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Nickelodeon Picks Up Two New Series, Renews Mighty B

Nickelodeon has ordered 26 episodes of FANBOY AND CHUM CHUM, a new CG animated comedy series spinning off from the upcoming Nicktoons Network anthology series Random! Cartoons.

Combining classic squash and stretch animation with CG technology, FANBOY AND CHUM CHUM centers on a fearless, comic book-loving 10-year old named Fanboy and his best friend and trusty sidekick, Chum Chum, whose wide-eyed acceptance of the bizarre is the perfect complement to his friend's hyper imagination. For Fanboy, there is nothing more normal than living life in tights and a cape, and the concept of an ordinary day is one where anything and everything can happen.

The series was created by Eric Robles (NI HAU KAI LAN, THE X'S, GRIM ADVENTURES OF BILLY & MANDY) and exec produced by Robles, Steve Tompkins (THE BERNIE MAC SHOW, ENTOURAGE, THE SIMPSONS) and Fred Seibert (Frederator's Random! Cartoons).

David Hornsby voices Fanboy with Nika Futterman as Chum Chum, joined by a star-studded cast including Jamie Kennedy, Josh Duhamel and Estelle Harris as Fanboy's untrusting wizard friend Kyle, Fanboy's uber-geek mentor Oz and Oz' mother, respectively.

FANBOY AND CHUM CHUM joins Nickelodeon's slate of animated series including BACK AT THE BARNYARD from Steve Oedekerk, Emmy Award-nominated THE FAIRLY ODDPARENTS from animation veteran Butch Hartman, THE MIGHTY B! co-created by and starring actress/comedian Amy Poehler and top-ranked SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS. Production of FANBOY AND CHUM CHUM is based at the Nickelodeon Animation Studio in Burbank.

Nick Jr. has commenced production on the new original series, TEAM UMIZOOMI, which combines 2D and 3D animation with live action to create a uniquely patterned urban environment where miniature action heroes help real preschoolers solve everyday problems by using math. The 20-episode interactive series is created by a team of BLUE'S CLUES veterans: Jennifer Twomey (Co-Creator/Exec Producer), Soo Kim (Co-Creator/Producer/Design Director/Writer) and Michael T. Smith (Co-Creator/Producer/Writer). TEAM UMIZOOMI (formerly called THE UMIZUMIZ) is set to premiere on Nick Jr. in 2009.

In the heart of Umi City, a team of miniature animated math-powered action heroes await their next mighty mission. When the Umi alarm sounds, siblings Milli and Geo and their robot best friend, Bot, help live-action preschoolers in a pinch. Team Umizoomi needs their Umifriends (home viewers) to use their math powers to help solve everyday problems and keep Umi City running smoothly.

Each episode explores math in a variety of real life contexts, while set to a catchy soundtrack of preschool pop rock that helps the team along the way. In Umi City math is everywhere. By making math the key to solving preschool relatable problems, the show will develop and enhance kids' interest in, excitement for and enjoyment of math. The series is designed to build upon preschoolers' conceptual understanding of math as they are exposed to core mathematical concepts like numbers, counting, computations, measurement, patterns and shapes.

Twomey started working with Nickelodeon in 1996 on the landmark interactive series BLUE'S CLUES. Twomey was an executive producer and writer for the Peabody Award-winning, Emmy-nominated series and co-developed the puppet-based spin-off, BLUE'S ROOM, while serving as executive producer and writer for the latter as well. In 2004, Twomey was exec in charge of development and production for Nickelodeon Preschool Television, overseeing current series on both Nick Jr. and NOGGIN and developing new content for the channels.

Kim joined the Nickelodeon family in 1995 when she jumped aboard the design team at the start of the first season of Nick Jr.'s groundbreaking BLUE'S CLUES. Her love of the simple preschool aesthetic and the challenge of the digital medium propelled her into the role of Digital Design Director. She played an integral role in the evolution of the production process and developing the signature visual style of the well-loved series. Prior to joining Nickelodeon, Soo was on the production team at MTV Animation, working on a range of development projects and animated pilots as well as contributing to the web design for MTV.com.

Smith, who also produces and writes for TEAM UMIZOOMI, first joined Nickelodeon in 1995. While working for BLUE'S CLUES, Michael developed content, wrote scripts including BLUE'S BIG MUSICAL SHOW (co-written with Angela Santomero) which garnered a Young Artist Award in the category of Best Animated Family Feature Film. Smith has also been nominated for three Daytime Emmy awards in the category of Outstanding Writing for a Children's Program.

Nickelodeon's animated comedy THE MIGHTY B!, created by comedian Amy Poehler and exec producers/Nickelodeon animation veterans Cynthia True and Erik Wiese, has been picked up for a second season of 20 new half-hour episodes.

Poehler will continue to exec produce the series and star as the voice of determined Bessie Higgenbottom, while Andy Richter will reprise his role as her brother Ben. THE MIGHTY B! airs regularly Saturdays at 10:30 a.m. (ET/PT) on Nickelodeon.

Since its debut, THE MIGHTY B! has attracted on average 3.1 million total viewers 2+, including 1.8 million kids 2-11, 1.2 million kids 6-11 and 764,000 tweens 9-14 on Saturday mornings. Reaching 50% of boys 2-11 and 50% girls 2-11, the series ranked among the top five animated properties on all of television: third among kids 2-11 and second among kids 6-11 and tweens 9-14 in second quarter 2008.

Bessie Higgenbottom (voiced by Poehler) is the world's most ambitious and loveably unhinged 9 3/4-year-old member of the Honeybee troop for girls. As a member of the Honeybees, Bessie wears her uniform every single day, leads her troop with a zeal General Patton would have admired and has earned more badges than any other Honeybee in history.

Bessie is sometimes accompanied on her adventures by her ever-loyal younger brother Benjamin (voiced by Andy Richter), her very opinionated and somewhat reluctant dog Happy (voiced by Dee Bradley Baker), one of her closest pals, her imaginary friend Finger and Rocky Rhodes (voiced by Kenan Thompson), the cool, older skater kid who works part-time at the counter at Bessie's mother's eatery, Hilary's Cafe.

Co-Creator, Exec Producer and voice of Bessie Higgenbottom, Amy Poehler is currently in her eighth season of SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE (her fifth as the co-anchor of "Weekend Update") and will star in a new NBC comedy from Greg Daniels and Mike Schur. Poehler has starred in numerous feature films, including DR. SEUSS' HORTON HEARS A WHO! and SHREK THE THIRD as Snow White.

Co-Creator, Exec Producer and Story Editor Cynthia True has written for a number of shows, including Nickelodeon's NED'S DECLASSIFIED SCHOOL SURVIVAL GUIDE and MY LIFE AS A TEENAGE ROBOT; The N's O'GRADY and WB's JOHNNY TEST. She was also a staff writer for Nickelodeon's THE FAIRLY ODDPARENTS.

Co-Creator, Executive Producer and Creative Director Erik Wiese is an Emmy and Annie-nominated storyboard artist and writer who worked on SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS for four seasons. Wiese's other credits include THE SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS MOVIE, DANNY PHANTOM, SAMURAI JACK, SAMMY and the animated Bjork music video I MISS YOU.

THE MIGHTY B! is produced at the Nickelodeon Animation Studios in Burbank, California.