Product type |
|
---|---|
Owner | Paramount Global |
Country | United States |
Introduced | February 2, 1999 (Television channel) [1] March 5, 2015 (Streaming service) |
Discontinued | September 28, 2009 (Television channel) July 2, 2024 (Streaming service) |
Markets |
|
Previous owners | Sesame Workshop (co-owner; 1999–2002) |
Website | noggin.com |
Noggin was an American edutainment brand that launched on February 2, 1999. [1] It was co-founded by MTV Networks (owners of Nickelodeon) and Sesame Workshop. [2] [3] It started out as a cable television channel and a website, both centered around the concepts of imagination, creativity, and education. From 2015 to 2024, Noggin was a streaming service.
In Noggin's first three years, it was mainly aimed at pre-teens and teenagers. [4] One of Noggin's goals was to disprove the idea "that educational programming is not entertaining enough to attract pre-teens and young adults." [5] It only aired preschool shows in the morning and devoted the rest of its schedule to tween and teen shows. In April 2002, Noggin extended its preschool block to last for 12 hours, airing from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily, and the teen block ran from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. [6] [7] The teen block was given a new name, "The N," to distinguish itself from the preschool block. The shows that made up Noggin's original older-skewing lineup aired exclusively during The N from 2002 onward.
Sesame Workshop eventually sold its stake in Noggin to Viacom in August 2002 but continued to co-produce shows for Noggin until 2009. [8] The original Noggin channel closed on September 28, 2009, and the brand was dormant until 2015, when it was announced that Noggin would relaunch as a streaming service. [9] The service launched on March 5, 2015. [10] In 2020, the Noggin streaming service started producing its own exclusive shows. [11]
Noggin's creation dates back to 1995, when Sesame Workshop (then known as the Children's Television Workshop) planned to start an educational cable channel called "New Kid City." [12] The Los Angeles Times reported that "launching its own channel is the only way to ensure a home for its highly acclaimed shows, which are often passed over by networks in favor of more commercially successful fare." [12] Meanwhile, Nickelodeon (part of MTV Networks) planned its own educational channel called "Big Orange." [13] [14] When the two companies learned of each other's ideas, they partnered to create a channel together. [15] [16]
The channel was named Noggin (a slang term for a person's head), reflecting its purpose: to encourage kids to think, discover new things, and use their imaginations. [17] When it started, Noggin was mostly aimed at kids aged 6–12. [18] Its main goal was to provide "fun shows that help kids learn and inspire their curiosity – all without feeling like they're in school." [19] Noggin's core values included the statements: "Kids want to learn. Kids are naturally curious. There are no stupid questions." [19]
From 1999 until 2019, Noggin used the same logo: the bottom half of a smiling cartoon face. [20] The logo's upper half featured different icons that represented topics the head was "thinking of" (such as a beaker to reflect science, or flowers to reflect springtime). [19] Hundreds of different "toppers" were designed for the logo. [20] For its first few years, Noggin often captioned its logo with the slogan "What sparks you?" [20] It also aired videos of kids and teens responding to the question, explaining their favorite topics that "spark" their imaginations. [20]
Noggin's logo was featured in a large amount of original shorts and animations that ran between shows on the channel. [19] In its early years, Noggin's creative team hired "sick and twisted" [21] independent animators to create station ID commercials, hoping that they could each bring their own personal design elements to the logo. The goal was to make the logo "look unlike any other network" and inspire kids' creativity. [21] In 2019, the original Noggin face logo was retired for the first time in 20 years; it was replaced with a lowercase noggin wordmark written in purple. [22]
The first service established under Noggin was a cable TV channel. It operated from February 2, 1999, until September 28, 2009. When it started, the channel mainly showed reruns from Sesame Workshop and Nickelodeon's libraries. [23] [24] Noggin was originally aimed at pre-teens, since Noggin's creative team felt that this age group was "underserved when it comes to new, quality educational television." [25] The Noggin channel was commercial-free and allowed teachers to tape its programs for use in the classroom. [26]
Noggin's original lineup included classic episodes of The Electric Company , 3-2-1 Contact , Cro , Square One Television , and Ghostwriter from Sesame Workshop's library. It also included series like Wild Side Show , Nick News , and Doug from Nickelodeon's library. From 2000 to 2002, Noggin aired reruns of the science show Bill Nye the Science Guy . [27] Bill Nye also starred in brand-new segments made specially for Noggin, where he played the role of Noggin's "head sparkologist" and tried to find out what topics sparked viewers' imaginations. [28]
Noggin's first original show was Phred on Your Head Show , which featured an animated host named Phred. [29] A second original series, A Walk in Your Shoes , premiered in October 1999. [30] Each episode of A Walk in Your Shoes followed two different people "switching lives" to better understand each other's cultures. [31] In 2000, Noggin introduced three series of shorts that aired during program breaks: Me in a Box, which showed kids making dioramas to represent their personalities; [26] Citizen Phoebe, about a girl who wants to run for president; and Oobi , a preschool series about bare-hand puppets. [26]
By 2001, original content made up 40% of Noggin's schedule. [26] That year, Noggin premiered four new shows: Big Kids , a British-American co-production; [32] On the Team , a documentary about a Little League baseball team; [33] Sponk! , a game show centered around improv acting; [34] and The URL with Phred Show , which showcased viewers' submissions to the Noggin website. On April 1, 2002, the channel was reorganized into two blocks: a daytime block for preschoolers and a nighttime block, The N, for teens. [7] Play with Me Sesame , a new series featuring Sesame Street characters, debuted on the same day. [35]
Sesame Workshop continued to co-produce shows for Noggin through 2009, most notably Out There [36] and The Upside Down Show , [37] two live-action series. Both shows were developed by Sesame Workshop's writers in New York and filmed by a multinational team in Australia. [38] The Noggin brand was placed on a six-year hiatus from 2009 to 2015; on September 28, 2009, its channel space was taken over by a 24-hour channel based on Nickelodeon's Nick Jr. block. [39]
The N (standing for Noggin) was an overnight programming block on the Noggin channel, aimed at older kids and teenagers. It premiered on April 1, 2002, and aired until December 31, 2007. Promotions advertised the block as "The N: The New Name for Nighttime on Noggin." It took several months for Noggin to choose the right name for the block; as reported by Kidscreen in 2002, they needed a name to "help distance and distinguish the tween programming from the preschool fare," [40] but the legal department also required the block to maintain a relation to Noggin's main name. [40]
Noggin's preexisting tween-targeted shows—like A Walk in Your Shoes and Sponk!—only aired during The N from 2002 onward. Noggin produced several original series for the block, including the animated comedy O'Grady , the drama South of Nowhere , and the competition show Girls v. Boys . The N was also the U.S. broadcast home of the Canadian series Degrassi: The Next Generation . [41] Noggin aimed to promote a variety of life skills through the shows on The N, including self-respect, constructive thinking, and tolerance of diversity. [42]
Like the rest of Noggin, The N's shows were created with educational goals, [43] which was uncommon for teen programming at the time. The block was managed by the same team that made Noggin's preschool shows. The team considered it a challenge to focus on both preschoolers and an older audience, [44] but because both focused on educational shows with valuable life lessons, they felt Noggin and The N had a "unified brand identity." [23] From 2007 to 2009, the block was moved from Noggin to a new channel. The channel carried TEENick programming throughout the day and relegated The N's content to a block at night, similar to The N's structure before it spun off from Noggin. [45] [46] According to Polygon , "Nickelodeon began phasing out The N's programming and replacing it with TEENick, an entertainment block with no educational curriculum and zero involvement from Noggin. The N lost its footing by 2009, and both [The N] and its website closed down completely." [47]
On March 5, 2015, Noggin was relaunched as a mobile streaming service. [48] [49] [50] From 2015 to 2020, it included older shows from Noggin's time as a cable channel. In 2020, Noggin started to make new shows for the service. These included an exercise show called Yoga Friends and a cooking show called School of Yum. Kinderwood , an animated series about five classmates at a magical school, premiered on Noggin in 2020. [51] In 2021, the service introduced a half-hour educational show called Noggin Knows and a series of shorts called The Noggins, which featured new teal-colored mascots called Noggins.
The Noggin streaming service would expand into international markets, starting with the rollout of a Spanish-language version that launched in Latin America in November 2015. [52] [53] [54] This version included some shows that were not available on the English-language service, including the Spanish dub of Rugrats . [55] A Portuguese version was released on November 21, 2015. [56] [57] On September 21, 2020, it was announced that versions of Noggin would launch in the United Kingdom, France, Germany and Austria as an add-on to Amazon Prime Video. The UK version of Noggin replaced the More Milkshake! SVOD service, with the name transitioning over as a section on the service. [58]
On February 15, 2024, corporate owner Paramount Global announced that the Noggin streaming service would be shutting down later that year, with the entire Noggin team being laid off. [59] The platform was shut down on July 2, 2024, with billing stopped by May 30. [60] Noggin's slate of original and acquired programming would be moved over to sister streaming service Paramount+ under the Nick Jr. brand. [61]
In October 2024, the website (no longer owned by Paramount Global since September) was updated with the return of the 1999 logo and a message saying "Rebooting…". [62]
Throughout its history, Noggin has featured unique cartoon characters who act as the hosts and mascots of the brand. During Noggin's time as a cable channel, these mascots often appeared during program breaks to introduce shows. Noggin has had the following mascots:
The Noggin channel launched along with an interactive website, Noggin.com, which was active until 2024. The website features games, blogs, printables, and fact sheets. The website was integrated into many of Noggin's earlier shows, like Sponk! and The URL with Phred Show, which featured viewer-submitted questions and artwork from Noggin.com. [68] [69] Throughout 2000, Bill Nye of Bill Nye the Science Guy answered questions asked by Noggin.com users between airings of his show. [70] [71] In 2001, Noggin launched "Chattervision", which allowed viewers to comment on different shows online and see their conversations appear live on TV. [72]
One of the website's first games was the "Noggimation Station," which taught visitors about the animation process and allowed them to design their own animations, some of which were chosen to air on TV. [73] Another website, called MyNoggin.com, was launched in October 2007. [74] It was a subscription-based site that offered educational games and allowed parents to track their child's progress in different subjects. [75] [76] On October 6, 2024, the Noggin website was changed to show a green Noggin logo, with green text at the bottom saying "Rebooting...", hinting at a possible but not yet confirmed revival of either the Noggin channel or the streaming service. [77]
Blocks based on Noggin have appeared on other channels. TV Land aired a one-night Noggin special on April 26, 1999. [78] [79] Spanning two hours, the special featured reruns of The Electric Company , along with animated shorts featuring the Noggin logo. [80] Noggin shows were also occasionally seen on the main Nickelodeon channel. [81] On June 6, 1999, Nickelodeon ran the first episode of Noggin's Phred on Your Head Show. [82]
On March 27, 2000, Nickelodeon introduced a half-hour block of Noggin shows that aired every weekday morning until June 2001. The block was originally titled "Noggins Up" and became "Noggin on Nickelodeon" during its second year on the air. [83] It showcased one tween-oriented program every weekday, including A Walk In Your Shoes and On the Team. The block attracted thousands of visitors to the Noggin.com site. [84] Nickelodeon revived the block for a single day on April 7, 2003. [85] [86] [87] Following the block's removal, premiere episodes of Noggin series were often simulcast on Nickelodeon and Noggin. [88]
The Noggin name was used for an otherwise unrelated programming block on Nick Jr. UK from May 2004 until September 2005. [89] It ran for two hours every night and included reruns of older British television series for children. [90] On January 30, 2006, Noggin was launched as a block on TMF in the United Kingdom, this time in the style of the US Noggin. [91] [92] It ran every weekday from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. [93] [94] Noggin continued for a short time on TMF's successor, VIVA, until March 2010.
From May 2021 to March 2022, the Nick Jr. Channel aired an hour-long block of programming from the Noggin streaming service every Friday. [95] [96] The block, titled "Noggin Hour," [95] featured shows such as Noggin Knows and Kinderwood , [97] [98] as well as the acquired series Hey Duggee and JoJo & Gran Gran . Noggin interstitials played during commercial breaks, and a purple screen bug reading "On Noggin" was shown toward the beginning of each show.
Noggin held live events to promote its shows. At the 2001 North American Trade Show in Minnesota, Noggin presented a replica of the set from Oobi. [99] In spring 2002, Noggin launched a live version of its Play with Me Sesame series, featuring mascot characters and music from the show. [100] [101] In May 2002, the Jillian's restaurant chain offered "Noggin Play Days" each Wednesday afternoon, where attendees could watch a live feed of Noggin with themed activities and meals. [102]
In March 2004, Noggin partnered with GGP shopping malls to host a free arts-and-crafts program called Club Noggin. [103] [104] [105] It debuted at five malls in April of the same year. [106] Attendance at the first few events exceeded expectations, [107] leading GGP to bring Club Noggin to over 100 malls across the United States. [108] The monthly events were hosted by trained YMCA leaders, who offered crafts and activities based on Noggin characters. [109] Each meeting was themed around a different Noggin show. [110] [111]
From October 2005 until late 2006, Noggin sponsored a music festival called "Jamarama Live", which toured the United States. [112] [113] The tour had performances from Laurie Berkner, a musician on Jack's Big Music Show. [114] [115] It also had appearances from a mascot costume of Moose A. Moose. [116] Reviewers for Time Magazine compared Jamarama to a family-friendly version of Lollapalooza. [117]
In November 2005, a Noggin float appeared at America's Thanksgiving Parade. [118] In November 2006, Noggin hosted an online charity auction on its website, called the "Noggin Auction." Viewers could bid on props from different Noggin shows. [119] Noggin also auctioned off props from The N's teen shows, with the money going to homeless shelters. [120] In August 2007, Noggin partnered with St. Jude Children's Research Hospital and sponsored its annual Trike-A-Thon program. [121] [122]
Sesame Workshop (SW), originally known as the Children's Television Workshop (CTW), is an American nonprofit organization that has been responsible for the production of several educational children's programs—including its first and best-known, Sesame Street—that have been televised internationally. Joan Ganz Cooney and Lloyd Morrisett developed the idea to form an organization to produce the Sesame Street television series. They spent two years, from 1966 to 1968, researching, developing, and raising money for the new series. Cooney was named as the Workshop's first executive director, which was termed "one of the most important television developments of the decade."
Nickelodeon is an American pay television channel owned by Paramount Global through Paramount Media Networks' subdivision, Nickelodeon Group. Launched on April 1, 1979, as the first cable channel for children, the channel is primarily aimed at children and adolescents aged 2 to 17, along with a broader family audience through its program blocks.
Paramount Media Networks is an American mass media division of Paramount Global that oversees the operations of its television channels and online brands. The division was originally founded as MTV Networks in 1984, named after the MTV cable network. It would be known under this name until 2011; when it would be thereafter known as Viacom Media Networks until 2019; and ViacomCBS Domestic Media Networks until 2022.
Oobi is an American children's television series produced by Little Airplane Productions for the Noggin channel. The show's concept is based on a training method used by puppeteers, in which they use their hands and a pair of glass eyes instead of a full puppet. The main character is a bare hand puppet named Oobi. The first season was a series of two-minute shorts. For its second and third seasons, it became a long-form series, with episodes lasting 13 minutes each. The show originally aired from 2000 to February 11, 2005, with reruns continuing until March 18, 2013.
Play with Me Sesame is an American children's television series, created by Sesame Workshop and Nickelodeon for their former joint venture Noggin. It is a spin-off of Sesame Street hosted by Ernie, Bert, Prairie Dawn, and Grover. The series' backgrounds and animated elements were made by Nickelodeon Digital in New York City. Nickelodeon and Sesame Workshop developed the show to expand on Sesame Street by directly encouraging young viewers to interact with the characters. To do this, they combined classic Sesame Street sketches with new segments, where the hosts invite preschoolers to join them in games.
Out There is a drama television series produced by Sesame Workshop and Noggin LLC for the Noggin channel. It aired as part of Noggin's nighttime programming block, The N. When the show started development, Sesame Workshop co-owned Noggin, and Out There was launched as a tween-oriented project for the network. The show was written, produced, and commissioned in New York, and it originated as an entirely American series with a storyline set in New York. During development, it became an American-Australian co-production, and filming took place mostly in Australia.
Phred on Your Head Show is an American children's television series produced for Noggin, a cable channel co-founded by MTV Networks and Sesame Workshop. The first episode aired on June 6, 1999. Noggin aired encore showings of the first episode throughout June and started airing the show regularly on July 26, 1999. The show stars a small green character named Phred, voiced by Doug Preis, who has his own variety show. In each episode, Phred hops across different people's heads to find a host, who then chooses a selection of Noggin programs to play.
TEENick was an American programming block aimed at adolescents between the ages of 13 and 18 that aired on the American children's cable network, Nickelodeon. It launched on March 4, 2001, and initially aired on Sunday nights from 6-9 p.m. ET/PT before expanding to Saturday nights from 8-10 p.m. ET/PT in 2005, replacing the SNICK block that had been broadcast on the channel since 1992. It was originally hosted by Nick Cannon, and then later hosted by Jason Everhart.
Big Kids is a 13-episode children's comedy television series created by Lucy Daniel-Raby. The series was a British-American co-production of the BBC and the US network Noggin. It premiered on CBBC on BBC One on 27 September 2000 and on the Noggin channel on 29 January 2001. All 13 episodes were aired on Noggin's sister channel, Nickelodeon, from 9 to 30 March 2001.
The Upside Down Show is a children's television series produced by Blink Films and Sesame Workshop. It was made for Noggin, a channel co-founded by Sesame Workshop. The series is set in a strange apartment building where the doors lead to a variety of unusual rooms. It is presented by brothers David and Shane, who live in the apartment building with their sidekick Puppet, their neighbor Mrs. Foil, and a group of fuzzy creatures called the Schmuzzies. In each episode, David gives the viewers an imaginary remote control that affects the characters and their surroundings.
A Walk in Your Shoes is an American educational television series that aired on the Noggin channel. The show documents the experiences of two different people who switch places for a day and learn how the other person lives. The show started out as a series of three shorts, which premiered on October 25, 1999, as part of Noggin's variety series Phred on Your Head Show. The first half-hour episode premiered on April 30, 2000, and the last episode aired on October 18, 2005.
Two syndication packages of Sesame Street episodes, titled Sesame Street Unpaved and 123 Sesame Street, were produced by the Noggin cable channel in 1999. At the time, Sesame Workshop co-owned Noggin and many of the company's older programs were replayed on the channel. Unpaved aired until 2002, and 123 aired until 2005.
Nickelodeon is an American basic cable and satellite television network that is part of the Nickelodeon Group, a unit of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global, which focuses on programs for children and teenagers ages 2 to 17 years old.
The Nick Jr. Channel, sometimes shortened to Nick Jr., is an American pay television channel spun off from Nickelodeon's Nick Jr. programming block and owned and operated by the Nickelodeon Group, a sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on September 28, 2009 in the channel space previously held by Noggin, the channel primarily targets preschoolers and toddlers ages 2 to 6 years old. Its lineup features a mix of original programming, along with series from the Nick Jr. block; to avoid confusion between the two different entities, the separate channel has been identified on-air as the "Nick Jr. Channel" since March 2018 to the present day for promos and until September 2023 for the on-screen graphic.
TeenNick is an American pay-TV channel that is operated by the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Aimed primarily at teens and tweens, its programming includes a variety of live-action series inherited from sister channel Nickelodeon. The channel launched on September 28, 2009, as the merger between two defunct programming blocks which also targeted a teenage audience: TEENick on Nickelodeon and The N on Noggin. Before its introduction as a channel, TeenNick's space used to be held by Nick GAS and a short-lived, 24-hour version of The N.
Tom Ascheim is an American television producer and executive. He most recently served president of Warner Bros. Global Kids, Young Adults and Classics from July 1, 2020 until May 11, 2022. From 1998 to 2003, Ascheim was the general manager of Noggin, which started as a tween-targeted channel co-owned by Nickelodeon and Sesame Workshop. Ascheim later held several executive roles for both Nickelodeon and Sesame Workshop. From 2013 to 2020, he was the president of the cable channel ABC Family, which was renamed Freeform in 2016.
Best Friend's Date is an American reality-drama television series. It aired on the Noggin channel as part of its nighttime programming block for teens, The N. In each episode, a teenager goes on a blind date with someone chosen by his or her best friend. The show was hosted by Tika Sumpter and Nick Slatkin. It was filmed from July to August 2004.
The N was a prime time and late-night programming block on the Noggin television channel, aimed at preteens and teenagers. It was launched on April 1, 2002, by MTV Networks and Sesame Workshop.
On the Team is an American documentary television series produced for the Noggin channel. It covers the experiences of a youth baseball team in Brooklyn as they prepare for the 2000 playoff games. The series premiered on Noggin on January 30, 2001. It started airing on Noggin's sister channel, Nickelodeon, on May 2, 2001. It was created by Lisa Wood Shapiro and executive-produced by Shapiro and Gus Reyes.
This Site at THE-N.COM is fully controlled and operated by Noggin LLC, a joint venture of MTV Networks, a division of Viacom International, Inc., and Sesame Workshop.
[Noggin] stressed imagination and thinking, and I was branded an 'edgy' and 'sick and twisted' animator ... Design-wise, the Noggin executives wanted their network to look unlike any other network.
The whole experience was guided by two characters unique to Noggin ... this summer the SVOD rolled out a new interface focused instead on recognizable characters.
Big Kids, billed as 'an educational series' and co-produced with the Nickelodeon- and Sesame Workshop-backed U.S. kids channel Noggin
TDU started out as a purely North American concept set in New York.
New York's Sesame Workshop, Nickelodeon Australia and local prodco Blink Films are coproducing a new preschool series, The Upside Down Show.
The newest addition to that sked is Noggin-produced series Play With Me Sesame... the series marks the first time a State-side entity other than Sesame Workshop has been given permission by Henson to use the Sesame Street Muppets.
[The channel] will serve tweens and teens with programming from Nickelodeon's popular TEENick block during the day and continue as The N at night.
The gameplan for now is to run a daytime block of TEENick shows ... and then stack the originals, specials and movies in the evenings .... Sarah Tomassi Lindman expects the TEENick fare to create a more gender-balanced audience.
The latest original, Titmouse's preschool show Kinderwood (30 x seven minutes), launched on December 3
The alpha teens were created for The N by Berkeley-based comic-book author Adrian Tomine
completed airing its first season on 6/11/21
6/4/21: Dandy Dandelion (R)