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Below is a compilation of reviews of It’s a Big Big World:

Mainstream Media: The positives

St Petersburg Times: Welcome to a brave new world. The reviewer was a fan of the show, and a big fan of Shadowmation.

It’s not Sesame Street. It’s not a cartoon. It’s hard to say what it is.

Except that it’s really cool.

While the storytelling is soothing and clear, the visuals - created in a process dubbed Shadowmation - are the star. Unlike anything else on the air, Big, Big World delivers a beautiful, brightly colored package - a cross between puppetry and animation - that befuddles the eye and gives life to characters that beg to be made into giant, fluffy toys.

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On Monday, January 2nd PBS Kids will debut a new show titled It’s a Big Big World. The show takes place in The World Tree where a number of animals native to the rainforest make their homes. The show uses a mix of puppetry, animatronics, and computer animation called Shadowmation. The educational goals include science and geography. My initial impression after seeing the show is Bear in the Big Blue House meets Go Diego Go with a little Bill Nye. The flow of the show, and the characters call to mind “Bear.” But the setting, and emphasis on problem solving resemble Diego with a curriculum that would make The Science Guy proud.

The test audience (my almost 5 year old son, and 2 1/2 year old daughter) and I watched the first episode, “Not Found Here.” The show began with Snook waking up and talking to the viewers. My son was instantly engaged, laughing and answering the questions that Snook posed.

Smooch and Winslow, a pair of marmosets come looking to Snook for help. The primates are looking for a friend they had recently met named Wartz. Unfortunately Smooch and Winslow didn’t remember very much about Wartz, or where they could find him. Snook, being the helpful sloth that he is, agrees to help track down Wartz. Because they have very little information to work with, Snook suggests that they find all the places Wartz isn’t so that eventually they find the one place he is – essentially the scientific method.

Along the way the trio check with the other inhabitants of The World Tree. Here we meet the rest of the characters. First they visit Burdette, who I believe is a macaw and is a little bit bossy. Next they stop and see a slightly neurotic, ant-obsessed anteater named Bob. Other friends along the way include a monkey named Oko who seems to be Mr Miyagi with a little bit of Shaggy thrown in, a fish named Ick, and a wise old turtle named Madge.
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Snook the three-toed sloth star of It’s a Big Big World made his debut on PBS Kids. In several snippets we were introduced to all the residents of the World Tree. While it was tough to make any judgements about the show content in such short segments, it was visually appealing. The shadowmation mix of puppetry, animatronics, and animation was very impressive.

My kids seemed to respond to the characters. I don’t know if that is attributable to the characters themselves, or recoginition of the various animals from episodes of Go Diego Go.

If you missed Big Big Friend Day, there is a 30 second clip for your previewing enjoyment. There is also more information on the show’s web page. The show will debut on January 2nd.

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PBS today announced a plan to revamp their children’s television offerings.

PBS announces a five-year initiative entitled PBS KIDS Next Generation Media, defining the role PBS will play in the changing digital children’s media landscape. Most immediately prescribed by this initiative are a new preschool multi-platform destination and a 24-hour multicast service for early elementary school kids. Both will launch in fall 2006. Lesli Rotenberg, Senior Vice President, PBS Brand Management, has been tasked to lead this cross-divisional effort.

As for what that all means in the short term, here are the highlights:

• Launching 3 new shows in 2006. It’s a big big world featuring science and geography (January), Curious George teaching preschoolers math and engineering (fall), and Fetch! aimed at elementary school children (June).
• Inclusion of a live host between shows
• Grouping shows by development stage
• Enhancing the internet platform

Children’s programming is becoming more and more competitive, and PBS is probably feeling the pressure to remain relevant. At one time, they were the only game in town. Then as there were more alternatives, PBS Kids remained one of the few commercial free entities. But with cable came the Playhouse Disney block, as well as Noggin. Both offering commercial free, educational television. I know that in my house, very few PBS shows get watched. While the shows are still fine, my kids prefer some of the other alternatives.

Press Release: PBS launches PBS Kids Next Generation Fall 2006
PBS Kids: PBSKids.org
Related Post: It’s a big big world

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This fall PBS began airing new episodes of Jay Jay the Jet Plane called Jay Jay’s Mysteries. The shows are actually half-episodes that in my market air paired with an old episode to make the half-hour block. I’d guess that they air as standalone episodes on PBS Sprout though.

The new mystery episodes seem to be combining as many elements of Dora the Explorer as possible. They’ve added an Hispanic airplane named Lina, so that kids can learn Spanish. The episodes are in a problem solving format in the ilk of Blue’s Clues, Dora the Explorer, and Journey to Ernie. In addition to Lina, there is another member of the “cast” named Montana.

The mysteries are based on around a certain topic, which typically has a scientific type base. Some of the new episodes include The Mystery of Water, The Mystery of Weather, and The Mystery of Size and Shape.

The Mystery of Size and Shape is the episode that I sat and watched attentively. Brenda Blue basically lectured about shapes to Jay Jay and Lina. They then went out and found examples of squares, triangles, circles, etc. in the world around them. They then went back for more lecture about sizes. The problem they ultimately had to solve was finding a hat that was in a cave. As it turns out Lina was the only plane small enough to retrieve the hat. In the end Lina ended up feeling good about her size (earlier in the episode she was sad she was so small).

While the shows have connected with my 4 year old son, my two year old daughter doesn’t even want to be in the room when it is on. My son has been a fan of Jay Jay for awhile though, so for him it was nice to just have new episodes.

As for my take, I’ve never been a real big fan of Jay Jay. It’s harmless enough, and some of the songs are charming and catchy, but in terms of educational value it always seemed on the light side. The effort was always there, yet the message didn’t seem to connect with my kids. While the educational component seems to have been beefed up with the new mystery series, it seems like it has already been done by so many other shows already. Also, most of the education is done essentially classroom style by Brenda Blue.

If your kids liked Jay Jay before, they’ll most likely still enjoy it. But if they weren’t a fan, I don’t think this will convert them.

There will be 10 new episodes released this fall (2005) and 10 more in 2006.

Show Link: Jay Jay The Jet Plane
Press Release: New Jay Jay Episodes

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PBS Kids will introduce the characters from their newest television show, It’s a Big, Big World during a special programming block on November 25th. As part of PBS Kids It’s a Big, Big Friend Day Clifford and Emily Elizabeth will introduce Snook the sloth, the three-toed star of the new show. The programming block will feature episodes of Clifford and Dragon Tales themed around friendship.

Press Release: It’s ‘Big Big Friend Day’
PBS Kids: PBSKids.org
Related Post: It’s a Big, Big World

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The stations are announcing their halloween programming, this article lists some of the highlights.

For preschoolers Nick Jr. will feature a full slate of Halloween programming that is highlighted by a new episode of the Backyardigans. The new episode, “Soccer Monster” will air at 10:00am on October 31st.

PBS will air halloween episodes of Clifford’s Puppy Days and the Berenstein Bears on the 31st. Check your local listings for show times.

Finally, Noggin will premeire a new episode of Jack’s Big Music Show on Halloween. The show will air at 12:30pm.

Related Post: A Playhouse Disney Halloween

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Today’s Boston Globe has a story about a new show coming to PBS in January. The show is called It’s a Big, Big, World, and stars a sloth named Snook. Snook is a puppet who will teach kids about science and geography. It is produced by the creator of Bear in the Big Blue House.

The article also focuses on the challenges that PBS faces in a competitive preschool tv market.

On a side note, the sloth continues to become well known to the preschool set. In case you missed it, the sloth was a featured animal on Go Diego Go.

Tags: pbs

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