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Jetix Europe Gets Suckers, Team Smithereen For Website

Jetix Europe, with plans to overhaul its websites with new and improved navigation and functionality, is teaming with two entertainment producers for animated comedy shorts that will play on the site's interactive VOD players.

W!LDBRAIN's TEAM SMITHEREEN will be the first new short-form series that Jetix will debut in Europe as an exclusive premiere on its websites. Jetix also commissioned BRB Internacional's THE SECRET LIFE OF SUCKERS.

Kids across Europe will be able to access this new short-form content whenever they want online with new episodes being regularly updated on the Jetix sites in Germany, the U.K., Spain, Italy, France, Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Hungary and Poland. Following its debut on Jetix websites, SUCKERS will also roll out across other Jetix platforms, including mobile.

The slapstick TEAM SMITHEREEN was created by The Dan Clark Company, whose creative group specializes in puppetry and effects driven content for television. The 26x2 shorts follow a hapless team of puppet stuntmen who, more often than not, get into trouble on some of their death-defying feats. TEAM SMITHEREEN shorts will debut exclusively on the new-look Jetix websites beginning early 2009.

Marc Buhaj, SVP Programming, Jetix Europe, said, "We want to offer kids the chance to enjoy original Jetix content wherever they are and developing a fuller digital offering is key to this. The short-form focus will be on comedy and creating characters that will have strong word-of-mouth and viral appeal. With this in mind Team Smithereen was the perfect series for us to launch our new online shorts strategy. It features the world's first vinyl puppet stunt team. These are four of the wildest, most wide-eyed, thrill-seeking, adrenaline junkies you'll ever see. It's JACKASS with vinyl puppets and we're certain that Jetix kids across Europe -- and probably some adults too - are going to love the crazy, unstoppable crew who are Team Smithereen."

Bob Higgins, Head of Creative, W!LDBRAIN, said, "The 'slap-stunt' concept and style pushes the boundaries of animation and brings to life a world of vinyl-latex characters doing off-the-wall stunts that will have you on the edge of your seat. With Jetix offering a compelling online destination for the TEAM SMITHEREEN series and our all-star creative team bringing their original sensibility to the process, the brand has the potential to become a multi-million dollar franchise that will transcend its online roots."

As part of the deal Jetix Europe holds the consumer product and home entertainment rights for THE SECRET LIFE OF SUCKERS across Europe and the Middle East (excluding Spain, Portugal and Andorra).

THE SECRET LIFE OF SUCKERS is the creation of BRB Internacional, one of Spain's largest animation producers, and Genoma Animation in association with Screen 21 and Televisio de Catalunya. The non-dialogue comedy series of 104x2 3D shorts follows the lives of some cute but twisted toys tired of their boring lives stuck in car windows. If you've ever wondered what happens to the things we leave in our cars when we're not there, SUCKERS will show you -- they're planning to launch a revolution.

Carlos Biern, co-production director for BRB Internacional, said, "THE SECRET LIFE OF SUCKERS represents the irreverent, entertaining and rebellious type of humor that any kid, in any city around the world, can relate to. It's a world where each person has their own quirks and defines their own style as a way to have fun with everything around them."

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