NASCAR fans will soon be treated to the premiere of a new animated TV show

NASCAR RACERS. On Friday, February 5, 2000 at 3:30 pm, Fox Kids will kick

off the new series with a re-broadcast of the 90-minute NASCAR RACERS

telepic. Following the next day at 9:30 am, the series will premiere. The

show will follow the high-speed adventures of four young race car drivers.

Fox has leaked the scoop that a central Simpsons character will be killed

off on the February 13 episode of the decade old toon. Rumors have been

circling that the grim reaper will be swinging his scythe at Maude

Flanders, wife of Jesus freak neighbor Ned. In a bold move of honesty THE

SIMPSONS' executive producer Mike Scully fully admits the show is a

shameless attempt at grabbing sweeps ratings. "We're in our 11th season and

we're always looking for new ways to shake up the show a little and do

Cartoon Network's Cartoon Campaign 2000 is electing the next president from

a field of 50 cartoon candidates. Cartoon Network will provide the hopeful

candidates with free airtime from 7-9 p.m. each night between Sunday, March

5, and Thursday, March 9, 2000 when they will screen their own personal

cartoons for viewers. During each night's election coverage, viewers can

vote for their favorite characters via an 800-number that will appear on

Tom Snyder Productions' HOME MOVIES has found a new home at Cartoon

Network. The Atlanta-based toon channel has ordered 13 episodes for 2000.

The order also includes five episodes, which originally aired on UPN last

spring and eight new episodes, to be produced beginning in February. HOME

MOVIES is about Brendon Small, a restless, creative third-grader, who uses

his video camera to deal with his problems. The cast includes Brendon

Small, Melissa Bardin Galsky and H. Jon Benjamin. The show is very funny as

FX's offbeat series, THE DICK AND PAULA CELEBRITY SPECIAL, will return in

March with seven new episodes. Produced by Tom Snyder Productions, the show

follows Worcester, Massachusetts' favorite husband and wife talk show team.

The series features interviews with real and fictionalized characters,

including famous and even infamous historical figures. Some crazy moments

coming up on the series include: the first sighting of The Blair Witch as

she discusses her 10K Run for Testicular Cancer Awareness; Joan of Arc

Three new Scandinavian markets surrendered their airwaves to Pokemania.

Worldwide sensation POKEMON was recently sold to TV4 in Sweden, TV2 in

Denmark and TV2 in Norway. The show will hit the new territories in January

and February 2000. Lacey Entertainment, the international distributors of

the series, also announced the sale of the Pikachu-vehicle to ATV in Turkey

and Noga Communications' Children's Channel in Israel. In Europe, POKEMON

began broadcasting in September 1999 on Germany's RTL2, The Netherlands'

Tom Snyder Productions, the creators of DR. KATZ: PROFESSIONAL THERAPIST,

have been assigned to create a new animated comedy series for Oxygen,

Geraldine Laybourne's new network to launch February 2, 2000 to accompany

the Web site of the same name. The comedy series titled HEY MONIE is based

on the life and longings of a single African-American professional woman in

big city America. This is the first network animated series based on an

African-American woman and her friends. The show is scheduled to air on

Fox Kids has started developing a series based on the comic book/Internet

toon JOE PSYCHO & MOOFROG CARTOONSHOW. Set in the fictional town of Spleen,

Oregon, JOE PSYCHO revolves around humorous mishaps of the local TV station

where crazy Joe and mind-mannered MooFrog work.

South Africa-based Triggerfish Animation, a leading stop-frame animation

company in South Africa, is currently shooting animation sequences for the

South African SESAME STREET, using an assortment of different materials

including local contemporary art work, creating a unique African feel to

the production. In addition, Triggerfish is shooting a 30-second commercial

using 7 plasticine characters for a new product being launched in South

Africa and Australia called Slo Jo -- a fruit smoothie.

CLIFFORD THE BIG RED DOG will come to life on PBS' fall 2000 schedule. The

show will be based on the 39-year-old CLIFFORD Scholastic book series

written by Norman Bridwell. John Ritter will provide the voice of Clifford;

while Kel Mitchell (KEENAN & KEL) will voice the dog's buddy, T-Bone; Grey

DeLisle (RUGRATS) will voice Clifford's best friend, Emily Elizabeth; and

Cree Summer will voice Cleo.

Bender will be back next year for more adventures on FUTURAMA. The animated

series from producers Matt Groening and David X. Cohen has been picked up

for the 2000-01 season by Fox. A decision has not been made yet on whether

the number of episodes ordered will be 13, 22 or some number in-between.

London-based Link Entertainment Television has sold the rights to

TEDDYBEARS to U.S.-based Trio Channel, a new satellite channel broadcast on

Direct TV and TCI Hits. Trio's 26 episode purchase comes on the heals of

another recent deal for Link with Canada's SCN for all 52 episodes of the

lovable bears television adventures.

On December 2, 1999, USA Networks' Live Telecast of IMPROV-ICE, debuted

graphics done by Pinnacle Systems' Rocket for FXDeko. Rocket for FXDeko is

a template-based tool that allows the generation of real-time 3D elements

which can be automatically updated by live data streams. Rocket integrates

with Pinnacle's award-winning FXDeko character generators and adds further

dimension to live broadcasts including textured, reflective and transparent

Nick Jr. and Teletoon have asked Nelvana Limited to start production on

MAGGIE AND THE FEROCIOUS BEAST, based on the mother and son team of

Betty and Michael Parakevas' storybooks. The adventures of 5-year-old

Maggie in Nowhere Land will hit Nick Jr. in Summer 2000 and Teletoon

next fall.

Interactive Television Entertainment (ITE) has secured two new

territories for its show HUGO JUNGLE. The show will start airing March

1, 2000 on Nat 7 in Malaysia and January 17, 2000 on BKTV in Serbia and

Montenegro. Extensive use of the Animation Mask System, and animated

links between each playing scenario, make HUGO JUNGLE a unique live

interactive cartoon show.



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