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Playhouse Disney will have a morning full of new episodes in time for Valentines Day. The schedule is below:

Johnny and the Sprites (Saturday February 9, 7:30 a.m. ET/PT) - Lily gives Johnny a ”love bug” for Valentine’s Day, but it causes him to fall in love with Francesca the Frog! Then Root casts a spell that makes him grow twenty feet tall, but learns that his friends like him just the size he is.

Mickey Mouse Clubhouse (Saturday February 9 9:00 a.m. ET/PT) - Minnie is planning a picnic to celebrate the new picnic grounds, and it takes help from all her friends to ensure the event’s success!

Bunnytown (Saturday February 9, 11:00 a.m. ET/PT) - It’s Carrot Giving Day in Bunnytown, and everyone, including Spacebunny, wants to show how much they care about their friends, by sharing their carrots.

Handy Manny (Thursday February 14, 9:30 a.m. ET/PT) - Manny and the tools help assemble a robot for their neighbor Mr. Bouffant (voiced by Fred Willard) to give to his wife for a Valentine’s Day present. But when the robot doesn’t do anything it’s supposed to, everyone comes to learn that it’s the thought that counts.

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Second seasons of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and Johnny and the Sprites are set to debut in January. Johnny and the Sprites second season will debut on January 19th at 7:30 a.m.

Mickey Mouse Clubhouse will kick off one week later with 4 new episodes:

Saturday, January 26

9:00 a.m. “Fancy Dancin’ Goofy” – Mickey and the gang help Goofy prepare to attend the “Fancy Dance” with Clarabelle the Cow.

9:30 a.m. “Goofy the Homemaker” – Mickey and pals help Goofy build a bird house for Baby Red Bird and his family.

Sunday, January 27

9:00 a.m. “Mickey’s Handy Helpers” – When the Handy Helpers go limp, Mickey and his friends must fix the machine and get the Clubhouse working.

9:30 a.m. “Goofy Baby” – When Professor Von Drake’s time machine accidentally turns Goofy into a baby, the gang acts as babysitters while the Professor works on getting Goofy back to normal.

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Playhouse Disney is in production on a new series called Special Agent Oso. The series features Sean Astin as the voice of Oso, a James Bond type teddy bear.

Oso is part of an international organization of stuffed animals who help kids with everyday tasks.

Interactive Agent Oso Coming to Playhouse Disney

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The second season of Handy Manny will premiere on October 27th at 10:30 am.

The premiere episode of season two finds the tools helping to concoct a new smoothie flavor while repairing the counter at Oscar’s House of Smoothies. Mark Steines of “Entertainment Tonight” guest stars as the voice of Oscar. In the episode’s second story, when Mayor Rosa hears ghost-like noises coming from the clock tower, Manny and the tools investigate whether there really is a “fantasma” (Spanish for “ghost”) haunting the tower.

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Well in time for Halloween (and doesn’t the Halloween season start just as soon as back to school stuff ends, like in mid-August?) Playhouse Disney has release Mickey’s Treat - Mickey Mouse Clubhouse on DVD.

In this adventure, Mickey and his pals journey to the Trick-or-Treat Tower for Pete’s big Halloween Party. Many surprises await and The Sensational Six need a couple of tricks to reach the tower in time for the festivities. Also, episodes “Goofy the Great” and “Doctor Daisy, MD” capture the magical spirit of Halloween while showcasing how cooperation and teamwork go a long way in getting out of any sticky situation.

PLUS, a bonus Halloween episode with the cast of another Playhouse Disney favorite, Little Einsteins. In “A Little Einsteins Halloween,” Leo, June, Quincy, Annie and Rocket plan a night of trick-or-treating at a European castle and are joined by some spooky visitors. In true Little Einstein spirit, this Halloween adventure illustrates simple examples of teamwork, friendship and compassion, stimulating curiosity and learning along the way.

To create Disney fun in your own home and get the Halloween party started, the DVD also includes a party planning guide and special Halloween recipes from Mickey and his pals.

Mickey Mouse Clubhouse’s Halloween DVD joins a list of other DVDs already available from preschool television favorites including:

• Dora the Explorer - Dora’s Halloween
• Little Bear - Halloween Stories
• Thomas and Friends Halloween Stories
• Sesame Street A Magical Halloween Adventure
• Clifford the Big Red Dog: Clifford’s Big Halloween
• 4 Halloween Stories - Franklin/Rolie Polie Olie/Maggie and the Ferocious Beast

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Monday February 19th brings several new episodes across several networks.

Disney

Season 5 of The Wiggles begins at 7:00am with the season premiere. “Rainy Day” – Jeff and Greg embark on an arts and crafts project in which they piece together paintings to create a story during a rainy day. Then, during a new segment, Dorothy’s dancing alphabet, Anthony highlights the letter “A” and does the apple dance. Viewers are also introduced to the Mariachi Wiggles who sing “Fruit Salad” in Spanish.

Right after there will be a new episode of Higglytown Heroes featuring a farm veterinarian (or as my daughter says peterinarian).

Nick Jr.

At 11:00am The Wonder Pets will take on the Big Bad Wolf in The Wonder Pets Save the Three Little Pigs. In “Save the Three Little Pigs,” the Wonder Pets get a call from the Three Little Pigs who are distressed because the Big Bad Wolf wants to eat them. Linny, Tuck and Ming-Ming fly into a puppet theatre and find the first pig building a straw house which he hopes will protect him. The Big Bad Wolf is denied by the hair of the pig’s chinny-chin-chin, so he huffs, puffs and blows the house down. Just as the Wolf is about to have his lunch, the Wonder Pets swoop in and rescue the pig. The trio comes upon the second pig and questions his house of wooden sticks, just as the Wolf blows it down. But the Wonder Pets swoop in and save the pigs just in time. They have high hopes for the third pig, but he’s building his house out of flowers! While Tuck suggests making the last house out of bricks, the Wolf decides he wants the pesky Wonder Pets instead. Linny, Tuck and Ming-Ming run into the brick house which triumphantly remains standing, after the Wolf’s last attempt. The Wolf finally gives up on the Three Little Pigs and the Wonder Pets, and goes off to pursue Little Red Riding Hood.

PBS Kids

And there will be 2 new episodes of Curious George on PBS Kids (check local listings for show times) as part of a President’s Day George-to-George feature. The first episode features Housebound where George breaks his leg at the museum and George Rides a Bike. In the second episode George decides he wants to be an acrobat in Unbalanced and he tries to survive cold weather in Curious George vs. the Winter.

There will be new George’s on all week.

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Season 5 of The Wiggles is set to premiere on February 19th on the Disney Channel.

The season was shot prior to Yellow Wiggle Greg Page leaving the group, so the 4 original Wiggles remain intact for this slate of episodes.

The 26 episode season has a couple of new elements:

The episodes feature original, upbeat songs and the discovery of different cultures and languages through the new animated “Mariachi Wiggles” and “Mandarin Wiggles” showcasing popular Wiggles songs performed in Spanish and Mandarin. Also new is “Dorothy’s Dancing Alphabet” which introduces kids to the letter of the day.

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The season will debut at 7:00am on February 19th. A new episode will be aired each day through February 23rd at the same time.

The Wiggles, Playhouse Disney

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Playhouse Disney is getting a couple new hosts for their programming block. It will be 2 monkey puppets named Ooh and Aah.

Ooh and Aah, a pair of fun-loving monkey brothers, will host the programming block every day from their tree house in the jungle. Ooh, the refined blue monkey, loves to read and listen to classical music. Aah, the lively red monkey, loves to dance and play. Together, they encourage viewers to play along in fun games including “Crystal Coconut,” “Guess Ooh” and their very own game show, “What’s That Banana?”

The switch will be made on March 31st and will come with new graphics creating a whole new look for Playhouse Disney. No word yet on what will happen to current host Clay.

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The Disney Channel has ordered a second season of Handy Manny starring Wilmer Valderrama. According to the release the second season will have an emphasis on Spanish language.

In addition to imparting life lessons about working together, communication and setting goals, the new season will emphasize the series’ language curriculum, employing demonstrated techniques to help viewers comprehend and retain Spanish words and phrases. Language specialist Dr. Rose Marie Garcia Fontana has joined the series’ as a consultant. Marcela Davison Aviles continues as the series’ cultural consultant and Dr. Renee Cherow O’Leary as curriculum advisor.

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Business Week takes a look at Disney’s planned overhaul of Disney.com. It appears that Disney is going after a MySpace, Web 2.0 kind of thing to improve stickiness.

I’m guessing (and hoping) that the bulk of this will be aimed at the older kids. I certainly don’t want my soon to be 4 year old adding friends to their MySpace page. But, part of the redesign does involve playhousedisney.com which currently lags behind NickJr.com.

Disney isn’t even second on the list in terms of stickiness, with the 55 minutes its Playhouse Disney site keeps kids around, less than the 70 minutes that users of Viacom’s Nick Jr. hang around for games, videos, and more. The site also lets kids “mash up” videos—that is, create their own videos by altering videos Viacom has given to them.

Without really a strong push from my wife or I, my kids do tend to favor NickJr.com, and especially the Wow Wow Wubbzy games. Still, they’re not hitting the site for 70 minutes at a crack (or even 55).

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