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Family

Nickelodeon’s “The JumpArounds” Aims At Kids’ Musical Sensibilities

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, […]

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Animation

Hey Kids: Say “Hello” To “Ni Hao, Kai-lan,” Season 2

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 […]

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Family

“Yo Gabba Gabba!” Is Back For (Much) More

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 […]

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Animation

Nickelodeon Unifies Its Branding, Kids!

by Karl J. Paloucek Hey, kids! Literally — all of you Nickelodeon fans, listen up. As it enters its 30th year devoted to bringing programming for kids, Nickelodeon is making a few bold moves and changes to its brand. Namely, first of all, the brand is re-christening some of its networks and website offshoots to bring all of them more firmly under the Nickelodeon umbrella. Here’s how it’s all gonna go down: Noggin will become Nick Jr: The preschool set need not fear, their wee li’l shows are staying put. Only the name will change. The N will become TEENick: […]