Beginning Sept. 5, 2005, PBS KIDS JAKERS! THE ADVENTURES OF PIGGLEY WINKS will begin airing Mondays through Fridays. The Emmy-winning, CGI-animated program from Entara Ltd. has run on weekends for the past two years.
As part of the enhanced programming plan, PBS KIDS has ordered 12 new episodes of the half-hour series, which currently features 40 episodes produced by Mike Young Prods. and presented by PBS member station WLIW New York. In addition, the series will increase its exploration of intergenerational relationships, a popular element of the series with kids and parents.
JAKERS! follows the adventures of Piggley Winks and his best friends Ferny the Bull and Dannan the Duck on Raloo Farm in the rural village of Tara, Ireland in the 1950s. While the intrepid trio are enjoying their escapades, American transplant Wiley the Sheep is busy offering wild and woolly advice to his all-too-sheepish flock. The opening and closing of each story features Piggley Winks as a grandpa, telling these tales of childhood shenanigans as entertaining lessons in life to his three American, very contemporary, rambunctious city-dwelling grandpigs. The target audience for the series is 3- to 6-year-olds.
Piggley Winks and his friends Ferny the Bull and Dannan the Duck have engaged our preschool audience on a weekly basis since fall, 2003, says Linda Simensky, senior director, PBS KIDS programming. As a show that educates and entertains it fits in well with the PBS KIDS schedule and were excited to offer our member stations and JAKERS! fans five times more fun this fall.
PBS KIDS decision to strip the series is a wonderful validation of a brand that has quickly become a classic, says Louisa Stretton, exec producer of the series and coo of London-based Entara Ltd. We look forward to entertaining PBS KIDS youngsters for generations to come.
JAKERS! all-star lineup includes comedy legend Mel Brooks as Wiley the Sheep and soccer great Cobi Jones, captain of the Los Angeles Galaxy, as the host of each episodes three-minute live-action epilogue entitled Jakers! Live and Learn. These educational moments feature real-life anecdotes that complement the moral lesson of Piggleys exploits.
This year, JAKERS! has already received an Individual Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Achievement in Production Color Design and was one of only five PBS KIDS shows to receive multiple Daytime Emmy nominations. Previous awards include two 2004 Daytime Emmys, a Parents Choice Award and a Prix Jeunesse for best preschool website (pbskids.org/jakers).
In the U.S., the strip launch serves as the catalyst for Entaras strategic domestic licensing program, which is handled by licensing agency United Media. Among the previously announced licensees for U.S. and Canada are Simon Spotlight, an imprint of Simon & Schuster Childrens Publishing, which plans to produce a series of story and novelty books, and Paramount Home Ent., which will distribute the series on DVD and VHS. Simon Spotlight and Paramount Home Ent. will cross-promote their products with simultaneous release dates scheduled for spring 2006.
PBS KIDS is committed to providing the highest quality commercial-free content and learning environment for children across the country. For more information, visit PBSKIDS.org.
Entara is a childrens entertainment company, which holds the rights to and manages the JAKERS! franchise worldwide. The companys basic principle is to develop evergreen childrens programming with quality content and global appeal. Entara is dedicated to enhancing the JAKERS! story through innovative educational materials and compelling interactive initiatives. The JAKERS! website on PBSKIDS.org has won the prestigious Prix Jeunesse award for best pre-school website. For further information, visit www.entaraltd.com.