Dora Producer Discusses Challenges of Children's TV

Dora the Explorer could’ve been many different things from what you see on Nick Jr. today, according to the show’s executive producer, Chris Gifford, who visited the Ed School last week to speak to Technology, Innovation, and Education (TIE) students about the challenges in creating the popular children’s show.

Dora the Explorer, a half-hour animated children’s television series on Nick Jr. starring a 7-year-old Latina girl and her friends, is designed to engage preschoolers in a play-along, computer-style adventure. It has been nominated for seven Emmy awards and been ranked as the number one preschool show for several years.  But it was a long road from the show’s conception to making it a reality.

“It’s been a joy, a torment, and quite an experience putting together Dora,” Gifford said.

Gifford started in children’s programming and entertainment as an actor working in theater and on the children’s show, The Great Space Coaster. Later, he took a job as a receptionist at the Children’s Television Workshop for famed show, 3-2-1 Contact. From there he became a unit manager, which eventually led to his work as an associate producer on Nickelodeon’s show for young teens, Clarissa Explains It All.

He advised HGSE students to take the “worst job” they can and then work their way up in the television field as he did.

His experience on Clarissa led to his current position as an executive producer for Nick Jr. where his job is to foster show development and essentially create “hits.” But turning out a hit is anything but easy. Gifford admitted that he kept waiting to be fired because creating a hit show was so difficult. “I took piano lessons so if I got fired, I could teach kids drama,” he said.

With input from his own two preschool-aged children, he began to develop his idea for a show focusing on problem-solving, a show that soon became Dora the Explorer. “Dora was the last gasp of hope for me,” he said.

Even with the focus of Dora set firmly in his mind, Gifford took the show in a few different directions before it became what kids know and love today. “As you move forward in development, you must meld to sell the show so it can move forward,” he said.

Although the pilot tested higher than any other show on Nickelodeon, it still wasn’t picked up by the network. “Parents loved it. Kids loved it, but it didn’t get picked up because consumer products said it would never sell,” he said.

At that point, the show was criticized for its lack of curriculum. So, it was back to the drawing board and with the help of an educational consultant, Gifford said the show developed a curriculum based on HGSE Professor Howard Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences.

And, the changes were worth it.  Not only was Dora picked up, but it is lauded by parents, kids, and educators, and became Gifford’s longed-for hit.

According to Joseph Blatt, a lecturer at the Ed School and director of TIE, Dora changed children’s programming. “Dora proved that it is possible to do quality programming for kids in a commercial environment,” he said.

For his part, Gifford is keeping things in perspective. “We’re not teachers. We do a show that is education,” he said. “Hopefully, it is inspiring children to feel different about Spanish and math.”