Disney’s newest girl-centric comedy, “Princess Protection Program,” debuts tonight and we’re wondering, are you going to watch? It’s a royalty-meets-reality, fish-out-of-water, Princess Diaries-type romp about a coup-threatened princess who takes refuge in the covert Princess Protection Program. Now she’s masquerading as an average 16-year-old visiting her American tomboy cousin. Princess Rosalinda is played by young singer-actress Demi Lovato of “Camp Rock” fame, and her country cousin is teen pop star and Mouseketeer Selena Gomez of Disney’s “Wizards of Waverly Place” and a million fan mags. We’ve posted the trailer after the jump. But first!

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So not a fan of “Jon & Kate Plus 8” – and the prospect of watching “Jon – Kate Plus 8″ holds absolutely no appeal. But we’re intrigued by the fabulous playhouses that were delivered to the Gosselin household during last night’s episode. The blue pirate-style playhouse (pictured) and pink “Gosselin Garden Shop” hail from Crooked Houses, Maine-based playhouse makers who are raking it in right about now. Word is, so many people Googled “Crooked Houses” last night, frantic to get their hands on a blue pirate stowaway, like the one designed for young Aaden, Collin and Joel Gosselin, or a pink house, like the one built for the Gosselin girls, the site nearly crashed.

There’s no doubt about the crooked house appeal. They’re inspired by those wonky cartoon houses of yore, the ones with funky angles, windows that are just a tad off and residents from a million Disney and Warner Brothers cartoons. We couldn’t help ourselves – we looked up the prices. Whew. Guess when you’re a reality TV star, you don’t blink at a $4,449 price tag, plus delivery. They also sell basic models ($1,249 and up) and wall stickers that let you turn your child’s room into a cartoon landscape ($69.95 and up). Here’s the real question, though… which do you prefer, the Crooked Houses or Jon & Kate?

Arthur, the beloved anteater from Marc Brown’s books and PBS-Kids show, is getting a new buddy. The show ran a disability awareness character contest last month that asked kids to draw a new, disabled character for the series. Some 8,500 entries poured in. Now Minnesota 11-year-old Connor Gordon and his winning character, “Lydia Fox” (pictured), will be featured on the show on June 30. Lydia, we’re told, uses a wheelchair, and loves drawing and playing basketball. Read the rest of this entry »

If you don’t know who Susan Boyle is, you’ve probably been hiding under a rock. But it’s possible you’ve never heard of Shaheen Jafargholi. He’s a 12-year-old boy from Wales who just upped the competition ante on “Britain’s Got Talent.” After getting off on the wrong note with Simon Cowell, Jafargholi stormed back to prove that kids have got talent, too. Check out the YouTube clip of his performance.

I have mixed feelings about TV Turnoff Week – and at first I thought it was just because it’s inadvisable to get between me and my Tivo’d episodes of “Lost.” But I’ve been reading Christy Matte’s blog post on the topic, and she just nails what I was feeling.  OK, she says, we spend too much time staring at screens, but “this one week without any connectivity is supposed to make us healthier, smarter and more close to our families. I find the whole thing absurd.” TV Turn Off Week is like a “fad diet” that doesn’t differentiate between good and bad electronic amusements, and doesn’t provide any kind of long lasting effects. Instead, she suggests, “How about encouraging people to spend an hour more family time each week all year long? Or to spend another 45 minutes a week doing something fun outside?”

Read the rest of Christy’s comments here, then punch a button on the poll or click comments and let’s talk.

Is anyone planning to catch ABC-TV’s “In the Motherhood” tonight? Our very own TV critic Chuck Barney saw the pilot and was less than impressed. He calls it “a mostly inane sitcom (that) spins tales of mommies and their moppets and falls flat in the process.” Ahhhhhhh!

Definitely disappointing since the original web-based series, from whence the sitcom sprang, was based on viewers’ real life motherhood travails. Moms went online and shared their from-the-trenches tales … and we watched and howled with laughter as Jenny McCarthy and Chelsea Handler spun them into episodes. So clever. And also, according to the NY Times, totally alarming to the the Writers Guild. So the ABC sitcom has been massaged into what screenwriters think is funny. Shoot. If you watch the new ABC show tonight, let us know what you think. Meanwhile, we’ve posted a clip from the original web series – the grocery store nightmare episode featuring Handler, McCarthy, a pair of red panties and a policeman. Click on over to the jump to watch…
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The three tenors had nothing on these guys… Enjoy!

Aww, too cute. NBC anchor Brian Williams brings his crack reporting to “Sesame Street” today after reports emerge that a mine-itis epidemic has broken out among the Muppet crowd. No one’s sharing anymore. Word is, even Williams was infected by the super contagious bug and that it was Oscar who saved him.

Oscar was probably working off the family sharing tips sheet from Sesame Workshop researchers Jane Park Woo and Autumn Zitani Stefano, who say that “mine-itis” is actually “a normal part of being a toddler. Young children at this age are naturally egocentric. They cognitively don’t understand others’ perspectives and concepts, like sharing, until around 3 years of age.” Here are their top five ways to encourage sharing and turn-taking, in an age-appropriate way:

1. Gently encourage sharing. It may be best if you don’t ask or require your child to share a toy that is special to him or has just been purchased. Read the rest of this entry »

Christie Brinkley’s ex-husband plans to “explain” why he had an affair on Friday’s “20/20.” A snippet of the interview has Peter Cook saying he is giving the interview because, “I’m not the scumbag pervert I’ve been painted to be.” Trying to paint himself as a good dad backfired the moment he agreed to defend his dirty laundry on national television. I wasn’t a big fan of Brinkley’s decision to publicly reveal that Cook cheated with an 18-year-old, tried to pay off the teen with $300,000 and had an Internet porn problem. Frankly, the kids suffered most from that revelation. And Cook was quick to criticize Brinkley for blabbing.

So, here we are a few months later, and Cook decides to wake a sleeping dog by going on “20/20.” How exactly do his kids benefit from this course of action? Brinkley fired back by requesting a restraining order, wanting to shield the kids from the press onslaught that will follow the broadcast. A judge ruled that the kids will remain with Cook for the weekend. We can only hope that Cook doesn’t let the children watch his televised confessions, but clearly he hasn’t passed Common Sense 101. Maybe he can negate his image as a pervert, but this interview does nothing to remove the image of his being a scumbag.

Having tuned in to the “Gossip Girl” premiere Monday evening with my 16-year-old, and followed that up with a dash of “Hills” and as much *yawn* “90210” as I could stand, I’m finding it difficult to keep vapid, like, you know, language out of this, OMG, blog post. Totally, right? While most parenting watchdog types tell you to shun such racy fare, Liz Perle at Common Sense Media has a refreshing take this morning. Perle says she uses “teen soaps’ over-the-top plots as a great way to have non-loaded discussions with my teens about touchy subjects like sex, drugs, and alcohol” but this week’s viewing left her mulling negative role models – anorexic, alcoholic, bed-hopping, drama-obsessed TV characters.
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