If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

Nick Jr.’s new show, Ni Hao, Kai-lan premieres today at 11 a.m. corresponding with the Chinese New Year.

The show aimed at 2 to 5 year olds focuses on a five year old girl named Kai-lan. The series explores the colorful aspects of her upbringing and background, and her relationships with family, friends, and the world around her.

The characters of the show include:

• YeYe:  YeYe is Kai-lan’s grandpa.  He provides her with guidance, but let’s her find her own answers while he learns from her as well.
• Rintoo:  Rintoo is a five year old tiger who loves to play with his best friend Kai-lan.  He is impulsive with much bravado but also sweet and caring.
• Tolee:  Tolee is a koala who always puts his friends first.  He sometimes worries too much, but can’t wait to be part of games and activities.
• Hoho:  A three year old monkey is the youngest of Kai-lan’s friends.  He loves to be the center of attention.
• Lulu:  The oldest of the group, Lulu is a six year old pink rhino who loves to dance and is eager to help out.

Preschoolers will learn many mandarin words and phrases, as well as how to deal with issues such as taking turns, disappointment and jealousy.

The initial season has 20 episodes.

More on Ni Hao Kai-lan:

Review: ‘Ni Hao, Kai-lan’ like Mandarin Dora

Being authentic is admirable, but whether “Ni Hao, Kai-lan” succeeds or not depends less on that or even the “emotional intelligence curriculum” than it does on whether the 2-t0-5 demo finds Kai-lan and friends entertaining. It may be visually pleasing and sweet at its heart - good and good for you, as they say - but if Kai-lan, Rintoo, Tolee, Hoho, Lulu and Gramps can’t set the hook in those kids from Kansas, this series will be forgotten faster than the French you learned in high school.

Chinese-speaking Kai-lan joins network who teaches little kids Spanish with Dora, Diego

For anyone interested in China, “Ni Hao, Kai-lan” is a dramatic illustration of how much Chinese culture — like Irish, German, Italian and so many other immigrant cultures before it — is not only present in America but is part of us. That’s part of why Jade-Lianna Gao Peters, the 11-year-old Milwaukee girl who voices Kai-lan, is excited about what American kids unfamiliar with Chinese culture can glean from the show.

Share This

Noggin has acquired the U.S. broadcast rights to the first 52 episodes of Peppa Pig. Peppa Pig is a show from the United Kingdom that debuted four years ago.

It is currently airing on Nick Jr. UK and the shows website describes the show thusly:

Peppa is a loveable, cheeky little piggy who lives with her little brother George, Mummy Pig and Daddy Pig. Peppa’s favourite things include playing games, dressing up, days out and jumping in muddy puddles. Her adventures always end happily with loud snorts of laughter.

‘Peppa’ hits Nickelodeon’s Noggin - Entertainment News, TV News, Media - Variety

Share This

With the move to full time programming, Noggin has announced two new seasons of shows.

First they greenlighted a second season of Pinky Dinky Doo. The new season will contain 26 episodes.

Also, they will premiere a full 26 episode season of Toot & Puddle starting in Fall 2008. The series is based on books by children’s author Holly Hobbie.

Share This

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

Share This

Childrens Media Consultant has the skinny on a number of series that have been greenlighted (greenlit?) on the kiddie networks.

» Blog Archive » Prepping the Pitch: Know What Is on the Development Slate Prepping the Pitch: Know What Is on the Development Slate

Share This

PBS Kids will air a new show in fall 2008 called What’s the Big Idea?. The show’s educational goal is science readiness and it will be produced by The Jim Henson Company.

In a sketch-comedy format, What’s the Big Idea? focuses on an inquisitive youngster named Josh who explores everyday questions that preschoolers find fascinating. The 40×30-minute series will be created using the Henson Digital Performance Studio, which is a proprietary technology that allows puppeteers to perform digital characters in real time to create a more spontaneous result.

World Screen - Home

Share This

PBS Kids has premiered a new show where kid superheroes inspire preschoolers to embrace literacy and a love of books.

The kids on the show are inspired from famous fairy tales and include:

• Whyatt Beanstalk (Jack’s younger brother)
• Red of “Little Red Riding Hood” fame
• Littlest Pig from “The Three Little Pigs”
• Princess Pea of the classic “The Princess and The Pea.”

As soon as a problem arises, Whyatt calls his friends to the Book Club, where they transform into reading-powered superheroes: Alpha Pig with Alphabet Power, Wonder Red with Word Power, Princess Presto with Spelling Power, Super Why with the Power to Read and Super YOU with the Power to Help. Together, they are the “Super Readers,” jumping into books (literally) to find answers to everyday preschool challenges.

In the premiere episode Jill keeps knocking down Pig’s tower and he wants her to stop! The Super Readers fly into the Three Little Pigs story and come face to face with the big bad wolf himself. Along the way viewers learn about friendship, opposite words, and words ending with ALL (small, tall, etc.). Both my 4 year old and 6 year old enjoyed it, and especially my younger daughter who is looking to be able to read like her big brother can.

The story moves along at a nice pace, and the characters are likable. Plus kids probably will learn key elements of reading, without feeling like they’re learning something.

PBS Kids has made a huge commitment to this show, with an initial agreement for 65 episodes. The first season which debuted on September 3rd appears to have 20 episodes.

For more see Children’s Media Consultant’s review of the bevy of literacy focused TV shows debuting this fall.

Share This

On Monday August 20th Nickelodeon will debut their newest preschool show, Yo Gabba Gabba with a simulcast on Nick Jr. and Noggin at 10:30am.

The show is a different style than the typical Noggin/Nick Jr. fare in that instead of the shows being “stories” each episode is a series of short yet related segments. The premise is that DJ Lance Rock has a robot and 4 monsters that he brings to life. The show uses several modern music themes to convey messages about trying new foods and brushing your teeth.

The press release states, “This fresh, inventive music series will captivate preschoolers and caregivers with a hip, diverse slate of original music and infectious lyrics.” After seeing the premiere episode, Eat, I certainly would agree with the infectious part. My kids have been singing “Try it you’ll like it” ever since.

Still, I just don’t get the appeal of the show. The monsters and robots aren’t particularly engaging or endearing characters. I didn’t find the music, at least in the premiere episode, to be very interesting. The kids were entertained, but as a parent I found it to be annoying.

The show does have a number of guest stars slated for this season including: Elijah Wood in the premiere episode (“Eat”), Mya, The Shins, Sugarland, Rahzel, Tony Hawk, Laila Ali, Sean Kingston, Nikki Flores, Hector Jimenez, Smoosh, The Aquabats, The Aggrolites and Cornelius.

The show is jointly produced by creators The Magic Store and Wild Brain who brought us Higglytown Heroes. The Magic Store was founded in 2005 by “Gen X” dads Christian Jacobs, Justin Lyon and Scott Schultz. The studio’s first project, Yo Gabba Gabba!, was produced independently in two half-hour episodes. After creating an online viral frenzy with the trailer, the show ultimately found a home on Nick Jr.

Share This

Following on the success and popularity that Dora the Explorer has had in teaching children Spanish, Nick Jr. hopes to do the same for Chinese culture and languages with NI HAO, KAI-LAN.

NI HAO, KAI-LAN is a play-along, think-along series starring Kai-lan Chow, a playful, adventurous preschooler with a big heart, who speaks both English and Mandarin. The series centers on Kai-lan and her relationships with her grandfather, YeYe, and her animal friends. YeYe plays a major role in her life as he gently and playfully guides her to her own discoveries. Kai-lan is a natural leader who is thoughtful and caring and has a gift for helping her friends when they really need her. Her best friends include: Rintoo, a rambunctious five-year-old tiger who loves to play, Tolee, a five-year-old koala, who always puts his friends first, Hoho, a three-year-old monkey full of boundless energy, and Lulu, a happy six-year-old pink rhino.

The show is set to premiere October 22nd, 2007

Nick Jr. Interactive Series to Teach Preschoolers Mandarin Language

Share This

You may remember a Toot and Puddle holiday special last December. It looks like Noggin has picked up the series. The show is set to debut in fall 2008.

Noggin Gets Toot & Puddle | Animation Magazine

Share This