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Television
Mrs. Munger Sues Disney. Imagine having your geeky yearbook photo
digitally altered, animated, and then broadcast all over the world. Mrs.
Munger's Class, a segment that airs on ABC's top-rated children's programming
block, Disney's One Saturday Morning, is based on this very concept.
Every week, a new short segment brings a page from a school yearbook to life,
using computers to superimpose moving lips and caricature the facial features
of the fictional Mrs. Munger and her students resulting in humorous and nonsensical
conversations. However, a group of students from the class which the original
yearbook photos were taken - Kathleen Foresman's 1975 group of sixth-graders
at Woodbridge Middle School - have sued ABC-TV and the Walt Disney Co., the
network's owner, claiming that ABC didn't have permission to use the pictures
and the skit defames them by making them look like idiots and subjecting them
to racial slurs. The suit also claims that a representative of the show tricked
the real teacher, Foresman, into signing papers allowing the use of her name
and likeness for which she was compensated $1,000. In addition, legal papers
cite that a former member of the Woodbridge Middle School class became an
art director for the show and decided to use the yearbook as the basis for
a parody of sixth-grade life. However, it claims this was done "for the
purpose of humiliating and ridiculing his or her former schoolmates."
These segments have previously appeared on ABC's Friday night line-up, TGIF,
and ABC In Concert. Moreover a series based on these characters had been in
development prior to the lawsuit. Needless to say, the interstitials no longer
air. Disney representatives declined comment due to the case's pending litigation.
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| South Park's Kyle, Stan and decapitated Kenny. © Comedy Central. |
Forget Dick Clark, Have An Animated New Year. Comedy Central is helping
animation fans ring in the New Year with a four-episode South Park
marathon running from 10 p.m. to 12 a.m., followed by a countdown to midnight
from South Park. The four "kick ass" episodes are fan favorites
chosen by viewers through Comedy Central's web site. Alternately, animation
fans in the U.K. can celebrate with BBC2's line-up of animated New Year's
programming. Two episodes of Aardman Animations' Rex the Runt will
air New Year's Eve (December 31) at 2:20 and 2:30 p.m. followed by the The
Old Lady and the Pigeons at 3:20 p.m. Then, on New Year's Day (January
1), BBC2 will air a new episode of Rex the Runt at 9:35 p.m. and the
International Rocketship-produced Gary Larson's Tales from the Farside
II at 11:45 p.m.
PJs Arrive On FOX. Actor/comedian Eddie Murphy and Oregon-based
Will Vinton Studios have teamed up to create The PJs, the first stop-motion
animation series to air in prime-time. Set in a big city housing project,
the "foamation" series centers around a unique cast of characters
led by building superintendent Thurgood Stubbs (voiced by Eddie Murphy). The
premiere episode, "Hangin' With Mr. Super," airs Sunday, January
10, at 8:30 p.m. (ET/PT) on FOX network following The Simpsons. The
show moves to its regular day and time on Tuesday, January 12 at 8:30 p.m.
(ET/PT) following King of the Hill.
The PJs review
is now in the February issue of Animation World Magazine.
December Nielsen Ratings. By special arrangement with Nielsen Media Research,
AWN publishes the Nielsen ratings for animated programs on a monthly basis
in the Animation Flash. The ratings included herein are only for U.S. national
network television. The following list of animated national network programs
is ranked by Household Ratings. A Rating is the percentage of households that
tuned into the program. This percentage can provide us with the number of
households that tuned into the program on average during the month. The universe
estimate for the 1997-98 television season is 98 million TV homes. Each rating
point represents one percent of that universe, or 980,000 TV homes. Translation:
The Simpsons, with a 7.7 rating, was viewed in over 7.5 million (7.7
x 980,000) households. The below ranking is an average for the month of December
1998 (monthly cycle includes the last day in November).
7.7 The Simpsons (Fox, Sunday, 12/06, 8:00 p.m.)
5.2 King of the Hill (Fox, Tuesday, 12/01, 8:00 p.m.)
2.5 Disney's One Saturday Morning 3 (ABC, Saturday, 12/05, 9:30 a.m.)
2.3 Disney's One Saturday Morning 4 (ABC, Saturday, 12/05, 10:30 a.m.)
2.2 Disney's One Saturday Morning 2 (ABC, Saturday, 12/05, 9:00 a.m.)
2.2 The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (ABC, Saturday, 12/05, 10:30
a.m.)
2.0 Disney's One Saturday Morning 1 (ABC, Saturday, 12/05, 8:30 a.m.)
2.0 Disney's 101 Dalmatians (ABC, Saturday, 12/05, 11:30 a.m.)
1.8 Batman/Superman 3 (WB, Saturday, 12/05, 9:00 a.m.)
1.8 Bugs Bunny and Tweety Show 2 (ABC, Saturday, 12/05, 11:00 a.m.)
1.8 Mad Jack (Fox, Saturday, 12/12, 11:00 a.m.)
1.8 Men in Black (WB, Saturday, 12/05, 9:00 a.m.)
1.8 Squigglevision (ABC, Saturday, 12/05, 11:00 a.m.)
1.7 Bugs Bunny and Tweety Show 1 (ABC, Saturday, 12/05, 11:00 a.m.)
1.7 Oggy & the Cockroaches (Fox, Saturday, 12/12, 11:30 a.m.)
1.7 Pinky, Elmyra & Brain (WB, Saturday, 12/05, 10:30 a.m.)
1.7 Sylvester and Tweety Mysteries (WB, Saturday, 12/05, 11:00 a.m.)
1.6 Batman/Superman 2 (WB, Saturday, 12/05, 8:30 a.m.)
1.6 Godzilla (Fox, Saturday, 12/05, 9:00 a.m.)
1.6 Sylvester and Tweety Mysteries (WB, Saturday, 12/05, 10:30 a.m.)
1.5 Batman/Superman 2 (WB, Saturday, 11/30, 4:30 p.m.)
1.5 Histeria (WB, Saturday, 12/05, 11:30 a.m.)
1.4 Spiderman (UPN, Sunday, 12/06, 10:30 a.m.)
1.4 X-Men (UPN, Sunday, 12/06, 10:00 a.m.)
1.3 Disney's Hercules (ABC, Saturday, 12/05, 8:00 a.m.)
1.3 Spider-Man (Fox, Tuesday-Friday, 11/30, 3:00 p.m.)
1.2 Batman/Superman 1 (WB, Monday-Friday, 11/30, 4:00 p.m.)
1.1 Batman/Superman 1 (WB, Saturday, 12/05, 9:00 a.m.)
1.1 Hulk and Friends (UPN, Sunday, 12/06, 9:30 a.m.)
1.1 Toonsylvania (Fox, Monday, 11/30, 3:30 p.m.)
1.0 Ned's Newt (Fox, Tuesday-Thursday, 11/30, 7:30 a.m.)
1.0 Spy Dogs (Fox, Saturday, 12/26, 10:30 a.m.)
0.9 Anatole (CBS, Saturday, 12/05, 7:30 p.m.)
0.9 Birdz (CBS, Saturday, 12/05, 10:31 a.m.)
0.9 Flying Rhino Jr. High (CBS, Saturday, 12/05, 8:30 a.m.)
0.9 Franklin (CBS, Saturday, 12/05, 7:00 a.m.)
0.9 Guardians of the Legend (CBS, Saturday, 12/05, 11:30 a.m.)
0.9 Life with Louie (Fox, Monday-Friday, 11/30, 7:30 a.m.)
0.9 Magic School Bus (Fox, Monday-Friday, 11/30, 7:00 a.m.)
0.9 Mr. Potato Head (Fox, Saturday, 12/05, 8:00 a.m.)
0.9 Space Goofs (Fox, Monday, 11/30, 3:00 p.m.)
0.8 Beetleborgs (UPN, Sunday, 12/05, 9:00 a.m.)
0.8 The Dumb Bunnies (CBS, Saturday, 12/05, 8:00 a.m.)
0.8 Histeria (WB, Monday-Friday, 11/30, 3:30 p.m.)
0.8 Pinky & Brain (WB, Monday-Friday, 11/30, 3:00 p.m.)
0.7 Animaniacs (WB, Monday-Friday, 11/30, 8:30 a.m.)
0.5 Tiny Toons (WB, Monday-Friday, 11/30, 8:00 a.m.)
PJs Raise Ratings And Controversy. The new animated comedy from
Eddie Murph
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| The PJs. © FOX Broadcasting Company. |
y and Will Vinton Studios, The PJs, has been generating great ratings and some harsh words from the African-American community. A special Sunday night preview of the show on January 10 garnered an incredible 12.6/18 rating, the second-highest preview or premiere numbers in Fox history, topped only by the 12.7 from the January 1990 premiere of The Simpsons. Likewise, the show delivered strong numbers when it moved to its regular Tuesday, 8:30 p.m. timeslot with a 7.2 household rating, 26% better than King of the Hill's 5.7 and the best regular-series number Fox has ever had in the Tuesday 8:30 p.m. slot. However, it takes more than big Nielsen numbers to please some people. The portrayal of African-American people in this cartoon has raised serious concerns among many, most notably film director Spike Lee. Lee, who spoke recently at a television press tour in Pasadena to publicize a PBS show, called PJs "hateful towards black people" and "very demeaning." Lee believes the series "shows no love at all for black people." Last week, a number of LA grass-roots organizations spearheaded by the Project Islamic HOPE group planned an anti-PJs protest at Fox studios but the protest never took place. The respected National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) has not taken a position on the show at this time, but it's safe to say that as long as The PJs continues to deliver ratings for Fox, it won't be going anywhere soon.
Note: Readers may contact any Animation World Magazine contributor by sending an e-mail to editor@awn.com.
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