Enough With the Famous-Kid Shows!

KJ Dell Antonia — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 15:07:59 -0400

The Monkees and their eponymous sitcom were once funny. The way the props appeared out of nowhere. The way they tossed one another behind doors and sofas and pretended to fight. Then we saw it again, in Jonas. And then the skateboard star version with Zeke and Luther. And now we have Nickelodeon's Big Time Rush, starring four adorable young men of different types (brainy! sporty!

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Babies Having Babies

Torie Bosch — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 18:39:25 -0400

Earlier this year, MTV took a break from its regularly scheduled programming of drunken hookups to demonstrate the consequences of said behavior. 16 and Pregnant, produced in partnership with the National Campaign To Reduce Teen and Unwanted Pregnancy, shone a harsh light on having a baby when you can’t yet vote. The series followed eight girls (and their partners), one per episode, as they transitioned from pregnancy to parenthood.

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A Visit to Avonlea

Margaret Wheeler Johnson — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 15:13:46 -0400

For diehard Anne of Green Gables fans—also known as “kindred spirits”— the ’90s TV series Road to Avonlea, whose first and second seasons was re-released in digitally remastered form this week,

Boys Will Be Boys

KJ Dell Antonia — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 14:52:00 -0400

Fanboy and Chum Chum is just what the world’s been missing—a show about two nerdy, overactive adolescent boys who pull each other’s fingers and drive teachers crazy—oh, wait, that’s been done, hasn’t it? Once or twice or a thousand times. But these two are wearing (for no apparent reason) superhero costumes! Don’t get me wrong—if Fanboy and Chum Chum pops on in your house, your middle graders will sit entranced, laughing in all the right places. The episode where a real teen wizard shows up and these two dorks want to play “wizard” with him is mildly funny.

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A Wubbzy Halloween

KJ Dell Antonia — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 10:37:25 -0400

Wow! Wow! Wubbzy is our current household favorite for a show mom supports, little kids like, and 8-year-old tolerates, which made Wubbzy Goes Boo a hit from the moment the box was revealed. There is just something about a holiday DVD that’s more exciting than a regular one.

Witch Craft

KJ Dell Antonia — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 10:32:28 -0400

I love Scholastic’s adaptations of picture books into gentle video form, I do. Witness my enthusiasm for its Where the Wild Things Are.

Minor Drug Abuse

Torie Bosch — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 10:35:40 -0400

Perhaps the best part of Nickelodoen’s new special on teen addiction, Nick News With Linda Ellerbee: Kids in Rehab: There are none of the fetishistic shots of needles plunging into veins that TV shows about drug use, like Intervention, specialize in. Nick’s half-hour show looks at several teenagers in treatment for substance abuse—with special focus on the intoxicants kids use the most, like alcohol, marijuana, prescription drugs, and cough syrup.

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Photograph courtesy Lucky Duck Productions

Toy Story

KJ Dell Antonia — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 11:20:34 -0400

In Disney’s new Jungle Junction, a group of wheeled animals dwell in a brightly lit, well-mapped jungle filled with twisty roads and drive-in buildings. Why? Oh, I think you can guess. Even the animated versions of these stock “characters” look ready for a kid to pick them up and zoom them around a playroom. A two-wheeled pig and a Ele-van lead the group in mild adventures in map- and sign-reading. It’s all a little absurd but utterly without charm. Everything feels crafted to fit within the product-driven master plan. Why animals with wheels? More fun to play with.

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Spooky Extracurricular Activities

KJ Dell Antonia — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 13:18:29 -0400

Does the world need another TV show about a secret group dedicated to protecting society from the spooky things we’re not supposed believe in? It does, if the show is Nickelodeon’s The Troop, which blends scary with funny in a way that’s perfect for capturing the attention of your middle grader and her older sibs. From the satisfying first episode, in which a character who thinks he’s bombed an aptitude test discovers instead that he’s uniquely qualified to battle the paranormal, the show and its characters are engaging but still age appropriate.

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Firetruck Learning

KJ Dell Antonia — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 10:25:05 -0400

Fire Truck Rocket’s Blastoff, the latest DVD from the Little Einsteins, comes with one new episode and a new “interactive” feature. To my dismay, this turned out to involve interaction not with the characters but with a voice that asked questions throughout the episode, which were to be answered with the remote’s arrow buttons.