Tot TV Watch

Dora the Explorer is one of the best preschool shows on television right now, although, I personally do favor the spin-off Go, Diego, Go! slightly more than this show. The thing Dora the Explorer does great is that it is an engaging show that gets kids to interact with it and often even get up and move while also teaching preschool concepts, such as counting and basic Spanish phrases.

The main characters of the show are a Latino girl named Dora and her monkey friend named Boots. Other major characters are the anthropomorphic Map and Backpack. In each episode Dora and Boots go on some sort of adventure that usually involves three Map directions to get to a specific place to accomplish the episodes mission. Along the way Dora encourages viewers to help them problem solve to get to have a successful adventure. At the end of the episode Dora always asks and appears to listen to viewers answer about what their favorite thing about the episode’s adventure was.

Overall this is an enjoyable show for preschoolers, although, it may be slightly more liked by girls with the main character being a girl, but with the adventure aspect it kind of becomes a show both genders can equally enjoy. It is not quite as educational as Go, Diego, Go!, however, in regards to the Spanish phrases taught it does more frequently introduce Spanish words and phrases. It also tends to teach a larger variety of concepts instead of being mostly limited to animal knowledge like Go, Diego, Go! is.

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 Speed Racer: The Next Generation. This new series of Speed Racer is an exciting and well animated show to watch on Nicktoons. Below are some activity suggestions for those kids that cannot get enough of Speed Racer that get them away from the television, but still let them be excited about Speed Racer.

Speed Racer Coloring Pages: As usual I try to find some free printable coloring pages and this is no exception. It was also one of the harder show to find some of, but this site I found has eight of them that are of characters from the original Speed Racer. Another coloring page site that might be of interest is Indy Kids, which is a small site made by kids with some Indy 500 history and related coloring pages.

Speed Racer Cake: This site has some instructions to make a Speed Racer car cake. It does not seem as straightforward as the mermaid cake I suggested in the H2O Beyond the Show post, but it seems doable.

Cardboard Box Race Car Craft: This is a fun craft to make a car that kids can wear and walk around with to pretend they are driving. The craft itself is entertaining for at least an hour (maybe, more if the kid tries to get it to look just like Speed Racer’s car) and then offers much more possibility of them being entertained running around pretending they are racing like Speed Racer.

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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 H2O. This seems to be a pretty popular show that was recently introduced in the United States on Nickelodeon. Even I find myself enjoying the episodes I catch. It really is an interesting show about humans becoming mermaids. It is like them having superpowers, but it is not done as a action superhero show, which I tend to not enjoy because in the end they lack plot depth.

What H2O Character Are You?: This is an interesting online personality quiz to determine, which H2O character your personality most matches with.

Mermaid Coloring Pages: Mermaid coloring pages are not too hard to find on the Internet, although I could not find any that are specifically of the three mermaids in H2O. Here are some that are at least not replicating Ariel from The Little Mermaid. This site also has a good variety of mermaid styles including many that are anime style.

Mermaid Cake: This is a really cool cake idea to make a cake that looks like a mermaid. You can change the colors of it to make it look more like the H2O mermaids, especially by making the tail all the orangish color instead of the more varied color shown in the recipe.

Mermaid Crafts: One interesting mermaid craft is this toilet paper template, which can be printed in black and white and colored like the H2O mermaids. I also found this printable template to make a mermaid friend.

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Recently the show Mighty B premiered on Nickelodeon. I caught the first episode and after that I was totally turned off from watching it. Actually after the first few minutes of the annoying nagging of the main character, Bessie, I wanted to turn it off, but I stuck it out and gave the show a chance by watching the whole episode. And it did not get any better, although, at least there was less nagging towards the end.

In the first episode she is trying to get the Animal Appreciation Badge. First she needs to convince her mom to let her get a dog, so she can compete in the Honeybee Dog Show.. In this part she is extremely obnoxious and rattles off reasons in a fast obnoxious voice. Actually she is just plain obnoxious throughout the show, especially with her spitty sounding way of talking. Also, there is an obnoxious part where she spends like a minute saying stay over and over to the dog. The only thing I like about the first episode is her little brother, who obviously looks up to her and helps her out in training the dog and her getting the badge in the end.

The second part of the first episode is about her trying to become tall enough to ride a roller coaster. Again she is just an obnoxious kid and the plots just do not have any value to them besides annoying entertainment.

Basically in the end I think this new show is another obnoxious Nickelodeon pointless plot cartoons like Spongebob, which is another cartoon I think is totally stupid and does not even have entertainment value. Bottom line is the idea of the show had good potential about a girl getting badges and going for her goals, but in the end the annoying character of Bessie and the lack of any depth to the plots makes this an entirely pointless show that is not even mindless entertainment, but rather mindless boredom. If kids are going to be watching television, I feel the shows should at least have some minimal value of showing proper behavior, which this show does not do.

I think many kids today are not familiar with the original Speed Racer, however some may have seen it, as I believe it used to repeat on Cartoon Network. Also, Nickelodeon did the short lived Speed Racer X series back in 2002. Parents on the other hand may remember the original series from when they were a kid. One thing is for certain this comeback of the series has good potential to be an entertaining show for kids, especially those aspiring race car drivers.

The newest revival of the Speed Racer series is called Speed Racer - The Next Generation and will normally be airing on Nicktoons. Tomorrow (April 27, 2008), though, the first episode of the series is being aired on Nickelodeon at 2pm Eastern time. This show plays off the original characters with this being the next generation. The main characters are Speed and Racer X, who are the sons of the original Speed Racer.

Next week on May 2nd at 7pm Eastern time the real premiere on Nicktoons will be with a 90-minute showing combining the first three episodes that are connected parts of “The Beginning” episode. The first 30-minutes of this is the episode they are showing on Nickelodeon tomorrow. This 90-minute “movie” is then going to be released on DVD on May 6, so I am thinking if you miss the premiere they are not likely to be replaying it for a while in order to get people to buy the DVD. This new series also comes right before the May 9th theater release of the live action Speed Racer movie, which includes an IMAX version.

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The new show called Mighty B premieres on Nickelodeon tomorrow April 26, 2008, at 10:30am Eastern Time. This new show is an animated show is about Bessie Higgenbottom, who is a member of the Honeybees. The Honeybees are a Girl Scout type group. Bessie is the leader of her troop and is known as the one who has earned the most Bee Badges ever. She has not gotten all of the Bee Badges, yet, thus she is still on a mission to get more badges. It appears this show is about her adventures in pursuing her goal to get all the Bee Badges. As she goes for the badges she imagines she is a superhero called Mighty B, hence the name of the show.

Other characters include Portia, who is a rich girl that does like the word no and has a high class worldly taste, Penny, who is portrayed as Portia and Bessies’s dumb friend, and Happy, who is Bessie’s dog. The only male main character appears to be Benjamin, who is Bessie’s scaredy cat little brother.

This sounds like a potentially interesting show for girls. I, however, am not seeing it as being able to appeal to boys. As for the age group I think this will appeal to I am thinking grade school kids, such as Brownie aged girls. Definitely see this as a show for girls into the whole Girl Scout thing, but I really wonder how wide the appeal for this show can be beyond that. It will be interesting to see at least the first episode and see exactly how the show plays out. Depending on how much screen time Benjamin gets there may be some appeal for boys preschool aged.

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Below are the winners of this year’s Kid’s Choice Awards. I wish I had been able to catch the show and could give a more interesting blog post on how the show went, but instead I was at the Washington Nationals Exhibition Game in order to produce an interesting post for my D.C. blog. Sorry, but the annual Kid’s Choice Award Show just cannot beat a rare chance to attend (and blog first hand) the first game at a new stadium.

Movies

Favorite Movie: Alvin and the Chipmunks

Favorite Animated Movie: Ratatouille

Favorite Male Movie Star: Johnny Depp (Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End)

Favorite Female Movie Star: Jessica Alba (Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer)

Music

Favorite Song: “Girlfriend” (Avril Lavigne)

Favorite Music Group: Jonas Brothers

Favorite Male Singer: Chris Brown

Favorite Female Singer: Miley Cyrus

Television

Favorite TV Show: Drake & Josh

Favorite Television Actress: Miley Cyrus/Hannah Montana

Favorite Cartoon: Avatar: The Last Airbender

Favorite Reality Show: American Idol

Favorite Television Actor: Drake Bell/Drake & Josh

Sports

Favorite Male Athlete: Tony Hawk

Favorite Female Athlete: Danica Patrick

Other

Favorite Video Game: Madden NFL ‘08

Favorite Book: Harry Potter series

Kids Choice Wannabe Award: Cameron Diaz

This new show H2O started a few weeks ago on Nickelodeon. The first episode was about them getting mysterious powers that turn them into mermaids whenever they come in contact with water. This, of course, can be quite problematic with water being everywhere. Now they have to deal with trying to be normal when they are not at all normal. Beyond their power of turning into mermaids they also have special control over water. One can control water as a liquid, one can turn it into steam, and the third can freeze the water.

The three main characters of the show are Emma, Cleo, and Rikki. Emma is competitive and before the incident that gave them their powers she was a swimmer. Rikki is a new girl in town, as well as a rebel and a risk taker. Both Emma and Rikki easily come to enjoy their new powers. Cleo on the other hand has trouble with them. First off, she has always had a fear of water. Thus she is hesitant at first to discover the depth of her new powers, but this changes when she finds out turtles are getting caught in nets and she could use her powers to save them.

Overall this is an interesting show that so far has them beginning to use their powers for good almost becoming underwater superheroes. I guess they could be called environmental superheroes, but that is just based on Cleo saving the one turtle in one episode so far. It certainly seems the focus is going to be another show about kids for tweens about kids trying to fit in when they are not normal and keeping the true them a secret (not really sure how this makes it a great show, as should not kids be learning to be themselves, although I guess sometimes there are extremes where you just have to keep things secret).

The Nickelodeon Kid’s Choice Awards will air on Saturday, March 29, with Jack Black as the host. The voting, however, is already open. You can vote for your choices for the different categories one the Nick website here. Below is a list of the categories and this year’s nominees with some of my own opinions mixed in. Anyone care to share their predictions?

Movies

Favorite Movie:

Alvin and the Chipmunks
Are We Done Yet?
The Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End
The Transformers

Favorite Animated Movie:

Bee Movie
Ratatouille
Shrek the Third
The Simpsons Movie

Favorite Male Movie Star:

Ice Cube (Are We Done Yet?)
Johnny Depp (Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End)
Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson (The Game Plan)
Eddie Murphy (Norbit)

Favorite Female Movie Star:
*Assuming kid’s are doing the voting and Drew Barrymore wins, I really wonder how many kids saw her in Music and Lyrics. It is not at all a kid’s movie and I cannot even imagine many kids being interested in the plot.

Jessica Alba (Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer)
Drew Barrymore (Music and Lyrics)
Kirsten Dunst (Spiderman 3)
Keira Knightley (Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End)

Music

Favorite Song:

Beautiful Girls (Sean Kingston)
Big Girls Don’t Cry (Fergie)
Don’t Matter (Akon)
Girlfriend (Avril Lavigne)

Favorite Music Group:

Boys Like Girls
Fall Out Boy
Jonas Brothers
Linkin Park

Favorite Male Singer:

Bow Wow
Chris Brown
Soulja Boy
Justin Timberlake

Favorite Female Singer:

Beyonce
Fergie
Miley Cyrus
Alicia Keys

Television

Favorite TV Show:

Drake & Josh
Hannah Montana
iCarly
The Suite Life of Zack and Cody

Favorite Television Actress:

Miley Cyrus/Hannah Montana
Emma Roberts/Unfabulous
Jamie Lynn Spears/Zoey 101
Raven-Symone/That’s So Raven

Favorite Cartoon:
*I do not like any of these cartoons, but I would find it very disappointing to see The Simpsons win in an award show supposedly voted on by kids.

Avatar: The Last Airbender
Ed, Edd and Eddy
The Simpsons
SpongeBob SquarePants

Favorite Reality Show:

America’s Next Top Model
American Idol
Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?
Deal or no Deal?

Favorite Television Actor:
*Some sibling rivalry going on here.

Drake Bell/Drake & Josh
Josh Peck/Drake & Josh
Dylan Sprouse/The Suite Life of Zack and Cody
Cole Sprouse/The Suite Life of Zack and Cody

Sports

Favorite Male Athlete:

Tony Hawk
Shaquille O’Neal
Alex Rodriguez
Tiger Woods

Favorite Female Athlete:
*Another sibling rivalry here.

Cheryl Ford
Danica Patrick
Serena Williams
Venus Williams

Other

Favorite Video Game:

Dance Dance Revolution
Guitar Hero
High School Musical: Sing It!
Madden NFL ‘08

Favorite Book:
*The first one sounds like a DVD title, but really it is a comic, so kind of a book.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight, Volume One: The Long Way Home
Diary of a Wimpy Kid
Harry Potter series
How to Eat Fried Worms

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 Blue’s Room. This show is a spin-off of Blue’s Clues and shows on Nickelodeon.

Blue’s Book Club: This Book Club listing of books is updated monthly on Nick Jr’s website. Each month there are five new recommended books. On the site there is a parent’s guide to doing the book club from a printable membership card for kids to a play date spinner for choosing which book to read to printable certificates for giving the kids for reading the books.

Blue Games: This part of the Nick Jr. website has several online games featuring Blue and other characters from the show, although it is more Blue’s Clues related, they still fit in pretty well with Blue’s Room as many of the characters are the same. This site also has several off line game ideas including outdoor, indoor, party, and car games.

Blue’s Banana Pops: This recipe is a fun healthy recipe for kids to help make. The recipe prints out on a page and is very colorful with images for the ingredients making it easier for kids with minimal reading skills to follow along.

Make Your Own Blue’s Room Calendar: This is a fun calendar for preschoolers to keep track of their activities and when their favorite shows are on television, such as Blue’s Room. There are printable calendar pages with a special Blue’s Room image. There are also printable date and event stickers that are Blue’s Room themed.

Remember this?

I’m sure you’ve heard the hype about this:

Well, get ready for even more racing action when an all new Speed Racer cartoon hits Nickelodeon’s Nicktoons channel. The new show is set to launch in 2008, around the same time that the live-action movie hits theaters.

The new Speed Racer will follow a young Speed Racer entering a racing academy for the fastest kids on earth. At the academy, he discovers not only that he is the son of the legendary (original series’) Speed Racer, but also that he has a brother, Racer X, that he didn’t know even existed. Speed and X quickly team up to fight off villains and figure out who’s behind the mysterious disappearance of their father.

Speed Racer, Nickelodeon, Nicktoons

It occurred to me today that I had not followed up on this post regarding the future of The Upside Down Show. I originally posted about the speculations of whether the show would be canceled or not back in January, with promises of an answer in February. A little bit of quick research gave me the answer I was searching for. Previous reports made it sound like the show’s stars were debating whether they wanted to continue, but according to the June 1st post on The Umbilical Brothers‘ home page, Nickelodeon made the final decision. Here is the note from Shane and David:

To all the fans of The Upside Down Show, we reluctantly have to give you some bad news. We have received word from Nickelodeon/Noggin USA that they don’t want to do a second season. After all of the positive feedback we’ve received from around the world, and the show’s critical success, this decision is somewhat mystifying. Our executive producer Michael Bourchier has looked into other avenues to get another season off the ground and keep the show alive, but unfortunately he has run out of options. So we’d like to thank everyone involved in the show at Sesame Workshop and Blink Films, from conception (thanks Kurt and Belinda) right through to production here in Oz. The production team was brilliant, and we couldn’t ask for a better crew. And now we must move on to other challenges. Thanks for watching!

~ Shane and David

I have to say that I’m really upset about this. My son absolutely loves The Upside Down Show. It was one of the few shows that we really enjoyed watching together. What I’m even more upset about is that we deleted most of the saved episodes that were on the TiVo not too long ago. I guess now we just have to hope that the first (and only) season will be released on DVD.

The Upside Down Show, The Umbilical Brothers, Shane Dundas, David Collins, Nickelodeon, Noggin, cancellation

Wayside, a new animated series based on the books series by Louis Sachar, premieres June 25th on Nickelodeon. The first season of 26 episodes will air weekdays at 12:30 p.m. ET/PT.

Wayside is a 30-story grade school where wacky occurrences are just part of every day life. Somehow, when Wayside school was built, each classroom was mistakenly built on a separate floor instead of built side by side on one floor. The series focuses on the adventures of Mrs. Jewls’ class held on the 30th floor. It follows Todd, the new kid at school, and his new friends Maurecia, the tough girl who uses physical actions to express herself, Dana, the slightly emotional over-achiever, and Myron, the politician of the school. You can also catch a glimpse of the class weirdos including the boy who wears an elf costume every day, the kid that is always upside down, and the girl who is always asleep (boy does that bring back memories!).

The stories presented in each episode deal with issues that kids are faced with in every day life but are presented in a humorous way. Somehow, even the most twisted and wacky scenarios can can teach a great lesson.

Don’t forget to tune in on Monday, June 25th, when all the wackiness begins!

Wayside, Nickelodeon, Louis Sachar, Mrs. Jewls, Todd, Maurecia, Dana, Myron

The second installment of Nickelodeon’s Let’s Just Play Go Healthy Challenge, airs on Sunday, May 27th, at 8:30 p.m. ET/PT.  St. Louis Rams Running Back Steven Jackson will make a special appearance during the “Workout Like a Pro” segment, and teach kids how to strengthen their bodies doing basic exercises like push-ups.  Kenderick and April, this year’s challengers, have already made progress by making small changes in their everyday lives.  The second episode will follow Kenderick as he trains for the Arkansas Invitational Kids Triathlon and April as she begins training for volleyball tryouts.

The first installment of the challenge had more than 1 million viewers and was the number two video on TurboNick, with 1.8 million streams.  The previous “Workout Like a Pro” segment was downloaded on iTunes 6,400 times.  With over 250,000 kids signing up for the challenge in the last year, the program appears to be a success.   I’m thinking I should tune in and get a few tips myself.

Nickelodeon, Let’s Just Play Go Healthy Challenge, Workout Like a Pro, Steven Jackson, Kenderick, April, TurboNick

Nickelodeon has teamed up with media content company Chorion to bring Olivia, a new animated series based on the best-selling children’s books, to Nick Jr.  Originally created by author/illustrator Ian Falconer, Olivia is a precocious piglet full of energy, self-confidence, and exuberance.  As the books portray, Olivia is good at many things, but mostly she is just good at wearing out those around her.

There is no word yet as to when the series will premiere, but the first season will include 26 half-hour episodes in the US, as well as a 44 minute special.  The CGI animation will stay true to Falconer’s minimalist illustrative style using the red, black, and white color scheme.

Nickelodeon, Chorion, Olivia, books, Ian Falconer, piglet, CGI animation