TVSquad

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.

CW's new series, Gossip Girl, will debut a week earlier than announced, kicking off on September 19 at 9:00 p.m. The series is debuting early in order to stay ahead of highly-anticipated premieres from other networks, such as NBC's Bionic Woman and ABC's Private Practice.

Also, according to Variety, most high schools and colleges are back in full swing by September 19, though I'm not certain why that matters since I figure most kids watch TV year round.

MTV has development deals in place for a few flicks which would air first on the network before hitting DVD and then, based on public response, the cinema. These projects, one of which is being developed by Jay Kogen, a writer for The Simpsons and Fraiser, have not been officially greenlit by the studio.

This is not an entirely new idea for MTV. Recently, MTV announced a DVD movie based on its popular My Super Sweet 16 series.

Somebody is still watching MADtv, because the FOX's late night series of wacky sketches and parodies has been given a thirteenth season.

According to the press release, the series is most popular among teens. That seems to be the best explanation as to why it's still on the air; I don't know anyone my age or older who still watches the series.

Not unlike the magazine it's vaguely based on, MADtv works almost exclusively in parody (I'm thinking of the old Mad I used to read, I haven't picked up a copy in many years), which is one thing that sets it apart from other sketch comedy shows, but also why it probably doesn't attract older viewers more in tune with the sensibilities of satirical shows like South Park and The Daily Show.

Of course, it is possible to enjoy more than one type of show, but it makes perfect sense that younger folks would be drawn to MADtv. It's goofy and a bit over the top, and it's not too difficult for me to think back to a time when that kind of humor was right up my alley.

A six-episode commitment is in place for The Baby Borrowers, a new reality series for NBC in which teenage couples are taken through the gauntlet of parenthood in just one month, during which they must care for a baby, then a toddler, then a pre-teen, and finally, grandparents. The new series is based on the popular British series of the same name, and the five couples featured on the show will be supervised at all times. Otherwise, the show would be called something like, Abandoned Babies, which doesn't exactly sell commercial time.

If your kids are looking for an alternative to Cartoon Network's Halloween marathons, Nickelodeon is offering a bunch of Halloween-themed episodes at the end of this month for every age group from the Nick Jr set to young teens. Kids can catch spooky episodes of SpongeBob SquarePants; Catscratch; Fairly OddParents; Mr. Meaty; The X's; Danny Phantom; The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron, Boy Genius; Hey, Arnold; Kappa Mikey; Rugrats; The Amanda Show; Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide; Unfabulous and Zoey 101.

The little tykes will also be able to catch episodes of Blue's Clues, Dora the Explorer, The Backyardigans, Wow! Wow! Wubzy, LazyTown and Wonder Pets. Hey, kids gotta have something to watch while they're shoveling all that candy into their mouths.