Tot TV Watch

Little Einsteins is part of the regular line up for the Playhouse Disney segment of the Disney Channel. This animated show is among the better educational shows out there for preschoolers. It has the aspect of adventure, which appeals to most kids and draws them into the show and enjoying it. The adventures involve the four main characters going on trips that regularly involve real world places, such as China in “The Dragon Kite” episode, as part of the episode’s mission. Thus is teaches a little about the diversity of the world, but the real thing it teaches about is art and music.

Art and music are two things most kids enjoy and/or can be taught to enjoy through experiencing it. The thing is, though, that they are not always exposed to a wide variety of art and music that is out there. The show at least in the case of the art does a decent job of showing different art styles in the beginning segment that shows the episode’s featured art. The featured music does not end up quite as varied, but it does at least expose kids to classical music, which these days many do not come across otherwise. In regards to music it also teaches kids about music basics such as patting to the beat of the episode’s featured music.

Overall Little Einsteins is a fun show for kids to enjoy and learn a little about music and different art styles. The main thing is that it is an entertaining show for preschool age kids that is not entirely mindless, but also is not too educational to make them become disinterested.

Disney Channel Games 2008 begin showing as a half hour show tomorrow night (July 27, 2008) on the Disney Channel at 8pm Pacific Time/Eastern Time. The Disney Channel Games are a reality often wacky mini-Olympics with the contestants beings stars from Disney Channel shows and worldwide stations. This time around there are only 5 events and thus only 5 episodes. The following four will be aired in the normal timeslot at 8pm Pacific Time/Eastern Time on Saturdays starting next Saturday, August 2.

The episodes begin with the event for the episode and end with a post-event concert from one of five performers. The five performers are Miley Cyrus (a.k.a. Hannah Montana), Jordan Pruitt (has done songs in Disney Channel movies such as Read It and Weep), The Jonas Brothers (they are in Disney Channel’s Camp Rock movie), The Cheetah Girls (they have their 3rd Disney Channel movie coming this August), and Demi Lovato (from the recent Camp Rock movie).

Personally I love the Disney Channel games because they can often be quite funny to watch while at the same time have a fun sense of competition in them. I am not so sure about the music part, but it seems to be what the kids like on the Disney Channel considering the popularity of Hannah Montana’s show and the recent Camp Rock movie.

So, What team will you be rooting for this time around?

The teams are The Green Team - Cyclones led by David Henrie from The Wizards of Waverly Place, The Yellow Team - Comets led by Kevin Jonas of the Jonas Brothers, The Blue Team - Lightning led by Kiely Williams of The Cheetah Girls, and The Red Team - Inferno led by Brenda Song from The Suite Life of Zack & Cody.

The Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus Best of Both Worlds Concert Tour movie is premiering on the Disney Channel tomorrow, July 26, at 8pm Eastern/7pm Central. This is the same movie that played for a little while in theaters, so it may not be exactly new to all Hannah Montana fans, but at least it is a free way to see it again or for those that did not want to pay the money to see it in the theater or go to the actual concert.

The movie will be shown in the 3D format on the Disney Channel, so you probably will want some 3D glasses to see. You can supposedly get them for free in the Back to School section of Wal-Mart and in the July 21st edition of TV Guide Magazine.

The main aspect of the movie is showing the Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus Best of Both Worlds Concert as filmed live in Salt Lake City last year. The theatrical release of this was pretty popular because it was slightly easier to get tickets to it than going to an actual concert, however, the initial release in some theaters was still pretty hard to see, so now everyone can easily see it or see it again.

The movie is even better than going to a concert, though, as long as you are a fan of Hannah Montana as a singer. The movie includes several behind the scenes segments with the transformation between Hannah Montana and Miley Cyrus.

I do not know if this is worthwhile, but being on television is certainly a better way to check it out than having to go to the theater or an actual concert at least in my opinion, especially since I only slightly like Hannah Montana.

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 show is Recess.

Kick Ball: Kick ball is one of the sports most often shown in the episodes of Recess. Get outside and play a real game of Kick Ball with your kid or kids. Round up some kids from the neighborhood or invite some of your kid’s friends over and have a game with full teams. Only you and the kid? You can still do a mock one-on-one game going through the different motions. Sure fielding does not work out too well this way, but it still can be a lot of fun and at least it is something active to do. Not sure about how to play kick ball, then check out the Wikipedia entry to give you a brief overview or refresher.

Recess Online Games: The show’s site on Toon Disney’s website has several online games to play including Dodgeball, Gus’s Bubble Trouble, and Recess Special Operations.

Recess/Playground Coloring Pages: I could not find any official Recess coloring pages, but I did find a Swing Set Coloring Page, a Slide Coloring Page, and a Seesaw Coloring Page.

Mickey Mouse Clubhouse is a fun Playhouse Disney show with improved animation featuring classic Disney characters including Mickey, Minnie, Pluto, Goofy, Donald, and Daisy. This is an interactive show that encourages preschool viewers to help accomplish the tasks necessary to complete the episodes goal. Along the way different preschool aged concepts are taught including shapes and numbers. It is one of those more subtle educational shows and more entertaining for kids because of the surrounding plot, which often also includes funny moments, especially when Goofy is involved.

In the episode Mickey starts by inviting the viewers to his clubhouse, which you help him summon with the magic words “Meeska Mooska Mickey Mouse.” Shortly thereafter the episodes activity and/or problem is introduced and Mickey Mouse gets four Mousekatools, which are held by an robot backpack called Toodles. These Mousekatools include 3 known items and a mystery Mousekatool that will prove to be just what is needed in one circumstance later in the episode. Whenever a Mousekatool is needed Mickey encourages viewers to use logic and help choose which tool will help in the given situation.

Overall this is a fun preschool show because of the entertaining plots. Plus, it has the benefit of being at least slightly educational. Oh, and it is such an eye appealing animated show, especially in comparison to the old Mickey Mouse cartoons, which have an old charm that unfortunately most kids these days do not appreciate.

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Tomorrow, June 21, 2008, the new animated short called Can You Teach My Alligator Manners? premieres as part of the Playhouse Disney line up. This new show is about a kid named Mikey and his pet alligator named Al. In this short viewers are encouraged to help Mikey in teaching his alligator how to properly behave, i.e. teach him manners. This first episode is about teaching Al how to play nicely at the playground, which includes the concepts of taking turns and asking nicely to use toys.

Also, starting tomorrow is Playhouse Disney’s Super Duper Summer Saturdays. This is what they are calling the summer Saturday line ups, which will be including new episodes of the Playhouse Disney shows Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Little Einsteins, Bunnytown, and Charlie and Lola. Tomorrow’s line up includes new outdoor themed episodes of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Bunnytown, and Little Einsteins.

Continue reading for more detailed line up for tomorrow morning on Playhouse Disney.

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I have heard the newest Disney Channel Original Movie, Camp Rock, referred to as the next High School Musical and it really does sound like a similar kind of movie. Camp Rock premieres on the Disney Channel at 8pm Eastern time/7pm Central time.

The movie is about aspiring singer at a music themed summer camp. The cast includes the Jonas Brothers and Demi Lovato. The movie is mostly about Mitchie Torres (played by Demi Lovato) wanting to make it as a singer. This includes going to a prestigious rock camp, where she has to be cook in order to attend. Her singing is overheard by a teen pop star, who is teaching at the camp. The one that discovers her is Shane Gray played by Joe Jonas. He is at the camp with the other two members of his band (played by Nick and Kevin Jonas) called Connect Three.

It is a Disney movie, so I think it will be at least worth catching once, however, I must say it is getting a little boring with all this music themed movies. It sounds a lot like High School Musical with a new cast and they are even already in pre-production for a sequal. Not to mention another Cheetah Girls Disney Channel Movie is coming in August and High School Musical 3 will hit theaters in October. At least it looks like 2009 it looks like there will be mostly non-music themed Disney Channel Original Movies for the less musically inclined like myself.

The Suite Life of Zack & Cody is one of my favorite Disney Channel shows, so I tried this video game soon after it came out. It turned out to be a big disappointment to the point that I did not even try the next DS game they released called Circle of Spies, although, perhaps they improved the game and fixed the cons at least to some extent.

The game has a few good aspects. For one, it decently recreates the characters and scenes from the show in that it has pretty good realistic graphics as far as a Nintendo DS game goes. Also, it has some good sounds, especially with the realistic character voices.

The cons, however, outweigh the good a lot. The major thing is that the controls are confusing and hard to learn. Also, there tends to be a lack of instruction on how to get through the levels leaving you confused and sometimes meaning you have to start the level over because you get a twin stuck behind. It is a nice challenging game for more experienced gamers, however, I am sure most interested in this game are kids that are not all that experienced with platform DS games. Some kids may be able to figure out the controls and then end up enjoying it, however, it is not worthwhile for most. If your kid is a diehard fan of the show, then rent it first before buying it because I think even most of the diehard fans will not want to put up with the frustrating controls.

Tomorrow (May 24, 2008) the Disney Channel is having a marathon called If It’s Not One Thing, It’s Your Brother. It is a marathon of Phineas & Ferb and Suite Life of Zach and Cody episodes. Often marathons or themed things lead up to something. This one leads up to a premiere of a new episode of Phineas & Ferb.

Continue reading for the full line up for this marathon. (more…)

Bear in the Big Blue House: A Bear for All Seasons is a fun DVD for preschoolers that like Bear in the Big Blue House. Also, since the show is no longer on TV it is a good way to introduce kids to this show who have never seen it before and it is definitely one of those old shows worth showing new generations of preschoolers. The show teaches about different things with its fun plots with fun songs and a lovable big Bear character. The only issue with this particular DVD of Bear in the Big Blue House is that the title implies it covers all four seasons, but it really only ends up covering summer and fall.

The first episode is about summer and is called “Summer Cooler.” The second episode is about fall and is called “Falling for Fall.” The third and final episode is called “All-Weather Bear.” This episode deals with different weather including sunshine and rain, but it in the end seems like another summer episode with them going swimming. It could arguably be classified as a spring episode. One thing is for certain winter is not covered at all on this DVD. Thus while I still think this is a great show and DVD of the show, I think it is important to not be expecting to see all seasons represented as if you then you will be very disappointed as I was.

This DVD also has a nice special feature of Sing Alongs for four of the songs featured in the episodes on this DVD. The songs are “In the Middle of the Summer�? from the “Summer Cooler�? episode, “Falling for Fall�? from the episode of the same name, and “Good Morning�? and “Weather�? from the “All-Weather Bear�? episode.

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Tomorrow night (May 16, 2008) the Disney Channel has a special line up ending with a special presentation of High School Musical 2. This includes special shorts about the making of the new Cheetah Girls movie that will premiere on the Disney Channel this summer. These shorts are called Road to The Cheetah Girls One World. As part of the showing of High School Musical 2 there will be music videos of the High School Musical 2 songs being performed in India. Lastly, the new Disney series of shorts called Jonas Brothers: Living the Dream.

The line up does not seem all that special (i.e. related to the special aspects of this event as described above) besides the episode of Hannah Montana in which the Jonas Brothers guest star and the episode of The Suite Life of Zach & Cody in which London plays Sharpay in the school’s production of High School Musical. I guess several of the episodes try to relate to the event by being somewhat related to music. The line up of shows is listed below.

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Tomorrow (May 16, 2008) a new series of short episodes (abbreviated to shorts or more technically called interstitial) starts on the Disney Channel. It seems most of the Disney Channel shorts are part of the Playhouse Disney line up, although, there are several that play at other times of the day, but usually unpredictably (i.e. they at least are not added to the tv guide information). One example is Disney 411 and the old Mike’s Super Short Show.

The newest series of shorts on the Disney Channel is called Jonas Brothers: Living the Dream. The first episode will air at 7:55pm Eastern time on Disney Channel after Suite Life of Zach & Cody and before another showing of High School Musical 2.

This is a reality series of shorts lasting about five minutes. The series follows the life of the Jonas Brothers and the rest of their family as they go on their “Look Me in the Eyes” tour. The shorts will feature not only clips of them on stage performing, but also behind the scenes clips of some of the things they do off stage.

Not sure how interesting these shorts will be, but they will likely be a hit among those that like the Jonas Brothers, which seems to be a lot of tweens. It does at least sound a little more interesting than the As the Bell Rings shorts the Disney Channel ran last summer. Sorry, but I just found those totally stupid and worthless. I guess some junior and high school kids may have related and enjoyed them, but I would have rather watched commercials than those segments. As for the Jonas Brothers shorts it cannot be worse than their breakfast to go commercials, which kind of seem like a preview to this new series of shorts.

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This upcoming week (May 12 through May 16, 2008) is My Friends Tigger & Pooh Mystery Week in the Playhouse Disney segment of the Disney Channel. I really do not see how it is much of a specially themed week, as the episodes are always mysteries. It is however a celebratory way to lead up to the new episode airing this Friday. Below is a list of this week’s line up as part of the special week. All episodes are at 9:30am Eastern time.

Monday, May 12th’s episode is called “Chasing Pooh’s Rainbow/Lumpy Mixes a Mystery.” In the first part Pooh searches for honey at the end of a rainbow. The second part is about Roo and Lumpy figuring out how to mix the right colors in painting a birdhouse for his uncle (if I remember correctly they are trying to create purple).

Tuesday, May 13th’s episode is called “Pooh’s Double Trouble/Eeyore Sleeps On It.” In the first part the Super Sleuths learn about mirrors in reflections. The second part is about them trying to keep Eeyore from sleepwalking.

Wednesday, May 14th’s episode is called “Darby’s Tooth and Nothin’ But the Tooth/Snow Problem, Roo.” The first about is about Pooh and Tigger trying to find Darby’s lost tooth. In the second part Roo learns about why her snowman is shrinking.

Thursday, May 15th’s episode is called “No Rumbly in Pooh’s Tumbly/Pooh Sticks Get Stuck.” In the first part the Super Sleuths try to figure out why Pooh’s tummy is not rumbling. In the second part they try to figure out why the river has dried up.

Friday, May 16th’s episode is the new episode called “Peck Peck Peckin’ on Rabbit’s Door/Flowers from Roo.” The first part is about a mysterious sound keeping rabbit awake. The second part is about butterflies appearing in the area.

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With a special Little Einsteins week coming up next week on Playhouse Disney I thought it would be good to to an extra DVD review this week on one of the Little Einsteins DVDs. I do not know if this is the best Little Einsteins DVDs, but it is the first one I personally watched and I was impressed by the bonus feature it has.

Little Einsteins: The Legend of the Golden Pyramid contains three episodes of the Little Einsteins show. The first episode is the same as the name of the DVD. “The Legend of the Golden Pyramid” episode is about the Little Einsteins going on a mission in Ancient Egypt to find the golden pyramid and unlock it to release the music inside. The featured tune for this episode is by Johannes Brahms.

The second episode on this DVD is called “Dragon Kite.” In this episode the Little Einsteins end up in China helping to find Dragon Kites and return them to the kite festival at the Great Wall of China. The tune featured in this episode is by Edvard Greig.

The third episode is called “Annie and the Little Toy Plane.” This episode is set in San Francisco. In the episode the Little Einsteins help a toy plane rescue a helicopter that is stuck in a giant redwood tree. The tune for this episode is by Wolfgang Amadeau Mozart.

If you have not noticed from my other TV on DVD reviews, bonus features are something I think is important to be included on DVDs. Really if there is not a good bonus feature, then why would I want to buy a DVD of a show I could just record on Tivo or my DVR. This DVD does not disappoint in regards to its bonus feature. The bonus feature is a great interactive storybook game called Little Einsteins Storybook Mission: Where’s Froggy’s Family?

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In My Friends Tigger & Pooh preschoolers are encouraged to interact and become Super Sleuths and help the Super Sleuths solve mysteries. The main characters of the show include, of course, Winnie the Pooh and Tigger. It also includes other friends from the Hundred Acres Woods, such as Rabbit, Piglet, Roo, and Lumpy. There is also a new character called Darby, who is a human girl and replaces the old human presense of Christopher Robin. Darby, Pooh, and Tigger form the Super Sleuths, who solve mysteries and/or problems that they have or their other Hundred Acre Woods friends bring to them. Each mystery starts with the Sleuth Siren summoning them to the treehouse, where they change into their Super Sleuth outfits (hat for Darby and shirts fro Pooh and Tigger, as well as special goggles for Tigger) before looking at the Finder Flag that tells them where the mystery is. As they solve mysteries Darby encourages the viewers to help and along the way preschool viewers will be introduced to problem solving, counting, and science facts. Besides being educational the show is also a lot of fun for kids and has great 3D animation making it animation wise much more superior to previous Pooh series.

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