Tagged With: Nickelodeon

REN AND STIMPY has returned to the Nickelodeon airwaves and it now has a feline cousin in CATSCRATCH, a new series created by Doug TenNapel which resembles it remarkably in design, cartoony gags and character expressions. This is also not your typical kids fare and is appropriately scheduled in primetime, Fridays at 8:30 pm. The premiere episodes were broadcast back-to-back, 8-9:00 pm on July 9, 2005.

Nickelodeon has ordered 20 new episodes of MISS SPIDER'S SUNNY PATCH FRIENDS, a 3D animated co-production from Nelvana/Absolute Pictures, which airs weekdays on Nick Jr. at 10:00 am. The series is based on the beloved book series by David Kirk (published by Callaway & Kirk).

"Miss Spider's message of friendship and kindness to fellow bugs is an important one for all of us ... bug or human!" said Brown Johnson, exec creative director, Nickelodeon Preschool Television. "It's great to be working with Nelvana and David Kirk on another season of this beautiful series."

MIP-TV attendees, especially German broadcasters, were speculating on MTV Networks Europe (MTVNE) recent announcement that it will launch a Nickelodeon kids' channel and website in Germany Sept. 12, 2005, as part of the company's commitment to providing high quality, complementary programming on its four channels in the market. A new cross-brand advertising sales house, Viacom Brand Solutions, has been created to market the portfolio of channels.

Nickelodeon will roll out six new live-action and animated series for the 2005-06 season, and premiere 248 episodes of 18 returning hit Nick and Nick Jr. series, totaling 124 hours of new, original programming. Cyma Zarghami, president, Nickelodeon Television, announced the ambitious slate during the networks upfront meeting presentation to advertisers in New York City.

Brown Johnson, formerly evp of Nick Jr., has been promoted to the newly created position of exec creative director of preschool television, Nickelodeon Television. Johnson will oversee development and production for all preschool programming across Nickelodeon networks, including Nick Jr. and NOGGIN.

Pamela Kaufman has been promoted from svp, Nickleodeon marketing to evp, marketing and worldwide promotions, expanding her responsibilities to include strategic planning of worldwide programming launches as well as global partnership deals.

"Pam Kaufman is one of the most successful marketers in the entertainment industry," said Nickelodeon TV president Cyma Zarghami, to whom Kaufman will continue to report. "Her consumer marketing and property management skills have raised the creative bar for the entire industry and have turned our TV properties into gold."

Nickelodeon Movies and Paramount Pictures have jointly acquired the motion-picture rights to THE ANYBODIES, written by best-selling author Julianna Baggott and illustrated by Peter Ferguson, about an 11-year-old heroine with special powers to change shape.

Following the recent integration of Paramount Parks and Viacom Consumer Products under the leadership of Nickelodeon Networks president Herb Scannell, Leigh Anne Brodsky and Al Weber have been promoted to new positions, consolidating the leadership of the licensing and recreation businesses under Nickelodeon Enterprises, the ancillary business unit of Nickelodeon Networks. Brodsky has been named president, Nickelodeon and Viacom Consumer Products, and Weber has been named president, Viacom Recreation.