Category: Television (Page 61 of 66)

Variety reports that Happy Tree Friends and The Adventures of Big Jeff have been banned by the Russian government who deemed them too violent to air.

“Rather than argue we took them off air, although any television criminal drama in Russia is a hundred times more violent than these cartoons,” said Roman Sarkisov, general manager of the television station that aired the programs. “Mainstream viewers in Russia tend to be afraid of something they do not understand. The Russian public is not so civilized as in Europe. They are rather conservative.”

According to a bitter, and rightfully so, Sarkisov, the programs will be replaced by “childish and stupid cartoons.”

Via AWN

The Futurama DVD movie, “Bender’s Big Score,” is scheduled to debut on Comedy Central on Sunday, March 23, beginning at 8 p.m.

See just how strong the bonds of friendship are when a tattoo on Fry’s butt forces him to flee the future and puts Bender on a manhunt to kill his best friend. With the fabric of space and time tearing apart and the Planet Express held captive, can Bender and Fry reconcile before the universe is destroyed forever?

Futurama aired on Fox from 1999 to 2003 where 72 episodes were aired before some idiots at FOX canceled it. Due to high rerun ratings, Fox brought the series back to DVD with Bender’s Big Score — the first of four all-new straight to DVD movies that will then be chopped up into 16 episodes that will air on Comedy Central.

The Blue Dragon animated series, based on the Xbox 360 videogame, will debut on Cartoon Network this spring, VIZ Media announced.

The Blue Dragon videogame was developed by Hironobu Sakaguchi, the creator of Final Fantasy, and features character designs by Akira Toriyama, the creator of Dragon Ball.

The animated series debuted in Japan on TV Tokyo on April 7, 2007 and is produced by Studio Pierrot, which is known for its work on Naruto and Bleach.

Brought together by fate, Seven Soldiers of Light must awaken the Shadow within themselves in time to overcome an evil power and bring peace to the world.

The Hollywood Reporter reports that Seth MacFarlane and FOX are developing a spinoff centered around Peter Griffin’s neighbor Cleveland Brown.

Seth MacFarlane, Mike Henry (the voice of Cleveland) and Rich Appel (executive for American Dad) are writing the project.

Other projects in the work at FOX include an animated version of The Pitts from Simpsons vet Mike Scully, Relative Insanity from executive producer Jack Black and Mothballs from Matt Silverstein and Dave Jeser.

Nickelodeon announced today they will develop their hit series Dora The Explorer Dinto a live-action prime-time TV movie. The movie will feature an older Dora, 10 years old, and will be enhanced by special effects. Candidates for CG are Boots, Dora’s monkey pal, and Swiper, the fox who loves to steal, although at this time Nickelodeon hasn’t decided.

“Dora will be a little older for her high stakes live-action adventure, which we think will be very exciting for our pre-school audience, as well as kids and their families who have grown up watching the show over the last 7 years,” said Brown Johnson of Nickelodeon.

Via AWN

Turner Broadcasting has landed the broadcast rights to the highly-sought-after CG-animated series, Star Wars: The Clone Wars, from creator George Lucas. A new era of Star Wars begins this fall when the television series premieres on Cartoon Network, followed by airings on TNT. The series will premiere following the North American theatrical release Friday, August 15, from Warner Bros. Pictures.

“I felt there were a lot more Star Wars stories left to tell,” said George Lucas. “I was eager to start telling some of them through animation and, at the same time, push the art of animation forward.”

Star Wars: The Clone Wars showcases an entirely new look and feel to the galaxy far, far away, combining the expansive scope of the Star Wars saga with state-of-the-art computer-generated animation. Each week, viewers will see a 30-minute “mini-movie” created by Lucasfilm Animation.

The first in a planned series of web-only documentaries that chronicle the development of Star Wars: The Clone Wars debuts online today, and can be found at StarWars.com.

AWN is reporting that Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim has pulled two upcoming episodes of The Boondocks from its schedule. It seems as though the content was inappropriate to air because it criticized several BET executives.

In the episodes, Huey goes on a hunger strike in an effort to force top BET execs to commit Japanese-style ritual suicide to atone for “their destruction of the black people.”

Cartoon Network spokesman, James Anderson, said that the two episodes in question were not scheduled to air on Adult Swim and that they had no further comment although he did state that nobody from BET had contacted Cartoon Network.

ABC announced recently that they have picked up a new animated series from “King of the Hill” co-creator Mike Judge. ABC has ordered 13 episodes of the comedy called “The Goode Family” which tells the story of a family that’s obsessed with doing the right thing. Mike Judge will also provide voices for some of the characters.

ABC has not never found success with prime-time animation which makes me wonder if this series will ever get passed its first first season. I wonder why FOX didn’t pick this up? Is it not good enough? Are they not interested in working with Mr. Judge anymore? Only time will tell. No premiere date has been announced but I’m guessing it will premiere in Fall 2009.

Cartoon Network’s Codename: Kids Next Door is ready to go on one final mission this Monday, January 21, 2008. To honor this occasion, Cartoon Network will air a marathon of Codename: Kids Next Door that will begin at 6:00 am, all leading up to the one-hour series finale at 7:00 pm.

“Operation: I.N.T.E.R.V.I.E.W.S.” (It’s Now The Extra Really Very Interesting End Wrap-up Story) features interviews with the Kids Next Door after they’re all grown up, during which they discuss what happened during their very last mission with Numbuh One — the one where he disappeared and was never heard from again! It all started with a routine mission to get the Delightful Children’s birthday cake, but when a mysterious boy steals it instead, he makes it available to whoever wants it — if they can solve his simple scavenger hunt first.

Via AWN

I’m a bit confused by today’s announcement by MGM. How is an American Gladiators cartoon going to work? Will it follow the gladiators as some sort of super heroes, fighting crime? That’s the only thing I can think of that makes some sense. MGM wouldn’t produce a cartoon version of the regular show, would they? That would be pointless.

Along with the new cartoon series, MGM is working on a new website that will spotlight the original series and a special U.S. tour. And in case you didn’t know, the new American Gladiators is currently airing Mondays at 8PM on NBC. It’s done so well that NBC has already ordered a second season.

Via AWN

Cartoon Network started 2008 with strong ratings, thanks to its new Transformers Animated series which premiered Saturday, Jan. 5 at 10:30 am. The Saturday morning “Dynamite Action Squad” block of cartoons (9:00am-12:00pm) also included a new episode of Pokemon: Diamond & Pearl.

This lead to Cartoon Network’s ranking of #1 in its time period versus all broadcast and cable competition with boys 6-11 and boys 2-11.

Kids 6-11 grew by 14%, and ratings by 13%
Kids 2-11 improved by 29%, and ratings by 33%
Boys 6-11 expanded by 28%, and ratings by 27% — #1 in its time period on all TV
Boys 2-11 catapulted by 55%, and ratings by 54% — #1 in its time period on all TV

Via AWN

Nickelodeon and DreamWorks Animation have teamed up to produce a new, 26-episode, CG-animated comedy series tentatively titled The Penguins of Madagascar, based on the penguin brothers in Madagascar and upcoming sequel, Madagascar: The Crate Escape. The series is scheduled to premiere on Nick in early 2009.

The series will be produced by Mark McCorkle and Bob Schooley, (Kim Possible, Hercules, Sky High) and feature the voices of Tom McGrath as Skipper, Jeff Bennett as Kowalski, James Patrick Stuart as Private and John DiMaggio as Rico, with Danny Jacobs starring as Julien, King of the Lemurs.

Via AWN