Animation World News

Television
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Soon Fat Dog Mendoza will be flying into homes all over the U.K. © Sunbow Entertainment & Cartoon Network Europe.

Fat Dog Mendoza co-produced by Sunbow Entertainment and Cartoon Network Europe, has premiere in the U.K. Animated by TMO-Loonland's Peter Volkle at his Hungarian studio, the first of the 26 completed episodes started airing on February 28, 2000. The series is based off of Scott Musgrove's cult comic book. Fat Dog and his boy Little Costumed Buddy live in Neighbourhood X, which seems normal until one notices that ancient Rome and the Himalayas are only a block away from each other. This show is the first in a two series deal between Cartoon Network Europe and Sunbow, a veteran children's programming producer and distributor. . . .Mainframe Entertainment, Inc. announced that it will produce 26 all-CGI Action Man half-hour television series episodes for Hasbro Properties Group, a division of Hasbro, Inc. Before the series begins regularly scheduled broadcasts on Fox Kids in September, a one-hour Action Man special will air on Fox Kids Network in May 2000. SABAN International N.V. will handle international distribution for the series. The new TV show is based on Hasbro's Action Man brand, the number one boy's action brand in Europe. The Action Man TV launch will also be accompanied in the U.S. by the introduction of Action Man toys and games, licensed merchandise and marketing programs. Production on the series began in January at Mainframe's Vancouver studio. . . . J.J. Sedelmaier Productions has "tooned" the new opening for Comedy Central’s second season of Strangers With Candy. The 30-second opening, produced by J.J. Sedelmaier and directed by Ward Sutton, sums up the premise of the live—action series, the crazy life of Jerri Blank (Amy Sedaris) after she drops out of high school. Ward Sutton’s heavy line and bright colors warps an animated Blank through a whirlwind ride of sex, drugs and prostitution that leads back to high school 30 years later. The lead animator on the project was Tony Eastman. . . .

Avenue Amy scopes out the every day trials and tribulations of women in modern society. © Curious Pictures.

Curious Pictures has finished production on Avenue Amy for the fledgling cable network, Oxygen Media. The series is directed by Curious Pictures’ Joan Raspo and written by Amy Sohn, based off of her New York Press column. The new show will air on "X-Chromosome," an original showcase of animation done by women. The show sets brightly colored, rotoscoped actors against live-action photo collage backgrounds in a satirical look at daily life of a woman living in New York. The animated block airs on Oxygen Saturdays and Sundays at 10:30 pm. . . .The new UPN clay animated series Hormone High has added more names to its lengthy voice cast. Recently joining the pilots’ cast are Jerry O’Connell (Mission To Mars, Sliders), John Cryer (Getting Personal), Adam Goldberg (Saving Private Ryan) and Jennifer Tilly (Bound, Bride Of Chucky). The half-hour comedy is being directed by Celebrity Deathmatch creator Eric Fogel. Other talent on the voice-over cast are Punky Brewster child-star Soleil Moon Frye, Fraiser’s Harriet Sansom Harris, Sparks’ Arif Kinchen and Bakersfield, P.D.’s Brian Doyle-Murray. Cryer and O’Donnell will voice Timmy Lee and Tony, a pair of best friend jesters, respectively. Other students attending Hormone High are nerdish Ted Glass (Goldberg), a saucy cheerleader (Tilly), the mile-a-minute genius Sally Chaffe (Frye), heavyweight nice guy James "Flubba" Johnson (Kinchen) and Timmy’s doting mother Glena (Harris). . . .The new animated series Max Steel premiered at #1 for its rating slot. The new CGI series scored a 7.6 rating/24 share, finishing #1 with Boys 6-11 against all of its Saturday morning competition. The show also garnered Kids WB! a #1 rating with teens for the first time since May of 1999. The series, set in the fictitious, futuristic city of Del Oro Bay, centers around Max Steel, a young secret agent pitted against the evil plots of the mercenary organization, DREAD. . . .The Ides of March have changed to the Idiots of March at Cartoon Network. On March 15, 2000, Cartoon Network will feature a mini-marathon of I Am Weasel. The series follows the exploits of the super-smart weasel, I.M. Weasel, and his blunder-prone baboon nemesis I.R. Baboon. The Cow And Chicken spin-off’s marathon will air from 7 pm — 10 pm. . . .In March, the Sundance Channel showcased the films of Faith Hubley, her late husband, John, and their daughter, Emily. Hubley films have won three Academy Awards, and numerous other film festivals. Sundance's "Spotlight on the Hubleys" highlighted the family's short films such as Pigeon Within and Everybody Rides The Carousel. Charles Silver, a curator in the film and video department of New York's Museum of Modern Art, said to CNN, "It is a well-deserved tribute. They really broke away from the tradition of cartoons as Saturday afternoon entertainment for children and turned animation into a much more mature medium, opening all kinds of possibilities for other filmmakers to make personal films." . . .Fox Kids Europe has acquired the exclusive U.K. and French rights to Digimon: Digital Monsters from Toei Animation of Japan. The Pokemon-like series will hit Fox Kids Europe on April 1 and premiere on Britain’s ITV network. September will see the debut of the show in France on TF1 and Fox Kids France. . . . Fox Family will be adding two new animated series to its 2000-01 daytime schedule. Da Mob follows the life of a wanna-be hip-hop band on their futile journey to fame and fortune. The series is being produced by Happy Life Entertainment. Detective Cohen will be the newest anime series to hit the channel. The show follows the adventures of top detective Shinichi Kudo, who has been accidentally transformed back into a child by his enemies. The series is being distributed in the States by TMS. Twenty-six episodes of each series has already been secured. . . .

ITV has ordered 26 episodes of the half-hour, 3D CGI animated series Butt-Ugly Martians. The Mike Young Productions, The Just Group PLC and DCDC-produced show follows three Martians, who came to Earth to overthrow it but stayed because the loved it. The director of the first season of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Gary Selvaggio, is the creator of series. DCDC handles the TV rights for the show in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan, while the U.K.-based The Just Group handles all other international TV, video, merchandising and licensing rights. Butt-Ugly Martians has not yet found a home in the U.S. . . .On Saturday, March 18, 2000, Cartoon Network announced the winner of their inaugural Cartoon Campaign 2000. "Political" ads started airing on January 15, 2000 toting the 50 candidates, but a crime-fighting Great Dane has become the clear winner. Scooby-Doo captured 17.4 percent of the more than three quarters of a million votes received, followed by The Powerpuff Girls with 11.1 percent and Bugs Bunny with 8.6 percent. A mini-marathon of Scooby-Doo cartoons celebrated the election winner on Sunday, March 19, 2000. With endorsements from ex-U.S. Senator Bob Dole, Bugs Bunny was seen as an early front runner, however the cross-dressing issue may have contributed to the rabbit’s fall to third place.