Nick Jr. Channel
 | This article needs additional citations for verification. (September 2009) |
| Programming | |
|---|---|
| Language(s) | English |
| Ownership | |
| Owner | Viacom |
Nick Jr. (stylized as nick jr.) is the name of an American cable television channel owned by the Nickelodeon Kids and Family subsidiary of Viacom. The channel was known as Noggin from its February 2, 1999 launch until September 28, 2009 at 6:00 AM (Eastern Time)/5:00 AM (Central Time).
Sister channel The N was relaunched as TeenNick at the same time as Noggin's relaunch as Nick Jr.; like with TeenNick, Nick Jr.'s name was taken from a former program block on parent channel Nickelodeon, which aired weekday mornings from 1988 to 2009 under the Nick Jr. name; and still survives today on Nickelodeon as a block known in promotions as Play Date, which has traditional commercial breaks and no common continuity between each series. Nick Jr. is aimed at 2-6 year olds, and features a mix of originally-produced programming, and series previously and concurrently aired on Nickelodeon's Nick Jr. block. It is the main competitor to Disney Junior in most countries and PBS Kids in the United States and Canada.
The network's logo has been adjusted as part of a brand unification effort which saw all four of the Nickelodeon networks take on a unified look. Although the former motif of using an orange 'adult' figure and blue 'child' was discontinued in the new text-only logo, the tradition of 'Nick' being orange (representing the adult) and 'Jr.' remaining in blue (as the child) was retained.[1]
History
As Noggin (1999–2009)
Nick Jr. was first launched as Noggin on February 2, 1999, as a joint venture between Viacom's Nickelodeon and the Children's Television Workshop (a.k.a. Sesame Workshop), but Sesame Workshop's interest was sold to Nickelodeon at some point in 2002.[2] From 1999 to 2002, Noggin was targeted at preteens. Starting in 2002, it was targeted for preschoolers; the format was changed due to low ratings. Noggin's first (but officially second) mascot was "Feetface" from April 1, 2002 to April 7, 2003, followed by Moose A. Moose and Zee Bird from April 7, 2003 to March 1, 2012. There was also Phred, a strange pickle character, from 1999 to 2002 (first official mascot). Since March 1, 2012, the Nick Jr. channel is hosted by characters from Nick Jr. shows. The network took its name from a slang term for "head" or, by extension, reflecting its original purpose as an educational channel. By the time Noggin introduced "Feetface" on April 1, 2002, it was one of the first examples of a new animation style called "photo-puppetry", in which the animation is created by the use of manipulation of photographs. Until September 12, 2005, the network aired classic Sesame Workshop productions such as of September 10, 2007, Noggin no longer aired any show produced by Sesame Workshop (it has since aired The Upside Down Show.)
When Viacom decided to launch The N, which was formatted similarly to Nickelodeon's defunct 2000-09 TEENick block and later featured some recent family-oriented series that aired on Nick at Nite. The N was aimed at teens and had thought-provoking programming considered by many as too complex for Noggin's target pre- and elementary-school-age viewers. The N took up 12 hours of Noggin's programming space (operating in a similar manner as Nickelodeon and Nick at Nite) from 6 p.m.-6 a.m./ET seven nights a week. The fact that Noggin shared channel space with The N (now TeenNick) made it very similar to parent network Nickelodeon as it has shared channel space with Nick at Nite during the nighttime hours for most of its existence starting with Black Entertainment Television for the first couple of years on the air, then ARTS (Alpha Repertory Television Service, now A&E) and currently with Nick at Nite since 1985, which is commonly considered a nighttime program block on Nickelodeon.
Noggin's last "Feetface" (on Nick Jr.) era day signed off at 6:00pm on Sunday, April 6, 2003, with the last "Feetface" show to air on Sunday, April 6, 2003 on the channel was Little Bear, right before the last "Feetface" footage. After that, it showed a trailer for the mascots "Moose A. Moose" and "Zee Bird", followed by the last goodbyes to everyone at Noggin, the 2002-2003 mascot "Feetface", the last Noggin bumper, followed by the schedule and clock to The N's Sunday program lineup. At 6:00am on Monday, April 7, 2003, Noggin had their mascots, "Moose A. Moose" and "Zee Bird", with photo-puppetry being retained on the channel.
In addition to classic episodes of Nickelodeon favorites such as Blue's Clues and Dora the Explorer, and original shows such as Jack's Big Music Show, many preschool-oriented shows originating from non-U.S., English-speaking countries that would otherwise not likely be seen on American TV are shown. Some examples include Little Bear, and Franklin from Canada Connie the Cow, Tiny Planets from the UK. However, in 2008, this was being de-emphasized; Tweenies was permanently pulled from the schedule in January, and Tiny Planets was pulled in April. Tiny Planets was previously shown intermittently — but not every day — 6 a.m. Eastern/5 a.m. Central, as Tweenies was for a year until it was pulled. Since July 2006 this is also being done with 64 Zoo Lane, suggesting that it too may disappear eventually (however, unlike the other two shows, they also sometimes are showing it at 7 a.m. Eastern/6 a.m. Central. However, they have also recently introduced The Upside Down Show, which is from Australia (though like the British Tiny Planets, has American origins via Sesame Workshop).
Technically, Noggin did not show commercials, but it did show ads between shows such as Connie the Cow's Milk Break, as well as other "tie-in" media such as the music video that tied in with the film spots for airings of shows on other channels within the Nick family. The channel's other revenues presumably come from fees paid by cable television distributors.
The network was also a launching point for the music videos of pop musician/children's performers like Laurie Berkner, Lisa Loeb and Dan Zanes, initially as filler between 23-minute-long shows run commercial-free, and (because of their success in that format) now as music video shows like Move to the Music. Also, when Sesame Workshop’s classic shows (such as The Electric Company) aired on Noggin, they had to be edited for running time. At 6PM ET on December 30, 2007, the old 12-hour version of Noggin signed off for the last time. At 6AM ET on December 31, 2007, Noggin's sister channel Nick GAS shut down as a digital cable channel and The N was split into a separate channel taking over the former 1999-2007 channel space of Nick GAS, which allowed Noggin to return to a 24-hour network, while The N gets its 24-hour network.
As Nick Jr. (2009–present)
In an attempt to extend the association of the Nickelodeon brand to two sister cable channels on February 24, 2009, it was announced that Nick Jr. would be replacing Noggin and TeenNick taking over The N as the 24/7 channels. This is similar to how Nick Jr. launched its own channels in the UK on September 1, 1999 and in Australia on March 14, 2004.[3] Later that summer, it was announced that the network's logo would be adjusted as part of a brand unification effort which would see Nick Jr, and the rest of Nickelodeon's channels and products take on a unified look.[4]
Also that summer, rumors were spread on Wikipedia that many shows that once aired on the original Nick Jr. Block and/or Noggin, and were not aired in years would be returning to Nick Jr as part of its relaunch. None of the shows in question made any return since. A similar affair also took place on Wikipedia, late in the summer of 2012.
Noggin relaunched as Nick Jr. on September 28, 2009 at 6:00 AM Eastern/5:00 AM Central, and the new text-only logo took effect. Although the former motif of using an orange 'adult' figure and blue 'child' was discontinued in this logo, the tradition of 'Nick' being orange (representing the adult) and 'Jr.' remaining in blue (as the child) was retained. The Nick Jr. channel also retained the Noggin mascots Moose A. Moose and Zee until February 29, 2012, although it still didn't air commercials and marginalize closing credits for promotion of other shows.
As is common with newer networks which have taken another former network's channel slot, some guide providers have not updated their listings slot for Nick Jr. to the current logo and may display either the Noggin or The N logos, or both logos in the same image instead to denote Nick Jr.
A Spanish language version of the block debuted July 12, 2010, as part of the transformation of MTV tr3s into Tr3́s. "Tr3́s Jr." aired Spanish dubs of Blue's Clues, SpongeBob SquarePants, Sharon, Lois and Bram's Elephant Show, The Adventures of the Little Koala and Wonder Pets. The block has since than discontinued and no longer airs on Tr3́s.[5]
In October 2010, MTV Europe announced that Nick Jr. would have its shows aired on Kazakhstan-One in Kazakhstan, and as a branded block on Kazakhstan kids' channel Balapan, along with the Afghanistan television network Ariana Television Network.
On May 16, 2011, MTV Networks launched two new channels, Nick Jr. and MTVNHD, in Asia. These 24-hour channels will be available on StarHub TV in Singapore beginning May 18 and on Telekom Malaysia Berhad's Hypp.TV in Malaysia on June 1 onwards. The channel launched aggressively to the rest of Southeast Asia later.[6]
On February 29, 2012, an animated short featuring live-action kids and Nick Jr. characters, featuring a song to the tune of Parry Gripp's "Nom Nom Nom" aired. The next day, at 6:00 a.m. ET on March 1, 2012, an update of the network's image debuted, produced by Gretel Inc., with a new advertising campaign produced by BBDO. All content featuring Moose A. Moose and Zee D. Bird were retired from Nick Jr. completely; as a result, some of the interstitial learning activities that originally featured Moose's narration were recycled and replaced by the voice of the channel's new, female narrator. Parents and Children, however, were outraged at this gesture and almost immediately organized to take action against Nickelodeon in an effort to convince them to put the 2 mascots back on the air.[7] Also, on that day, the "It's like preschool on TV" slogan was abandoned and replaced with "The Smart Place to Play," the same slogan that is currently being used on the preschool block airing on Nickelodeon's main channel. These changes were designed to anticipate for the launch of rival channel Disney Junior, which launched 23 days later.
On September 3, 2012, Nick Jr. will start to air more programming such as The Mr. Men Show (moving from Boomerang), The Magic School Bus (last seen on qubo and Discovery Kids), The Big Comfy Couch (also last airing on Treehouse), Blue's Room, The Elephant Show, Harry The Bunny, Tillie Knock Knock, Hi-5, Animal Jam, Skinnamarink TV, The Mr. Men and Little Miss Show, etc., also on September 3, Nick Jr. will start airing shows higher than TV-Y, and also "The Smart Place to Play" replaced with "Where The Good Time Begins" including different genres on each show (Science, Times, Birthdays, Sports, Animals, etc.)
Starting October 1, 2012, Nick Jr. will launch its live commerical-free nighttime comedy block called "NickMom"[8], which airs from 10pm-12 midnight. The NickMom block airs mostly comedy programming aimed toward moms. Programs include "Parental Discretion with Stefanie Wilder-Taylor", "MFF: Mom Friends Forever", "NickMom Night Out", and "What Was Carol Brady Thinking?" An upcoming original program, My 63 Moms, will debut in early 2013.
Timesharing history
| Timeline of Nick Jr.'s Operation Hours | ||
| Date | Information | Sign-Off |
|---|---|---|
| 1999-2002, 2007-2009 | Noggin was on 24 hours a day. | - |
| 2002-2007 (2002-2009 on Dish Network) | Noggin switched to The N. | 6:00pm |
| 2009 | Nick Jr gets its 24/7 TV network. | - |
| 2012 | Nick Jr. introduces a new look. | - |
Programming
Commercials
Starting March 1, 2012, Nick Jr. airs promos for its preschool programming and short features, abandoning the commercial-free environment for kids that began with Noggin.
Online video content on NickJr.com has television commercials or a Nick Jr. sting that play between video clips.
See also
References
- ^ 659.html?categoryid=14&cs=1 Nickelodeon Unveils New Logo, Variety.com, July 29, 2009
- ^ "A Lucky Few Children Get to Start Using Their Noggin". NY Daily News. 1999-02-02. Retrieved 2009-10-26.
- ^ "Nick" of Time for Rebrand, MultiChannel News, March 2, 2009
- ^ "Nickelodeon unveils new logo". Variety.
- ^ "Tr3s TV Schedule". Retrieved 29 August 2012.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|deadurl=ignored (|url-status=suggested) (help) - ^ Viacom Debuts Nick Jr. And MTVNHD
- ^ "Parents Rip Nick Jr. For 'Firing' Moose and Zee". Chicago CBSlocal.
- ^ "Nick Jr.'s NickMom Primetime Comedy Block Sets Launch Date, Adds Docu Series". Retrieved 29 August 2012.
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