TVSquad

It looks like Nickelodeon is getting a little further into the games business by releasing both SpongeBob SquarePants, iCarly and Dora The Explorer learning games for the iPhone. They will be available later this year.

My question is this: do children of that age really use the iPhone or iPod Touch that much? Most of the people I know who own one or the other are adults or at least teenagers. While I can see some market for SpongeBob SquarePants (which has some adult crossover appeal), I just don't see the grown-ups buying iCarly or Dora.

Via Toon Zone comes news that Noggin and its evening version, The N, will be splitting into two separate, twenty four-hour networks on December 31.

Noggin will continue with programming aimed at the preschool set with programs like Wow! Wow! Wubbzy!, Oobi, Jack's Big Music Show, and Nick Jr. properties like Dora the Explorer, Blue's Clues and The Backyardigans.

The N, originally the evening version of Noggin aimed at teens (and "tweens" to use a meaningless marketing term), will expand to 24 hours with TEENick programming during the day (All That, The Amanda Show, etc) and original programming at night: Degrassi: The Next Generation, South of Nowhere, and Beyond the Break. The N also acquired rights to air reruns of That '70s Show starting June 2008.

Here are the new TV DVDs, in stores tomorrow.

• Baa Baa Black Sheep - Vol. 2
• Batfink - Complete Series
• Chancer - Series 1
• Degrassi: The Next Generation - Season 5
• Dora The Explorer - Summer Explorer
• Eureka - Season 1
• George Lopez: America's Mexican (HBO standup special)
• Ghostbusters - Vol. 2
• Kate & Allie - Season 4 (Canada)
• Slings & Arrows - Season 4
• WWE - One Night Stand

We've all heard about Alec Baldwin's angry message to his daughter, and like most of you, I didn't give it much thought.

However, while poking around our parent company AOL's news site, I found a link to this video (embedded below) in which Dora the Explorer, the bilingual chick who loves learning, receives a call from a very irate Alec Baldwin. I must say, Dora seems to take it pretty well. In fact, it's almost as if she's so preoccupied she has no idea what's being said to her.

Really, though, I can't blame Baldwin for getting upset. I'd be upset too if someone decided they'd rather hunt for treasure with their mother and a monkey than talk to me on the phone. I would suggest setting up an intervention with the Backyardigans; I'm pretty sure their credentials match Dr. Phil's.

It's almost hard to believe that SpongeBob SquarePants has been around for eight years, but it has. If any of you were afraid the eternally-optimistic invertebrate might be going away, don't fret: Nick has ordered up thirteen new episodes of the series for the 2008 season.

I was a big fan of SpongeBob from the very beginning (I actually have a SpongeBob mug with water in it sitting next to me at this very moment), but I'll admit I don't tune in as much as I used to. I'll still Tivo the show on occasion, though, and it still makes me laugh.

I've never seen an episode of Nickelodeon's Dora The Explorer. My Nickelodeon viewing is limited to The Fairly Odd Parents and maybe SpongeBob SquarePants once in a while. What is the show about, exactly? Is it one of those shows that's animated but is really for adults more than the younger set? Does Dora work for the vice squad or maybe an escort service?

The reason I ask is because of this, the Dora The Explorer Aquapet, from Wild Planet Toys. Oh, it's wild alright, if wild means offensive. And please note that it says that the toy is "fun for all" and "interacts with you." Frankly, it looks like something that a woman would buy at Spencer's Gifts, or, as one of the reviewers says on the Amazon page, "maybe as a prank for a bachelorette party." Did the company realize what they had when the product was done, or even at the drawing board stage?

In the free time I have between watching TV, reviewing TV shows, previewing upcoming shows on DVD, and posting articles about television in general, my thoughts tend to wander . . . to television. And women (because, you know, I'm a man and men are pigs). During these wanderings I've come to question a few things about what we see on the magic picture box that I can't seem to find any answers for. So, I come to you, the smart and beautiful readers of TV Squad, for answers to five of the queries that have come to mind.

1. How can Dora the Explorer walk upright with such a huge head? Have you ever seen a picture of her? Her oval-shaped head is enormous! I'm surprised that it doesn't wobble uncontrollably like a bobble-head doll. I guess the reason she wears that talking backpack all of the time is for ballast. If she doesn't wear it she probably ends up toppling over to one side or the other.

As part of the split between them and Viacom, CBS will drop the Saturday morning block of programming airing under the "Nick Jr. on CBS" banner. That means no more repurposing of Blue's Clues, Dora the Explorer or any other Nick properties. Come fall CBS will partner with DIC Entertainment for a three-hour block of programs that - and this is the important part - fulfill FCC requirements for kids shows. DIC currently does this exact same sort of thing for other networks such as Fox and Tribune Entertainment. Some of the shows included in the block will be Strawberry Shortcake, Trollz and others. The programming block will not be re-branded with DIC's name as it was with Nick Jr.