KIDS FIRST! News

“Can we watch this some more? I bet I can make an instrument like that,” my ten-year old enthuses. Super young engineers have “Peep and the Big Wide World,” and now, older engineers have “Design Squad,” thanks to producer Marisa Wolsky and her team. Produced by WGBH , Design Squad is a PBS reality television show where teens between the ages 15 and 19 design whimsical machines in order to win a college scholarship.Although the show highlights teenage kids, it appeals to younger children, also, making the viewing an entertaining and educational family event. “Can I see just one more episode?” asked Hudson, an eight-year-old KIDS FIRST! juror. “I love this show!” He set up his laptop and watched one episode after another in the series online. This is not unusual according to Wolsky. Statistics show that ¼ of their audience watches online.How is this series different from a million other reality shows out there? Well, for one thing, there are no product placement. Parents don’t have to worry about subliminal commercial advertising when their child is watching this show. Also, the kids are competing for an opportunity to go on in life, using their natural smarts and the information they learned on this show.The students on the teams put in a lot of effort to yield great results. Once filming began in the first season, Wolsky found that it was inspiring to see the cast of eight evolve over the season with growth both socially and academically. The winner of Design Squad receives a $10,000 college scholarship provided by the Intel Foundation.One of the biggest hurdles Wolsky and her team had to overcome was creating two-day challenges that had a satisfactory result. Season one taught them about time constraints, which included shopping time and finding challenges that appropriately fit the time frame. They made some slight changes so the teens in season two can focus more on the engineering and creativity. Season two is off to a terrific start with episodes ranging from building furniture with cardboard to building a safe roller coaster in the backyard.Season Two premiers April 2008. Check Design Squad for more details.

Nickelodeon launches its new Nick Jr. animated Mandarin-language preschool series Ni Hao, Kai-lan (20 episodes) today, the first day of the Chinese New Year. Nick Jr. will also roll out six new episodes weekdays from February 8-15, with the series airing regularly weekdays at 11a. Designed to introduce the Chinese (Mandarin) language and culture to preschoolers, Ni Hao, Kai-lan is told through Kai-lan, a 5-year-old Chinese-American girl. Created by Karen Chau and Executive Produced by Mary Harrington, animation production for Ni Hao, Kai-lan is being produced in conjunction with Wang Films and Wang Studio in Greater China.

American Public Television (APT) will begin offering 60 episodes of the new children’s musical series “Raggs” on February 4, 2008.”‘Raggs’ is one of the most ambitious launches of a new children’s series in the history of APT,” says Cynthia Fenneman, President and CEO of American Public Television. “It’s rare to find an independent children’s TV series that has created so much content and at such a high level of quality. We are delighted to make “Raggs” available to the more than 350 independent public broadcast stations in the U.S.”The series stars five colorful canines – Raggs, Trilby, Pido, B. Max and Razzles – who play in a rock ‘n’ roll band and live together in a clubhouse with their wisecracking pet cat, Dumpster. The innovative format features live costumed characters, animated segments, interviews with children and music videos. Dr. Sholly Fisch, former VP of Program Research at Sesame Workshop, directs “Raggs” educational content which reinforces preschool academic and pro-social themes.Captivating music lies at the core of “Raggs,” with more than 200 original rockin’ songs that educate as well as entertain children and parents. The Raggs concept evolved from the success of The Raggs Band, which has played over 3,000 live concerts on four continents since 2001.For more information, check out the Raggs’ website

Monday, January 14, 2008 at 7p., Nickelodeon is set to premiere The Backyardigans in a new primetime TV movie titled, “Tale of the Mighty Knights” (60 min).In “Tale of the Mighty Knights,” royal knights Uniqua and Tyrone are ready to do mighty deeds in service to their King (Pablo). It seems like a pretty simple task until the King asks them to babysit an egg, which grows legs and runs away! A rock opera soundtrack moves the action along as the knights pursue their egg in Goblin Land and encounter a grabbing goblin (Austin), through Fairyland where they meet a tiny and mischievous fairy (Tasha), and finally to Dragon Mountain where they face a mighty baby dragon (Adam Pascal). Will the knights conquer their greatest challenge yet?The premiere of the TV movie will be followed by a new Backyardigans CD release from Nickelodeon/Sony BMG, titled “Born to Play,” on January 22.The third CD from the hit series features 22 new tracks, including six songs from “Tale of the Mighty Knights.” Joining the backyard gang in the studio are celebrity guest artists Alicia Keys, Cyndi Lauper and Adam Pascal. Alicia Keys lends her unique R&B vocals on “Almost Everything is Boinga.” Cyndi Lauper reminds us to think pink on the jazz-tinged “Lady in Pink,” and Adam Pascal powers the Zepellinesque rock-opera ballad “Not an Egg.”Also, “The Backyardigans Live! Tale of the Mighty Knights,” a 50-city live tour, in partnership with Live Nation, kicks off on March 28.

Vuze, the online entertainment platform, has inked a content deal with PBS to provide selected PBS programming on a download-to-own basis. Vuze is now offering PBS programs including PBS Kids programs such as “Caillou” and “Teletubbies,” as well as “History Detectives,” “NOVA,” and “Scientific American Frontiers,” as well as programming from selected local PBS stations. This deal comes just as PBS enters into a similar deal with BitTorrent.