The Kushner-Locke Co. has announced that they have entered an agreement
with Toei Animation to license Toei's animated product. Toei has one of
the largest animation libraries in the world. K-L plans to use the newly
acquired product to launch its own Spanish language animation channel in
Latin America. The deal gives K-L 1400 half-hour episodes, in the first
three years, of Toei animated product including the popular series
SAILOR MOON and DRAGON BALL Z. Toei is one of the leading animation

Cartoon Network has greenlit Gavrilo Gnatovoch's LONGHAIR AND DOUBLEDOME
for production as a seven minute series pilot. The short features
Longhair, a fastidiously sophisticated and self-serving Cro-Magnon, and
his charmingly earnest yet irksome friend, Doubledome, as they endeavor
to evolve alongside their oafish neighbors, the Neanderthals. An air
date has not been announced. Gavrilo Gnatovich runs his own studio KNOCK
KNOCK CARTOONS in Cleveland, Ohio, which is a commercial animation house

Fox Family Channel's 1999-2000 6 pm-8 pm lineup includes two new animated series. Saban Entertainment's PIGS NEXT DOOR, a new animated series in the tradition of ALL IN THE FAMILY, chronicles the life of a family of pigs who move from the farm to the suburbs and are forced to deal with prejudiced humans. Rodney Dangerfield provides the voice for the title character of RODNEY, a series in development for the 1999-2000 season that depicts Rodney's misadventures as a struggling comic and the everyday ups and downs of dysfunctional family life.

Nickelodeon will preview SP0NGEBOB SQUAREPANTS, a new animated series, on
May 1 at 9:30 ET/PT in the USA. The cartoon features the adventures of
SpongeBob, a hopelessly optimistic and earnest sea sponge. Creator and
executive producer Steve Hillenburg (ROCKO'S MODERN LIFE, THE GREEN BERET,
WORMHOLES), studied art and marine biology before earning a degree from Cal
Arts in Experimental Animation. Soon you will be able to visit Nick.com for
more information about the series.

BBC1 has bought another season of New York-based BKN's POCKET DRAGON
ADVENTURES. The first season currently airs in the U.K. Monday and Thursday
at 3:45 pm on BBC1, averaging 1.3 million viewers, which represents about a
37% share. The series features the mischievous little Pocket Dragons who
seek adventure in a magical world of wizards, knights and gargoyles.

Fox Broadcasting Co. has ordered another season (22 episodes) of Matt
Groening's animated series, Futurama, just four weeks after its premiere.
The show debuted on Sunday, March 28 then moved to Tuesday night on April 6
where it joined King of the Hill, The PJs, and The Simpsons repeats as
part of Fox's all-animation primetime Tuesday night line-up. Now, all of
these series have been renewed.

Cinar Corporation and WGBH Boston have announced that Emmy award-winning ARTHUR, PBS' top-rated children's series, will return with 10 new programs and 65 encore broadcasts in its fourth season, premiering October 1999. This daily animated series is based on the award-winning children's books by author Marc Brown, who is also ARTHUR's creative producer. ARTHUR's fourth season begins with, not one, but two musical guest stars: classical cellist Yo-Yo Ma, and jazz saxophonist Joshua Redman who "appear" as themselves in the season's opener MY MUSIC RULES.

DIC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Disney, has sold two new animated series
to Pax TV, a new family-oriented network in the US. "Archie's Weird
Mysteries" and "Sherlock Holmes in the 22nd Century" will appear this Fall
as part of the weekday "Pax Power Mystery Hour." "Archie's Weird
Mysteries," a co-production with M6 France, is based on the long running
Archie comics series. In the series, a lab experiement goes awry, creating
such characters as a 50-foot Veronica, and Dr. Jughead and Mr. Hyde.

Big Ticket Television has teamed-up with Will Vinton Studios to produce a new Claymation and dimensional animation series entitled GARY AND MIKE, slated to air on FOX this Fall. The series will be executive produced by creators Fax Bahr and Adam Small, along with Academy Award winning Will Vinton and Tom Turpin (CEO/president of Will Vinton Studios).

Matt Groening's new animated series, "Futurama," was watched by more than
nineteen million viewers when it premiered on Sunday, March 28. It was the
eleventh most watched TV show in the USA as it received a 11.2 rating and a
17 share, better overall ratings than both "The Simpsons" (9.3/15) that
preceded it, and "The X-Files" (10.1/15) that followed it.