Category: Television

THE SIMPSONS was back in its regular Sunday night time slot after a week off and ranked 34th with a 7.9 rating/12 share. CBS aired holiday specials FROSTY THE SNOWMAN and FROSTY RETURNS on Friday night beginning at 8 pm. The original FROSTY came in 53rd with a 6.3 rating/11 but his RETURN could only garner a 6.0 rating/10 share for 59th place. CBS also aired two RUGRATS specials on Saturday night in primetime. RUGRATS "Chanukah" and RUGRATS "Santa Experience" didn't fare so well, landing in 92nd and 93rd place respectively with around 4 million viewers each.

Major U.S. networks Fox and NBC may soon be announcing who will take over their Saturday morning time slots. An article in the November 29, 2001 issue of THE LOS ANGELES TIMES reports the networks are in "serious negotiations" with outside programmers including Nickelodeon, Warner Bros., Discovery Channel, DIC Entertainment, 4 Kids, Nelvana and others, to sell their Saturday morning time slots. Last year CBS leased its Saturday morning time period to sister channel Nickelodeon (both networks are owned by Viacom) and has seen its ratings nearly double.

Distribution outfit Oasis Pictures has picked up international distribution on Mischief City, a new series that Canada's Shaftesbury Films is developing. It takes place in a rule-bending world where kids escape when things go wrong and they are blamed for things they just know they did not do.

Sitting Ducks Productions, in association with The Disney Channel, Nelvana and Film Roman, will premiere its CGI animated holiday special The Santa Claus Brothers on the Disney Channel in December 2001. The show follows the misadventures of Santa's three bumbling sons as they try to prove that they are worthy of taking over the reins of the big sleigh. Additionally, Sitting Ducks is developing the CGI animated feature film Noah's Blimp with Sony Pictures Family Entertainment with scribe Tab Murphy (Tarzan, Atlantis, The Hunchback of Notre Dame) attached to write the script.

Vancouver animation house Delaney & Friends Productions has created a new animated Christmas special titled THE LEGEND OF THE CANDY CANE, based on the book of the same name. The one hour direct-to-video movie was produced with Mainstreet Entertainment and Dean River Productions for Zondervan Publishing, a subsidiary of Harper Collins. It will air this Thanksgiving (November 22) on the PAX network in the U.S. THE LEGEND OF THE CANDY CANE is the first of a series of specials based on the Zondervan Publishing library "Legend of" series.

Nickelodeon has picked up a second season (20 episodes) of Butch Hartmans THE FAIRLY ODDPARENTS and has given the greenlight for the third season (13 episodes) of the Nick Jr. preschool show DORA THE EXPLORER. THE FAIRLY ODDPARENTS will premiere its second season in 2002 and DORA THE EXPLORER, will begin its third-season in 2003. DORA is currently readying its second season for first quarter 2002.

U.K.-based animation producers Cosgrove Hall have been given the go ahead by U.K. channel CiTV for 26 x 10 episodes of their new stop-motion/CGI series ENGIE BENJY, scheduled to debut on the channel in 2002. The show is geared toward pre-schoolers and follows the escapades of Engie Benjy the mechanic and his friends Dan the van and Jollop the dog. No distribution deals have been announced, but the show will be available internationally in 2002.

U.K. animation company Peppers Ghost Productions (PGP) has aligned with U.S.-based Beckett Entertainment to develop animation properties and have announced their first project. Entitled GENE-FUSION, the concept is pitched as an adventure property designed for multiple formats including TV series, gaming, feature film and Web entertainment. PGP is currently involved in all aspects of design and modeling for the GENE-FUSION concept plus scripting for the TV series.

In the first network initiative to unite all its global divisions, Cartoon Network will be airing a 12-hour marathon of fans favorite DEXTERS LABORATORY episodes, selected by viewers from around the world. Viewers can cast their votes now through November 15, 2001 by logging on to their region's Cartoon Network Website. The fan picks will be aired on all Cartoon Networks worldwide on November 18, 2001 from 8:00 am to 8:00 pm and will include the winning episode from each country.

Over the next six weeks the U.K.s Channel 4 will be showing a wide variety of animation, including illustrator John Callahans new project QUADS, experimental animation from Animate! and the U.K. television premiere of the acclaimed anime feature BLOOD: THE LAST VAMPIRE. Also premiering will be a new series called CELMATES. The animation worlds answer to reality shows like BIG BROTHER, CELMATES follows a group of animators shut in a small room, competing against each other (and the clock!) to create an animated film in a sleepless 72 hours.

Cartoon Network Latin America has secured television rights to CORRECTOR YUI, STATIC SHOCK, X-MEN EVOLUTION, ANGELINA BALLERINA and POPOLOCROIS to premiere on the channel in December 2001. In addition, the network will be premiering the fourth season of POKEMON beginning in January 2002 and launches the original series, TIME SQUAD in February 2002. Speaking of TIME SQUAD, TV GUIDE recently voted it one of the ten best new shows for kids in the U.S. FAIRLY ODDPARENTS and JUSTICE LEAGUE made the top ten as well.

Spanish-based animation company BRB Internacional secured a number of pre-sales for its two animation comedy series ZIP & ZAP and GLADIATOR ACADEMY. Portuguese broadcaster TVI will begin airing ZIP & ZAP in January 2003, as will Arab distributor Universal Productions. GLADIATOR ACADEMY was picked up by Mediatrade (Italy), NOGA (Israel), Turkish Media Corporation and MVS Latin America. Currently in production, the first 13 episodes are scheduled for delivery in July 2002.