The Krislin Company has gained the rights to produce an animated TV series

based off of Los Kitos Entertainment's LOS KITOS comic strip. Currently

running in more than 200 newspapers worldwide, the strip, created by

Colombian-born Martha Montoya, addresses the concerns of Hispanics and

other immigrant groups and highlights cultural awareness. Walt Kubiak,

president of the Krislin Company said, "We are very excited about our

association with LOS KITOS and look forward to introducing this fine

Patrick Warburton, best known for playing Elaine's mechanic boyfriend,

Putty, on SEINFELD, will don the blue superhero suit in the new live-action

TV series THE TICK. Barry Sonnenfeld will direct the half-hour pilot, and

share executive producing credits with partner Barry Josephson and TICK

creator Ben Edlund. Shooting is scheduled for the first two weeks in April.

Johnny Bravo will host a talk show and chat with callers live on Cartoon

Network. The toon's flamboyant personality will be brought to life with

Alive Animation's Multi-Standard Instant Cartoon Images (MICI) system.

Programmed to pose Johnny in hundreds of positions, the MICI system also

instantly lip synchs the voice actor to his alter-ego. THE BIG BRAVO-LIVE!

will begin airing February 21 - 25, 2000. This historic event can be

attributed to the success of Johnny Bravo's new weekday morning talk show

In association with Children's Television Workshop and IF/X Productions,

CineGroupe will be producing 40 half-hour episodes of SAGWA, THE CHINESE

SIAMESE CAT for PBS KIDS. The series is adapted from the award-winning

children's book by Amy Tan, author of THE JOY LUCK CLUB. SAGWA follows the

title character's escapades through Ancient China. Each episode will

include 11-minute segments and related interstitials woven together by

music, folk stories and fairy tales. The executive producers of the project

Vitoria, Spain-based Mb Producciones is reaping a huge success from its new

animated series MIMI AND MR. BOBO. Since its debut on TVE, the average

share the series has received is 25.8. The show airs Saturday at 9 am and

re-runs at 8:30 am on Sundays. Mb Producciones is currently in negotiation

to create merchandise for the program with several well-known Spanish toy

and book companies. The company is also in the developing stage of a

feature based on the characters of the MIMI AND MR. BOBO series.

Disney's THE WEEKENDERS is set to premiere on ABC's "Disney's One Saturday

Morning" line-up Saturday, February 26, 2000 at 8:30 am. Each episode

follows a quartet of friends over one weekend from Friday after school to

Sunday evening. The series will be directed by Steve Lyons and is produced

by Walt Disney Television Animation.

Montreal-based CineGroupe and Saban International Paris will co-produce a

new half-hour series entitled WUNSCHPUNCH. The show will be based on the

novel by Michael Ende, whose previous novel, THE NEVER ENDING STORY was

made into a live-action feature. Radio Canada will broadcast the series in

Canada and TF1 will air it in France. Hubert Gariepy and Bruno Bianchi will

produce the series and Philippe Amador will direct.

Spumco's John Kricfalusi will be bringing his offbeat humor to a new Fox

Kids Network series entitled, THE RIPPING FRIENDS. Scheduled to hit the air

Fall 2000, the show will follow the adventures of 4 wacked out superheros.

Kricfalusi will provide at least one of the voices for the series. This

show will be Kricfalusi's first television series since Nickelodeon booted

him off of his brain child REN AND STIMPY.

The BBC, CINAR and HALO Productions will team up to brighten the world with

the teenage angst of the new animated series TREASURE. The show follows the

teenage tribulations of Treasure, her ever-frantic mother and critical

grandmother. The series will air on BBC prime time sometime in late 2000,

early 2001. The show has also been sold to YTV in Canada. TREASURE is based

off a popular newspaper column by Michele Hanson.

On February 11, 2000, CBS will air a special celebrating the career of THE

PEANUTS creator Charles Schultz. The hour-long GOOD GRIEF, CHARLIE BROWN: A

TRIBUTE TO CHARLES SCHULTZ will be hosted by CBS' former news legend Walter

Cronkite. The special will feature clips from the PEANUTS series and

specials, plus an interview with Charles Schultz. The legendary comic strip

artist retired at the beginning of the year in order to concentrate on

beating his newly diagnosed cancer.