Big Orange was a cancelled concept for an educational sister channel to Nickelodeon. From 1997 to 1998, the plan for Big Orange was reworked and became the basis for the Noggin channel. Big Orange was a "prototype" of the Noggin channel.
The idea for Big Orange was first announced in May 1995 by the Variety magazine. It was reported that Nickelodeon wanted Big Orange to be an "interactive learning channel," and it planned to sell computer games based on Big Orange. (source) The channel's development never finalized, but according to Ad Age, the creative team kept talking about the concept for the next few years. (source)
Around the same time as Big Orange's development, Sesame Workshop planned its own educational channel called New Kid City. Like Big Orange, the development for New Kid City never finalized. In 1998, Nickelodeon and Sesame Workshop entered a partnership. They combined the ideas for Big Orange and New Kid City into one network, Noggin, which was a joint venture of the two companies.
Articles[]
- Variety article from 1995, announcing plans for Big Orange
- Ad Age article from 1997, which describes Big Orange being retooled into Noggin
- Kidscreen article from 1999, with a summary of Big Orange and Noggin's history
Timeline[]
From the above articles, the timeline of Big Orange's development is known:
- Spring 1995: The idea for Big Orange was created by Geraldine Laybourne, a former president of Nickelodeon. She wanted Big Orange to be an "interactive learning channel." Early in development, Nickelodeon planned to sell electronics and computer games based on Big Orange. The idea for the channel was first announced in May 1995 by the Variety magazine.
- Winter 1995: Late in the year, Nickelodeon hired a company called Big Blue Dot to design the Big Orange logo. The logo was never used or shown to the public.
- 1996: The channel was originally set to launch in late 1996, but Laybourne left Nickelodeon in February 1996, causing the plans for Big Orange to be put on "indefinite hold."
- Early 1997: Nickelodeon's next president, Herb Scannell, revived the idea for Big Orange in 1997. He decided that it could be a syndication package instead of a whole channel. The project was renamed "Noggin" by the end of January 1997.
- 1997: Nickelodeon filmed a pilot episode to demonstrate the concept of Noggin. The pilot was inspired by an older Nickelodeon series called Inside Eddie Johnson which was themed around creative thinking.
- Late 1997: Nickelodeon discovered that Sesame Workshop was also planning its own educational channel, "New Kid City." The two companies started discussions to merge their ideas into one network.
- 1998: Sesame Workshop entered a partnership with Nickelodeon to co-found Noggin. They merged the ideas for Big Orange and New Kid City into the combined Noggin concept.