The N
The N was an overnight 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.
Before the block's introduction, Noggin's daytime lineup included tween shows like A Walk in Your Shoes, Sponk! and Big Kids. In 2002, Noggin restructured its daytime lineup to cater to preschool children. From then onward, the shows targeted to older children only aired during the night as part of The N.
The N focused on shows that promoted personal development, and the block was described as "an educational twin" of Nickelodeon's teen blocks. The N's original shows were created with educational goals, 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 at the same time, but they felt that Noggin and The N had a consistent, unified brand identity because both were educational. To create shows for The N, Noggin created research groups to determine their shows' topics. They decided to create shows that educated older children for their futures through cautionary tales, life lessons, and realistic depictions of growing up.
In August 2002, Sesame Workshop sold its stake in Noggin, but it continued to produce shows for Noggin and The N, including Out There. The N launched a variety of spin-off media, such as live events and a soundtrack album. From 2007 to 2009, the block was moved from Noggin to a [|new channel], which carried TEENick programming throughout the day and relegated The N's content to a block at night. In September 2009, TEENick and The N were merged to form TeenNick. The TeenNick channel was based on TEENick's branding and shows, and The N's programming was completely removed by 2015. 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 and its website closed down completely."
History
Origins
The Noggin channel launched on February 2, 1999. When Noggin started, many of its shows were aimed at tweens. One of the channel's goals was to "dispel the conventional wisdom that educational programming is not entertaining enough to attract pre-teens and young adults." The channel aired three blocks: a main block of tween shows throughout the day, a block for preschoolers in the early morning, and a block of "adult retro" series at night. The nighttime block received low ratings. Noggin's most notable effort to increase its nighttime viewership was a primetime block called The Hubbub, which allowed viewers to send comments through Noggin's website and see them on TV. Ratings never improved, and The New York Times called Noggin's nighttime promotions "several failed efforts at nocturnal programming." This prompted Noggin's executives to reformat the channel.By April 1, 2002, Noggin had discarded its retro block and expanded the preschool and tween blocks to 12 hours each. The preschool block, also called "the daytime block," aired from 6a.m. to 6p.m. each day. The tween block ran from 6p.m. to 6a.m. daily, and it was retitled "The N". It took several months for Noggin to choose the new name for the tween block; as reported by Kidscreen in 2002, they wanted a name to "help distance and distinguish the tween programming from the preschool fare," but the legal department also required that the block's name be related to the name of the channel.
The N, like the rest of the Noggin channel, was launched as a joint venture of Viacom and Sesame Workshop. Noggin unveiled the logo for The N in January 2002. The first logo was a rounded hand symbol with "The N" on the palm and a matching rounded label underneath, reading "NOGGIN". The logo was often simplified without the Noggin label at the bottom; when the channel name was not a part of the logo, taglines were used to describe Noggin as The N's namesake instead. These taglines included "The N: The new name for nighttime on Noggin" and "The N: Noggin's teen network".
Developing the block
All of The N's web content and shows were owned by Noggin LLC, the same company that owned Noggin's preschool shows. Noggin's preschool and The N blocks were both managed by a group of people in Noggin's New York office. The Noggin team aimed to give The N's shows similar educational sensibilities to their preschool shows; they wanted The N's shows to be sophisticated and complex, to separate them from "lesser network fare" like sitcoms.The Noggin team considered it a difficult task to focus on both preschoolers and older children at the same time. Sarah Tomassi Lindman, the vice president of Noggin and The N, called her job "very schizophrenic" because the two blocks served such different audiences. Tom Ascheim, the general manager of Noggin and The N, said that "developing a cohesive brand attitude with two different but not altogether dissimilar brands is the challenge facing Noggin / The N."
At launch, The N was aimed at Noggin's original audience of tweens. There are strict broadcast standards for tween programming, so if any "provocative story lines" were deemed unfit for tweens, Noggin had to edit or censor them. However, ratings showed that The N's series were attracting "the broader teenage audience, not just tweens." This made Noggin's executives decide that The N would cater to both tweens and teens. The shift to a wider audience allowed Noggin to relax its standards; in 2005, Degrassi producer Linda Schuyler noted that Noggin did not censor scenes anymore and was "less tentative" than it had been in 2002. The N was commercial-free from April 2002 until May 2004, when Noggin started airing six minutes of commercials per hour during the block.
Educational goals
Noggin was billed as a "thinking channel"; all of its original shows were educational. Noggin's crew members felt that tweens and teenagers needed more educational content available for them. Tom Ascheim said, "We saw a void in the marketplace for meaningful, educational programming for tweens," and Sarah Tomassi Lindman felt that tweens and teens were "ignored by both television and on-line groups in an educational capacity." Tom Ascheim named Disney Channel, Nickelodeon, and ABC Family as three networks that targeted tweens but did not offer education for them: "none of those outlets provide real-life, educational-based shows that talk directly to the audience." Noggin wanted The N's programming to fill this role. Noggin tried "to position The N as a place where older kids can go to learn to think." In 2002, when Noggin extended its preschool block and launched The N, Tom Ascheim said that both blocks would remain true to Noggin's educational goals while trying to entertain and engage.In preparation for launching The N, Noggin held research groups of tweens and teens to determine what kind of educational shows they needed. Noggin found that many older children felt unprepared for their futures and needed help with personal and social development. Tom Ascheim explained, "What tell us in research is that their No. 1 challenge outside of class is who they are and where they're going... we like to be the destination that helps them. It's our educational mission." In a 2004 interview, Ascheim said that The N's shows offered older children "a place they can simulate or sample lives they are not leading... practice philosophically who they want to become." Similarly, Sarah Tomassi Lindman wanted The N to educate viewers about growing up and discovering their purpose, not just about traditional school subjects.
Noggin hired an educational consultant, Maggie Groening, specifically for The N. Noggin's director of education, Russell Miller, created curricula for the channel's two blocks: the daytime block's curriculum was based on preschool standards, and The N's curriculum was centered on life skills for adolescents. The N ran advertisements that encouraged parents to watch along with their children and hold discussions about topics raised on The N's shows. The N's website offered parent discussion guides for each episode of its shows. Because both of Noggin's blocks focused on education, the book Nickelodeon Nation called Noggin's brand "more unified" than that of Nickelodeon's daytime programming with its nighttime block, Nick at Nite. The book wrote that Noggin "stresses fun, empowering, and educational programming for kids in both age-specific dayparts." The book also wrote that The N block had a fun but educational' attitude" that made it stand out from other teen brands.
Noggin had specific educational goals for the original series that it produced for The N. For example, Out There had four objectives that each episode demonstrated: the importance of respecting others, making decisions, effective communication, and building on one's individual strengths. Noggin also acquired shows from outside companies to air during The N, and it selected these shows based on how well they fit the block's educational purpose. Tom Ascheim explained that Degrassi: The Next Generation was acquired because "it follows our educational mission of helping kids figure out their lives and presents a platform from which kids and adults can talk about important social issues." The N's website listed a variety of skills that it aimed to promote, like self-respect, constructive thinking strategies, and tolerance of diversity.
Cross-promotions and later history
The book Nickelodeon Nation called The N "an educational twin" to Nickelodeon's SNICK and TEENick. TEENick was a programming block that ran on Nickelodeon from 2001 to 2009. It and The N were separately controlled brands, each with its own distinct programming. The N was an educational block launched by Viacom and Sesame Workshop, and it featured a mix of series from Noggin, Sesame Workshop, and outside companies; on the other hand, the TEENick block was launched by Viacom alone, featured Nickelodeon sitcoms, and had no educational curriculum. Because the two brands targeted a similar audience, they occasionally cross-promoted their series. In August 2003, three shows from The N were aired as "sneak peeks" on the TEENick block. Multichannel News described this promotion as The N' Infiltrates Nick's 'TEENick'." In 2007, premieres of TEENick shows were simulcast on both TEENick and The N. In an interview with The Chicago Tribune, Tom Ascheim said he hoped that Noggin's blocks would reach the same success as Nickelodeon: "I have a huge pride in Nickelodeon... but like anybody, you look up at sort of your big brother or your more successful cousin or friend and, yeah, you want to kick their butt."In August 2007, it was announced that The N would move from Noggin to a new channel. In a press release, Viacom stated that the new channel would "feature 'TEENick' programming during the day and The N's content at night." The new channel space was also called The N, but because TEENick programming took up the daytime hours, it was not a 24-hour version of The N's content. Instead, this format was similar to The N's run on Noggin: The N's content was still relegated to a block at night, with another block during the day. On most cable providers, the new channel was available from December 31, 2007, until September 27, 2009. Dish Network did not have the satellite capacity at the time to accommodate the separate channel. Since The N was still limited to a nighttime block, Dish Network chose to import The N's new block of programming onto Noggin each night from December 31, 2007, until May 6, 2009. This gave Dish subscribers access to The N's primetime programming that otherwise appeared on the separate channel, though not its daytime schedule.
The N's programming was gradually phased out as TEENick series overtook the new channel's schedule. In 2009, the TEENick and The N brands were discontinued and merged to form TeenNick. The N's website was closed as well; writer Jia Tolentino noted that "The N shut down in 2009, taking its website... bonus clips and fan forums down, too." Some of The N's shows were temporarily shown in reruns, but the rest of the new TeenNick channel borrowed exclusively from TEENick's branding; it was named after the TEENick block, mostly aired TEENick shows, and was hosted by the previous presenter of the TEENick block, Nick Cannon. The TeenNick channel featured no educational programming and had no involvement from the Noggin LLC team that managed The N from 2002 to 2009. All reruns of The N series were removed from TeenNick's schedule by 2015; since then, the channel has transitioned to a schedule of library content. When The N brand was discontinued in 2009, the Noggin / The N office in New York was closed and the team was laid off. During The N's time on a separate channel, it was still managed by the same team at Noggin LLC; there was no change in management until the 2009 closure.