Tot TV Watch

On July 5, 2009, there will be an hour long special of Hannah Montana. This special length episode is called “He Could Be the One?” The special will premiere at 8pm Eastern Time/Pacific Time. A Hannah Montana marathon that will start at 1pm Eastern Time/Pacific Time on July 5, 2009, will lead up to the premiere of the hour long special on the Disney Channel.

Also, leading up to the special will be the premiere of five music videos from the Hannah Montana Season 3 soundtrack. One video will premiere each night from June 29 through July 3, 2009 at 7pm Eastern Time/Pacific Time. The five new music videos are “Mixed Up,” “Just A Girl,” “Let’s Get Crazy,” “Supergirl” and “Every Part of Me” and they will all air again after the “He Could Be the One?” episode.

The episode will guest star Brooke Shields (Miley’s late mother) and Cody Linley (Miley’s ex-boyfriend Jake Ryan). The episode is about Miley trying to tell Robby Ray (her dad) that she is dating Jake Ryan again, but she keeps failing. Robby begins to suspect that Miley is hiding something from him. In order to make him thankful for Jake, Miley pretends to date a bad boy that is in her band and named Jesse. She ends up over her head and Robby helps her get out of the trouble with the help of Miley’s late mother, who I assume will again be appearing in an advice giving dream type way that may or may not involve crazy loco hot cocoa or whatever they call it.

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.

Tomorrow, June 20, 2009, is the first Handy Manny Superstar Summer Saturday. This is a special Playhouse Disney line up that consists of a new Handy Manny episode every Saturday through August 8, 2009. Basically Playhouse Disney is celebrating Saturdays throughout the summer with new episodes of Handy Manny. Below is the line up of the new episodes as part of the Handy Manny Superstar Summer Saturdays. The new episodes all first air at 8:30am Eastern Time/7:30am Central Time.

June 20, 2009 - “Danny Starr/Quinceanera”
June 27, 2009 - “The Good, The Bad, The Handy”
July 4, 2009 - “Lyle & Leland Lopart/Blackout on the Block”
July 11, 2009 - “A Day at the Beach/The Party Dress”
July 18, 2009 - “Singing Salon/Manny’s Makeover”
July 25, 2009 - “A Night with Abuelito/Canine Case”
August 1, 2009 - “Saving the Turtles/Abuelito’s Siesta”
August 8, 2009 - “Picture Perfect/Some Assembly Required.”

Dora Saves the Snow Princess for Nintendo DS is a video game based on the double length special of Dora the Explorer “Dora Saves the Snow Princess” episode. The game does nicely follow that episode’s storyline, however, it is surprisingly short. I kind of expected it to be at least as long of a plot as when I played Go, Diego, Go Safari Rescue and actually thought it would be better since it was newer. However, I have found that Nickelodeon has gone backwards and made it shorter and way easier to play through in under 15 minutes if you are an experienced game and still no more than 1 hour for a first time preschool gamer.

Despite the lack of much gameplay depth I will give this game some credit for great graphics and being entertaining for the time it does last. The Snowy Forest aspect also adds a little more depth beyond the story mode with it having a snowman decorating activity, an animal hide and seek activity, and coloring. They might add about another 30 minutes of entertainment, but still that is not quite enough to make this worth recommend purchasing new. Only way I see it worth a purchase is for a huge fan of Dora and it found for under $10 (including tax!!).

By the way the game also gets credit for being easy, but not too boringly easy like I found the Wonder Pets game to be. Thus it is not really the easiness that makes this a quick game, but really just the minimal amount of tasks needed to accomplish to beat it. Lastly this game has a few educational concepts like the show does (i.e. shapes, some Spanish).

Tomorrow, June 3, 2009, the newest Cartoon Network show premieres. It is not exactly an entirely new show, but a new season of another show kind of like how Pokemon seems to always change the show’s title for each season. Anyways the new show is called Total Drama Action and is the second season of Total Drama Island. The show is a continuation of that animated reality show and it appears the characters mostly are the same, too. The cast was paired down from the original 22 campers to 15 cast mates for this second season.

The theme of this season is Cinematography. The cast mates stay at an abandoned movie studio lot in Toronto, Ontario. The cast mates are competing for the ultimate prize of $1 million. The challenges in this season are not as random as in the first season, as the challenges are related to different movie genres they are portraying. There is a confessional in a make up room of the set. They cast votes to vote off people by voting devices under their seats. Those not voted off receive a Gilded Chris Statuette at an award ceremony and the one that does not get one is the loser. The losers leave by walking down the Red Carpet Walk of Shame and get into a Lame-O-Sine.

While I never got into the first season, it is not exactly because I do not like most of the crap Cartoon Network comes out with. It actually mostly has to do with me not being into reality shows much less fictional shows imitating reality shows. However, it does seem to be better than actual reality shows and is much better when you totally know everything is made up.

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 have very mixed feelings about the latest My Friends Tigger & Pooh DVD release called Tigger, Pooh, and a Musical Too. For one, I love that it has interactive and sing along version of the movie as part of the bonus features. The bonus features are definitely something that usually makes by recommend or not recommend something, however this time I love the special features, but rather was disappointed in the movie itself to the point of barely recommending it.

The movie is about an hour in length and is has a rather good plot about Rabbit being given the honor of Mayor. This causes him to impose his very orderly rules on everyone and eventually leads to the Hundred Acre Woods being divided in half with Tigger being the Mayor of the other side. In the end they each learn that they appreciate each other and are the two extremes of leadership to some extent. The main point seems that your needs (i.e. Rabbit’s excessive need for order) are not necessarily the best for everyone and learning to respect other’s needs. Sounds like a good lesson and all, so what is my problem with this movie.

Well, my problem is that it is being called a My Friend Tigger & Pooh movie and it has pretty much no mention of the Super Sleuths and there certainly is not any real sleuthing going on. This is such an integral part of the show and I fear many kids that like the show as much as I do will be quite disappointed in this. Basically I feel this should have been released simply called Tigger, Pooh, and a Musical Too and not under the My Friends Tigger & Pooh series name. That way I would not have expected the Super Sleuth aspect so much and would not be so disappointed because this does fit quite well with the more classic Pooh movies that do not include Super Sleuthing.

By the way the Bonus Features include Active Play (little interacting things inserted in movie that do not require remote), Interactive Play (much like Active, but you use the remote to do mini games at certain parts of the movie), Rabbit’s Think Think Think Theater where you put together a musical, Sing Along with the Movie, and “Underneath the Same Sky” Music Video by Kenny Loggins. All the bonus features are top rate and a surprising amount for a kids television release.

Bottom line is I do not recommend buying until you know your kids like the movie. It only came out on DVD yesterday, but it has already has a few showing on the Disney Channel and likely will show some more. If the kids do like it despite the lack of the Super Sleuth mystery aspect, then this DVD is worthwhile because the bonus features really enhance the experience.

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.

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

Barney’s Super Singing Circus - I believe this 50 minute Barney movie has never been shown on television, but has been released on VHS before. It is about the circus coming to town and Emily has never been to the circus and cannot go, so Barney and friends put on one just for her. I do not think this has any special features.

Best of Super Mario Super Show - This release contains what is supposed to be the best of the Super Mario Bros. Show. The episodes include “Star Koopa,” “Mario and the Beanstalk,” “Pirates of the Koopa,” “Mario’s Magic Carpet,” “Two Plumbers and a Baby,” “Mario and Joliet,” “Do You Princess Toadstool Take This Koopa?,” “Quest for Pizza, and “The Trojan Koopa.” The episodes are mostly parodies of movies, books, and such including Star Wars, Romeo & Juliet, and Jack and the Beanstalk. Probably does not have any special features, as none of the other collections of this show I have watched have much in terms of that.

Exosquad: Season 1 - This release contains the 13 episodes in this animated show’s first season. It is a two disc set. Not sure if it includes any special features or not.

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.

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.

Chowder Volume 2 - This release contains episodes 6 through 10 of the show.

Franny’s Feet: Princess Franny - I think this has three or four episodes.

Max and Ruby: Bunny Hop into Spring - This is a three disc set of Easter/Spring themed Max and Ruby releases. It includes Berry Bunny Adventures, Springtime for Max & Ruby, and Easter with Max & Ruby.

Pucca: Sooga Super Squad - I think this release has five episodes of the show. It also has a few special features.

Sesame Street: Elmo & Friends Tales of Adventure - This release contains three stories. The stories are The Adventures of Little Big Bird, Elmo’s Alphabet Race, and The Golden Triangle of Destiny.

SpongeBob SquarePants: SpongeBob vs. the Big One - This release contains six half-episodes of Spongebob Squarepants. The episodes are “SpongeBob vs. The Big One,” “The Splinter,” “Slide Whistle Stooges,” “A Life in a Day,” “Sun Bleached,” and “Giant Squidward.”

Wonder Woman 2009 - This release is about 70 minutes. There is a regular one disc version that may or may not have some special features. There is also a special two disc edition that has special features including commentaries and documentaries. The two disc edition also comes with a digital copy. Lastly it is comes in a Blu-Ray version.

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

I was looking forward to the new Disney Channel Original Movie, Dadnapped, because it was finally a non-music themed movie. I was not disappointed in it. I was actually surprised how much it grabbed my attention. I often watch stuff while also on the computer or doing other things, but I found myself actually paying sole attention to this movie quite often. The plot was just the right amount of action mixed with good character development. Basically it blew away the Nickelodeon movie that premiered last night as well. Sure I did not feel like I wasted time watching Spectacular!, but I really enjoyed the time spent watching Danapped.

The movie is about a daughter about to go on a camping trip with her dad, who is a famous author. Before they get to the camping part of their trip, her dad has them make a supposedly short stop at a fan convention. The daughter, Melissa, feels like the main character of her dad’s books is more important to him than she is and this includes her having imaginary conversations with this character as a sort of make believe enemy/friend. The contest her dad is judging is about to end when he ends up being kidnapped by some kid fans. That turns out to be a harmless prank of sorts and it seems the dad and daughter are reunited to go on their camping trip, but then the real kidnapping trouble happens with some man named Skunk and his brother kidnapping the father and daughter. As a captive the daughter acts like the main character of the books in trying to save them and she eventually learns that she is her father’s inspiration for the books. The fans that originally kidnapped the author witness the second kidnapping and follow them and with the help of the other fans at the convention they eventually help to save the father and daughter.

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

VeggieTales is making its premiere on the Gospel Music Channel tomorrow. The series has been showing on NBC and Qubo for a while, but that is just a half hour show. The two week run on the Gospel Music Channel will show hour long segments based on DVD releases. The two week run ends with the world premiere of the latest VeggieTales story called “Abe and the Amazing Promise” on February 7, 2009, which is a few days before they are releasing it on DVD on February 10, 2009. This is exciting news in my opinion because this is a great series for kids and even more exciting is that I discovered I actually have this channel as part of my DirectTV package (Channel 338). I have pretty much the most basic DirectTV, so if you have DirectTV you probably also get this channel. The channel is also available with some cable packages. Below is the limited two week run line up of VeggieTales episodes.

Monday, January 26, 2009 - “Josh and the Big Wall”
Tuesday, January 27, 2009 - “Josh and the Big Wall”
Wednesday, January 28, 2009 - “Bob’s Vacation”
Thursday, January 29, 2009 - “Gideon Tuba Warrior”
Friday, January 30, 2009 - “Moe & the Big Exit”
Monday, February 2, 2009 - “Gideon Tuba Warrior”
Tuesday, February 3, 2009 - “Moe & the Big Exit”
Wednesday, February 4, 2009 - “Josh and the Big Wall”
Thursday, February 5, 2009 - “Daniel & the Lion’s Den”
Friday, February 6, 2009 - “Bob’s Vacation”
Saturday, February 7, 2009 - “Abe and the Amazing Promise” World Premiere

It is sad that it is not a new permanent thing on the channel, but you can still catch the half hour segments on NBC, ION, and Qubo. Also, there is going to be another two week run in April leading up to the television premiere of the “An Easter Carol” episode.

This show does not premiere on the Disney Channel until this Friday, but I found that you can download the pilot episode for free in iTunes. The Suite Life on Deck brings back some of the characters from The Suite Life of Zack & Cody. Of course, the two main characters Zack and Cody, the twins, are part of the cast. Mr. Moseby and London Tipton are also on the S.S. Tipton. Zack and Cody’s mom appears in this first episode, but it is apparent she will only make occasional appearances on the show.

The show is about Zack, Cody, and London going to school on the S.S. Tipton with the school being called Seven Seas High. Zack and Cody meet new recurring characters, who are their roommates, as they now do not room together, but rather are across the hall from each other. The one character is Woody Fink, who is a slob and extreme of gross boyness and is Cody’s roommate. The other is Bailey Pickett, who starts out as Zack’s roommate, but by the end of the episode becomes London’s roommate when she is outed as a girl.

I am a fan of The Suite Life of Zack & Cody and The Suite Life on Deck lives up to my expectations from the series. It is entertaining with plenty of funny incidents. At least in this first episode there is not much of the twins causing mischief as in the original series, but it still works out and I am sure there will be more to come. London’s role is interesting with her continuing to try to avoid school and doing any work, which includes her escaping the ship at the end of the first episode.

Overall this is a great show, especially for fans of the original. It may not exactly be an educational show, but it is a pretty harmless entertaining show that the whole family can enjoy watching together.

My vacation is over and now it’s time to get back to the daily grind.  The last day of vacation is always the hardest.  This time around, we planned an extra day at home to recover before heading back to work.  I knew my 2-year-old would need a little extra time to adjust back to his normal routine, so we spent the day relaxing and watching some of his favorite shows.

When I had had enough of Blue’s Clues and Little Bear, I decided to pull out the Fraggle Rock Season 1 DVDs.  My son received the set for his birthday a month or so ago but we hadn’t had a chance to watch it yet.  I decided it was time to introduce him to one of my favorite kids’ shows.  It took him a few minutes to get into it, but once he heard the Fraggles sing a couple of songs, he was a little more interested.

We didn’t quite get through the first disc of the set, but I have a feeling that there will be many more weekends spent watching Fraggle Rock together.  It was nice to return to the simplicity of the Muppets, if only for a while.  I love being able to share that little piece of my childhood with my own son. 

Fraggle Rock

Today’s guest post was written by Gillian Polack. Gillian also writes about Food History over at www.foodpast.com.

Today I’m watching RollerCoaster. It’s an hour (more or less) or programming for children on Australia’s public broadcasting station. The host is Elliot, who makes silly faces and bad jokes in about equal ratio. He has just told us that Tuesdays are All New. He also has a home page, which I’m exploring while I’m watching my hour of kids’ TV (hey, I’m multitalented!).

The first show is “The Amazing Extraordinary Friends.�? This is a superhero story for intelligent pre-teens. It’s tongue-in-cheek (and so are some of the costumes). Captain X’s sidekick has a home made termite costume and is distinctly my age.

What’s it about? Ben (Captain X) is trying to unite the world’s remaining superheroes and someone is trying to steal the insignia that gives his power. My favourite moment is when a girl is chased by a villain and threatens “I’ll ring the police.�? Villain gives her a phone and intimates he is in league with the police. She throws the phone at him hard enough to hurt. “Ladies don’t throw phones,�? he calls after her.

Don’t ask me about the fight scenes. I started watching them, then started typing during them instead. They’re safe-looking and pretty and unreal.

I love the sense of humour in this NZ show. It’s fast-paced. It pays nice tributes to superhero tales. It’s a good start to the hour. You can find more about it here.

Elliot’s reading out his mail, along with suitable sound effects. He can be a little snarky about some of the mail and he consigns it to interesting categories for filing. I want his filing system.

Next up is “Roman Mysteries�?. It seems to be a BBC adaptation of a series of books by Caroline Lawrence.

It’s very nice-looking, though I do wonder why the Roman girl is so fair and the ex-slave has the lovely Mediterranean skin. It has applied certain modern stereotypes to the casting (or the books have) and they make the historian in me uncomfortable. OK, an older woman is now making chicken soup for a sick man. I bet that family is Jewish and they’re applying another modern stereotype. Yep, they are.

Despite this, it looks like a good series to watch. Children’s TV is a good place for adaptations from books – you get several episodes to work things out and you get to know the characters over time.

Elliot’s just introducing the Zimmer Twins. The Zimmer Twins today is the Story of a Scary EVIL Cat that Hides in the Dark. It lasted thirty seconds. If I describe it any further then you’ll be reading longer than I was watching.

The last program is the BBC’s The Amazing Adrenalini Brothers. This is a perennial in Australia in this kind of timeslot and I usually see at least part of it when I turn on the TV to watch Timeteam. I love it. It’s madcap nonsense of the best variety. I can’t type during it. I think I’m finishing up here while Elliot is talking, before they come on. I need to spend some quality time with Xan, Adi and Enk.

Drabbit, watching kids’ TV could get addictive.

Today’s guest post is brought to you by the talented Allison Boyer. You can read more from Allison at www.findreligion.net and www.RealityOnBravo.com.

When Saturday morning rolls around these days, I usually hide under my blanket for an additional hour or two of sleep–at least until my cat jumps on my head to wake me up! I’ve always loved sleeping in, but I do remember that for about 7 years, I gladly traded in those precious extra minutes for something else: Saturday morning cartoons. I was that child who would run downstairs at about 7:30 AM and sit in front of the television in my flannel PJs, with my big bowl of Captain Crunch. I’d watch what NBC and ABC had to offer, and occasionally my grandma would tape a few hours of Nickelodeon, since I didn’t get that channel.

Now, nothing against Dora the Explorer…but when I see kids’ shows today, I often think how they can’t compare to the shows I used to watch. I feel like these older shows were more intelligent, but also more about fun. If you wanted educational, you watched Sesame Street.

I miss being excited for something as simple as cartoons and other children’s programing. Here are my 1980s-90s favorites. What were yours as a child?

Eureka’s Castle
The singing fish statue and Batly were my favorites!

Land of the Lost
I remember thinking that the show went downhill when they focused more on the talking dinosaurs. I wanted to be Crysta, though, and I had suuuuuch a crush on Kevin!

Inspector Gadget
Who didn’t love this show? The boss was so funny when he got blown up, and the dog was hilarious.

Fraggle Rock
I’ll have you know that I own this on DVD now and watch it occasionally, just because I still love it so much! Boober!

Gummy Bears
…bouncing here and there and everywheeeeeeeere! I used to drink cranberry juice and pretend it made me jump around when I watched this at my Mammy’s house. Now that I think about that, I’m sure she loooooooved when I did that!

Other shows I miss: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Salute Your Shorts, 3-2-1 Contact, Saved by the Bell, Hang Time, Under the Umbrella Tree, and ANYTHING with the Care Bears!

Several years ago, before my son was even a thought in the back of my mind, my husband (then boyfriend) mentioned The Wiggles when he was talking to our nephew.  I played along and acted like I knew what he was talking about when I actually had no clue.  Amazingly, I had never heard of The Wiggles. 

These days, it is pretty hard for me to avoid hearing about the colorful foursome.  I tend to run with the toddler crowd and most of them get pretty excited about The Wiggles.  All of them except my own kid.  You see, I’ve never put The Wiggles on my TV.  If he has seen them, it was not at home.  It isn’t that the show or the music is bad necessarily, it is just that there are so many other great alternatives.

That’s why I got a kick out of How Not To Be a Slave To The Wiggles by Rob Conery.  He suggests using the method of distraction and replacing The Wiggles music with your own.  I guess in a way I’ve been doing this all along.  While we listen to quite a bit of kids music in the car and around the house, we also listen to my music (and a little bit of my husband’s music).  While my son prefers the sounds of Jack Johnson and KT Tunstall, he also gets his groove on to Pearl Jam and Disturbed from time to time.

So, fess up.  How many of you watch The Wiggles at home?  Do you love them or hate them?  Do you find yourself singing them when the kids aren’t even around?

Technorati Tags: The Wiggles, Rob Conery, kids, music, Jack Johnson, KT Tunstall, Pearl Jam, Disturbed

Ok folks, this is a little off topic, but I couldn’t resist sharing about a great contest over at Discussing Breast Cancer.  Karen is donating $1 to the American Cancer Society for each comment that she receives June 14th and 15th on her blog, so go on over comment to your heart’s content.  Sources tell me that she’s even had an offer to match her contribution, so each comment is actually worth $2. 

There’s even a little something in it for you if you comment.  One randomly drawn commenter will receive a prize!  What are you waiting for?  Get on over there and comment!

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