Artist Kenny Scharf brings his vision to Cartoon Network with a CG-animated half-hour special THE GROOVENIANS, premiering on Sunday, November 10 at 10:30 pm during Cartoon Network’s ADULT SWIM animation block. A self-described "pop-surrealist," Kenny Scharf came to fame in the 1980s with art inspired by pop culture, particularly cartoons like THE JETSONS and THE FLINTSTONES. Scharf works in a variety of media, from oil paint on canvas to sculpture, and incorporates not only cartoon characters, but vivid colors, graffiti-inspired imagery, vintage advertisements and more.

The brand new HE-MAN AND THE MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE series kicks off on Cartoon Network, Friday, August 16, 2002 at 4:00 pm (ET, PT) with 90-minute movie featuring the never-before-told story of the origin of He-Man. New episodes of the series will air Fridays at 6:00 pm during the network's "Toonami" block, starting on August 30.

Why hasn't American animation followed suit? Fred Patten reviews the new Trigun Ultimate Fan Guide and wonders why U.S. series aren't similarly documented.

CAOZ, a digital design and animation company in Reykjavik, Iceland, is in development on a series based on THE LOST LITTLE CATERPILLAR, a 26 minute computer-animated film by Gunnar Karlsson, which will premiere in Iceland on August 31, 2002. The film is based on a story by Fridrik Erlingsson and tells the tales of a spell bound caterpillar princess that one day wakes up on a tree leaf. As she goes on a journey and encounters the other creatures of the garden, she learns something about others and herself.

UK-based distributor Indigo Kids has signed a deal to distribute Toonz Animation India's new project THE ADVENTURES OF TENALI. Indigo will take worldwide television, video, DVD and licensing rights, excluding India and Singapore, as part of an ongoing agreement with the studio, which includes Asian distribution rights for HOW TO CARE FOR YOUR MONSTER, a co-production with UK-based Treehouse Productions and Canada-based Vivamundo. Based on a character from Indian folklore, THE ADVENTURES OF TENALI (26 x11-minutes) takes a trip through history to a world of monarchs and palaces.

According to an AP report, plans are underway to revive DAVEY & GOLIATH, the '60s stop-motion animated series created by Art and Ruth Clokey, with production scheduled to begin shortly on a brand new 26 x 15-minute series featuring young Davey and his talking dog pal Goliath. A one-hour Christmas special is also in the works. The special may premiere as soon as 2003, with the series scheduled to debut in 2004. DAVEY & GOLIATH made a recent comeback in a sly 30-second spot for Mountain Dew, directed by Wreckless Abandon Studios for BBDO/NY.

Vancouver, Canada-based Mainframe Entertainment, Inc. will provide the CGI animation production for Columbia TriStar Domestic Television (CTDT) Family Entertainment's new animated series, SPIDER-MAN, slated to premiere on MTV in winter 2002. According to Mainframe, this new incarnation of the Spider-Man series, featuring Peter Parker as a college student trying to juggle school, work, relationships and being a super hero, will feature CG animation processed to have a classic animation look, combining bright, abstract colors and including a realistic neon lit city.

Anime and pigs is the winning combination for Miramax Television's kids' TV debut. TOKYO PIG, an anime comedy produced by Miramax in association with SME Visual Works, Inc. will debut on ABC Family September 14, 2002. TOKYO PIG follows the adventures of nine-year-old Spencer and his magical pet pig, Sunny. When paired with Sunny, Spencer discovers he has the ability to make whatever he imagines come to life. Each week the duo embarks on a new adventure and Spencer tries to keep his stray thoughts from running wild and turning his life upside-down.

Fox Kids UK has announced the line-up for its new season of programming and it includes several UK television premieres and a second season of the battling robots show MEDABOTS, which is currently one of Fox Kids UK's top-rated shows. Among the UK premieres are the anime series SHIN CHAN, acquired from TV Asahi, and PIG CITY, a Cinegroupe production that features the adventures of a country bumpkin pig in the big city.

Kids' WB! is introducing a Flash animated series to U.S. broadcast television with the premiere of ¡MUCHA LUCHA! on August 17, 2002. The series explores the Latino cultural phenomenon known as "Lucha Libre" and follows Rikochet, Buena Girl and The Flea as they study and live the "Code of Masked Wrestling." ¡MUCHA LUCHA! was created by Eddie Mort and Lili Chin and produced by Warner Bros. Animation under the creative supervision of Alfred Gimeno, Joel Kuwahara and Michael Ryan. The series features the voices of Carlos Alzaraqui, Candi Milo and Kimberly Brooks. "Kids' WB!

Cartoon Network has
revived yet another Warner Bros. series with the premiere of THE
OBLONGS on Sunday, August 4, 2002 at 10:30 pm during Adult Swim,
Cartoon Network's twice-weekly block of animation aimed at adults.
The Oblongs is a series about a typical close-knit family that just
happens to have various physical abnormalities due to living in close
proximity to a toxic swamp. The series is based on characters that
appear in Angus Oblong's book, CREEPY SUSIE AND THIRTEEN OTHER TRAGIC

Program distribution and
development company CABLEready has inked a deal with Tokyo's SSA
Productions for key international TV rights to SLAMMIN' SAMMY, an
animated one-hour biography of Sammy Sosa, the Dominican-born Major
League Baseball star. The deal includes all of South and Central
America, the Caribbean (except the Dominican Republic), Asia's
Pacific Rim, Europe, Canada and Africa. SLAMMIN' SAMMY -- THE SAMMY
SOSA STORY traces Sosa's life from the hardships of his youth as a

QUEER DUCK, the animated series about an openly gay duck and his friends, is going international following a recent agreement between Showtime Networks and The British Broadcasting Company (BBC). The show, which consists of 20 x 3-minute episodes, will air on BBC Choice as a regular part of the weekly magazine program That Gay Show. BBC Choice is a mixed genre channel aimed at a modern young audience whose core is 25 to 34 year olds. The BBC will have all television rights to show QUEER DUCK in the United Kingdom until 2005.

Pop singer George Michael has been courting controversy in the U.S. and across the pond with the animated video for his latest single "Shoot The Dog," which features less-than-flattering caricatures of President George W. Bush and Prime Minister Tony Blair.

Highlighted by the premiere of '60s cult series THUNDERBIRDS, U.S. cable network TechTV recently announced its 2002-2003 line-up, which focuses on a new programming strategy. "In addition to our existing original programming, TechTV has added more entertainment-based technology programming with a new line up of acquisitions and commissions," explained Greg Drebin, senior vice president of programming and production for TechTV.

Happy, Happy, Joy, Joy! John Kricfalusi's revolutionary animated series THE REN & STIMPY SHOW is back with six new original episodes. Cable network The New TNN (part of the MTV Networks family) has signed Kricfalusi to produce new original episodes of THE REN & STIMPY SHOW to air as part of TNN's new primetime adult animation block, scheduled to launch in the spring of 2003. The six new episodes will be presented in addition to all 52 episodes of the original series.

TAKALINI SESAME, the South African version of the popular children's series SESAME STREET, will be introducing an HIV-positive role model into the Muppet cast. The ASSOCIATED PRESS has reported that, at the urging of the South African government, representatives of the Sesame Workshop have decided an HIV-positive Muppet character will join the series in September 2002. "We want to build hope and address the issues of stereotypes against HIV," said Yvonne Kgame of the South African Broadcasting Corp., which airs the program.

Augenblick Studios has signed a deal with Film Roman to produce a series based on the short film DRUNKY. DRUNKY recently screened at Annecy 2002 and the Brooklyn Film and Video Festival. It also took first prize in the 2D animation category at the First Annual DIRECTV - Level13.net Online Animation Festival, which is sponsored by Film Roman. You can see DRUNKY online at www.augenblickstudios.com. More details to come…

Cartoon Network's newest series, WHATEVER HAPPENED TO ROBOT JONES?, premieres Friday, July 19, 2002 at 9:30 pm. In the retro-1980’s future where robots have become commonplace, Robot Jones is a spunky young robot trying to cope with life, fit in with humans and survive adolescence and junior high. ROBOT JONES was created by Greg Miller, who has previous worked on DEXTER’S LABORATORY and COW AND CHICKEN.

General consensus is Warner Bros. didn't give 1999's THE IRON GIANT its fair share of marketing, so it went unseen in theaters by a large number of people. Cartoon Network hopes to remedy this somewhat as it celebrates the network's debut of the film by dedicating 24 consecutive hours to this lovely animated feature.