My first two messages to Noggin.

Sent: Monday, 19 February 2001 16:37

Subject: Noggin TV programming and slotting.

Last month, I sent a message regarding the programming and slotting on Noggin (that message is appended below). I made a suggestion regarding Square One Television, viz., that it be aired as the original writers intended, five days a week rather than only two. Since then, I have heard no response. Further, I have actually gained access to Noggin at home, and I would like to make additional statements to support my case.

I have now had AT&T Digital Cable (and therefore Noggin) since 07 February. I have watched Noggin quite a bit since then, and I have noted no changes in the program schedule since my last message (so everything I said there is still true). I have watched all four episodes of Square One Television that have aired since then: Episode 306 on 10 February, Episode 307 on 11 February, Episode 308 on 17 February, and Episode 309 on 18 February. I am anxiously awaiting Episode 310 next Saturday morning, althoug I am unnerved that I have to stay up until 5:30 in the morning just to see Square One Television; it lends support to my earlier argument that the show is slotted such that its target audience will never see it. Additionally, Noggin suffered some sort of signal problem which caused a great deal of distortion at the end of Episode 308. I nearly called my cable company to complain, but I suspected it was your problem. Lo and behold, as soon as Square One Television ended, the problem stopped. It seems almost as if Noggin is trying to drive viewers away from Square One Television, which if true would be a despicable practice designed to perpetuate anti-mathematical bias rather than allow young people to see mathematics as the interesting and exciting field it is.

I have been trying to come up with counter-arguments to my position; i.e., trying to figure out what excuses Noggin might make for the lack of exposure for Square One Television. Watching Noggin did give me an argument in favor of airing Square One Television more often. Noggin's own advertisements for the show Ghostwriter allege that viewers have clamored to see an entire Ghostwriter mystery in one sitting, rather than spread over several days. Noggin has honored that by airing weekend blocks of the show. Yet by only airing Square One Television twice a week, it takes fifteen days to get through a complete "Mathnet" sequence; assuming Noggin actually airs the episodes in correct order, the fifth part of "Swami Scam" will air on 24 February, as I noted earlier, fifteen days from the start.

The chief counter-argument I have seen from Noggin is, of course, the Phred On Your Head Show. Generally speaking, I like the Phred show. I even considered writing Phred directly to plead my case for Square One Television, but he seemed to disavow any control over programming decisions on today's show. Each Phred seems to contain one "Doug" (which is half of a Doug show as originally written), a full two-part "Dirk Niblick" (which comprised nearly half an episode of Square One Television on those shows on which it was featured), and one segment of "Mathnet" (one-fifth of a full sequence). Noggin might argue that this is an appropriate substitute for actually airing Square One Television; it even seems like a brilliant move to air Phred, which includes some good original content and some viewer interaction critical to the success of Noggin in general, in the same time it would take to air a full Doug followed by a full Square One Television. While I am not here to bash Phred, the preceding argument has the following flaws:

By only airing the "Dirk Niblick" and "Mathnet" segments of Square One Television on Phred, all the other brilliant work on Square One Television is ignored. The many songs, the game shows, the clay wars (the red positives attacking the blue negatives for addition of signed numbers), and the memorable little "Mathman" games were all part of what made the show great and made mathematics fun and exciting on the show.
Many times an individual show had a thematic element to it, where two or three different sketches in the show would reference the same concept or problem-solving strategy. This most often included a discussion in an early sketch and an application on "Mathnet". Showing "Mathnet" in isolation removed that reinforcement that was so carfully designed by the original writers.
The "Mathnet" sequence is not fully shown on Phred! Last week, the "Missing Dirt" case was shown. I saw the Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday episodes. When I tuned in on Friday (16 February), I was shocked and dismayed. Not only had time earlier in the show been utterly wasted by showing the second half of "Dirk Niblick" twice in succession (delaying "Mathnet" until 2:51 and making me nervous), the "Mathnet" segment was the Thursday segment, exactly the same as had been shown the previous day! I had thought that perhaps Phred would have the conclusion today, but alas it was a new case. In addition, the new case was from a 300-series episode of Square One Television (after the move to New York, but before Beverly Leech left), while "Missing Dirt" was from a 100-series episode. Occasionally this might cause a problem; once in a while there were references made to earlier cases, but not very often, so the last bit is a minor annoyance.
No credits are shown for Square One Television on Phred. Credits for Square One Television only aired on Fridays, and they were the credits for the whole week. Phred only notes that segments from Square One Television came from Sesame Workshop. However, there are credits aired on Phred for "Doug". In fact, the credits that run after the "Doug" segment are not just for that "Doug", but for the entire original episode of Doug from which that segment was taken. Example: Friday's Phred opened with "Doug and the Yard of Doom". Credits then rolled for both "Doug and the Yard of Doom" and "Doug's Garage Band", complete with music which was only appropriate to the unaired segment! My mother merely categorized this as "extremely lazy" on the part of Noggin, but it seems to me to be yet another violent slap in the face of Square One Television, its creators, and its loyal fans.

As a Noggin viewer and as a mathematician, I strongly urge Noggin to reconsider its treatment of Square One Television. I implore Noggin to at the very least air the show five times a week, out of respect for the show and its creators who designed it that way. Relegating it to the purgatory of 5:00 am on the weekends is truly an unjust punishment for this carefully crafted and brilliantly written piece of educational entertainment (or, more appropriately, of entertaining education).

----- Original Message -----

From: Jason Elliot Benda

To: standards@noggin.com

Sent: Monday, 15 January 2001 01:31

Subject: Noggin TV programming and slotting.

It came to my attention a few months ago that I could watch original CTW shows like The Electric Company and Square One Television on Noggin, if only I could get Noggin on my cable system. I was happy.

This past week I spent some time at a relative's house who has AT&T Digital Cable. Lo and behold, I got to watch Noggin. Yay! (I got to watch other stuff, too. I am strongly considering switching to AT&T Digital Cable at my own house, in no small part because of Noggin.)

However, all was not joy in Mudville. I was very disappointed to find that the first three times I attempted to watch The Electric Company, I saw the same episode. (For reference, this was at 2:30 am Tuesday, 1:30 pm Tuesday, and 12:30 am Wednesday.) It was the first time I had seen The Electric Company in many years, and I saw the same episode over and over again. Now to an extent I understand replaying an episode in different time slots; PBS used to do that regularly with Sesame Street et al., airing an episode, say, at 7:00 am and again at 12:30 pm to catch the morning children and the afternoon children. But given that two of these slots are in the pre-dawn, I really don't see the need to replay an episode.

My complaint does not stop there. My all-time favorite show to air on PBS is Square One Television. I watched that show religiously, and I know the lyrics to many of the brilliantly-written songs ("Ghost Of A Chance" about probability, "Nine, Nine, Nine" about multiples of nine, "Subdivision" about musical beats, "Jenny" about patterns; to this day when I notice a clear pattern, I often say, "Wait! I see a pattern here/Stop! I see a pattern here.") I think my favorite Mathnet is the bank robbery trial of George Ernest Frankly (see episodes 151-155; yes I remember the episode numbers, at least a few of them; I know 150 is the one that opens with the "I Love Lupy" sketch in the Lucky Luckman licorice factory cutting Lites (5 inches) and Lengthys (7 inches) from 24-inch strands). Can you tell I really like the show?

One of the important things to note about Square One is that it was specifically written to air five days a week. Episodes whose numbers were 1 (mod 5) aired Monday, 2 on Tuesday, 3 Wednesday, 4 Thursday, and 0 Friday (hence 151-155 formed one complete week). The Mathnet segments often made references to a previous episode by day of the week, such as, "we decided to talk to so-and-so from Tuesday's episode" (see the episode which aired on Noggin this morning (Sunday) at 5:00 am; I slept through the episode number, but I think it was probably originally a Thursday based on the Mathnet. Sadly, Noggin relegates the airing of Square One to only twice a week (and at 5:00 am at that).

My suggestion: replace one of the superfluous weekday airings of The Electric Company (probably the 2:30 am slot) with an airing of Square One Television, and air an appropriate five-episode block, in order, during a given week (i.e., air five consecutive episodes ending with the multiple of five on Friday). This would not only elate me, but would provide more exposure for a very well-constructed series which, in the words of the original corporate sponsorship statement from IBM which used to air after every show, is "an innovative way to introduce young people to the exciting world of mathematics."

Jason Elliot Benda -- <bendaje@worldnet.att.net>
"Wishing you a pleasant day and a higher GPA."

P.S: I was born 18 August 1976, and my earliest memory (which involves reading) dates from December 1978, so I watched the old shows mostly in reruns on WTTW-Chicago. I have long been interested in mathematics -- I hold a B.S. in mathematics and an Illinois teaching certificate for high-school mathematics, which likely explains my fascination with Square One and my desire to see it moved off the back burner at Noggin. Please let me know if any changes are made to the on-air availability of Square One, as I will want to get my VCR ready (and make sure I have digital service; the ability to see and tape Square One five days a week would by itself justify switching to me). Thank you for your patience in reading my long-winded (yet excited) message, and keep up the good works!

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This page last modified 00:34 21Feb01.