Three decades ago he delighted families with FAT ALBERT AND THE COSBY KIDS. More recently he won a Daytime for Outstanding Childrens Animated Program for LITTLE BILL on Nick. Now a beloved American humorist icon Bill Cosby takes his special brand of family comedy to primetime in FATHERHOOD, debuting June 20, 2004 at 9:00 pm on Nick at Nite. The series, based on his bestselling book of the same name is Nick at Nite first original animated series. The series movies to its regular timeslot June 29 at 9:00 pm and repeats on Saturdays at 10:00 pm.
Larry W. Jones, president of TV Land and Nick at Nite said, Weve been looking for an original property much like the COSBY SHOW that truly first Nick at Nites fun, family viewing brand. What better way to launch our first original series than with an original Cosby gem.
Each half-hour episode features Blair Underwood at the voice of Dr. Bindlebeep, a high school teacher and father of three, as he encounter challenges, life lessons and comical confusions of family life. Sabrina LeBeauf is the voice of his wife Norma, who runs the campus book store. Their teenagers, Angie (Giovonnie Samuels) and Roy (Marc John Jefferies), attend the school where their parents work while little daughter Katherine (Jamai Fisher) adds a much younger perspective on things.
The opening episode shows Dr. Bindlebeep reverting back to the role of his fathers son during a visit at the grandparents (voiced by Lou Rawls as Lester and Ruby Dee as Louise). His health fanatic father is in much better physical shape, but pushes it too far and gets injured during a game of touch football. With his dad acting like a child, Dr. Bindlebeep must resume his role as father, to his own father.
The show features a 2D with a 3D rounded edge to it with attractive character designs that mark a departure from the Nickelodeon brand look. Highlights and contrasting color lines strive to keep the characters from blending into the color palette of the rich but similarly colored backgrounds, particularly in the family home.
Jamie Mitchell is supervising producer/director of the series. Mitchell was an established commercial animator and art director before turning his talents to TV animation. He has produced or directed more than 300 half hours of TV animation, including HEY ARNOLD!, WALT DISNEYS LITTLE MERMAID, WINNIE THE POOH, TAILSPIN and DUCK TALES. He also directed the animation for the JIMMY NEUTRON RIDE movie for Universal Theme Parks in Orlando, Florida.
Cosby and Charles Kipps are co-creators as well as exec producers. David Brokaw also serves as exec producer while Monique Beatty is line producer. Serge Michaels is art director, Christine Kolosov is animation director and the chief writer is Mike Milligan. Cosby also penned the theme song with Don Braden and Randall Crissman provides original music. Michele Jabloner-Weiss is exec in charge for Nike at Nite. The series is produced at the Nick studio in Burbank, California.
