Nothing like a good, old-fashioned, um, chicken party. If you’ve been hankering for chicken – and that would be a cute puppet chicken with a kid-friendly personality, not the greasy fast food kind I craved when I was pregnant – you’re in luck! From 6:00-9:00 p.m. ET, PBS KIDS Sprout’s The Sunny Side-Up Show will be celebrating the birthday of co-host Chica the Chicken with party games (hopefully not “Pin the Tail on the Chicken”) and a few live musical performances, including one by kids’ rockers The Dream Jam Band, warblers of such hits as “Nicky Nicky Knock Knock” and “Cow.” (We’re hoping that last one isn’t a ballad.)
If you and your preschooler want to participate, go to SproutOnline.com for info on how to upload birthday artwork, video or email wishes. Per The Sunny Side-Up Show’s very cool interactive philosophy, a live onscreen crawl during tomorrow’s program will feature all the submissions. (Kiddos will also be able to call in live to say “Happy Birthday.” Whether they’d like to mumble, scream or throw out a random comment, “My daddy’s wearing two different socks today,” – is , of course, entirely up to them.)
Insert your own chicken-cross-the-road joke here. We won’t cry fowl.
Cute New Show Alert: Chapman Entertainment, the brains behind Bob the Builder, have a new animated program for preschoolers: Roary the Racing Car. It’ll be, ahem, roaring towards you on Monday, Oct. 13 on PBS Kids Sprout. A few bits of goodness about the show:
It’s narrated by Sam Hornish, Jr., one of the most successful drivers in the recent history of open-wheel racing. (NASCAR and stuff.)
The show has the same fun, modern-Claymation-y feel as Bob the Builder. (See for yourself in the clip below.)
And although we find it off-putting that Roary’s name is constantly followed by ™ in the press release – as in, you’re soon going to be seeing images of this lovable single-seater on everything from Band-Aids to socks – the show’s all about teaching positive messages (like doing the right thing and being optimistic) and building social skills.
If you’ve got an impatient offspring (with or without a lead foot), check out Sproutonline.com next week for Roary-related activities, clips, games, and print-outs.
Does your family have GUTS? Nickelodeon’s hoping the answer is yes. The channel’s new series – a half-hour extreme sports reality show called My Family’s Got GUTS – premiered on Monday. Sorry, we’re a little slow on the uptake. But it should be easy to forgive us because the show’s airing on Nickelodeon at 8:00 ET/PT every weeknight until next Friday, Sept. 26. An hour-long finale will premiere Saturday, Sept. 27 at the same time.
So why are we recommending this show? Families. Working together. And doing some crazy-$#@@ extreme sports challenges that the writers must have had a hilarious time coming up with. “Dude! Let’s make the parents go down an aerial sports board-riding slalom run!” “No, no! Bungee-jumping basketball!”
Personally, what we’re looking forward to is the urban landscape parkour challenge. Nothing brings a mom and her tween closer then cat leaps and kong vaults.
Plan B: just live vicariously and watch this show together.
The Disney Channel’s doing its part to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month, otherwise known as “September.” Beginning Monday, Sept. 15, PlayhouseDisney.com will feature eps of Handy Manny in Spanish. And in between regularly programmed shows on the small screen, look for songs from Camp Rock performed in Spanish by the Latin world’s answer to a Jonas-Lovato duet: Spain’s Ismael and Mexico’s Carla Medina, and even a Cheetah Girls Spanish language music video. Need mas? How about High School Musical 2 music videos from Spain and Mexico? Plus, It-Tween (Tween It Girl?) Selena Gomez will introduce Spanish language versions of some of the network’s theme songs. We’re going to tune in. When all we can think to end this post is “Bueno!” then we know our Spanish vocab needs a serious refresher.
Shows that set out to expand the world of young kids, not shrink it, get extra points from us. That’s why we’re digging the new Bollywood-themed ep of The Wonder Pets!, which airs on Nickelodeon tonight at 8:00 p.m. ET/PT. This latest adventure finds school pet heroes Linny, Tuck, and Ming-Ming helping an arrogant white Bengal tiger (voiced by critically acclaimed Indian actress Nandita Das) who has a thorn stuck in her paw. They’re too big to pull it out, so of course, they have to enlist the aid of tweezers famous mouse, Raji, a.k.a. The Puller of Thorns.
Lots of Indian-inspired music and dance (and yes, a big Bollywood number, love it!) follow. Your offspring will be asking for curry celery afterwards.
National Grandparents Day is two days away. And you know what that means, right? Yes, if you’re lucky, a moment by yourself to read a few pages in a book that doesn’t have pictures. But even more importantly, a brand new, ever so adorable ep of Playhouse Disney’s Charlie and Lola.
Set the tots and their Nana and Pee-Pop, etc. down on the couch this Sunday at 11:30 a.m. to watch Charlie and his small and very funny sister build an extremely special sandcastle on the beach with their grandparents. Hilarity will certainly ensue.
The adventure continues with the brilliantly-named “I Can’t Stop Hiccuping.” Something of course all grandparents and preschoolers can relate to.
Happy weekend. Happy Grandparents Day. And check back next week for our interview with Charlie and Lola’s executive producer, Claudia Lloyd. –Posted by Stephanie Booth
Next week, we’ll be unveiling our four favorite new shows for the under-six set. We think you’ll be surprised at what tops the list, but please, please don’t ask for any hints because we are terrible at keeping secrets and will likely cave.
But if the anticipation’s killing you, distract yourself by asking your TiVo (or lesser, unworthy DVR) to record the Emmy-award-winning Curious George on PBS Kids. The third season begins Monday, Sept. 1 and will focus on everybody’s fave obsession these days – lovin’ the earth. George (dragging along The Man with the Yellow Hat, of course) will introduce your offspring to recycling, composting, agriculture, weather patterns, and even solar power.
If you haven’t seen this show (and if not, there’s sort of no excuse – we talk it up quite a bit), check it out now. Oh, and Happy Labor Day. – Posted by Stephanie Booth
So in hindsight, I’m just a wee bit embarrassed at how horrified I felt upon hearing that all the voice-over artists on Dora had been replaced. It’s not as big a deal as that big Simpsons contract dispute a few years ago when all the artists were allegedly on the verge of being swapped out. But it’s still, well, jarring. And what was the reason? Was Backpack being rewritten to talk like one of the characters in Gossip Girl? (“Ohmigod, delicioso!”) What if Dora was now going to be voiced by some big-name tween star like Demi Lovato? My mind reeled at all the horrible possibilities.
Fortunately, Nickelodeon’s PR people very patiently responded to my email which (again, embarrassingly) included a few too many exclamation marks. Not to worry, I was soothed. The change came about only because the current voice-over artists had aged out of their roles. All the characters sounded the same. No one would be able to tell the difference. Really.
To prove it, they even sent over a screener of the Dora season premiere (which, for mere mortals, airs Sept. 15 on Nickelodeon.) And I watched it. Skeptically. And listened. Critically. And scrutinized (intensely) the pictures of the impossibly cute and super-young new voice-over cast.
And yeah, so. It’s all good.
You never would have known if I hadn’t told you. But check it out for yourself on Monday, Sept. 15.
What’s on TV for tweens this fall? Here are a few shows my kids and I might tune into, though the bleeping out makes me pause:
America’s Toughest Jobs:
My kids and I are intrigued by this fall’s new TV reality show, “America’s Toughest Jobs.” If only it weren’t for all that bleeping out. Not that I want NBC to unbleep the four-letter words hurled by the contestants on this program by the creators of “The Deadliest Catch” and “Ice Road Truckers.” But I’d feel better about considering letting the kids watch this series, which puts 13 men and women into some of the most dangerous and demanding jobs in the world, including oil rigging, mountain rescue and monster truck driving, if I knew what was coming. It’s Rated PG, so I’ll be on hand to guide them through it. But only after I first watch the August 25th premiere without them and decide if it’s really tween-friendly fare, no matter what the TV rating. NBC Mondays 9-10 p.m. ET
Opportunity Knocks
I can’t decide if this is “Moment of Truth” for families, or just a nice, wholesome and fun game show I’d let my tweens watch. In this weekly game show, the host shows up at one family’s house with a semi full of prizes. Contestants have to answer trivia questions about their lives, each other and stuff in their house. It’s billed as a show “which challenges family members on how well they know each other,” and it sounds like family game night for really great prizes. The show’s producer, Ashton Kutcher, reportedly tried out the game’s concept at home with wife Demi Moore and his step-kids before launching the show. I’ll check out the premiere, which airs on September 23rd, with the kids. ABC Tuesdays 8-9 p.m. ET
Into the Unknown with Josh Bernstein
I knew I could find something cool for my kids on the Discovery Channel, probably the most tween-friendly channel on TV. I missed the premiere this week, but I will tune in next week to see if this show really does do what it sets out to do: teach history in an entertaining way. Traveler, explorer and educator (and frankly, hottie) Josh Bernstein travels around the world to investigate whether the story of Noah’s Ark could have happened, what really happened to Timbuktu and how King Tut’s father changed the history of Egypt. If only the show aired at a more kid-friendly time, but I will set my Tivo to check out what looks like a fascinating show. Discovery Mondays 10-11 p.m. ET
So there’s this kid named Diego, right? You might have heard of him — resourceful? Bilingual? Hangs out with a baby jaguar and is a little possessive about his rescue pack? Yeah, he’s usually out saving animals during the day, but esta noche, he’s embarking on an underwater adventure. You and your kids can tune in to Nickelodeon at 8:00 ET/PT tonight to watch the hour-long movie, Diego’s Moonlight Rescue. (But if they’re early to bed and wayyyyy early to rise like my kids, you better set the TiVo. In the meantime, tide them over with a two-minute sneak peek of the ep — and song clips — at Nickjr.com.)
We actually don’t talk up Diego that much. We just sort of assume everyone who’s ever been to a Wal-Mart, Target or knock-off stall at the county fair already knows about the show. (Note to Nickelodeon: There is such a thing as merchandising backlash.) But just so we’re clear: Lunch pails, goopy fruit snacks, pool towels and cheap 100-thread-count sheets aside, we absolutely adore this show. Yep, everything from the voices (including the fabulously shrill Rosie Perez) to the messages it sends kids to be kind, thoughtful and observant. We’re waiting impatiently for Diego’s big sis, Alicia, to get her own spin-off. Girl knows her way around a computer. –Posted by Stephanie Booth
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Next week, we’ll be unveiling our four favorite new shows for the under-six set. We think you’ll be surprised at what tops the list, but please, please don’t ask for any hints because we are terrible at keeping secrets and will likely cave.
