Tot TV Watch

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.

Tomorrow, July 16, 2009, the newest show called Stoked premieres on Cartoon Network. All those out there fearing another live action show is coming as part of CN Real can stop worrying as this is a new animated show for the network that is no longer just cartoons. Seriously I never thought I would have to specify that a new show coming to Cartoon Network is animated, but now that they have CN Real it cannot be assumed the show is animated.

Stoked is another show that Cartoon Network is importing from Canada, so it is not exactly new, but even in Canada it only premiered in June 2009. The show is from the creator of several other shows now on Cartoon Network (6teen, Total Drama Island, and Total Drama Action). This new show is about a group of groms, which are young surfers (yeah, I had to look that term up). The show is about them spending a summer at legendary Sunset Island in British Columbia, Canada. It seems to be about them working at the island while also enjoying surfing for 12 weeks as their first summer away from home.

I am not into surfing or even Cartoon Network, but this show actually sounds like it has much better potential for me to enjoy than the other shows by this creator. That said I still probably will never watch it unless I stumble on it being on, especially since I still have another three weeks of no television while I am on my cross country baseball road trip.

Star Wars Clone Wars Volume 1 contains the 20 episodes in the Star Wars Clone Wars Seasons 1 and 2. These episodes were originally shown as interstitial type episodes with run times of only about 3 minutes each. One this DVD release the episodes have been combined to play together as a movie, which works rather seemlessly since the episodes were always made to be a continuation. This animated show is not too bad, but personally I find it too much battle and too little dialogue. My brother loves it and he is a Star Wars fan, but I am not much into the whole saga anyways. What does makes this a worthy DVD release for Star Wars fans is that it also has good special features.

The special features include Bridging the Saga about the making of the animated series and how it fits into the Star Wars saga. The Video Games section of special features has a trailer to the Episode III game and Star Wars Republic Commando game along with a demo of Star Wars Republic Commando for Xbox, which I assume works if you put the disc into an Xbox (perhaps also works in a Xbox 360, but I have neither to try with). The Behind the Scenes section of special features has another Featurette about making the show and Still Galleries of Sketches & Storyboards and Posters & Artwork. The final special feature is an Episode III Teaser Trailer.

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.

Today at the movie theater before the previews for movies began there was a commercial sneak peek at the upcoming new block of programming on Cartoon Network that is called CN Real. This programming block will feature reality live action shows (yeah, live action is a necessary adjective since Total Drama Island/Action are animated reality type shows). The block premieres on June 17, 2009.

The block will bring at least five new shows to Cartoon Network, but it does not appear that they all will be premiering on June 17th. One of the new shows is called The Othersiders and is about paranormal, ghosts, etc and is supposed to premier on June 17th. A second is called Survive This which is a survival challenge type show, but the participants are not voted off and can choose to leave when they want to give up. This show also premieres on Cartoon Network on June 17, but it is a YTV show that has already begun to air in Canada.

Another one of the new shows is called BrainRush. This show is about contestants answering trivia questions while riding a roller coaster, which actually sounds interesting to me. This show premieres on June 20th. Destroy Build Destroy is another new show to premiere on June 20th. This show is about contestants destroying objects then rebuilding with the wreckage only to destroy their creation.

One other show that is to be part of the CN Real block of programming is Bobb’e says. This show is hosted by Bobb’e J. Thompson and is about him teaching sage advice by showing videos of people’s painful mistakes. I could not find any info about when this show is supposed to premiere other than 2009.

Tomorrow, February 16, 2009, there is a full fledged marathon on Cartoon Network from 6am to 10pm (check your local listings as it might start earlier or later for some) featuring episodes of Pokemon Diamond and Pearl Battle Dimensions. It is interestingly being called Pikachusident’s Day Marathon as a play on it being President’s Day. It is kind of an awkward word, but it is certainly more appealing than simply calling it President’s Day marathon. I actually kind of think it is a clever play on the word, although it is somewhat of stretch to be truly clever. Anyways below is the line up of episodes, which are being shown in the same order as the episodes are in the series, I think.

6am - “Hot Springing a Leak!”
6:30am - “Riding the Winds of Change!”
7am - “Sleight of Sand!”
7:30am - “Lost Leader Strategy!”
8am - “Crossing the Battle Line!”
8:30am - “A Triple Fighting Chance!”
9am - “Enter Galactic!”
9:30am - “Bells Are Singing!”
10am - “Crossing Paths!”
10:30am - “Pika and Goliath!”
11am - “Our Cup Runneth Over!”
11:30am - “A Full Course Tag Battle!”
12pm - “Staging a Heroes Welcome”
12:30pm - “Pruning a Passel of Pals!”
1pm - “Strategy With a Smile!”
1:30pm - “Thief That Keeps on Thieving!”
2:00pm - “Chim - Charred!”
2:30pm - “Cream of the Croagunk Crop!”
3pm - “Pokemon Ranger and the Kidnapped Riolu! Part 1″
3:30pm - “Pokemon Ranger and the Kidnapped Riolu! Part 2″
4pm -” A Crasher Course in Power!”
4:30pm - “Hungry for the Good Life!”
5pm - “Fighting Fear With Fear!”
5:30pm - “Arriving in Style!”
6pm - “The Psyduck Stops Here!”
6:30pm - “Camping it Up!”
7pm - “Up Close and Personable!”
7:30pm - “Ghoul Daze!”
8pm - “One Team, Two Team, Red Team, Blue Team!”
8:30pm - “A Lean Mean Team Rocket Machine!”
9:00pm - “Playing the Leveling Field!”
9:30pm - “Doc Brock!”

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Wolverine and the X-Men will start airing in the USA tomorrow, January 23, 2009, on the Nicktoons channel. This is the fourth television show adaptation featuring the X-Men characters. This show has already finished its first season in several countries including Canada, where it was shown on YTV. It must not be too bad of a new X-Men show, as the second season is said to at least be in the pre-production phase. Season 1 of Wolverine and the X-Men has a total of 26 episodes.

I think it is pretty exciting that there is going to be a The Powerpuff Girls marathon on Cartoon Network tomorrow, January 19, 2009, which by the way is a day off for most kids due to it being Martin Luther King Day. If you have not noticed, I usually come close to bashing Cartoon Network shows. That has been my general feeling towards most Cartoon Network shows, but they have shown a very small number of shows that I actually think are great and one of them is The Powerpuff Girls. This show has not been on the channel for a while, though. Tomorrow it will be making a brief come back for the day with a marathon to celebrate its 10th Anniversary from 6am to 8:30pm Eastern Time/Pacific Time. The marathon even includes a new never before seen episode at 8pm Eastern time/Pacific Time. Below is the full line up of the episodes.

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Tomorrow night on Cartoon Network a new show premieres. It is not exactly an original show, but I have a feeling there is definitely a fan base for this new series. It is called Batman: The Brave and the Bold. This show is based on the DC Comics The Brave and the Bold comic series in which different DC Comics heroes team up for adventures. The comic book series does not always feature Batman as part of the team ups, but the new show does.

It sounds like a good hero show concept. I personally am not much into Batman, etc., however I know a lot of kids do enjoy these types of shows. It seems like this show will be interesting with the different DC Comic heroes taking turns fighting bad guys with Batman. Hopefully, fans will see some favorite characters and enjoy some new characters. It mostly seems that most of the match ups will be with lesser known DC characters other than Batman. Perhaps, also you can get the kids interested in reading the comic series the show’s concept comes from.

The Hero characters so far announced for the show are Adam Strange, Aquaman, The Atom, Batman, Black Canary, Blue Beetle, Booster Gold, Deadman, The Demon, Doctor Fate, Fire, Firestorm, Flash, Green Arrow, the Green Lantern Corps, Guy Gardner, Huntress, Jonah Hex, the Justice Society of America, Kamandi, Metamorpho, Plastic Man, Red Tornado, Robin, Skeets, and Wildcat.

The Villian characters so far announced for the show are Black Manta, Bronze Tiger, Calendar Man, Cavalier, Clock King, Despero, Felix Faust, Gentleman Ghost, Gorilla Grodd, Kanjar Ro, Kite Man, Ocean Master, Sportsmaster and Zebra-Man.

Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends is one of the few Cartoon Network shows I find bearable to watch and almost enjoyable. The show has some nonsensical aspects to it and stupidity like other Cartoon Network originals, but it is not among the worst, although it can get annoying at times still. The main characters are Max and his imaginary friend, Bloo. The show is about the happenings at Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends and is mostly about Bloo causing trouble.

The show has its positives, such as interesting plots with the imaginary friends that end up at the home when the kids that imagine them no longer want them. It also is full of unique characters to go with the idea that they are imagined. Some of the frequently recurring ones include Wilt tall basketball player like friend, Coco a bird like friend that speaks only by saying Coco in varying forms (definitely among the negatives), and Eduardo a monster like looking friend who is scared often.

The main thing that makes the show something kids and some adults can enjoy watching is that it is funny. The kind of mindless humor is more the sort kids will like, but there is stuff in there that adults may like too. I personally do not like it that much, but there are some good episodes and it is not totally annoying, which seems to be what most Cartoon Network original shows are in my opinion. The annoyance of this show does not go very deep beyond Coco only talking using her name, but she does not always talk much and remains bearable.

Cartoon Network Racing for Nintendo DS has gotten bad reviews, but personally I actually found it to be a decent racing game and have enjoyed many hours of playing it. It also came out for the PlayStation 2, but I have not personally tried that version and it appears it has gotten even worse ratings than the DS version, however considering I like the DS one maybe the PlayStation 2 one is not that bad.

Cartoon Network Racing contains some characters from 7 Cartoon Network shows. The shows are Johnny Bravo, Sonic the Hedgehog, Dexter’s Laboratory, Cow and Chicken, I Am Weasal, Courage the Cowardly Dog, and PowerPuff Girls. Most of these shows are not even on television anymore, so kids may be disappointed and uninterested because of this. Other than it not having any current characters I find little fault in the game. Besides when it did come out those were probably all current shows, so that is just a fault of becoming outdated.

As a racing game this, the only one better I have personally played on the Nintendo DS is Mario Kart. Cartoon Network Racing works pretty much the same way, although it does not appear to have the battle mode, which I do not even like anyways, but I do know some people like that mode. What I love about this game is that it is a challenge. It is not an easy game to beat and it actually gives some challenge to it. This may not be right for younger kids, but I think even kids from around ages 10 can appreciate it being a challenge.

One kind of annoying thing is that it starts with only one cup unlocked and you only unlock one cup at a time as you beat the previous cup. Also, in order to have characters in the hard difficulty classes you have to purchase then as well as purchase the unlockable characters. It is not that hard to buy them, though, as you pretty easily earn the coins you need in the races.

Overall this game is worth checking out if you like racing games and are a diehard Cartoon Network fan. Older kids that remember the old shows will also enjoy remembering old favorite cartoons and characters. Lastly it has an interesting drawing mini game that is a nice break from racing.

Two new Cartoon Network Shows are premiering tomorrow June 5, 2008. The first is The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack, which premieres at 8:30pm Eastern Time. The second is Total Drama Island, which premieres at 9pm Eastern Time.

The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack is an all new animated show for Cartoon Network. The show is about a boy named Flapjack that was raised by a talking whale. His life begins peacefully, but he begins going on misadventures after they rescue a pirate named Captain K’nuckles. These misadventures are their failed attempts to find Candied Island to earn the title of Adventurer. It sounds like an unique concept and may turn out to be an interesting show, however, I have yet to be impressed by Cartoon Network’s animated shows, which tend to turn out to be stupidity filled shows. We will see how this one turns out.

Total Drama Island is not an all new show, as it first aired last year on a Canadian television station. It is, however, an all new show for Cartoon Network and the United States. It is basically an animated Survivor inspired show. It does not sound as stupid as most Cartoon Network shows, however, not being a reality television show fan I doubt I will think this is a good show due to that bias. Anyways, I do know a lot of kids that like the real Survivor and Discovery Kid’s Endurance and they may very well find this a good show and I certainly am not expecting it to be quite as stupidity filled as other Cartoon Network animated shows.

The Land Before Time: Adventuring in the Mysterious Beyond is one of three DVDs already out (another one is coming out in May 2008) with episodes of the Land Before Time television cartoon series. This cartoon series features kid dinosaurs of different species that are all friends. The show is based on the series of Land Before Time movies, which still has sequels being released almost every year with number 14 coming out later this year. This DVD contains four episodes of the show and has a run time of about an hour and a half.

The first episode is called “The Great Egg Adventure.�? In this episode the group of friends team up with one of their enemies to get the sharp tooth eggs out of the Great Valley and keep their home a safe place. he second episode is called “Escape From the Mysterious Beyond.�? In this episode two of the dinosaur friends including the friendly sharp tooth, Chomper, get stuck on a ledge with a mean sharp tooth who wants to eat them. The third episode is called “The Lonely Journey.�? In this episode Chomper feels left out as his vegetarian friends prepare for the Thanksgiving like holiday and the adult plant eaters make general remarks against sharp tooths. The fourth episode is called “The Hermit of Black Rock.�? In this episode the flying friend of the group, Petri, and a glider get lost and befriend a blind flying dinosaur and work together to get back to the Great Valley.

This show is a great entertaining show about dinosaurs that work together and display how the bonds of friendship should be. The shows are still played often on Cartoon Network, so it really is not a must get for the shows, however, I do recommend this DVD because it has some good special features. The main special feature is a pattern game that challenges kids to pick the next egg that goes in the pattern. It really does a great job of being challenging on the harder version and I bet even some adults will need to take some time to figure a few of the patterns out. Also, if you put the DVD in a DVD-ROM you can get access to coloring pages and connect-the-dot pages to print out.

If you have not heard of The Land Before Time dinosaurs, then where have you been? Really, with them coming out with a new movie almost every year in the series it is hard to not notice this series. Plus, the movies are on television at least once a week between being shown on Cartoon Network, the Disney Channel, and Toon Disney. It does seem that when a movie series gets to sequel XIV (14 for those bad with Roman numerals), which comes out this year, that the series would be entirely dead and boring. That may be the case of the movies, but I cannot say for sure because I do not think I ever got past three or four. The characters have come to a fresh light, though, with the television series based on the movies.

The Land Before Time television series plays on Cartoon Network. It debuted last year on March 5, 2007. There has not been any new episodes since January 2008. I do not know if there will be a second season of the show, but the show does at least play repeat episodes every weekday at 10am Eastern time on Cartoon Network. Even if kids have not seen the movies this is a great show, although, it may be slightly more easily enjoyed if they are already familiar with the characters. This is a good show for preschoolers, but I think some grade school kids may also enjoy this show because of the dinosaur characters and the show is not made to be too kiddish. The best thing about the show is that through the plots it teaches about the bonds of friendship, working together, and other various lessons depending on the episode.

There are several different dinosaurs that hang out with the pack of kid dinosaur friends. The main ones are Littlefoot the Apatosaurus, Cera the Triceratops, Petrie the Pteranodon, and Chomper the Tyrannosaurus, who unlike the other sharptooths (carnivore dinosaurs) is friendly to his herbivore friends and is only shown eating insects.

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The new show Chop Socky Chooks premieres tonight at 9pm Eastern and Pacific Time on Cartoon Network. This show is features three chickens as the main characters. These three chickens are named Chick P., KO Joe, and Chuckie Chan. They use their martial arts skills and super spy technology to protect the citizens of Wasabi World, which is the fictional city/mall this animated show is set in. Their enemy is Dr. Wasabi the evil person running Wasabi World.

Looking through the Cartoon Network site for this show I found a listing of the episodes. It gives episode descriptions for episodes 1 through 26. Interestingly enough it premieres tonight with episode 5 and then next week it is showing episode 4, so kind of illogical order. Anyways tonight’s episode is called Game Over Chooks and is about Dr. Wasabi kidnapping Chuckie Chan’s students. He tries to use their skills in a video game that causes Chooks in the real world to be destroyed.

Main Character Bios:

Chuckie Chan: One of the three main Kung Fu heroes of the show. He is the Kung Fu master and follows its true path in pursuit of enlightenment. His Kung Fu mastery includes mystic abilities.

KO Joe: Another one of the three main heroes of the show. This is the character with an afro. He has a generous spirit and selfless in his sense of justice.

Chick P: This is the girl hero in the show’s trio of heroes. She works undercover at the mall and is the team’s engineer turning any object into a fighting tool.

Dr. Wasabi: He is the villian of the show carrying out his evil plans from his fishbowl headquarters at the Wasabi World Mall.

Bubba: He is a giant gorilla that helps Dr. Wasabi. He is portrayed as a dumb sidekick.

Ninja Chimps: These are Dr. Wasabi’s main minions that try to keep his plans from being thwarted.

If you haven’t yet introduced your kids to the Flintstones, this week just may be the right time. Boomerang, Cartoon Network’s classic animation sister network, is airing a massive Flintstones marathon beginning July 4th. The marathon will kick off at 6:00 a.m. (ET) on Wednesday, July 4th, and will finish up Saturday, July 7th at 5:00 p.m. During that time span, Boomerang will air all 166 episodes of The Flintstones in sequence, with no commercial interruption. So go on, meet the Flintstones and have a “Yabba dabba doo time!”

Flintstones, Boomerang, Cartoon Network, marathon, YouTube