The Assistants

Ever wonder what it is like to be an assistant in the entertainment industry? Hmmm wait a second most of us started that way didn't we? Well, tween/teens will get a chance to find out what it's like when The N premieres its new original live-action comedy The Assistants (13x30) on July 10, with two back-to-back episodes 8:30p-9:30p. The Assistants will air regularly Friday nights at 8:30p, following new episodes of Degrassi: The Next Generation. The Assistants comes from creators/writers/producers/show runners Will McRobb and Chris Viscardi, who also serve as executive producers on the series with The Tom Lynch Company (South of Nowhere, Secret World of Alex Mack among others and the upcoming The Troop). The series revolves around four showbiz assistants toiling for a big-time producer as they try to make it in Hollywood as a filmmaker, writer, actor and producer. McRobb and Viscardi have worked together for 15+ years including as the creators of The Adventures of Pete and Pete and KaBlam!, moving on to serve screenwriters of Alvin and the Chipmunks, the Tale of Despereaux, Snow Day and Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging and the upcoming Big Brave Brian and Measle and the Wrathmonk. Content Films holds the international distribution rights to the series.

How Teens Use Media

The Nielsen Company's insights officially releases its new study, How Teens Use Media, later today at the 2009 What Teens Want conference in NY.  Traditionally viewed as fickle and quick to jump to new technology and away from anything old, the report finds that while Teens are involved in new technology but they haven't given up on media like TV, newspapers and advertising.  Spend any time with a teen and you'll know they are totally adaptable and easily downloading this and that trying out anything and everything at the same time they are texting/IMing (cell phone, computer), listing to music (various devices), surfing the net (on computers and cell phones), playing video games (handheld, consoles, cell phones), and are watching shows/movies/video on a range of devices and locations ... including on a TV.  The Nielsen study underlines that teens aren't just engaged in the new, in fact Teens are watching TV than ever, up by +6% over the past five years in the US.  That is good news for TV folks indeed. Further findings from the study include:
Teens spend less time browsing than adults: Teens spend 11 hours and 32 minutes per month online versus the average of 29 hours and 15 minutes.
Teens spend 35% less time watching online video than adults 25-34, but recall ads better when watching TV shows online than they do on TV.
US teens watch less TV per day than in most other metered countries.
Teens read newspapers, listen to the radio and Teens who recall TV ads are 44% more likely to say they liked the ad.
US Teens' favorite TV shows, top websites and genre preferences across media are mostly the same as their parents, with American Idol being the top show in 2008 and Google the top website.
In the US, nearly half of online Teens 1217 visited MySpace and Facebook in May 2009 (45% and 44%, respectively). All said, Teens 1217 accounted for 28% of MySpace's page views and 12% of Facebook's during the month.

ABC3

Australia's ABC TV will launch its new free-to-air kid/tween channel, ABC3, before Christmas 2009. Targeted to K6-15, with a core demographic of K8-12, ABC3 is designed to be multi-platform experience and world and will air daily 6a-9p.  ABC3 will offer programming content across genres both on-air and online (the website will also feature games, video and social interactivity.  ABC TV has launched Me On 3, a national search for hosts for the new channel - applications are due by July 17.  The end of the year will also see ABC TV shifts its daytime schedule on ABC2 to become a preschool programming block, ABCforKids, weekdays from 9a-6p and weekends from 6a-6p.  ABC1 will continue to offer programming kids including a selection of ABC3 and ABCforKids content in both morning and afternoon slots.  Focusing on Australian projects the ABC3 programming lineup will include a range of new projects:
After School Care, a comedy pilot, which is part of the Kids360 project - a joint initiative between ABC3, Film Victoria and the Australian Children's Television Foundation.

West Coast Kids - Western Australian producers will be invited to submit their proposals for a 13-part, character driven comedy series.  This is a joint project with Screen West and the Australian Children's Television Foundation.

Dead Normal (13 eps) - a drama series that follows the adventures of three beautiful, strong-willed teen sisters, who happen to be ghosts.  The series is a co-production between Burberry Productions and Coolabi.

News and Current Affairs - Produced by ABC TV's Behind the News team.
Extreme Sports and Culture - a show that explores the world of art, music and fashion centered on extreme sports.
Dance Academy (26 eps) - Six teen dancers have one year to prove they've got what it takes after winning a place at the National Academy of Dance.  A co-production between ABC3 and Werner Film Productions.

My Place  (13 eps) - an historical drama revolving around kids who live in one house in South Sydney over 130 years. Based on the book by Nadia Wheatley and Donna Rawlins, the series is a co-production of ABC3 and Little Leaf Pictures.

CJ the DJ (52 eps) - the animated series follows CJ a spirited 13-year-old disc jockey, which will also feature an online DJ component. The series is an ABC3 and Kapow Pictures co-production.

Cake Entertainment makes its move into live-action production with its new mixed live-action/CG hybrid series pilot Cartoon Gene (26x30), which is a co-production with Galakids and Teletoon Canada.  The tween-targeted project revolves around Gene an average teen boy who happens to have cartoon DNA, the result of a computer generated action game star Mom and a computer geek dad.  Like all adolescents puberty changes Gene, but in his case it's a bit more animated with various cartoon-like reactions.  Cake will also distribute the series internationally.  Cartoon Gene is created by Louis Fournier and Natalie Dumoulin and directed by Adam Weissman (iCarly, Drake & Josh, Zoey 101).  In other news, Cake recently acquired the worldwide distribution rights to the live-action Irish series Aifric (26x30) from Telegael and live-action/comedy Dead Normal (working title).

The Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop

Can video games be good for kids?  According to a report from The Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop an investment in research-based digital games can improve kid's health and learning.  The report Game Changer: Investing in Digital Play to Advance Children's Learning and Health provides recommendations for a new framework to use games to help kids learn healthy behaviors, skills like reading and math, as well as critical thinking, global learning and programming design.  The report outlines 30+ examples of learning and health games and research projects.  It includes a list of federally funded game R&D projects in which the Department of Defense, National Institutes of Health and the Department of Education have invested.  The report is supported by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's Pioneer Portfolio, and was unveiled at the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington, D.C.

a look at the numbers

Top 10 Combined Broadcast/Basic Cable shows among Kids 6-11 for the week of 6/8-6/14/09 , 6a-6a:
K6-11                                                 Total Delivery (000)
DSNY*:      Hannah Montana (6/14; 7:30p)                   1481
NICK:        iCarly (6/13; 8p)                                        1356
CARTOON: Total Drama Action (6/11; 9p)                     1347
DSNY*:     The Parent Trap (6/11; 8-10:20p)                1340
NICK:       Penguins of Madagascar (6/13; 10a)             1321
DSNY*:     Jonas (6/14; 8:30p)                                    1312
DSNY*:     Sonny With A Chance (6/14; 8p)                  1270
NICK:       SpongeBob SquarePants (6/13; 9:30a)         1254
NICK:       True Jackson, VP (6/13; 8:30p)                    1252
NICK:       Naked Brothers Band (6/13; 9p)                   1250
Source: Disney from Nielsen Media Research Data
*Disney Channel is not an ad supported cable network, unlike the others in this listing.
Source: Disney from Nielsen Media Research Data
*Disney Channel is not an ad supported cable network, unlike the others in this listing.

Lunch Lady, Muppets and more

Amy Poehler will star in Universal's big screen adaptation of author/illustrator Jarrett Krosoczka's forthcoming graphic novel series Lunch Lady, per THR.  Poehler will also exec produce the movie with Gotham Group's Ellen Goldsmith-Vein producing.  Published by Knopf Books for Young Readers, the graphic novel series debuts this summer with two titles, Lunch Lady and the League of Librarians and Lunch Lady and the Cyborg Substitute, with another set for release in December 2009 and more for summer 2010.

The Muppets from Sesame Street will be featured on the 29th annual A Capitol Fourth in Washington DC to celebrate America's 233rd birthday.  PBS will broadcast the event live from the West Lawn of the United States Capitol on Saturday, July 4, 8-9:30p (check local listings) and it will be simulcast via America Forces Radio and Television Network, and can be heard on NPR Member stations.  A Capitol Fourth will be hosted by actor Jimmy Smits and feature opening and closing performances by Barry Manilow with the National Symphony Orchestra, and performances by Aretha Franklin, Natasha Bedingfield, the cast of Jersey Boys, Michael Feinstein and pianist Andrew von Oeyen.  The event is a co-production of Jerry Colbert of Capital Concerts and WETA, Washington, D.C.

Disney Channel UK re-commissions Prism Entertainment to produce a second season of the live-action short-form series Life Bites, per Broadcast Now.  The new episodes (26x5) of the tween/teen-targeted the comedy bows on the network in the UK next month.

LeapFrog: Let's Go To School, LeapFrog's first DVD in four years, is set for release from Lionsgate Home Entertainment on August 18, 2009.  Targeted to K3-6 the back-to-school DVD features five sing-along songs, an interactive alphabet book, and a sneak peek at Math Adventure to the Moon.  Lionsgate will support the LeapFrog: Let's Go To School title with a mom-aimed TV, online and print marketing campaign, including through LeapFrog's email newsletter and on LeapFrog.com.

Annecy 2009 France Television

At Annecy 2009 France Television unveiled plans to launch a daily tween/teen-targeted afternoon animation programming block this fall 2009 on digital channel France 4, per C21 Media.  France Television's, which programs to kids on France 4, France 3 (morning) and France 5 (midday), new plan is to focus its energies on three different types of animated programming, edutainment, comics or kid's book adaptations, and short-form programming.  France Television commissioned edutainment series includes: Commander Clark from Go-N; Art Investigation from Normaal Animation; Gaston (78x7), based on the Gaston Lagaffe everyday life comic strip by Andre Franquin; The Little Prince based on Antoine de Saint Exupery's work and produced by Method Films; a new season of Marsupilmai from Samka; Les Dalton  a spin-off series of Lucky Luke from Xilam; and Moonscoop's new season of Titeuf.  The company also plans to experiment with new hybrid programming.

ZulaWorld.com

The creators of the CGI series The Zula Patrol have teamed with IBM to develop and launch ZulaWorld.com (www.zulaworld.com). Targeted to K6+/parents/teachers, the virtual world, like the series, encourages kids to be curious about science and discovery and use their critical thinking skills.  The site features create your own avatars and a range of games and activities where users can fly their own spaceship, discover how things work and problem solve in teams.  The basic levels of games on ZulaWorld.com are available for free, with a subscript service that offers additional levels also available ($5.99/month, $29.99/6 months, $49.99/year). The Zula Patrol airs as part of the qubo Saturday programming block on NBC and on public TV stations weekdays and weekends (check local listings).

Raymond

TV-Loonland and Gulli TV commission two more seasons of the K7-10 targeted animated comedy Raymond.  Produced by Paris-based Everybody on Deck, the newly ordered 52x7 episodes of Raymond will bring the total to 78 episodes.  The most recent broadcast deals for the series include those with Cartoon Network Japan, TV4 (Sweden) and International Francophone Channel TV5 Monde, which acquired the broadcast rights for air in Europe, North Africa, the Orient, Asia, the US, Latin America and the Caribbean.

The Defenders

Actor Masi Oka (Hiro on Heroes) has sold his family adventure movie project, The Defenders, to DreamWorks, per THR.  The movie will be produced by the Star Trek and Transformers movie writers Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci, whose Kurtzman/Orci Productions is based at DreamWorks.  Gary Whitta (The Book of Eli) has signed on to pen the script with D.J. Caruso (Disturbia, Jack the Giant Killer) in negotiations to direct the movie.  The Defenders is based on Oka's concept, "what would happen if you had to live up to the person you created in the virtual world?"  The movie revolves around a group of teens from around the world that are simultaneously playing a multiplayer video game, their real identities protected behind their avatars, who are forced to join together in an adventure in the real world.

Lots and lots and lots of crossover promotion

Selena Gomez and Demi Lovato will serve as on-air hosts for the premiere weekend (Friday-Sunday, June 26-28) of their new Disney Channel Original Movie, Princess Protection Program (June 26 at 8p).  The new TV movie premiere will simulcast on Sprint TV and MobiTV, and will feature sneak peeks of a new music video, a new one-hour episode of Hannah Montana, a crossover episode of three series entitled Wizards on Deck with Hannah Montana, and a behind the scenes look at Wizards of Waverly Place The Movie, with a new episode of Wizards of Waverly Place bowing right after the movie that night.  The following night (June 27, 8p) during an encore of the Princess production Program, the network will offer a Princess Password program where viewers who count the number of times the word "princess" is said in the movie can enter that number online to unlock new episodes of Wizards of Waverly Place and Sonny With A Chance.  A preview of Disney's upcoming animated movie The Princess and the Frog will be featured during the Sunday play of the movie (7p), with a new episode of Jonas following the movie.  Finally, The Princess Protection Program Royal B.F.F. Extended Edition will be available on Disney DVD, including an exclusive music video, a behind-the-scenes look at the movie, and a B.F.F. necklace set, from June 30.

Monster Safari, Sid the Science Kid

The Jim Henson Co. is set to produce a stop-motion animated feature film titled Monster Safari, which is based on a short film from stop-motion animation studio Screen Novelties, THR.  Monster Safari will be penned by the writing team of Craig Zobel and Matt Chapman, with Screen Novelties' Mark Caballero, Chris Finnegan and Seamus Walsh producing the stop-motion animation.  The movie revolves around two bumbling cryptozoologists trying to save the Earth's monsters from a ruthless hunter.

NCircle Entertainment will launch the animated series Sid the Science Kid on DVD this summer, with the first two DVD titles, Sid the Science Kid: Change Happens and Sid the Science Kid: The Bug Club.  Available on August 4, 2009, each DVD includes four episodes of Sid the Science Kid, the PBS Kids series that is co-produced by The Jim Henson Company and KCET Los Angeles.  Additionally, a limited supply of the Sid the Science Kid DVDs will have a special on-pack bonus DVD of Front Row Fun, that includes two hours of preschool shows including as Dive Olly Dive!, WordWorld, Hurray for Huckle, among others.

So Smart! Productions teams with Echo Bridge Home Entertainment to release the first six titles in its new DVD line, Baby's First Word Stories this September 22, 2009.  The releases are part of an exclusive distribution agreement between the companies that includes DVD and digital distribution rights to So Smart's! line of kid-targeted DVDs and CDs.  Additionally, nine DVDs from Baby's Beginnings and King Otis and the Kingdom of Goode series, as well as three CDs, will also release on September 22.  Further Baby's First Word Stories titles are set for release in early 2010.

The new Super Why toy line created by Learning Curve, and based on the PBS Kids preschool series, is set to debut at Toys "R" Us stores this month.  To mark the release of the Super Why toys, Toys "R" Us stores nationwide will host a two-hour Super Why event on Saturday, June 13 (12noon-2p), featuring storytelling, reading-focused games, activities and give-a-ways (while supplies last, of course).  Beginning in August, Super Why toys will roll out to other retailers nationwide.  The Super Why line also includes new product from other licensees, including Grosset & Dunlap (books), University Games (puzzles and games) and PBS Home Video (DVDs).  Super Why is produced by Out of the Blue in conjunction with Canadian-based Decode Entertainment Inc. and C.O.R.E. Digital Pictures Inc.

ZingZillas

CBeebies orders up a new in-house music-themed preschool series ZingZillas (52x22).  Featuring the Zillas, a group of musical primates that create the ZingZilla sound, the series showcases all sorts of music genres from rock to opera to help get toddlers moving.  Simultaneously BBC Worldwide acquires the global distribution rights for TV, merchandise, DVD and publishing for ZingZillas.  Set to launch on CBeebies in spring 2010, ZingZillas grooves into production this month through December 2009 at Pinewood Studios.

Disney's "Handy Manny" Shorts

The network commissions the new short-form animated preschool series, Handy Manny's School for Tools (20 shorts), and two primetime Handy Manny specials.  The short-form series is based on Disney Playhouse's Handy Manny series, which is currently in production on a third season (29 episodes) that will introduce a host of new tools.  Set to begin production this year Handy Manny's School for Tools will bow in 2010.  Meanwhile, this fall the network will debut the first of two primetime specials, Handy Manny's Motorcycle Adventure, which features four new songs performed by Los Lobos.

BBC Worldwide

BBC Worldwide continues to expand its US business and in so doing promoted Susanna Pollack to SVP/Children's and Children's Business Development and Matt Forde as EVP/Sales and Co-Productions. Susanna will head efforts to launch CBeebies, BBC's worldwide preschool channel in the US in addition to increasing the company's children's brands in North and Latin America. Matt will relocate to New York from London to supervise sales and co-production efforts for all genres in the US and Latin America.  

BIG moves from the CEO of Wildbrain

Michael Polis is appointed to the newly created position of CEO, Wildbrain Entertainment.  The move comes as President and CEO, Wildbrain and its subsidiary Kidrobot, Charles Rivkin steps down from those roles later this week, having been nominated as President Obama's candidate to serve as the US Ambassador to France.  Polis will report directly to Wildbrain's board of directors.  Diego Marchioni, CEO, Kidrobot, will remain in his post and will also report directly to the board.

KidMangoTV

KidMangoTV, a new syndicated K3-10 aimed TV programming block premieres today, June 1, 2009, on the MyFamilyTV network.  Launched by PorchLight Entertainment and ValCom, via its subsidiary MyFamilyTV, KidMangoTV debuts with a four-hour daytime block (Monday-Friday) and plans to expand with a primetime block and an educational/informational (E/I) Saturday morning block later this year.  At launch KidMangoTV features kid-targeted programming that is created and acquired by PorchLight, including Jay Jay the Jet Plane, Four Eyes, The Secret World of Benjamin Bear and My Goldfish is Evil.  Additionally, today also marks the debut of a corresponding website www.kidmango.com, will also offer kid/family-aimed content including programs such as WordGirl, Pocoyo and Doodlez, as well as games, comics and music among other things.  Moving forward, the plan is to expand with a primetime block and an educational/informational (E/I) Saturday morning block later this year.