Category: Television

Marathon Group's MONSTER BUSTER CLUB has been picked up by Toon Disney to air in the U.S. VARIETY reports.

French-based Marathon is the country's biggest TV animator, and has already sold three big franchises to the U.S.: TOTALLY SPIES!, TEAM GALAXY and MARTIN MYSTERY.

MONSTER BUSTER is Marathon's first CG animated series, complete with a big price tag for the first season: $21 million.

The series is about a secret club of 4-10 year olds who rumble an alien invasion in their town.

Cookie Jar Entertainment's newest series, WORLD OF QUEST, makes its debut on Kids' WB! on The CW on March 15, airing from10:30-11:00 a.m.

The network is scheduled to broadcast the first 13 half-hour episodes.

WORLD OF QUEST is a comedic action series following the spoiled young Prince Nestor and his pumped up reluctant protector, Quest, and a rag-tag team of cohorts on a mission to save Nestor's parents and their kingdom.

Along Prince Nestor and Quest's travels, they meet an array of weird and wonderful characters who liven up their journey.

MAN VS. CARTOON, a new unscripted series on TruTV (formerly Court TV) will attempt to uncover whether the stunts and shenanigans in cartoons could ever actually happen in the real world.

Six hourlong episodes have been ordered from Warner Horizon and Craig Piligian's Pilgrim Films & Television, and will draw upon Warner Bros. huge library of animation.

In keeping with the network's investigation-themed lineup of shows, the project will look into whether it's possible to build a human slingshot, for example.

Cable networks TNT, TBS, USA and FX have been buying up theatrical releases by the dozens in recent weeks, including a package of yet-unreleased Warner Bros. films 10,000 B.C., THE DARK KNIGHT, SPEED RACER to Turner Broadcasting's TNT and TBS, VARIETY reported Wednesday.

The Warners/Turner deal also includes released pictures like TMNT, ANT BULLY and I AM LEGEND.

Details and monies weren't discussed by the parties, but generally with prebuys, the network pays about 11 percent of the final domestic box office, capped at $250 million gross in U.S. theaters.

Complete with mysterious disguises and high-tech gadgets, super sleuths Dora and Boots set off on top-secret missions to stop Swiper the fox in two new back-to-back DORA THE EXPLORER episodes, titled "Dora Undercover Spies," premiering at 12 p.m. ET March 14 on Nick Jr.

After more than seven years on the air, Nick Jr.âs DORA THE EXPLORER was the number-one rated preschool series on commercial television in 2007 and currently ranks as this yearâs number-one rated preschool series.

The uncensored first season of LIL' BUSH: RESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES will hit stores on March 11, two days before the second season premieres on Comedy Central.

During the inaugural season viewers saw Lil' Bush and Tony Blair become cheerleaders, the Lil' Gang unleash weapons of mass destruction and Lil' Bush make a statement with his Aquaman underpants while facing off against Lil' Kim Jong Il.

The Gang also went on a panty raid against an Al Qaeda training camp and attempted to speed up global warming.

Disney Channel's popular animated comedy series THE REPLACEMENTS about tween siblings who can replace any adult in their life with the help of a mysterious agency, kicks off its second season with a new episode featuring special guest star Tom Arnold on March 10 at 2:30 p.m. ET/PT.

In addition to Arnold, Josh Duhamel, Carson Palmer, Jason Dolley and Tim Gunn are among the guest stars during the second season.

This season, siblings Todd and Riley visit more fantastic locations and undertake more adventures.

Nickelodeon's THE FAIRLY ODDPARENTS' President's Day special, FAIRLY ODDBABY, hit a magical ratings high as the year-to-date's number-one entertainment program on all broadcast and basic cable television in all kids' demos (K2-11; K6-11; tweens 9-14).

As well as ranking second only to Super Bowl programming among overall TV shows this year with kids and tweens, the hour-long animated special (8-9 p.m. Feb. 18) scored a whopping 15.4/5.3 million K2-11, up double digits (+96 percent) over last year's like time period.

Tyler Perry's signature character "Madea" will be the focal point of a new animated series.

The untitled cartoon will be funded and produced before the show is shopped to networks.

Perry dresses in drag for Madea, an opinionated and domineering African American woman.

The character has been featured in many of Perry's features, including DIARY OF A MAD BLACK WOMAN, MADEA'S FAMILY REUNION and the forthcoming MEET THE BROWNS.

PEDRO AND FRANKENSHEEP, a new series by The Brothers McLeod (Greg and Myles) and Phil Cooper, will be released on Children's BBC this week on CBBC.

The show's creators announced today their 10-episode series will begin airing Feb. 25.

A popular pre-release on the CBBC website garnered several hundred thousand views on YouTube after a "rogue guinea pig" posted the episode "Sleep Guinea Pig Sleep."

Nicktoons Network will premiere a full-length movie for the first time on Saturday, according to C21 Media.

KAPPA MIKEYS KAPPA KARAOKE, a spin-off from the animated Nicktoons show KAPPA MIKEY, will feature 10 original songs with an onscreen bouncing ball to help the audience follow the lyrics.

The series follows the adventures of an American actor, Mikey Simon, who moves to Japan to star in the fictional series LILYMU.

Animation Collective, an American independent behind KAPPA MIKEY, owns KAPPA KARAOKE.

Classic VOLTRON episodes will air on the Boomerang Channel, starting Feb. 18.

The weekly strip show, repackaged from the 1984 episodes, will run for one year Mondays through Fridays.

Based on a Japanese series, VOLTRON is about a team of young pilots in charge of five robot lions that unite to form the mega-robot Voltron, defender of the of the planet Arus.