Tot TV Watch

Princess Protection Program is the latest Disney Channel Original Movie. It premieres tomorrow night, June 26, 2009, on the Disney Channel. It is technically just the United States premiere of this movie, as it has already shown in several European countries. Also, interesting is that this movie is getting a very quick DVD release with is coming out on Tuesday, June 30, 2009. Princess Protection Program sounds like an entertaining plot and I actually think this might be a great Disney Channel movie. Probably the best they have premiered so far this year, but that is not too hard, especially since I really think Hatching Pete stunk.

Princess Protection Program is about Princess Rosalinda (played by Demi Lovato) entering the Princess Protection Program (a witness protection like program for royalty) and being placed in Louisiana after her country is invaded by an evil dictator. She is placed with Mason and his daughter, Carter (played by Selena Gomez). Carter, a tomboy, helps Rosie (name she goes by in the Princess Protection Program) become a normal American teenage girl while Rosie helps Carter discover her inner princess.

The special weekend premiere of this movie is hosted by Selena Gomez and Demi Lovato. The weekend with include some sneak peak stuff on Friday that includes looks at an upcoming hour long Hannah Montana special, the “Wizards on Deck with Hannah Montana” crossover event, and Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie. Saturday viewers are asked to count how many times princess is said during the movie and then unlock new episodes of Wizards of Waverly Place and Sonny with a Chance on Disney Channel’s website. Sunday there is a sneak peak of the upcoming Disney movie The Princess and the Frog.

Do not forget to comment and get an entry in our June 2009 Comment Contest and have a chance to win a TV on DVD.

Yesterday, June 22, 2009, Disney announced that they have ordered a second season of Special Agent Oso. This show is the newest one in the Playhouse Disney line up, which is geared towards preschoolers. The show has been a huge success since it first premiered back in April 2009. According to Nancy Kanter, senior vice president, Playhouse Disney Worldwide, “‘Special Agent Oso’ has launched stronger and faster than any preschool series in our history – not just in the U.S., but around the world.” The show has been number 1 in its timeslot for preschool viewers since its premiere. It really is a great show that makes learning simple everyday things that preschoolers eventually should learn to do a fun and interactive television experience. I think this show can get old and out of ideas fast, but I think there are enough things that a second season will still be pretty fresh.

Tomorrow, June 15, 2009, Fun in the Sun Week begins on Playhouse Disney. This special line up includes Fun in the Sun themed episodes from this Monday through this Friday from 8am Eastern Time/7am Central Time to 10am Eastern Time/9am Central Time each morning. Below is the complete line up.

Monday, June 15, 2009

8am Eastern Time/7am Central Time - Special Agent Oso “The Living Flashlight/Sand Castle Royale”

8:30am Eastern Time/7:30am Central Time - Mickey Mouse Clubhouse “Mickey’s Camp Out”

9am Eastern Time/8am Central Time - Handy Manny “Bake Sale/Camping Tools”

9:30am Eastern Time/8:30am Central Time - Imagination Movers “March of the Movers”

Tuesday, June 15, 2009

8am Eastern Time/7am Central Time - Special Agent Oso “Thunder Berries/Flowers Are Forever”

8:30am Eastern Time/7:30am Central Time - Mickey Mouse Clubhouse “Mickey Goes Fishing”

9am Eastern Time/8am Central Time - Handy Manny “A Very Handy Vacation”

9:30am Eastern Time/8:30am Central Time - Imagination Movers “Too Cool”

Wednesday, June 16, 2009

8am Eastern Time/7am Central Time - Special Agent Oso “Hopscotch Royale/Gold Ringer”

8:30am Eastern Time/7:30am Central Time - Mickey Mouse Clubhouse “Clarabelle’s Clubhouse Carnival”

9am Eastern Time/8am Central Time - Handy Manny “Sculptor Manny/Manny Goes Solar”

9:30am Eastern Time/8:30am Central Time - Imagination Movers “Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Mouse?”

Thursday, June 17, 2009

8am Eastern Time/7am Central Time - Special Agent Oso “Live and Jump Rope/A View to a Kitten”

8:30am Eastern Time/7:30am Central Time - Mickey Mouse Clubhouse “Minnie’s Picnic”

9am Eastern Time/8am Central Time - Handy Manny “Happy Birthday Mr. Lopart/Scout Manny”

9:30am Eastern Time/8:30am Central Time - Imagination Movers “Big Pumpkin Problem”

Friday, June 18, 2009

8am Eastern Time/7am Central Time - Special Agent Oso “The Girl Who Cheered Me/License to Twirl”

8:30am Eastern Time/7:30am Central Time - Mickey Mouse Clubhouse “Mickey and Minnie’s Jungle Safari”

9am Eastern Time/8am Central Time - Handy Manny “Abuelito’s Garden/Firehouse Tools”

9:30am Eastern Time/8:30am Central Time - Imagination Movers “Treasure of the Warehouse”

This Saturday, June 13, 2009, is Special Assignment Saturday on Playhouse Disney. This special line up features Special Agent Oso episodes. The marathon runs for 4 hours starting at 6am Eastern Time/5am Central Time. See the complete line up below.

6am Eastern Time/5am Central Time - “A View to a Book/Diamonds Are a Kites” about Oso helping a boy check out a library book and helping a girl fly a kite

6:30am Eastern Time/5:30am Central Time - “Hopscotch Royale/Gold Ringer” about Oso helping two kids learn to hopscotch and a girl learn to play horseshoes

7am Eastern Time/6am Central Time - “The Girl Who Cheered Me/License to Twirl”

7:30am Eastern Time/6:30am Central Time - “For Show and Tell Only/Piggy Bank Royale” about Oso helping a boy choose something special for show and tell and helping a girl put her piggy bank back together

8am Eastern Time/7am Central Time - “The Living Flashlight/Sand Castle Royale” New Episode of the show

8:30am Eastern Time/7:30am Central Time - “Octo-Puzzle/One Suitcase is Enough” about Oso helping a boy put together a jigsaw puzzle of an octopus before his dad gets home and helping another boy pack for a trip before it is time for his family to leave for the airport

9am Eastern Time/8am Central Time - “Hide Another Day/Live and Let Dry” about Oso helping a boy find his cousins in a game of hide and seek before it is time for him to go home and helping another boy wash and dry dishes

9:30am Eastern Time/8:30am Central Time - “The Boy with the Golden Gift/Birthdays are Forever” about Oso helping a boy wrap a present and helping another boy make a birthday hat

The Suite Life of Zach & Cody Circle of Spies for Nintendo DS is a game featuring the characters from Disney’s The Suite Life of Zach & Cody show. It has a story mode and mini games mode. The story mode is entirely unimpressive and awkward to figure out in my opinion. I do not know why I expected it to be easy/straightforward to play, as the other DS game for this show is annoys me at being hard to figure out within the first few levels to the point I have never played it again even though I actually own that version.

Basically it just is not well put together. The controls seem to work okay, but the execution is kind of hard to get the hang of and just does not always work the most logical or at least not to me. Sure adventure games should not be too easy, but it should not be entirely confusing either or at least not until later in the game.

The other thing about this game is the graphics are not that great. They could be better done in terms of the characters actually looking like themselves. The actually quality is not bad, but the not looking much like things should is just odd at times.

The only thing this game does good is have a few entertaining mini games. They are not much of anything to even make it worth renting, but they do add to it if you happen to be able to enjoy the adventure part as well, although I suspect those are the people who will not find the mini games anything interesting. The mini games include one with the walking Maddie through the hotel balancing cakes.

Do not forget to comment and get an entry in our June 2009 Comment Contest and have a chance to win a TV on DVD.

I finally got around to watching the premiere episode of JONAS that I had recorded last weekend. I was away without Disney until Tuesday and this show did not spike my interest until I got through some of my other more interesting recordings from last week. Thus upfront I must say I never expected much from this show and honestly thought of it to be a stinker from the beginning. Sad to say I pretty much was not disappointed.

It is not that JONAS is a horrible show, but it just does not have any aspects to make it entertaining to watch. It lacks any great drama to the plot line, such as teen dramas like Degrassi. It also lacks any comedy to make it entertaining and something I would want to watch, such as I like in Hannah Montana. Lastly it is really odd with the characters supposedly being openly famous, but overall living an extremely bland life. It just is unrealistically bland of a show. That and none of the characters are developed except perhaps Nick in this first episode to be able to connect with any of the characters, which is something that could make one come back to see what happens to a specific character.

Bottom line is this show is a major flop in my opinion and actually I am sort of surprised at how much so. I just thought I would not like it because it does crazy comedy stuff like Sonny with a Chance or is a crazy superstar thing like the movie star character that was in Hannah Montana for a few episodes.

Have you seen this show? What do you think of it?

The Camp Rock Down Under interstitial premieres on the Disney Channel tomorrow, May 8, 2009, at 7:55am Eastern Time/6:55am Central Time. This interstitial show is premiering a new episode almost every Friday (skips two Fridays in June and one in July) with the last episode premiering on August 7, 2009. This interstitial follows two teams competing in a real Camp Rock situation. The two teams are Team Australia and Team New Zealand, hence the Down Under part of the interstitial’s title. Below is a list of the episodes and their premiere dates.

May 8, 2009 - “Tracking the Teams” episode
May 15, 2009 - “Setting the Stakes” episode
May 22, 2009 - “Getting to Business” episode
May 29, 2009 - “First Up, Some Fun” episode
June 5, 2009 - “Climbing the Ladder” episode
June 12, 2009 - “Making the Moves” episode
June 19, 2009 - “Hitting it Hard” episode
July 3, 2009 - “Rapping and Rolling” episode
July 10, 2009 - “Perfecting the Performance” episode
July 24, 2009 - “The Winner Takes it All” episode
July 31, 2009 - “Tackling the Big Time” episode
August 7, 2009 - “Finale”

The newest Disney Channel original television series premieres tomorrow, May 2, 2009, on the Disney Channel. The newest series is called JONAS. The main characters are the Jonas Brothers, who take on the name the Lucas Brothers in the show. The whole snippet premise of the sounds kind of Hannah Montana like, as it is about them being famous band members while also trying to have ordinary lives. Of course, there is no double life aspect.

The show seems like it could be entertaining. Personally the only live action Disney Channel show that has not entertained me is Sonny with a Chance. Not to mention the similar Hannah Montana show is one of my favorites. However, I just do not think it will be as good as that show because really the interactions between Miley and her dad along with the secret life mishaps truly make the show. The only reason why I am not so sure about this show is that it seems like it could be like the Nickelodeon Naked Brothers Band show, which I cannot stand.

Hannah Montana: Life’s What You Make It is a simple DVD release with four episodes of Disney Channel’s Hannah Montana and two bonus features. Yes, it is kind of flimsy on content, but then again so are most other kid television show DVD releases. The show has come out with a whole first season release and perhaps the second season will get the same treatment eventually, but for now this is just one of the 4 episode collections of season 2 episodes. Unless your kids are big Hannah Montana fans I recommend only renting and holding out for a full season release or until they grow out of the phase (or you could win it in my April 2009 Comment Contest).

The four episodes on this release are “Achey Jaky Heart, Part 1,” “Achy Jakey Heart, Part 2,” “I am Hannah Hear Me Croak,” and “I Want You to Want Me…to go to Florida.” The first two are part of a plot arc about Jake the movie star trying to win Miley back, her telling him her secret that she is Hannah Montana, and eventually them breaking up again because he does not seem to have any normal guyness underneath his snobby movie guyness. The third one is about Miley having voice issues that lead to her needing surgery and her worrying what would happen if she could not sing ever again. The last one is about Miley wanting to go sing in Florida, but her dad not wanting to let her go because he cannot go with.

Overall I am not entirely attached to these particular episodes of the show even thought I do overall like all episodes of Hannah Montana. However, I really really like the last one because it works in the “Ready, Set, Don’t Go” song by Billy Ray, which is one of my favorite songs. The inclusion of song as a music video in the Bonus Features is something I also enjoyed, but the Backstage Pass The Secrets of Hannah Montana short featurette was pretty ho hum in my opinion.

Check out the other TV on DVD reviews I have blogged about here.

Do not forget to comment and get an entry in our April 2009 Comment Contest and have a chance to win a TV on DVD.

I do not feel this can really be called a review when it could not keep my attention enough, so I did not really watch Hatching Pete all that closely. It was so bad that the highlight was the preview for the next Disney Channel Original Movie, Princess Protection Program coming on June 26. Now that is at least one I look forward to. Perhaps the lack of interest in this in the first place is part of why I did not really like it, but it really was too bare bones of a plot.

The movie seems to basically just revolve around Pete wanting to date his best friend’s sister and being the mascot as a favor for his best friend, who is allergic to the suit and promises to help him get a date with his sister. I guess it is not entirely horrible, but the whole thing is way too much just random basketball game mascot craziness leaving not much room for character development or anything. It just seems like a kind of drawn out movie plot that would have served better as a half hour special. Honestly I felt ready to turn it off before it was even half over and the only other movie I felt like this with was Wall-e, but perhaps that means this is an awesome movie in others minds, however some how I think it is seen very different and it does not have that much of an appeal. Wall-e turns out to have a decent ending, but I do not have the patience to wade through this movie to finish it until maybe later this weekend, however, I am in no rush and tempted to just delete from my DVR.

The newest Disney Channel Original Movie premieres tomorrow, April 24, 2009. It is called Hatching Pete. Interestingly, it already premiered on the UK Disney Channel earlier this month, so the US premiere is not the first premiere of the movie. Also, the movie already has a DVD release date of May 10, 2009, as a double feature package with Dadnapped.

Hatching Pete is about a very shy boy named Pete (played by Jason Dolley, who is in Corey in the House and Minutemen) taking the place of his friend, Poole (played by Mitchell Mu as the school mascot (a chicken) and through the experience beginning to make more friends and getting a girl. It sounds like it has potential, but at the same time it does not have a gotta see it type of plot appeal at all. Basically I think it might turn out to be a good movie, but it does not sound like it will be an awesome Disney Channel movie, however, perhaps it will turn out better than it sounds.

I do plan to watch it, but somehow I do not see it surprising me and ending up more enjoyable than the last Disney Channel Original Movie, Dadnapped, which was not the best, but was not too bad either. Personally I am kind of just waiting on the other upcoming Disney Channel Original Movies, as those actually have my interest just by their titles. They are Princess Protection Program (supposedly coming June 26, 2009) and Wizards of Waverly Place: Stone of Dreams (coming late 2009 or early 2010, I think).

Handy Manny Gets Handy With the Earth tomorrow, April 18, 2009, on Playhouse Disney. The special line up of Handy Manny and Special Agent Oso episodes. The line up starts at 8am Eastern time/7am Central time. The same line up will also be on Earth Day (Wednesday, April 22, 2009). The full line up is below.

*New Episode* 8am Eastern Time/7am Central Time - Special Agent Oso’s “Dr. Off/License to Dress” episode about Oso teaching a girl how to conserve water and power at home and helping a boy dress himself for school

8:30am Eastern Time/7:30am Central Time - Special Agent Oso’s “Carousel Royale/Leaf Raker” episode about Oso helping a girl find her lost carousel ticket and help a boy clean his yard in preparation for a compost truck to arrive

*New Episode* 9am Eastern Time/8am Central Time - Handy Manny’s “Home Sweet Home/Jackie’s Old Shed” episode about Manny and tools renovating a house and Manny building a recycling storage area with wood from an old shed

9:30am Eastern Time/8:30am Central Time - Handy Manny’s “Sculptor Manny/Manny Goes Solar” episode about Manny and the tools recreating a broken sculpture and Manny installing solar panels to power a store sign

10am Eastern Time/9am Central Time - Handy Manny’s “Movie Night/Cactus Manny” episode about Manny and the tools entertaining the crowd while also repairing the movie projector and Manny helping with a friends rose garden when the mayor requires the town to conserve water

*New Episode* 10:30am Eastern Time/9:30am Central Time - Handy Manny’s “Arbor Day/Flicker Speaks English” episode about Manny and tools helping to transfer a tree to a sunnier location and Flicker struggling to learn English

This morning I went and saw the first showing of the day for Hannah Montana the Movie. Okay, so a few theaters did do a midnight showing and that is way past my bedtime, so I went for the much more agreeable 10am showtime, which happens to also have a special $5 deal for being the first showing of the day for the movie. Anyways, I kind of made the decision to go when I bought the tickets online yesterday morning after thinking I was going to have to wait until this came on DVD because I could not find anyone to go with. I am glad I decided to go see it on my own because it was totally worth it.

The plot is not exactly all that deep, but then again a complex plot can make movies, especially in the theaters, too tedious to watch. It is basically about Miley becoming too absorbed into being Hannah that the Miley part of her seems to have disappeared. It leads to her ruining Lilly’s Sweet 16 and getting in the papers for a superstar fight over shoes with Tyra Banks (I think this was the celebrity, but not positive). She basically is ready to be all Hannah all the time, but her dad would rather it be the other way around dropping the whole Hannah thing. She thinks she is getting her way and going to New York on a private jet, but she ends up back home in Tennessee. Slowly she rediscovers the country girl, Miley. The story includes some wacky Hannah/Miley moments with her trying to keep her secret as Hannah comes to save the small town charm from being taken over by a mall and Miley tries to date a childhood crush. Her secret does not seem safe, as a British tabloid reporter is trying to figure out whatever her secret is to tell the world. Will she become all Hannah, all Miley, or will her identity be revealed leaving her no longer the option to freely be just normal Miley?

The thing I most like about the movie is the music. It is not like the crappy music centric movies that are all about the music and nothing about a plot (sorry, that is just how I see the High School Musical series). Rather the music is part of the plot like in most normal movies, although of course the music is a little more obviously entwined with the plot rather than just background music the characters in the movie are not hearing. Of course, I am biased towards country music and this movie has some great ones.

Tomorrow, April 10, 2009, Hannah Montana the Movie opens in theaters across the country. The movie is based on the popular Disney Channel show, Hannah Montana. The movie is about the pop star Hannah Montana part of Miley’s life beginning to take over as Hannah Montana gains popularity. She is about ready to let it take over her life and give up on her Miley Stewart life. Her dad takes her back to Tennessee for a dose of reality that leads to adventure that includes romance.

I think this movie will be pretty interesting and I know I love the music in it already, as it has several good country songs including Billy Ray Cyrus’ “Back to Tennessee.” The plot sounds pretty good and actually way better than many of the recent episodes in my opinion. I think it will be a good movie to actually go and see in theaters this weekend and I only go to theaters a few times a year, so that is really saying something for me. It even sounds good enough that I am going to go see it by myself on opening day. I have never gone to the movies alone before and actually most of the time it is just the opposite in that I only go because someone wants me to go with them (i.e. my brother dragging me to Indiana Jones and Get Smart last summer, which I would not have gone to otherwise). Only other movie I could ever imagining going alone to is Harry Potter, but I will not because at least my bro always wants to go to those.

By the way if you get buy your tickets ahead of time at Fandango.com or Movietickets.com through April 19, 2009, you are supposed to get a free download of “The Climb” music video. However, I have no idea how this works and I just bought my ticket for tomorrow on Fandango. No special offer was noticeable given to me besides joining some stupid movie club thing that Fandango does. Honestly, though, I do not care to really investigate because I already bought the movie soundtrack on iTunes as preorder and now have it along with the music video that supposedly you get for buying tickets online. Just a warning that it does not appear to come right as your purchase or if it does it is easy to miss the offer.

This morning I watched the premiere episodes of Special Agent Oso on Playhouse Disney. The first episode was about mailing a letter (”To Grandma With Love”) and planting marigolds (”Gold Flower”). The second was about brushing teeth (”Never Say No to Brushing Again”) and repairing a book (”The Girl with the Golden Book”).

The show did not surprise me in that it is pretty entertaining. I was surprised to find Oso to not be all that accident prone as the preview info made me think. Those made him seem more like a bumbling fool like the Pink Panther, but really Oso forgets pretty much just one special thing to remember each episode and it does not make him seem like a fool really.

The show teaches about doing things in three easy steps. Many of the things are practical things for kids to learn and do, such as planting flowers, mailing a letter, fixing a torn book, and brushing their teeth. The previews show one about tying shoes eventually airing and that one would be so nice for some older kids I know that never learned and hopefully help a few fewer preschoolers skip this important lesson. The show also teaches some related vocab along the way and does not seem to try to dumb things down to only use terms preschoolers should already know.

The three step song gets a little repetitive with it being done several times in the 22 minute episode. At least the words do change related to the episodes special task and three steps, so it is not exactly like it is the same song over and over.

Overall this is a great show in my opinion. It is not just an entertaining well animated show for preschoolers with situations they can sometimes relate to, but it is also educational without seeming overtly so.