Go, Diego, Go!

Go, Diego, Go! Created by Chris Gifford Valerie Walsh Valdes No. of episodes 75 Premiere September 6, 2005 (previewed August 22, 2005) Finale July 13, 2013 Networks Nickelodeon Nick Jr. Go, Diego, Go! is an American animated educational interactive children's television program that premiered on Nickelodeon on Tuesday, September 6, 2005 in the United States and produced by Nickelodeon Animation Studio. Created and executive produced by Chris Gifford and Valerie Walsh, the series is a spin-off of Dora the Explorer and follows Dora's cousin Diego, an 8-year-old boy whose adventures frequently involve rescuing animals and protecting their environment. The series, which aired for four seasons, consisting of 80 episodes, aired from 2005 to 2013. During the series' lifespan, the program also aired on the CBS broadcast network as part of its Saturday morning Nick Jr. on CBS children's programming block in 2006. The series received favorable reviews from critics and garnered particular acclaim for its portrayal of a bilingual Latino lead character, earning a total of four NAACP Image Award nominations for "Outstanding Children's Program" from 2008–2012, as well as earning Imagen Award and Young Artist Award nominations for Jake T. Austin for his role as the voice of Diego. Premise The series is about a eight year old rough-and-tough adventurer named Diego who rescues animals in the rain forest and around the world. In his missions, young viewers will learn about observation skills and scientific tools. With the help of young viewers, Diego passes his goal while introducing the viewers to information about animals. Series overview See also: Episodes   Season Episodes Originally aired Season premiere Season finale 1 20 September 6, 2005 October 15, 2007 2 20 October 2, 2006 March 7, 2008 3 20 March 21, 2008 July 13, 2013 4 20 September 28, 2009 September 16, 2011 Characters See also: Characters Main Characters Diego: An 8 year old kindhearted, animal action-adventure hero whose goal is to save and protect the animals and their environment. Alicia: She is Diego's 11 year old sister. She is a computer whiz and uses the Rescue Computer to find information about the animal that Diego needs to start his mission. Baby Jaguar: Baby Jaguar is Diego's jaguar friend and is really close to Diego. He would sometimes join Diego on his missions. Click: Click is a camera that can zoom through the forest and identify the animal that is in trouble and needs to be rescued. Rescue Pack: Rescue Pack is Diego's messenger bag. He can transform into anything that Diego needs. Especially in a tricky situation. Bobo Brothers: Two twin monkeys that are mischievous and always cause trouble. Pablo: An 8 year old kindhearted, animal action-adventure hero whose goal is to save and protect the animals and their environment. History A poster for the series' premiere (Low Quality) The history of Go, Diego, Go! can be dated back as early as 2004. Helena Giersz started to work on character designs at the time. Then Nickelodeon asked Chris Gifford and Valerie Walsh Valdes if they considered doing a pilot for show. They didn't pitch the idea, but they always felt that Diego deserved his own show. The character was quite popular already with the audience and viewers when he used to make appearances on Dora, and they liked the idea of creating a show that was centered on preschool science and animal facts. By March of 2004, 20 episodes were ordered and the series was in production. Go, Diego, Go! premiered in primetime on Nickelodeon on September 6, 2005 at 8:00 PM (eastern time), with excellent ratings from children among the ages 2-5, bringing in an impressive 8.70 rating. The innovative show roll-out began over a month before the premiere, with Video-on-Demand Sneak Peeks on Nick on Demand, episode streams on NickJr.com and wireless content on Verizon, and continued with On-Air spots and Sneak Peek episodes on Noggin leading up to the series launch. Production When the series was green-light, before the start of a season, the crew would sit down with curriculum advisers and their research department to discuss curriculum goals. Together, they would figure out what it is that they want to teach in each episode. Then they discuss overall creative goals: how they want to develop different characters, what kinds of themes they want to explore, music, etc. Each story starts with choosing an animal. The writer spends a good deal of time learning about the "target" animal. They speak to at least one expert, and then do more research in the library and on the web. They would try to find out as many unusual and unique things that they can; very often interesting movements or personality traits inform the story in an important way. Curriculum dictates a certain number of "story beats" but then they go beyond that to see how they can incorporate Latin American culture. Very often they include things that they've learned about the animals through folktales and mythology. References