Nickelodeons AVATAR: THE LAST AIRBENDER has been greenlit for 20 additional episodes to premiere in 2007. Created and exec produced by Michael DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko, the new pick-up order will bring the total number of episodes for the series to 60, for a third season.
DIC Ent. and AOL online kids destination, KOL, have formed a partnership to co-produce a new Saturday morning branded programming block, "KOL's Saturday Morning Secret Slumber Party on CBS," which will premiere Sept. 16, 2006. DIC and KOL will also develop online and on-air co-production initiatives in conjunction with the block.
Animax Asia announced today (June 21, 2006) a new long-term output deal with GONZO, Japan's leading animation studio. Asia viewers will now get the chance to watch anime programs from GONZO, via Animax, soon after Japan viewers.
FIVEs Milkshake has ordered a second season of FUNKY VALLEY from British award-winning animation studio Honeycomb Animation.
The successful preschool show was first aired in May 2004 on FIVEs preschool strand Milkshake!, and has been sold to more than 30 territories worldwide, including Italy, South Africa, Canada and Australia. (A spin-off series, FUNKY TOWN, is currently in production.)
FUNimation Ent., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Navarre Corp. and the market share leader for home video sales of Japanese animation in the U.S., announced today (June 16, 2006) that the FUNimation Channel is now live in Los Angeles via digital broadcast on LA 18.3. The FUNimation Channel provides 24-hour digital programming featuring top anime brands in the U.S. to more than five million households in the Los Angeles area.
Boomstone Ent. Inc. is in production on a new childrens all Canadian animated project, LITTLE MELODY, featuring the musical adventures of Little Melody, her magical flute, Toot, and best friend and narrator Mrs Quill, a friendly Bluebird voiced by Margot Kidder (SUPERMAN, SMALLVILLE). Little Melody is slated for fall 2007 release.
BLACK HOLE is the latest installment in the current season of SC FI Movies. It premiered June 10, 2006, and encores on June 15 at 9:00 pm on the SCI FI Channel.
When a St. Louis based particle accelerator malfunctions, an ever-expanding and unstoppable black hole forms. Out of the hole comes a vicious "energy creature" that begins destroying everything in its path. It stars Kristy Swanson, Judd Nelson and Julia Sinks.
Cartoon Network in India is set to airing locally produced features, SON OF ALLADIN and THE LEGEND OF BUDDHA, according to THE HINDU.
Kicking off this programming was the 3D animated, SON OF ALLADIN. This cartoon sees Mustafa, Prince of Basra Alladin's son get the better of the evil Zee Zee Ba, meet the woman of his dreams and rescue his long lost parents.
MTV2 has joined up with Aardman Animations to broadcast a series of shorts featuring the character Big Jeff.
MTV2 is MTV Networks U.K. & Irelands channel dedicated to guitar-based music. The 10 BIG JEFF films range from 90 to 180 seconds in duration and will be scattered amongst the MTV2 schedule from mid June. The animations were created, written and directed by Aardmans Tom Parkinson and exec produced by Miles Bullough, Pete Lord and Dave Sproxton.
Monster Distributes just sold its new animated series, IM AN ANIMAL, from Oscar-nominated Brown Bag Films to Nickelodeon UK. Produced with the support of RTE and the Irish Film Board, the series has already been sold to Rai Italy, TV Ontario, Knowledge Network Canada, Cartoon Network Australia, Cable TV Hong Kong, Sanctuary UK, Hungama TV Indonesia, Malaysia and India and Al Sayyar in the Middle East.
IM AN ANIMAL was one of the top programs at MIPCOM Jr. last year, and will have all 52x2 episodes completed this month.
TOM GOES TO THE MAYOR makes its basic cable homecoming with a new season on Adult Swim this June. The small-town politics, poor decision making, delusional thinking and curious guest stars that have become the Adult Swim shows hallmark started up again on June 4, 2006, at 12:30 am.
NOGGIN will honor dad on Fathers Day with themed episodes from the networks preschool lineup. On Sunday, June 18, beginning at 6:30 am (ET), fans can join the characters of OOBI, CONNIE THE COW, MIFFY AND FRIENDS, LITTLE BEAR and FRANKLIN, as they pay tribute to dad.
* 6:30 am CONNIE THE COW Connie & Her FatherConnie's mummy tells her that theyre going to have a surprise party for her daddys birthday. With help from her friends, Connie gets everything ready to make her daddy's celebration a very special one.
Coliseum, the action-adventure brand of Cookie Jar Ent. Inc., will make its U.S. debut of the series, SPIDER RIDERS, on KIDS WB! on Saturday, June 17, 2006, at 10:30 am (ET/PT). SPIDER RIDERS is a co-production between Cookie Jar and leading Japanese advertising agency, Yomiko, together with celebrated Japanese animation studio, Bee Train, known for its popular cult series, HACK//SIGN. SPIDER RIDERS is Coliseums largest production since the companys inception in 2004.
PEE-WEES PLAYHOUSE, the winner of 22 Emmy Awards, returns to TV, joining the Adult Swim lineup beginning Monday, July 10. The acclaimed series, which has been largely absent from the airwaves for nearly 15 years, stars Paul Reubens as his alter-ego Pee-wee Herman, and features a rich cast of characters who drop by the place where anything can happen.
Fox has greenlit 22 additional episodes of AMERICAN DAD, extending the shows run through the 2007-08 TV season, reports the trades. In the fall, the series will move to the coveted timeslot following THE SIMPSONS.
"It's definitely a good show of faith," said exec producer Mike Barker. "From a writing standpoint, we feel there's certainly a lot of things left to explore in our characters. We never realized there'd be so many layers to a right-wing, conservative father.
Cartoon Network has secured the U.S. television rights to an all-new Pokémon series, POKÉMON CHRONICLES, which will premiere on Saturday, June 3, 2006, at 7:00 pm, during Toonami, Cartoon Network's high-rated action block.
YTV has announced the highlights for its June lineup.
To celebrate the release of Garfields second big screen adventure, GARFIELD: A TAIL OF TWO KITTIES, YTV will air four GARFIELD specials everyday from Monday, June 19 to Thursday, June, 22 at 7:00 pm. Specials include: GARFIELD GETS A LIFE, GARFIELD AND HIS NINE LIVES, GARFIELD IN PARADISE and GARFIELD GOES TO HOLLYWOOD.
Highlighting its June lineup, TELETOON will premiere new series HEY JOEL! and CAMP LAZLO.
The set of Cartoon Network Fridays will heat up this summer with performances by some of todays most popular musical guests. R&B singer/songwriter Ne-Yo will kick off the Memorial Day weekend with a performance of his hit single So Sick, on Friday, May 26, at 8:00 pm (ET, PT). Also slated to appear this summer are Cheyenne Kimball, Sammie, Bowling for Soup and Da Backwudz. Musical guests perform on the set of Fridays in front of a live studio audience. Past musical guests include Nick Cannon, Chris Brown and Rihanna.
Breakthrough Ent. Inc., the distribution division of Canadian production company, Breakthrough Films & Television, unveils its most prolific slate of all-new series and eagerly anticipated made-for-TV movies at the L.A. Screenings 2006, which runs through may 25, 2006. HOLA Ent., Breakthrough Ent.s agent for Latin America, will be offering the following programming slate to Latin American buyers:
The production/distribution company Neptuno Films has sealed new pan regional sales of its animation production portfolio in Latin America.
Cartoon Network Latin America has acquired seasons 1 and 2 of KING ARTHURS DISASTERS. A co-production of Neptuno Films with Zenith Ent., KING ARTHURS DISASTERS has been airing on ITV in the U.K. Other partners include Nick UK, Cartoon Network France, ABC Australia, Disney Italy, among others.
The third annual Nicktoons Network Animation Festival has selected six judges for this years festivities. Comedic brothers Shawn and Marlon Wayans, creators of a brand new an animated special for Nickelodeon and Nicktoons Network, will serve on a panel of artists that also includes FAMILY GUY creator Seth MacFarlane, Disneys Andreas Deja, famed independent animator Bill Plympton and last year's Producers Choice and Student Award Winner JG Quintel.
Nickelodeon's THE FAIRLY ODDPARENTS pays homage to the AMERICAN IDOL craze with its very own Idol-like singing competition in FAIRY IDOL, a one-hour special premiering May 19, 2006, at 8:00 pm. The special stars former AMERICAN IDOL contestant Diana DeGarmo, as the singing voice of her biggest fan, Cosmo. The older-skewing special repeats on Nickelodeon May 20 at 7:00 pm and May 21 at 5:00 pm.
EM.Ent. GmbH and French TV station TF1 have struck a far-reaching co-operation within the video-on-demand sector, encompassing the regions France, Monaco, Andorra and the French overseas territories.
Pileated Pictures has completed production on three animated shorts for the Emmy Award-winning PBS series BETWEEN THE LIONS, plus nine new teasers for the show.
