Whoops. For a little more than a year, I’ve been thinking off and on how I needed to remember to blog on July 19, 2008, the tenth anniversary of the debut of Oh Yeah! Cartoons on Nickelodeon (although something tells me there may’ve been a sneak preview earlier). Typically, I forgot. For the record, the first three shorts to premiere that Saturday in 1998 were Larry Huber and Bill Burnett’s “ChalkZone”, Vincent Waller and Bill’s “What is Funny?”, and Greg Emison and Bill’s “Jelly’s Day”. A veritable Burnettapalooza. So, happy belated anniversary, OY!. I owe you something tin.

– Eric

We’re just thirteen day away from the season premiere of Wow! Wow! Wubbzy! on Nick Jr. New episodes will air Monday through Friday, August 18 through 22, at 1:30 p.m. This season, Wubbzy gets not only a new neighbor, Daizy, but also visits from Michelle Kwan and Ty Pennington. Get ready for Wubbmania, like it’s 2006 all over again.

– Eric

So I give props to Aliki last week in this post, and, the next thing I know, she’s buying me lunch at the Disney commissary and showing me around the Phineas and Ferb production offices. (It turns out her storyboard partner on the show when he’s not on vacation is Antoine Guilbaud, the guy who made “Herb” back in the old days of Oh Yeah! Cartoons.) We also ran into Ph & F’s creators, Dan Povenmire and Jeff ‘Swampy’ Marsh, above. You know, the commissary at Disney’s has bottles of about half a dozen different flavors of syrup you can squirt right into your soda at no extra charge. I went with the standard vanilla Coke. A good afternoon.

— Eric

So for the week of 6/30 to 7/6, the Disney Channel owned the top ten shows for kids between the ages of six and eleven, according to Nielsen. The two cartoon slots (Nos five and eight) were held by Phineas and Ferb. P&F made the charts earlier this year, but it’s been a loooooooong time since anyone saw a Disney cartoon hit the top ten before that. In fact, I have no idea when it happened last. My take is Phineas and Ferb is usually met with indifference within the animation community, lacking the ‘buzz’ of other, less successful shows. That doesn’t matter, though, as the show has unmistakably scored with its intended audience. It’s safe to say Phineas and Ferb is Disney’s most popular TV cartoon since… what? Congratulations to the cast and crew.

Among the more popular parts of Phineas and Ferb are the show’s musical numbers. Here’s a link to a shortened [Read more…]]]>

So for the week of 6/30 to 7/6, the Disney Channel owned the top ten shows for kids between the ages of six and eleven, according to Nielsen. The two cartoon slots (Nos five and eight) were held by Phineas and Ferb. P&F made the charts earlier this year, but it’s been a loooooooong time since anyone saw a Disney cartoon hit the top ten before that. In fact, I have no idea when it happened last. My take is Phineas and Ferb is usually met with indifference within the animation community, lacking the ‘buzz’ of other, less successful shows. That doesn’t matter, though, as the show has unmistakably scored with its intended audience. It’s safe to say Phineas and Ferb is Disney’s most popular TV cartoon since… what? Congratulations to the cast and crew.

Among the more popular parts of Phineas and Ferb are the show’s musical numbers. Here’s a link to a shortened clip from one of the show’s songs, “Phinedroids and Ferbots.” FOFFL (Friend of Frederator for Life) Aliki Theofilopoulos Grafft not only wrote the music and lyrics for the song, but she also storyboarded the sequence and animated the dance moves. A one-gal gang, that Aliki.

– Eric

So our good friend Rita Street tricked me into participating in an event she and her Radar Cartons pal, John Hardman, put together with the New Zealand government. Basically, a bunch of Kiwi creators and studio reps fly to L.A. to meet, greet, and pitch mighty development executives (like me) from benevolent cartoon companies (like Frederator). Held throughout the day at a Burbank hotel, the event saw all the usual suspects from the suit side – Disney, Starz, Cartoon Network, Nelvana, Cookie Jar, and so forth were all represented (Nickelodeon sat out because the projects weren’t from the U.S.).

Anyhoo, the New Zealand folks I met with were very nice, had great ideas, and were soldiering on despite having pitched the same ideas up to ten times in the course of a few hours. I offered all the usual wisdom and advice (“Maybe a cartoon about a development executive who eats pretzels?”), ate [Read more…]]]>

So our good friend Rita Street tricked me into participating in an event she and her Radar Cartons pal, John Hardman, put together with the New Zealand government. Basically, a bunch of Kiwi creators and studio reps fly to L.A. to meet, greet, and pitch mighty development executives (like me) from benevolent cartoon companies (like Frederator). Held throughout the day at a Burbank hotel, the event saw all the usual suspects from the suit side – Disney, Starz, Cartoon Network, Nelvana, Cookie Jar, and so forth were all represented (Nickelodeon sat out because the projects weren’t from the U.S.).

Anyhoo, the New Zealand folks I met with were very nice, had great ideas, and were soldiering on despite having pitched the same ideas up to ten times in the course of a few hours. I offered all the usual wisdom and advice (“Maybe a cartoon about a development executive who eats pretzels?”), ate some pretzels, and walked away with a gift bottle of vino. Plus, I finally got to meet Brent Chambers from Flux (above), a big supporter of Channel Frederator and with whom I’ve traded emails.

Thanks for your time and work, Rita & John & all you New Zealanders.

Time for blurry photos!

Cristina Casares from La Luna Studios:

Cameron Chittock from Sasquatch Productions Ltd:

Maile Daugherty from Albedo VFX:

Shona Grundy from Kangoo Animation:

– Eric

Well, a BIG congratulations going out to filmmaker Nicole Mitchell. Her hand-drawn CalArts film, “Zoologic”, has won the gold (that’s the top prize) in the animation category in this year’s Student Academy Awards. It’s an honor well-deserved. You can see a clip of Nicole and her film by scrolling down a bit after clicking here. Nicole is now added to the list of Student Academy Award-winners that includes Pete Docter, Kathy Zielinski, Paul Demyer, Mark Kirkland, Vanessa Schwartz, Joe Murray, Trey Parker, Shane Acker, and (two-time winner) John Lasseter.

Again, hats off to a job well done, Nicole.

– Eric

(Sorry this is so late. Even though I blogged about her nomination in May, I was thinking the Awards were to be held this past weekend. When I looked this morning to see what went down, it turns out the awards were June 7.)

Two Friends of Frederator – “Mind the Kitty” creator Anne Walker and Fanboy storyboard revisionist Stephanie Arnet – have art featured in a brand new group show in downtown L.A. beginning this weekend. Now, you’re not going to believe this, but all of the group’s artists are chicks! That’s right, they’re Girls Drawin’ Girls – “cute girls with T&A (talent & ambition).” The gallery show, kicking off tomorrow night with an opening at the Hive, is promoting the release of Girls Drawin’ Girls Vol. 2 – Once Upon a Girl. While the new book won’t be available until July at Comic-Con (booth #5428), you can still order Volume #1 here. See you tomorrow night.

– Eric

The poster designer has died at the age of 67. Read his New York Times obituary here not only to learn more about Kelley and his life, but also to see how the Times, per house rules, refers to Kelley’s partner, Stanley Mouse, straight-faced, as Mr. Mouse.

– Eric

This Thursday night, 6/5, watch the premiere of The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack on Cartoon Network. It’s the brainchild of Mr Thurop Van Orman, and, because he’s such a good guy, I’d want the show to do great even if it were terrible, which it’s not at all. Far from it. Too occupy your time until the premiere, you can watch some previews online and read Jeaux’s interview with Thurop here. I’ve looked forward to this show for, what, five years (I’m not exaggerating) and everything I’ve seen tells me it’ll be worth the wait. Hats off to Thurop and his terrific crew on a job well done.

– Eric

If you’ve been waiting for merchandise based on Wow! Wow! Wubbzy! (and we know you have), your wait is almost over. By the end of this summer, you’ll see loads of toys, games, dolls, and books from licensees that include Fisher-Price, Hasbro, Scholastic, and Simon & Schuster. The Wubbster’s first DVD in the U.S., A Tale of Tails, will be released on September 23. The 92-minute set is available for pre-order on Amazon right now for the low, low price of just $11.99. Cheap!

– Eric