Tot TV Watch

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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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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Welcome to this week’s edition’s list of kid’s television shows that have new episodes airing this week. I try to make this as complete as possible, but I may sometimes miss something. Please comment and let me know if I forgot to include something that has a new episode airing this week. All times are listed as Eastern time as given by TV Guide, but may vary depending on your location, especially when the shows are on local stations like CBS.

3-2-1 Penguins: This Bible based show from the makers of VeggieTales features out of this world penguins. A new episode of this show airs this Saturday on NBC at 11:30am Eastern Time. This episode is called “Invasion of the Body Swappers” and is about the penguin gang attending a beauty-product convention.

Bunnytown: A new episode airs this Saturday at 11am Eastern Time on the Disney Channel. This episode is called “Bunnytown Pets!”

Handy Manny: This Disney preschool cartoon is about Manny Garcia, a repairman, that fixes things in Sheet Rock Hills with the help of his tool friends. This show airs a new episode on Monday (2/25) on Disney Channel at 9:30am Eastern Time. This episode is called “Tools for Toys/Manny’s Mouse Traps.” The first part is about Manny fixing a swing set and the second part is about Manny trying to trap mice in a bakery.

Johnny & the Sprites: A new episode of this show airs this Saturday (3/1) on the Disney Channel at 7:30am Eastern Time. The episode is “Lily’s Hair/Ginger and the Cloud” and is about Lily wanting her hair to be longer and Ginger befriending a cloud that becomes homesick for the sky.

Mickey Mouse Clubhouse: This preschool show takes kids along on adventures with Mickey Mouse helping his friends with Mouseketools. A new episode of this show airs this Saturday (3/1) on the Disney Channel at 9am Eastern Time. This episode is called “Mickey’s Big Band Concert” and is about getting the band all playing to the same beat.

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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!

contest, breast cancer, discussing breast cancer, american cancer society, donation

I hope everyone is having a great Memorial Day today. Many of us will be celebrating with our family and friends, but don’t forget to take a few moments out to remember those that are fighting for your country and those who have in the past.

For many of us Memorial Day marks the beginning of summer. The weather is getting warmer. The kids are finishing up the school year. Parents are trying to figure out what they are going to do with bored kids all summer. Raising4boys.com has an excellent entertainment solution for some of those long summer days.  Head over there and check out the list of theaters offering free or low cost kids’ movies available this summer.

summer, movies, kids, raising4boys.com, memorial day

I want to apologize for the irregular posting this week.  I have been dealing with a sick and whiny toddler all week and my computer time has been slightly limited.  Since I am so late posting today, I’m going to leave you with a couple of video clips.  These happen to be (in my opinion) two of the most annoying kids shows currently on TV.  I know they mesmerize some kids, but they just scare me and I can’t subject my child to that. Take a look at the clips below and then answer the following question in the comments for me.  What shows annoy you so much that you don’t let your kids watch them?

Don’t forget to comment!

kids TV, Boohbah, Teletubbies, annoying shows

Before I had a child of my own, the only kids songs I knew were the ones taught in church and school when I was a kid myself. Well, that and the annoying “I love you, you love me” song from Barney. I have my oldest nephew to thank for that one. When I was pregnant with my own child, I was determined to find a better alternative.

As I searched for the newest thing in children’s music, I quickly learned that it had come a long way since I was a kid. Asking other parents for suggestions led me in all kinds of different directions, but eventually I turned to the TV for my answers. I explored shows like The Wiggles and Barney and was sorely disappointed.

I couldn’t find anything that suited me until I discovered Noggin. After one listen to The Laurie Berkner Band’s “Monster Boogie” I couldn’t get the song out of my head. The video aired in between shows one morning and I was instantly hooked. By lunch time that day I was searching the internet for the lyrics and an idea of when I might be able to see the video again. From there, I discovered Jack’s Big Music Show and a whole new world of kids’ music. Bands like Milkshake, Music for Aardvarks, The Dirty Sock Funtime Band, Hot Peas ‘n’ Butter, and Dan Zanes make kid’s music very enjoyable. (For more information on Dan Zanes, check out the great interview he did with Erinn over at Parenting Our Children.)

The children’s music artists of today have a little more to offer than those that I knew as a kid. Instead of sugary sweet songs bound to drive parents crazy after a few listens, today’s kids’ music is filled with rock beats and entertaining lyrics. The songs are fun and tend to get kids and parents alike singing and dancing along.

music, kids, Laurie Berkner Band, Milkshake, Music for Aardvarks, The Dirty Sock Funtime Band, Dan Zanes, Jack’s Big Music Show, Barney, The Wiggles, Noggin, Parenting Our Children

Hokie Spirit Memorial Fund

April 16, 2007, will be remembered as one of the darkest days in the history of the Virginia Tech community and the world beyond.

To remember and honor the victims of those tragic events, the university has established the Hokie Spirit Memorial Fund to aid in the healing process and generate financial support.

The fund will be used to cover expenses including but not limited to:

• Grief counseling
• Memorials
• Communication expenses
• Comfort expenses
• Incidental needs

If you plan to give, please click the link below:

The 20th Annual Kids Choice Awards pulled in the highest amount of viewers ever in the history of the show. It also had the most votes ever recorded with over 40 million. If you missed out on the show Saturday night, don’t miss out on your chance to be a part of the slime. Nickelodeon will be airing a 30-minute condensed version of the program highlights called “Kids’ Choice Awards: Best of the Mess”. It will air Tuesday, April 3rd at 5:00 p.m., Thursday, April 5th at 8:30 p.m., Saturday, April 7th at 12:00 p.m., and Sunday, April 8th, at 5:30 p.m. (all times ET/PT). TurboNick will also be offering the 30-minute episode all week long.

If you missed the show and just want to find out who won, here is the list of winners:

Wannabe Award
Ben Stiller

Favorite Movie
“The Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest”

Favorite Female Movie Star
Dakota Fanning

Favorite Male Movie Star
Adam Sandler

Favorite Voice from an Animated Movie
Queen Latifah/Ice Age: The Meltdown

Favorite Animated Movie
“Happy Feet”

Favorite TV Show
“American Idol”

Favorite Television Actress
Miley Cyrus/”Hannah Montana”

Favorite Television Actor
Drake Bell/”Drake & Josh”

Favorite Cartoon
“SpongeBob SquarePants”

Favorite Music Group
Black Eyed Peas

Favorite Female Singer
Beyonce

Favorite Male Singer
Justin Timberlake

Favorite Song
“Irreplaceable” (Beyonce)

Favorite Athlete
Shaquille O’Neal

Favorite Video Game
“SpongeBob SquarePants: Creature from the Krusty Krab”

Favorite Book
“Harry Potter” (series)

Kids’ Choice Awards, Best of Mess, results, awards

Nick Jr. is holding asking for photos of kids that love the Wonder Pets. Your child’s picture may be showcased either online or on TV. The picture must be of your child dressed as one of the Wonder Pets, showing off a Wonder Pets craft, or holding an original drawing of the Wonder Pets.

Go snap some photos, submit them to the Nick Jr. Fan Gallery, and then watch Nick Jr. to see if your child’s picture is shown. I bet your kids will love to see their picture on TV. Heck, I would like to see my own picture on TV.

Wonder Pets, Nick Jr., photos, fan gallery

One of the more entertaining aspects of writing on the web is watching the page’s stats. Occasionally I like to check and see where my visitors are coming from so that I know what to focus my writing on. The most common search string I get for this site is generally some variation of “Steve Burns on Jack’s Big Music Show” or “Steve Burns groundhog video”.

In order to appease my readers, I have been searching for the video online but haven’t been able to find a copy that I could post here. It was available on YouTube for a short while before Viacom insisted that all of their content be removed from the video sharing site. As of now, the only place online that the “I Hog The Ground” video can be seen is on the Noggin web site. Go on, you know you want to rock out with Steve one more time!

Steve Burns, Jack’s Big Music Show, I Hog The Ground, ground hog day, search strings, YouTube, Viacom, Noggin