Category: Television

Digital animation studio 3dBob Productions helped send off the eponymous heroine of the series ALLY MCBEAL by creating three miniature computer-generated celebrities. In the series finale, the digital trio invaded Allys imagination, joining the hallucination of a dancing baby, a long-running series joke. The scene featured former New York mayor Rudolph Giuliani, Senator Hillary Clinton and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, dancing with the CG baby in Allys house before she banished them her life as she prepared to move to New York.

Buena Vista International Television (BVI-TV) has licensed the Classic Treasures package to Telewizja Polska S.A (TVP). The collection of Disney and Disney/Pixar animated features includes A BUG'S LIFE, POCAHONTAS, HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME, TOY STORY and TOY STORY 2. This is the first time these titles have been available on Polish television.

"June Bugs," Cartoon Network's annual tribute to Bugs Bunny, begins June 1, 2002 at 8:00 am and continues until 10:00 pm on Sunday, June 2. For this 10th edition of the marathon, CN is airing more than 160 Bugs Bunny cartoons in alphabetical order beginning with "The Abominable Snow Rabbit" and ending with "Yankee Doodle Bugs." Over on Boomerang, CN's cab-sat network devoted to classic cartoons, Daffy Duck will be quacking up viewers during his own counter-programming stunt.

TV-Loonland has recently completed the sale of several animation titles in Central and Eastern Europe on the eve of DISCOP, the television market held annually each June in Budapest, Hungary. One of TV-Loonlands most popular childrens series PETTSON AND FINDUS (13 x 13 minutes or 2 x 75 minutes) has been sold to Duna TV (Hungary), Czech TV (Czech Republic) and RTV Slo (Slovenia). The series is a co-production between TV-Loonland, Happy Life Animation and Svensk Filmindustri with the participation of ZDF. RTV Slo also picked up the pre-school series CONNIE THE COW (52 x 7 minutes).

Can't wait for the new Spider-Man television series? Well, revisit some classic episodes from past series during ABC Family's "Spider-Man Through the Years" block marathon. Airing Memorial Day weekend in the U.S. (May 25-27, 2002), each block will showcase Spider-Man, his evil nemeses the Green Goblin, Doctor Octopus and Mysterio and superhero friends like the X-Men and the Incredible Hulk, while the marathon's interstitial moments will feature trivia about the Spider-Man character.

Film Roman, Inc. has acquired the television rights to the comic book series, DEITY, by creators Karl Altstaetter and Robert Napton, from LA-based media company Hyperwerks Entertainment. Film Roman plans to develop DIETY into an animated primetime television series. Set in the Los Angeles of the future, a seemingly normal teenage girl named Jamie discovers she is to become a "Deity," or ruler of the universe. Jamie joins with three adventurers to fight her nemesis, Ma'Shiva. The comic book debuted in 1998 and is currently distributed by Image Comics.

4Kids Entertainment has announced the fall line-up for its recently acquired block of kids' programming on the Fox network. The new Saturday morning kids block, dubbed FOX BOX, will air between 8:00 am and 12 noon beginning September 14, 2002. The line-up is geared towards the key young boys demo, and includes the debut of a new series based on Nintendo's video game star KIRBY and a 21st century update to the '80s classic TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES.

DIC Entertainment has licensed its package of original feature length animated movies, 39 films in all, to Nickelodeon for broadcast on Sunday afternoons beginning in October 2002. The deal represents the biggest production order DIC has had in its twenty year history and calls for DIC to deliver the 39 movies over three years. "We have put together a team of incredibly talented award winning writers, producers and directors," said DIC CEO Andy Heyward.

Distribution outfit peppermint has struck a first-time deal with Columbia Tri-Star International Television (CTIT) and BBC Choice for the new adult animation series PETEY & JAYDEE GO EXPLORING. The series of 52 x 45-second vignettes follow the adventures of two quirky aliens as they take viewers on an irreverent joyride. CTIT plans to air the series on Japan's all-anime cable-satellite channel Animax. They also acquired all television, merchandising and broadband distribution rights for Sony Entertainment Television (SET) in Latin America.

Last October, MIPCOM 2001 Personality of the Year, MTV's Tom Freston, stated in response to the events of September 11th and the diminished attendance of the market, "TV will bounce back." This year's MIPTV, which took place in Cannes from April 15 to 19, 2002, showed strong evidence that the television community is on the way to recovery. Organizer Reed Midem reported over 2,600 buyers from 1,052 companies attended the market and representing an increased number of buyer companies, up 20% from last year.

German distributor EM.TV has sold Jim Henson's live-action puppet series, THE HOOBS (250 x 24-minutes), to the German public broadcaster ZDF and the children's channel KI.KA. The show is scheduled to air on ARD/ZDF-owned KI.KA in October 2002, with broadcast on ZDF in Spring 2003. THE HOOBS currently airs on Channel 4 and Nick Jr. in the UK, and the franchise reaches over 40 territories worldwide with a combination of broadcast license and consumer product deals. EM.TV holds comprehensive European rights to the series.

New York-based DMA Animation has again teamed with producers WGBH-TV (Boston, MA) and Sirius Thinking, Ltd. (New York, NY), to create ten new animated shorts for the PBS series BETWEEN THE LIONS. Eight of the two- to three-minute animations will be featured in the third season of half-hour episodes, scheduled to roll out nationally in September 2002, while the remaining two are planned for the 2003 season. BETWEEN THE LIONS is geared toward children four to seven years old and blends animation with puppets and live-action.