Nick Jr. is drawing the ire of social media over how the network is choosing to air some of its holiday programs. The Nickelodeon network aimed at the 6 and under demographic has created a “Merry Nickmas” graphic designed to surround their regularly-scheduled programming. However, the snowglobe-inspired design absolutely dominates the frame, leaving their actual shows to run in a small rectangle in the center of the screen as a result.
It’s not unusual for networks to air certain content in a letterbox format, meaning there are black bars on the top and bottom of the picture. However, it is completely out of the ordinary to shrink the actual content to a much smaller size.
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Parents on social media were quick to criticize the cable network, which has just made a deal with Netflix to help combat Disney+ — mostly about how their children were taking the new format about as well as finding coal in their stockings. (Hint: not well).
Hey @nickjr, this frame is stupid and really pissing my kid off. Make it a lower third, a frame around the edges, literally anything else. pic.twitter.com/MSESHVpJ2r
— Jordan Teller (@jbteller) December 24, 2019
@nickjr I’m going to need you guys to make it full screen cause my kid won’t stop crying he can’t see 🙃 pic.twitter.com/5amaEdAdfv
— Alexis (@a_bostwick12) December 24, 2019
@nickjr, cool concept, terrible execution. I didn’t buy a 65” TV to watch your shows on a quarter of the screen. I can’t imagine how small this looks on smaller TVs. pic.twitter.com/nvkmoVwLq1
— Laura Brodnik (@LauraLeigh33) December 24, 2019
Dear @nickjr
— LPP 💩 (@LMKrules) December 24, 2019
The snow globe thing is cute. But I am not a 4 year old. A 4 year old that wants his Paw Patrol in its normal full screen mode. And is now in full meltdown. On behalf of all parents of change resistant toddlers PLEASE fix this asap.
@nickjr this Merry Nickmas border is ridiculous to quote my 5 year old. Please make it smaller.
— David Winker (@WhoDatInBuffalo) December 24, 2019
“Can you get this redundant border off our regularly scheduled program?” wrote one viewer of the picture-in-picture mode.
“Nice graphic for Christmas,” another wrote sarcastically. “My grandkids keep asking me to make the screen bigger. They think the tv is broken. I’m going to start renting movies in about 15 minutes.”
“This is an actual nightmare for my 3&4 year old. What the hell [Nick Jr],” added another. “It’s like I’m making them watch cartoons on a laptop.”
While no one wants to see the size of their TV screen shrunk due to a network’s holiday promotion, this seems particularly ill-timed. As families gather together in anticipation of a Christmas celebration, the TV can be an easy way to keep young children occupied in the meantime. But when their shows aren’t fully visible, which is a particular problem for those with smaller TVs, it doesn’t leave much room for a little peace-and-quiet beforehand.
At this time, there’s been no official response from Nick Jr., or its parent network about the matter.
Photo credit: Twitter / @lauraleigh33
