What is Noggin?

[tiffanilmt]

Reading through the threads I have seen Noggin referenced a few times. I know I have heard my MIL (a tv junkie) mention our niece watching something on Noggin. What kinda channel is noggin? Are they educational shows? Is it commercial laden?

And what are some of your general thoughts about noggin? (not trying to start any debates but I am interested in all sides...)
TIA

[NiteNicole]

In theory, there are no commercials. There are one or two very quick product...it's not really product placment but it's not quite a commercial. Noggin went 24 hours a few months ago and now there are a LOT of promos for Nick Jr and Home Improvment. I don't really like that because they tend to be for shows I don't want dd to watch.

I set Tivo to record a handfull of things for dd to watch on our own schedule, so I'm pretty familiar with the names of a lot of the shows, but I haven't seen most of them.

Backyardigans
Blue's Clues
Oswald
Maggie and the Ferocious Beast
Little Bill
Little Bear
Franklin
something or another Zoo Lane
Oobie
Max and Ruby
Pinky Dinky Doo

I'm sure other people can think of other shows.

I would say if you let your preschooler watch tv, then most of these are appropriate. They don't tend to have that crazy pace that a lot of cartoons have, there's not a lot of name calling or whining. The only thing we have an issue with is Little Bill. It's ADORABLE and dd loooooves it but she's just two and a half so she totally takes away the wrong thing (for instance, she will learn the name called, not that name calling is mean).

[jadekat]

My kids like Noggin. What I used to like was that it didn't have any of the really popular (mass merchandising) cartoons. Unfortunately they have Dora the Explorer and Diego on now and I can't stand them. I feel like it was a better channel a few years ago. My kids like the Sprout channel but we don't get it.

[momileigh]

Oh, you can't stand Diego?? Both my girls have a crush on Diego! It is so cute! My oldest always says she wants to marry either Diego or Shrek. And they do learn about animals watching that show. One of their favorite pretend plays is to rescue animals and that's all due to Diego. (I understand why Dora is grating, although she never bugged me all that much, and I liked the multicultural aspect.)

We're cutting waaaaay down on tv now that I'm out of school (like now they watch tv maybe once a week for 25 min, instead of an hour a day) but when they used to watch, Noggin was all I had on. The shows are all educational one way or another. No commercial interruption (all mini-ads, usually for other shows, came on between programs). Compared to "commercial" kids' shows, they are quiet, slower paced, and developmentally more appropriate.

I'm a big Noggin fan, if preschoolers are going to be watching tv anyway.

Oh, and P.S.: their slogan is, "It's like Preschool on TV." It is aimed for the 2-5 set.

[goldfinch]

Oh, and P.S.: their slogan is, "It's like Preschool on TV."

I've also heard that "Pork is the other white meat," "Coke is the real thing," "Milk does a body good," and that Lucky Strike cigarettes are "Cleaner, fresher, smoother." But I'm not convinced by those slogans, either.

Personally, I'd consider something like "Dora" a 'program-length commercial' which encourages my kids to develop emotional connections to characters then used to sell everything from underpants and toothbrushes to bicycles, socks, and games (and everything in between and beyond.) In my mind, that's not "non-commercial television."

The book "Buy, Buy, Baby" has a whole section on Noggin as well as program-length commercials. It's an easy read and well worth your time.

[momileigh]

Well, I certainly wasn't saying that because that's their slogan, it really is like preschool on tv! I brought that up b/c the OP asked for an overall picture of what the channel was. I didn't want her to not realize it is a channel for preschoolers and think it was an educational channel for kids of all ages.

Besides, I don't think preschool is all that great anyway! Some are better than others.

There is an argument to be made for the "program-length commercial" thing. BUT, as true as it may be:

1. My kids NEVER pointed at the screen and said, "I WANT THAT!" (They were, on the other hand, inordinately excited about their new panties Grandma bought them because Dora was on them.) Traditional commercials can turn your home into a constant, "I want this, I need that." I know because I grew up in a house like that! So when I was using tv a lot, it was nice to have an option with no "commercials." And my kids weren't exposed to too much in the way of character merchandise because we don't shop much. (If you don't take them into stores a lot, how do they even know these things are available for sale?) For a family that watched about an hour a day of Noggin for 3 years, I can't think of anything we own with a character on it except for those panties.

2. Interrupting the narrative of a show for traditional commercials is thought to be disrupting to brain development and linked to ADD and other problems. That's why after much research they retooled Sesame Street so the main narrative was told all at once rather than having all those "breaks" in which cartoons counted to ten etc.

This whole thread might be better off in the television forum. I maintain that although I prefer the tv off, if it were to be on Noggin would be my first choice. Better than PBS, Discovery Kids, Disney channel, etc.

This could be neither here nor there, but when we went from moderate to very little tv two months ago, it was a pretty smooth transition. I wonder if it had something to do with the quality of tv they were watching.