Tot TV Watch

Tomorrow 2 new PBS Kids shows premiere. The shows start with their first four episodes in two hour blocks for each show. The new episodes then repeat later this week. At least that is the line up for these two new shows on my local PBS station. Be sure to check your TV Guide, as PBS shows do tend to vary often.

The first new show is Martha Speaks. This new cartoon is about a dog learning to talk after she eats Alphabet Soup. It is based on the children’s book series by Susan Meddaugh, which might be a good idea to check out and encourage kids to read if they like the show. The show promotes learning new vocabulary daily and helps teach vocabulary through the way Martha is always trying to learn new words. The targeted age group is ages 4 through 7.

The second new show is called Sid the Science Kid. This new cartoon show is not just an interesting new educational science show, but the style of animation is new, too. The animation style used is Digital Puppetry. This show teaches about different science concepts while encouraging kids to do science on their own. It does this through the role model of Sid, who is a 5-year-old that finds science around him and discovers new things. It also teaches about the how to do things in a scientific way, which including thinking, talking, and working like a scientist. The targeted age group for this show is ages 4 to 6.

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, September 1

7am on PBS - Martha Speaks: This new episode is called “Martha Speaks/Martha Gives Advice.” This is the premiere of the new show on PBS.

7:30am on PBS - Martha Speaks: This new episode is called “Martha and Skits/Martha Plays a Part.”

8am on PBS - Martha Speaks: This new episode is called “Martha Takes the Cake/Codenme: Martha.”

8:30am on PBS - Martha Speaks: This new episode is called “Martha to the Rescue/Martha Camps Out.”

9am on PBS - Sid the Science Kid: This new episode is called “The Sticker Chart.”

9:30am on PBS - Sid the Science Kid: This new episode is called “The Rolie Polie.”

10am on PBS - Sid the Science Kid: This new episode is called “Enough with the Seashells.”

10:30am on PBS - Sid the Science Kid: This new episode is called “The Whale Episode.”

12:30pm on PBS - Super Why: This new episode is called “The Goose and the Golden Eggs.”

5pm on Nicktoons - Speed Racer: The Next Generation: This new episode is called “Fast Track.”

5:30pm on Disney Channel - Suite Life of Zach & Cody: This new episode is called “Mr. Tipton Comes to Visit.”

Tuesday, September 2

8am on PBS - Super Why: This new episode is called “The Magic Porridge Pot.”

10:30am on Nickelodeon - Wow! Wow! Wubbzy!: This new episode is called “Who’s That Girl/Wubbzy’s Big Move.” Season 2 of this show begins with this episode. The first part is about Wubbzy becoming friends with a new neighbor and then ditching her when he gets bored of her games. In the second part Wubbzy moves into his clubhouse.

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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.

This week’s edition contains ideas for entertaining fans of My Friends Tigger & Pooh beyond watching the show. I know I have done this show before here, but I am doing a special one on the cool page I found the other day with Back to School themed activities, as I thought this would be a good time of year to share this.

Start with the Party Checklist, which I think gives a list of the things you need to do the party and the steps to get ready, however I kept getting a Pardon Out Dust page, so not sure if this bug has been worked out and if this checklist is of any use.

There are some recipe ideas. This includes some nice healthy things that could just be used as after school snacks if you do not want to do a whole party thing. Just a few of the recipes include Lumpy’s Gold Star Sandwiches, Tigger’s Boingy Homemade Fruit Leathers, and Rabbit’s Sliced Cucumbers and Pita Crisps with Hummus.

The decoration ideas includes some printables and some decoration tips. The printables include First Day of School Collage Kits. There are also some ideas for games and activities, such as Circle Time. There is also a party favor idea section.

Okay, so I will admit when I wrote this and posted it to the future a few days ago a lot of the other printing links were not working including the recipes, but I am hoping they are fixed and up when this goes live. I think these could be really fun to use in these early weeks of school, so hopefully they get it up properly. If it is not, though, check out Nick Jr.’s First Day of School page with educational print outs, games, book basics, and recipes.

Nick Jr. All About Fall is a nice collection if your kid(s) like several different Nick Jr. shows, however, it is not that great of a collection. For one, Nick Jr. again fails to do a good job of staying on the theme it selects.

The first episode is Dora the Explorer’s “School Pet” episode, which is at least kind of fall themed with fall being the time for going back to school. The second episode is Blue’s Clues “Soccer Practice” and is slightly fall themed with it being about soccer. The third episode is Wonder Pets‘ “Off to School/Save the Pirate Parrot,” which is at least partially back to school themed (i.e. a fall theme).

The fourth episode is not only not fall themed, but it is totally obnoxious and I am not sure if it is the show or just this episode because I have never seen the show before. It is Jack’s Big Music Show “Mel’s Super Swell Dance Party,” which basically seems to consist of them continuously saying Dance Party. The fifth episode is the “Halloween” episode of Yo Gabba Gabba!, which I also think is an entirely annoying show, but for those that like it this is one of the very few ways to get it on DVD since it has not come out on its own, yet. The sixth episode is Blue’s Room’s “Alphabet Power” episode, which I like because it reads Chicka, Chicka, Boom, Boom, but it does not really do a good job of tying in with the fall theme.

Basically this DVD is a disappointment if you are expecting something fall themed. Plus it does not even have any special features.

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.

Archie’s Weird Mysteries - This show has two DVD releases coming out today. One release is called Haunting of Riverdale. The other is called Spells Spell Trouble. Both have 4 episodes.

Bob the Builder: On Site - Houses and Playgrounds - This DVD contains new Bob the Builder episodes that tie in live action construction to further teaching kids about real life construction. It shows about building a house and a skate park. It also has a bonus episode of the Fireman Sam show.

Go Diego Go! Diego’s Halloween - This DVD is likely to have a double-length Go, Diego, Go! Halloween episode premiering on it and then another two bonus episodes that are probably not Halloween themed. I am not really sure, though, as I could not find anything about this release.

Max and Ruby: Max & Ruby’s Perfect Pumpkin - This is a Halloween themed DVD release of Max & Ruby. I did not find info on what exact episodes are on it, but considering this is a Nickelodeon release I would not be surprised if it only has one Halloween episode and three or four non-Halloween themed episodes.

Thomas and Friends - There are two new DVDs for this show. One is called Toy Workshop and is about the grand opening of a new toy workshop. The other is called Helping Out and has several episodes related to times when the trains helped each other.

Will & Dewitt - This is another show with two DVDs coming out today. One is called Frog-tastic Family Fun! and the other is called My BFF.

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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 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.

Wednesday, August 27

11:30am on Nicktoons - Wayside: This new episode is called “The Myth of Nick/Dr. Dana.”

Thursday, August 28

6pm on Cartoon Network - Total Drama Island: This new episode is called “X-Treme Torture.”

6:30pm on Cartoon Network - Johnny Test: This new episode is called “JX5: A New Beginning/JX5: The Final Ending.”

Friday, August 29

11am on Nicktoons - Wayside: This new episode is called “Slow Mo Mo/Joe n’ Fro.”

4:30pm on Nicktoons - Three Delivery: This new episode is called “Terracotta Warriors.”

Saturday, August 30

6:30am on Cartoon Network - Pokemon Diamond and Pearl: This new episode is called “Pika and Goliath.”

8:30am on Disney Channel - Charlie & Lola: This new episode is called “Panda/Playing on my Own.”

8:30am on NBC - Zula Patrol: This new episode is called “Chili Cook Off/Treasure in the Clouds.”

10:30am on ABC - Power Rangers: Jungle Fury: This new episode is called “No ‘I’ in Leader.”

5pm on Disney Channel - Disney Channel Games 2008: This is the final episode of this year’s Disney Channel Games and features the Cheetah Girls and the Closing Ceremonies. The episode is called “UltraMegaUltimateObstac-ular Relay!”

5:30am on Disney Channel - Cory in the House: This new episode is called “Peace, Love, and Misunderstanding.”

Sunday, August 31, 2008

5pm on Cartoon Network - Ben 10: Alien Force: This new episode is called “X Equals Ben Plus 2.”

8pm on Disney Channel - Hannah Montana: This new episode is called “The Test of My Love.”

8:30pm on Disney Channel - Wizards of Waverly Place: This new episode is called “Art Museum Piece.”

Handy Manny’s Pet Roundup is the latest DVD release with episodes of the Handy Manny Playhouse Disney show for preschoolers. This is a decent release of the show for a three main reasons. One is that it does a good job of staying on theme it choose (Pets/animals). Two is that it actually has a special feature and it is a decent one. Three is that it has a good amount of episodes (7-half episodes to be exact).

I am big into DVDs of TV shows staying on theme if they decide to establish one. Nickelodeon is one company that stinks at that, but Disney seems to do a pretty good job including this Handy Manny DVD.

The episodes on this DVD include “Squeeze Makes a Promise” about Squeeze helping watch a pet gecko, “Pet Problem” about making a repair at the pet shop and bunnies getting lose, “Kitty Sitting” about the tools learning about how hard it can be to have a pet, “Gopher Help” about helping solve a gopher problem at the park, and “Renaldo’s Pretzel Castle” about them getting the birds to stop eating the pretzel sign.

Two bonus episodes are premiered on this DVD. “Lyle and Leland Lopart” is about Manny helping Lopart’s nephews build a go cart. This is the one episode on this DVD that is entirely unrelated to pets and/or animals. The other new episode is “Blackout on the Block,” which is about Manny and the tools checking on the neighbors when the power goes out including helping some chicks at the pet store.

The one special feature on this DVD is called A-Maze-ing Pet Roundup. This is maze game that you help the pets get through a maze using the arrows on the DVD remote. It is overall kind of fun for kids, but sometimes it is confusing to know what arrow button goes with what path.

Next week the Disney Channel’s newest original movie is premiering on Friday. The newest movie is The Cheetah Girls: One World, which is the third Cheetah Girls movie. To get ready for this second sequel they are showing the first two movies on the nights before the premiere of the new one.

The Cheetah Girls, which is the simple name of the first of what has become a series, airs on Wednesday, August 20, 2008, at 8pm Eastern/7pm Central. In the first movie you meet the teenage friends that make up the Cheetah Girls and watch their ups and downs of sticking together as a music group.

Cheetah Girls 2 airs on Thursday, August 21, 2008, at 8pm Eastern/7pm Central. In this second movie the group goes to Spain during their summer vacation and compete in a music festival in Barcelona.

Cheetah Girls One World premieres on Friday, August 22, 2008, at 8pm Eastern/7pm Central. This new movie takes the Cheetah Girls to India. Only three of the Cheetah Girls go to India, as Galleria (played by Raven) is at college in England. The three other Cheetahs go to costar in a Bollywood movie called Namaste Bombay, but they learn that only one of them will get to be in the movie. Sounds like it may be a worthwhile sequel, but I would really like to see a Disney Channel movie not revolving around music. I am just getting really tired of these types of plots. Some may be tired of Disney doing sequels, but I actually love sequels. I just am not much into musical plots, especially since they becoming done too often.

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.

Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers Collection Vol. 2 - This DVD release contains the final 33 episodes of this 1980s show in chronological order. Special features include interviews with the series’ creator and writers.

Camp Rock: Extended Rock Star Edition - This DVD is of the recent Disney Channel Original Movie, Camp Rock. It is supposedly special because of its extended ending, but personally I thought it was a drawn out movie as is, so not really sure if an extended ending will make it any better. The special feature with tips on becoming a real rock star might be interesting for some, though.

George of the Jungle: Swinging 1st Season - This DVD contains all the episodes of the first season of Cartoon Network’s George of the Jungle show.

Horseland DVDs: Looks like there are two new Horseland DVDs this week. One is Horseland: Fast Friends and the other is Horseland: Ip Taking the Heat.

Jane and the Dragon: A Dragon’s Tale - Jane and the Dragon finally comes to DVD with this release. This DVD contains the first five episode of the series. It even has some good special features like printable coloring pages (supposedly even Mac compatible), character profiles, and concept art.

Wayside School: Season One - This show based on the books by Louis Sachar is not as good as the books, but if the kids happen to like it they can now catch the whole first season on DVD.

Wordworld: Sheep’s A Star - This DVD contains episodes of WordWorld. Not sure how many, but I am assuming 3 since it is an hour long.

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 18

11:30am on PBS - WordWorld: This new episode is called “The Lost Letter L/Catch That C!” The first part is about Duck breaking Frog’s lamp and trying to fix it before Frog finds out. The second part is about trying to catch the letter C that escaped from a bag of Cs as Pig and Ant were making cookies.

3pm on Nickelodeon - Tak and the Power of Juju: This new episode is called “Sheep Dip/Bad Medicine.”

5pm on Nickelodeon - Go, Diego, Go: This new episode is the television premiere of the “Moonlight Rescue” double-length episodes. This episode about Diego helping Tuga the turtle find the pieces of the moon in order for the moon to guide the baby turtles to the ocean. This episode was first released back in April on DVD.

Tuesday, August 19

11:30am on PBS - WordWorld: This new episode is called “The Christmas Star/A Christmas Present for Dog.” This seems like an odd time of year for a Christmas episode. Anyways, the first part is about Duck trying to get a star from the sky for Frog’s Christmas tree. The second part is about about Dog’s Christmas present of a ball missing an L.

3pm on Nickelodeon - Tak and the Power of Juju: This new episode is called “Lost Boys/Sheep Dip.”

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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.

This week’s edition contains ideas for entertaining fans of Wizards of Waverly Place beyond watching the show.

Online Wizard Games - The Disney Channel’s website for the show has several fun online games that are based on the show. The games include World Wide Wiz Web (a Mahjong type game), Magic Curse Reverse, Magic Carpet Mayhem, Alex’s Double Maze Craze, and Wizardly Quiz.

Wizards of Waverly Place Book Series - This book series may be a good way to motivate kids to read. The first two books are out already and three more have release dates. They basically are text versions of the show, but can be a more educational (and still fun) way to relive the episodes. The first on is called Wizards of Waverly Place #1: It’s All Relative! The second on is Wizards of Waverly Place #2: Haywire. The ones to be released are Wizards of Waverly Place #3: In Your Face (September 2, 2008), Wizards of Waverly Place #4: Spellbound (December 2, 2008), and Wizards of Waverly Place #5: Top of the Class (March 3, 2009).

General Wizard Activities: There are plenty of sites on the web with general wizard activities. Just one site is FamilyFun’s. This site has Wizard crafts, recipes, party ideas, and printables.

The Wizards of Waverly Place is one of the newer Disney Channel show and the Wizard School DVD is its debut on DVD. If you like the show, this is a decent release. Personally, I do enjoy the show, but I have missed a lot of the episodes and was delighted to find this had three episodes I had not seen before. The DVD also has a decent special feature of the three kids of the show talking about themselves.

The first episode on the DVD is “Wizard School Part 1.” In this episode Alex and Justin go to a wizard school called Wiz Tech, which is kind of a parody of Hogwarts, especially with the black glasses students wear that make them look like Harry Potter. Alex, the slacker, has trouble at the school while Justin excels at 12-ball (a crazy ping pong like game). Back home at Waverly Place Jerry and Max try to prove their manliness by camping out on the terrace.

The second episode is “Wizard School Part 2.” This is the continuation of the first episode on the DVD. In this part Alex tries to save Justin from losing his powers. Back home at Waverly Place their parents and Max battle with a rival restaurant. This two part plot has become my favorites of the show.

The third episode is called “Curb Your Dragon.” In this episode Alex and Max get Justin a beagle/dragon from a shady merchant. The merchant steals him back and they try to get him back to keep Justin from having to deal with losing another dog.

The fourth episode is called “Disenchanted Evening.” This is the one episode I had seen before. It is among the better episodes at least. In this episode Alex discovers another wizard at school and is jealous that he can use magic whenever you want. Her quest to get her parents to allow her to magic leads to trouble, though.

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.

The Berenstain Bears: Family and Friendship - The Berenstain Bear family teaches about family and friendship with the fun episodes on this DVD. I think it has three episodes.

Eon Kid: Season 1, Vol. 1 - I have no idea what Eon Kid is besides a kid’s show and appears to have robot characters. This DVD is 110 minutes, so probably 5 episodes of whatever this show is.

Holly Hobbie: Fabulous Fashion Show - Holly Hobbie and her friends create and do a fashion show in this short movie DVD. Includes two new sing alongs. Not sure if the sing alongs are bonus features or incorporated into the movie.

Ni Hao Kai-Lan: Super Special Days - This show makes its DVD premiere with this release. Special features according to the ad on the back of the Nick Jr. magazine include a “Meet Kai-Lan” photo gallery and a music video. Not sure what episodes are on this DVD or if any of them are new on the DVD, but it is 98 minutes long, so I am guessing their are 4 episodes on it.

Play with Me Sesame: Furry Fun and Healthy Too - This sounds like a fun DVD for preschoolers to learn healthy habits from. The healthy habits touched upon include exercise, brushing your teeth, and getting plenty of rest.

Strawberry Shortcake: Rockaberry Roll - This is supposedly 2 episodes of Strawberry Shortcake. The guess out there is that the episodes are “It Takes Talent” and “Playing to Beat The Band.” Supposedly this is going to be in theaters in October 2008. Makes a pre-release DVD seem really weird, but you know what? I love Strawberry Shortcake enough I might actually not only rent this, but go see it in the theater if that really happens.

I just heard about a new Sesame Street Official Website called SesameStreet.org. It is a great website for fans and parents/caregivers of fans of Sesame Street. The site is full of things to do and information about Sesame Street.

One of the best features of the site is Play Safe mode, which is easily activated from the top of game and playlist pages. Once clicked they can only do things on the games or playlist part of the site and cannot navigate to anywhere else on the web. It is deactivated by holding down Alt+ P+S. This sounds like a great thing to allow you to let preschoolers play without having to keep such a close eye on the computer screen while they play. Unfortunately, this only currently works for Windows users using Internet Explorer. I hope they it make Mac (I grew up on Macs and still only use them) compatible soon, especially if they do it for Firefox.

One main section of the site is the Games section. This area has about 400 flash mini games and 90 full games. That is a lot of play time if you like Sesame Street. Yes, they are often educational along with being fun just like the show, so you do not have to feel too guilty letting the kids play them regularly.

Another main area is Videos. This section has many Sesame Street segment videos that you can watch anytime. You can look for them by subject, theme, character, and songs. There is even a Classic Clips section.

The Playlist section brings together games and videos to create interactive preschool education units. There are several different units that have video clips and games that work together to teach the unit’s theme.

One last interesting feature of this site is My Street, which is a customizable page. This page lets you create your own Sesame Street home page adding your favorite videos and games from the site. Note that you do have to register to do this.

Playhouse Disney’s Super Bunny to the Rescue Week! starts tomorrow (August 11, 2008). This week’s special event features episodes of Bunnytown this week with episodes that feature Super Bunny coming to the rescue. Below is listings of the episodes for the week. All episodes are at 7:30am Eastern time/6:30am Central time.

Monday, August 11, 20008

“Bumbling Bunnies!” - In this episode Super Bunny tries to stop Lil Bad Bunny from stealing other people’s picnic baskets because he forget his.

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

“Bunnytown Follies!” - This episode is about Bunnies becoming clowns, a farmer’s carrots going missing, and Red and Fred wrapping a present. Not sure how (or even if) Super Bunny comes into play in this episode, but my guess is it is related to the missing carrots.

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

“King Bunny’s Birthday!” - This episode is about preparing for the King’s Birthday. Sorry, that is all I can find out about it and have even less of an idea how Super Bunny comes into play in this episode.

Thursday, August 14, 2008

“Bunny-A-Go-Go!” - This episode is about Mountaineer Bunny climbing a mountain, Little Bad Bunny trying to ruin the bunny festival, Red and Fred going on a picnic, and Super Silly Sports with chefs on a golf course. I am beginning to really wonder how Super Bunny ends up in these episodes, but at least this one I think has to do with the bunny festival plot.

Friday, August 15, 2008

“Barrel Full of Bunnies!” - This episode is about a bunny trying to go to outer space, Red and Fred playing basketball, a magician needing help, and a chicken and egg race. My guess is Super Bunny helps the magician. Perhaps I should just stop guessing and one of these days watch the show and not be so clueless.