Target on the Tots

First “Sesame Street,” then “Barney” and now “Teletubbies”: The PBS programs for the youngest TV viewers are getting new looks in the face of intense competition for children’s attention.

Starting in January, “Teletubbies” will be the latest to get a face-lift, when the Public Broadcasting Service begins airing 20 new episodes that include 10 minutes each of material that teaches children cognitive skills such as learning numbers and shapes. The program’s videos of real-life children will also begin to feature kids from a wider array of countries, including China, Russia and, for the first time, the U.S. The show, which has aired on PBS since 1998, is produced by Ragdoll, which is based in Stratford-upon-Avon, England. PBS has agreed to continue airing it through 2008.

“Sesame Street” got an extensive makeover in the spring because producers realized that the average age of the 33-year-old show’s audience was getting increasingly younger, to a current range of 2 to 4, and the one-hour program needed to be structured in blocks children that young could follow. “Barney” and “Teletubbies,” on the other hand, which both appeal to the young end of the “Sesame Street” spectrum, are making changes largely to keep the shows top-of-mind in the eyes of the adults who control the channel-changer.

Children won’t really notice the changes because the audience for the likes of “Teletubbies” turns over every couple of years, as children age and move on and new ones take their places, said Alyce Myatt, PBS’ vice president of programming. But for adults, the shows can begin to seem stale. “We want to be able to keep things fresh,” she said. Producers, too, “get tired of doing the same thing over and over,” she said.

“You have a classic brand like ‘Teletubbies’ that this spring will be reaching its fifth year on PBS and it’s important that we remain fresh,” said David Levine, vice president of corporate and business affairs in Ragdoll’s U.S. office in New York. “It helps to spark interest in parents.”

Indeed, parents can choose from an increasing array of programming for preschoolers on Nickelodeon, the Cartoon Network and other networks. If they want an ad-free environment such as that of PBS, they can turn to Noggin or TLC, whose “Ready Set Learn!” block will add Ragdoll’s “Brum,” about a vintage yellow car, in the spring. Unlike PBS, the channels are largely backed by conglomerates with deep pockets for marketing and promotion.

The “Teletubbies” changes, by adding more cognitive teaching, will also address a criticism that some parents have had. The oversized, childlike Tinky Winky, Dipsy, Laa-Laa and Po frolic inside as well as around their outdoor meadow, known as “Teletubbyland,” in adventures meant to teach the target audience of 1-and 2-year-olds about social skills such as friendship and sharing. Not all critics of the slow-paced, repetitive stories got the lessons; the new segments are more overtly educational.

Shot against a colorful flat screen, the characters still move slowly, play games, draw shapes and count in segments “thematically connected to reinforce the educational concept, whether it is 3 or circle or big or small,” said Levine. “This will be a bit more accessible to parents who might not have gotten it the first time,” he said, as well as have the likely effect of “broadening the audience a little bit,” because it is older children who are ready for those skills. The new segments, known as “Teletubbies Everywhere,” have already been airing in Britain.

The videos of real children, which air on the television screens on each of the characters’ tummies, will also sport a more multicultural look. “This country has gone through terrific changes in terms of ethnic makeup, and it’s important that our children, at the earliest ages, become world citizens,” Myatt said. In the new version of the show airing on PBS next year, the new material will be added to the characters’ traditional adventures in “Teletubbyland.”

Meanwhile, “Barney & Friends,” which has also in the past had more appeal to children than to some of their parents, is getting a new outdoor set and a new cast of kids who interact with the stuffed purple dinosaur. A major advertising campaign targeted at parents and new licensed products will accompany the introduction of new episodes, beginning on Labor Day. “Teletubbies” will also get a licensing push in advance of the launch, with a new line of plush toys available exclusively at Toys R Us in the fall. Past toys, which were sold at a wider array of retailers, talked; the new dolls will make the characters’ silly sounds.

The on-air changes to the PBS shows, Myatt said, echo what PBS is attempting to do with some of its signature prime-time series, such as “Mystery!,” as media become more competitive. “We feel that the kinds of programs we create and the way we create them are special and important,” she said. “But we have to be realistic and acknowledge that the landscape today is very different than it was.”