Tuesday, August 5, 2008

Nick Jr jumps the shark


I'm sorry to report that Nick Jr has officially jumped the shark. Dora and Diego are about to embark on a new adventure: Media Life reports that Nick Jr cartoons are being adapted for the big screen. Feature length films? More action? More in-depth story lines? Sorry... it appears that the films will be "reformatted TV cartoons, " including “Dora,” “Diego, ” “The Backyardigans” and “The Wonder Pets,” as large-screen projection movies along with sing-along videos and other little extras. " The 10am shows in 12 states will include roughly 50 minutes of entertainment and the cost will be a bit more than a matinee. Now, I realize that not everyone has cable and that Nickelodeon might be trying to make a bit of money back after they decided to stop licensing their characters to junk food companies last year, but this strategy seems like it misses the mark. Mothers who already have cable will not want to pay to watch more TV in a movie theater. And those that don't have cable generally do so for a good reason (either cost or out of principle). Nick Jr has some really great properties so it's surprising to see them go this route. Perhaps they should um, explore some other opportunities.

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