Category: Television

UPN has ordered a pilot for an animated sketch series from Urban Entertainment. The untitled project will feature Webtoons bridged together by an animated host. Urban Entertainment plans to license some content from other sites for the series. Company founder and CEO Michael Jenkinson said to the DAILY VARIETY, "It will be a broad sweep of the best stuff that's out there on the Internet. It will be youthful and hip and will definitely have an attitude." This deal isn't the first between UPN and Urban Entertainment.

On Sunday Fox aired a rerun of THE SIMPSONS, which placed #34 for the week, pulling in a 7.7 rating/12 share. KING OF THE HILL climbed into 62nd place with a 5.6 rating/9 share. Fox aired two special episodes of THE SIMPSONS on Wednesday from 9 10 pm. The 9:30 pm broadcast finished 65th with a 5.4 rating/9 share and the 9 pm broadcast placed 71st with a 5 rating/8 share. FUTURAMA fashioned a 4.5 rating/8 share in the 76th slot. At 109th, THE PJS hocked a 1.5 rating/3 share.

German EM.TV has signed a co-production deal with Spain's Planeta 2010. Already EM.TV has signed deals on four series and negotiations are in progress on five additional shows including 13 new episodes of DRAGON TALES, which is co-produced with Children's TV Workshop and Columbia TriStar TV Group. The signed deals include: 26-episodes of kids' comedy MR. BABY; 13 episodes of PIGS NEXT DOOR, co-produced with Fox Kids Int. and Magma Films; THE WORLD OF TOSH based on a Swedish fable; and NICK AND PERRY, co-produced by Germany's WDR and France's Ellipse Animation and M6.

ABC has announced that a new Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen cartoon series will be joining the "Disney's One Saturday Morning" block in the fall of 2001. Mary-Kate and Ashley will play movie actresses who star in a different action/adventure, mini-movie each episode. The girls will host a live-action lead-in to each episode's animated exploits. The series will be produced by Dualstar Animation, a division of Mary-Kate and Ashley's highly successful Dualstar Entertainment Group, in association with DIC Entertainment. The Olsens will serve as executive producers with Robert Thorne.

Disney has placed an order for 13-episodes of a new animated series for "Disney's One Saturday Morning," entitled TEAMO SUPREMO. The new Walt Disney Television Animation show will join the ABC line-up in the fall of 2001. The series will follow a trio of pint-sized heroes -- Captain Crandall, Rope Girl and Skate Lad as they battle the forces of evil and homework. The series' style is based on the bright, colorful themes of the mid-1960s, the comic book-style of the live-action BATMAN and GREEN HORNET television series and the architectural concepts popularized at the 1964 World's Fair.

Making a jump from #39 to #22, THE SIMPSONS scored a 9.7 rating/15 share. On Sunday at 7 pm on ABC, THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF DISNEY aired the animated classic LADY AND THE TRAMP as a promotional boost for the Tuesday, February 27 release of the direct-to-video sequel. The film garnered a sturdy 8.5 rating/13 share. In a four-way tie for 57th, KING OF THE HILL pegged a 6.3 rating/10 share. FUTURAMA landed in 79th, with a 4.8 rating/8 share. This week, UPN's Friday night animation block of GARY & MIKE and CELEBRITY DEATHMATCH was preempted for a repeat airing of SHOCKING POLICE VIDEOS.

Comfortably remaining the top toon, THE SIMPSONS ranked #34, with an 8.8 rating/14 share. In a three-way tie for 63rd place, KING OF THE HILL pegged a 5.8 rating/10 share. Also in a three-way tie, FUTURAMA descended into the 78th slot with a 4.9 rating/9 share. Sinking into the WB basement, THE PJS piled up a 1.5 rating/3 share. However it was UPN's animated Friday line-up that proved the worst in toondom. GARY & MIKE placed 114th with a 1.4 rating/3 share and CELEBRITY DEATHMATCH placed 116th with a 1.3 rating/2 share. These ratings and shares represent primetime TV in the U.S.

© ABC, Inc.

PARTY OF FIVE star Jennifer Love Hewitt will be making her first-ever animated appearance on Disney's THE WEEKENDERS. The Valentines-themed episode will premiere on Saturday, February 10 (8:30 am ET/7:30 am PT) on ABC. Voicing her animated alter ego, Hewitt will play one of the girls the WEEKENDERS kids try to set up with their friend, Tino, who is smitten with a girl the group doesn't like. Hewitt's other voice work includes Medusa on Disneys HERCULES television series, and characters for the upcoming video sequel to HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME and Miramax Films upcoming THE ADVENTURES OF TOM THUMB AND THUMBELINA.

TV-Loonland AG and AAC KIDS, Canadian media giant Alliance Atlantis kids label, have announced their acquisition of Neptuno Films new animated preschool series, CONNIE THE COW. The three firms will partner to transform the property into a global franchise, complete with TV, home video, DVD, merchandising, publishing and Internet projects. Created and directed by Josep Viciana, this series follows restless and curious Connie who lives on a farm with her nurturing mother, who always has now handy advice, and her father, a very strong yet tranquil bull.

Audience numbers for top toon THE SIMPSONS were hurt this past week due to the Super Bowl, NFL football's championship game, airing in the same time slot. Bart and the family scored a 4.1 rating/6 share in 81st place. At #91, FUTURAMA and KING OF THE HILL scrapped up a meager 2.5 rating/4 share. UPN's animation Friday block of CELEBRITY DEATHMATCH and GARY & MIKE drummed up a 1.6 rating/3 share tied in 106th place. In a three-way tie for #118, WB's THE PJS scored the lowest numbers of the week for the network a 1.1 rating/2 share.