The show is loosely based on the site and in return part of the site is based on the show. On the site you can raise a horse and compete with it. You can have a free account, but there is also premium accounts for $29.90 a year, which allow you do take advantage of all the sites features. A premium account certainly is not necessary to enjoy the site and definitely do not purchase it until you know your kids enjoy the site and it something they are likely to still play on during their allowed Internet time. I personally have not played on the site, so not too sure if it is worth paying to play on. I tried to register for the site (free account, of course, as you cannot even pay until opening a free account first), but the page kept timing out. This unresponsiveness/slowness of the site just in registering does not give me the best impression of the site, but perhaps it runs fine once you have an account.

The Blue’s Clue show has many different DVD collections of episodes available these days. None of them are bad choices, as they all have several episodes of this interactive show that is always a fun clue finding hunt for preschoolers that like the show. It depends on the interests of those who are going to view the DVD, as to which DVD is their favorite. Below is a brief review of two of my favorite ones I have personally seen.

Blue’s Clues – About Jobs: This DVD contains four episodes of Blue’s Clues all interconnected with the theme of jobs. Two of the episodes feature Steve Burns as the host and the other two feature Joe (Donovan Patton) as the host. These episodes are a great way for kids to be exposed to a variety of occupations, as the household characters play pretend showing different occupations. The names of the episodes on this DVD are “Occupations,� “Blue Goes to the Doctor,� “Mechanics,� and “Playing Store.�

Blue’s Clues - Get to know Joe!: This DVD also contains four episodes of Blue’s Clues. The episodes start with just Steve and Joe being introduced as his brother near the end of the first episode. The next two episodes feature both of them as hosts with Steve leaving for college at the end of the third episode. The fourth episode is Joe for the first time hosting the show on his own. This last episode features the characters making a Big Book About Us and is a great inspiration for a craft for kids to make their own book about them or their family. This DVD also has a the 100th episode of Blue’s Clues, which features both Steve and Joe and is a look back at some of the more memorable moments on the show.

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

A Pup Named Scooby-Doo: The Complete First Season: This DVD contains the first season of the show A Pup Named Scooby-Doo, which first aired in 1988. The show features the cast of the original 1969 Scooby Doo, Where Are You! show as kids. The show is full of adventures as they solve the mysteries.

Go Diego Go! - Moonlight Rescue: This believe this DVD contains a few episodes of Go, Diego, Go!, but I could not figure out any exact details on what is on it besides a one line thing that says something along the lines of Diego helping animals under moonlight. I honestly have not seem any episodes of this show, so not sure if this one movie or several episode with that same theme or perhaps it is like the Dora DVDs where there is one or two episodes related to the DVD name and then also bonus episodes.

Johnny and the Sprites - Meet the Sprites: This sounds like a good introductory DVD to Johnny and the Sprites, as wells as enjoyable way for fans who already know the show to enjoy it when its not on television.

Justice League - The New Frontier (Two-Disc Special Edition): This movie is about the founding of the Justice League, an organization of superheroes including Superman, Batman, and Green Lantern. This was an animated show on Cartoon Network for a while. This version comes with a HD-DVD and normal DVD version of the movie.

The Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm Show - The Complete Series: This new DVD release contains the whole series of this show, which was a 1971 spin-off of The Flintstones. In this series Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm are in high school.

Time Warp Trio is an animated show based on a series of books of the same name written by Jon Scieszka. This is a kid’s television show shown almost daily as repeats on the Discovery Kid’s Channel. It currently is not making new episodes, but supposedly only on hiatus. In the show the kids use a magic book to transport back in time. In the early episodes they do not really understand the power of the book and are often losing the book. As the series progresses they learn more how to control the book, although they usually still have to find it to get back to their own time. The do, however, learn that its magic goes beyond time travel. The episode usually takes them back to historical settings and thus is historical fiction that teaches a little bit about historical events, however it is very fictional and bends the history a lot to make the adventures work. It is still an entertaining adventure series, though, and hopefully will inspire kid’s to want to go learn more about the historical events and figures shown in the episodes. Some encouragement to research the history aspects presented in the mostly fictional shows can make this part of a fun way of learning history.

Continue reading for a list of the episodes and a short description of the time and place they travel to in them.

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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 Eastern time as given by TV Guide, but may vary depending on your location, especially when the shows are on local stations like PBS.

Monday, March 17

Note: Playhouse Disney’s Piglet Party Week starts today with My Friend’s Tigger and Pooh episodes featuring Piglet in the spotlight. The episodes are mostly repeats until Friday, but I thought it was worth mentioning the special week theme as it starts and not first when it ends on Friday.

11am ET on Discovery Kids - Wilbur: This new episode of Wilbur is called “Sheep Need Sleep/Libby’s Marbles.”

Tuesday, March 18

11am ET on Discovery Kids - Wilbur: This new episode of Wilbur is called “The Fence/The Magic Word.”

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The Nickelodeon Kid’s Choice Awards will air on Saturday, March 29, with Jack Black as the host. The voting, however, is already open. You can vote for your choices for the different categories one the Nick website here. Below is a list of the categories and this year’s nominees with some of my own opinions mixed in. Anyone care to share their predictions?

Movies

Favorite Movie:

Alvin and the Chipmunks
Are We Done Yet?
The Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End
The Transformers

Favorite Animated Movie:

Bee Movie
Ratatouille
Shrek the Third
The Simpsons Movie

Favorite Male Movie Star:

Ice Cube (Are We Done Yet?)
Johnny Depp (Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End)
Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson (The Game Plan)
Eddie Murphy (Norbit)

Favorite Female Movie Star:
*Assuming kid’s are doing the voting and Drew Barrymore wins, I really wonder how many kids saw her in Music and Lyrics. It is not at all a kid’s movie and I cannot even imagine many kids being interested in the plot.

Jessica Alba (Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer)
Drew Barrymore (Music and Lyrics)
Kirsten Dunst (Spiderman 3)
Keira Knightley (Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End)

Music

Favorite Song:

Beautiful Girls (Sean Kingston)
Big Girls Don’t Cry (Fergie)
Don’t Matter (Akon)
Girlfriend (Avril Lavigne)

Favorite Music Group:

Boys Like Girls
Fall Out Boy
Jonas Brothers
Linkin Park

Favorite Male Singer:

Bow Wow
Chris Brown
Soulja Boy
Justin Timberlake

Favorite Female Singer:

Beyonce
Fergie
Miley Cyrus
Alicia Keys

Television

Favorite TV Show:

Drake & Josh
Hannah Montana
iCarly
The Suite Life of Zack and Cody

Favorite Television Actress:

Miley Cyrus/Hannah Montana
Emma Roberts/Unfabulous
Jamie Lynn Spears/Zoey 101
Raven-Symone/That’s So Raven

Favorite Cartoon:
*I do not like any of these cartoons, but I would find it very disappointing to see The Simpsons win in an award show supposedly voted on by kids.

Avatar: The Last Airbender
Ed, Edd and Eddy
The Simpsons
SpongeBob SquarePants

Favorite Reality Show:

America’s Next Top Model
American Idol
Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?
Deal or no Deal?

Favorite Television Actor:
*Some sibling rivalry going on here.

Drake Bell/Drake & Josh
Josh Peck/Drake & Josh
Dylan Sprouse/The Suite Life of Zack and Cody
Cole Sprouse/The Suite Life of Zack and Cody

Sports

Favorite Male Athlete:

Tony Hawk
Shaquille O’Neal
Alex Rodriguez
Tiger Woods

Favorite Female Athlete:
*Another sibling rivalry here.

Cheryl Ford
Danica Patrick
Serena Williams
Venus Williams

Other

Favorite Video Game:

Dance Dance Revolution
Guitar Hero
High School Musical: Sing It!
Madden NFL ‘08

Favorite Book:
*The first one sounds like a DVD title, but really it is a comic, so kind of a book.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight, Volume One: The Long Way Home
Diary of a Wimpy Kid
Harry Potter series
How to Eat Fried Worms

This Saturday Whiffle and Fuzz premieres on Playhouse Disney. It is a new short that appears between shows, like the Lou and Lou shorts I blogged about pretty recently. The time slot for Whiffle and Fuzz is 6:55am Eastern Time or 5:55am Central Time. Personally this seems like a really early time to air a new short and hopefully it will shift around in the times it shows like the Playhouse Disney shows seem to do from week to week.

The characters of this short are obviously called Whiffle and Fuzz. Whiffle is a red fuzzy sphere creature with stick figure like arms and legs. Fuzz is similar, except he is blue and shaped like a cube. From the previews I have seen it looks like this is a show about guessing what the animals are behind a screen that has a few holes that are revealed as they find clues related to the animal.

You can watch some Whiffle and Fuzz videos on the Playhouse Disney website for this show here.