by Karl J. Paloucek

Competition for the musical attention of preschoolers is escalating once again. Noggin has announced yet another upcoming programming event geared at trying to foster music appreciation in its target audience. Let’s Hear It for The Laurie Berkner Band! (premiering July 12) looks essentially to be a showcase for its titular act, encompassing as it does 17 music videos for the band, including one for the song “My Family,” which was created specifically for Noggin. According to the press release, other featured clips will include “preschool favorites” like “Victor Vito” and “Pig on Her Head.” The whole shebang will be hosted by Noggin’s Moose and Zee.

I have somewhat mixed feelings about this. While I certainly appreciate the zeal with which some of today’s talented songsters have embraced the mission of creating kid-friendly music and videos — Ms. Berkner and her crew not least, who obviously take their music and mission very seriously — the cynical part of me recognizes that it’s a full-on commercial targeted at preschoolers and their parents. But that’s [Read more →]

Tags: Family, Music by kpaloucek
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By Lori Acken

Back in early May, with storm clouds already directly overhead for TLC’s most famous — and lucrative — couple, Jon & Kate Gosselin, I aimed my “Pushing Buttons” column for the July issue of Channel Guide at the wisdom (or lack thereof) in real Moms and Dads inviting TV audiences to be their nosiest of neighbors. Especially when they are raising a family that is unique because of enormous ranks and the inherent enormous challenges.

Because we work some six weeks out from the time the magazine arrives in your homes, as I was writing, the rest of the nosy neighbors were kept terrifically busy guessing what would go down first: Kate would ditch Jon for her silver-fox bodyguard, Jon would dump Kate for a gum-chewin’ teacher, or  TLC would eventually let on that it was all just a little fictionalized stew they cooked up for ratings’ sake. Because let’s face it — the snugglefest that was Father Knows Best went out of fashion a half-century back and we all love to hate Raymond now.

And now, just a few days before that issue and that column arrive in your mailbox, we got the one-two punch that we kinda saw coming: There will no longer be a Jon and Kate at home with the Eight. Not at one time anyway.

For a while, there won’t even be a show. 

[Read more →]

Tags: Family, Reality TV, TV News & Program Updates by buttonknows
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By Elaine Bergstrom
The historical Merlin, as fans of the legend may recall, was a bearded old man, already long in the service of King Uther Pendragon by the time Arthur was born. But what fun would an old man be in a series that is clearly aimed at families with young kids who cut their teeth on the exploits of Harry Potter and need a bit more fantasy in their lives?
And for fantasy lovers willing to forget everything they have read about Merlin and Arthur, this BBC production airing Sunday nights on NBC (HD) is a treat even if it does have some serious shortcomings (read on for these). Here Merlin, Arthur, Morgan and Guinivere, are all young, and Camelot (which legend says Arthur founded) is already a thriving city. King Uther (Buffy the Vampire Slayer’s Anthony Head) rules the city, and has prohibited the use of magic there. [Read more →]

Tags: Drama, Family, Sci-Fi & Fantasy by Elaine
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by Karl J. Paloucek

Fans of Nickelodeon’s animated series The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron, Boy Genius have something to look forward to, and fans of Nickelodeon’s animated series in general have a lot to look forward to with five new animated series on the horizon.

Among the highlighted pickups are Jimmy Neutron spin-off Planet Sheen, detailing the space-age stories of Sheen Guevera Estevez, Neutron’s resident ADD case, who steals off in a rocket and finds himself on Zeenu, a world of limited intelligence and technology. While Sheen navigates the peculiar planet with its odd customs and inhabitants — including an emperor who finds him fascinating and a two-headed villainous princess with a crush on him — he just wants to find his way back home. Joined in the pursuit by a NASA-trained talking chimp, Nesmith, will Sheen and his pal ever make it back? (Our guess would be no — unless the series does well enough to plan its own demise years down the line.) Voice talent for the series includes Jeff Garcia and Rob Paulsen from Neutron, Soleil Moon Frye and others.

Also on tap is T.U.F.F. Puppy, about Dudley Puppy, the defender of [Read more →]

Tags: Animation, Comedy, Family by kpaloucek
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Dylan Sprouse, Miley Cyrus and Emily Osment

By RabbitEars

On July 17, Disney Channel presents what it is calling “the crossover event of the summer.” It’s very likely kids and tweens will agree with the hype, since this event — called “Wizards on Deck With Hannah Montana” — will be intersecting three of the network’s hit series into one 90-minute telecast that brings together the stars of Hannah Montana, Wizards of Waverly Place and The Suite Life on Deck. Miley Cyrus, Emily Osment, Selena Gomez, David Henrie, Jake T. Austin, Jennifer Stone, Dylan Sprouse, Cole Sprouse, Brenda Song and Debby Ryan will be on hand for the three storylines:

[Read more →]

Tags: Family, TV News & Program Updates by RabbitEars
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By RabbitEars

The music video for the Jonas Brothers’ new single “Fly With Me” will debut this Sunday, June 7, at 8pm ET/PT on Disney Channel. The song appears on the group’s new album, Lines, Vines and Trying Times, which releases June 16.

“Fly With Me” is featured on the end credits of the film Night at the Museum 2: Battle of the Smithsonian. The music video will also feature behind-the-scenes home video footage from the Jonas’ rehearsals, and a sneak peek at their upcoming concert tour, which kicks off June 20 in Dallas.

Tags: Family, Music, TV News & Program Updates by RabbitEars
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By Lori Acken

In honor of Mom’s big day, WE tv will air a special, mom-centric marathon of emotional and heartwarming episodes from Seasons 1 and 2 of its hit series, The Locator. So grab your mama and your tissue box and tune in Sunday, May 10, beginning at 2pm ET for these encore eps:

A Mother’s Last Wish:

When Carolyn and her ex-husband, Donald, split, he was granted full custody of their daughter, Cassie, who was three years old at the time. Following the divorce, Carolyn was able to stay in touch with Cassie until she turned 12, when all communication abruptly ceased. After ten years of unanswered letters and disconnected phone numbers, Carolyn was convinced she was never going to see her daughter again. Today, Carolyn is undergoing chemotherapy for acute lymphocytic leukemia. She wants to see Cassie again and alert her about this hereditary disease.
[Read more →]

Tags: Drama, Family, Reality TV, TV News & Program Updates by buttonknows
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by Karl J. Paloucek

The folks at Nickelodeon are once again stepping up their creative edge, introducing new and arguably more hip programming for preschoolers. Just announced this morning, summer 2009 will see the premiere of a new music-based series for the pre-K set. In production right now, The JumpArounds is being billed as “an energetic, vibrant new music series … packed with hip, catchy songs, dynamic choreography and clever storylines.”

At the center of the series are four friends and bandmates who attend music school. Through their musical experiences, preschoolers will acquaint themselves with basic musical concepts like rhythm, melody, tempo and … well, what they’re calling “performance styles.” (We hope this doesn’t essentially boil down to generalized music categorization, but if so, oh well — it is the iTunes generation.)

[Read more →]

Tags: Family by kpaloucek
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by Karl J. Paloucek

Whether you’re still feeling blown away by the Beijing Olympics’ opening ceremonies, worried about the mounting U.S. debt to China or just like the idea of cute, little characters teaching your child Mandarin, you’ll be happy to know that Nick Jr.’s Ni Hao, Kai-lan is back for Season 2 starting May 11.

This season presents new challenges and goals for Kai-lan and her audience. Season 2 brings 20 new half-hour episodes that not only deal with building a basic Mandarin vocabulary, but also engage preschoolers’ increasingly complex emotional issues. In the first week alone, in addition to acclimating to the Mandarin expressions for various concepts like “arm,” “jump” and “mooncake” (makes you want to know, doesn’t it?), the show puts Kai-lan and her friends in situations that require them to learn about the importance of pitching in, forgiving when you’ve been wronged, and how to use humor to alleviate feelings of disappointment.

That’s not too bad for a bunch of little animated pals, is it?

________

Photo:

Credit: Nick Jr.

Tags: Animation, Family by kpaloucek
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by Karl J. Paloucek

If you have young kids and cable, chances are they’ve either driven you nuts with a bit of Nick Jr.’s Yo Gabba Gabba! or you’ve gotten into it right along with them. Well, like it or not, there are more on the way. The preschool-centric network has picked up a third season of the series that marries the silly and the surreal with life lessons featuring a cast of multicolored, amorphous beings.

It’s sort of a freak of a show, and one that’s obviously captured the imagination of more than just kids. It’s become something of a cool hangout for pop-culture icons great and small. Among the hipster list to appear amid its appealingly primitive sets have been Jack Black, Saturday Night Live’s Rachel Dratch and Andy Samberg, Melora Hardin from The Office, Tony Hawk, DEVO’s Mark Mothersbaugh, The Shins, Elijah Wood and many more.

But one thing has consistently bothered me about the series, from the day I saw the initial teaser reel: [Read more →]

Tags: Family by kpaloucek
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