Cynopsis: Kids!

08/05/08

Good morning. It’s Tuesday, August 5, 2008, and this is your first early morning Kids briefing.

The Wiggles, Nine Network (Australia) and Nickelodeon Australia are teaming to produce a new preschool series, The Kingdom of Paramithi (30×30).  Created by Anthony Field (he’s the blue Wiggle) and Paul Field, the series features music, dance, folk tales and other adventure stories.  The Kingdom of Paramithi will bow first on Nine Network in November 2008, followed by its debut on Nickelodeon’s Nick Jr. network in December.  The series is written by Paul Field and Paul Paddick.

Paramount Pictures and Plan B, Brad Pitt’s production company, acquire the rights to Miki Falls, an English-language manga series, according to Variety.  Author Mark Crilley’s four volume Miki Falls series published by HarperTeen, will be adapted by writer Sera Gamble, who served as a writer/producer on The CW series Supernatural and a writes for ABC’s Eyes.  Crilley is probably best known for his Akiko kids books and comic books.

MORE KIDS STUFF

Nick Jr. premieres a new season of its animated preschool series Wow! Wow! Wubbzy! with a full week of new episodes Monday-Friday August 18-22 at 1:30p.  The new season of Wow! Wow! Wubbzy! follows Wubbzy and the gang as they meet Daizy, Wubbzy’s new next-door neighbor, a spunky six year-old, while also exploring several ‘green’ issues.  Also featured in season two of the Wubbzy are guest voice-over appearances by Ty Pennington and figure skater Michelle Kwan.  Additionally, from August 11 Nick Jr. will promote the new season of the series by featuring content on Nick Jr. Video and via wireless carriers with a 2-minute sneak peek from the premiere episode and animated shorts, with the former also offering instant replays of the premiere week episodes.  Produced by Bolder Media for Boys and Girls in association with IDT Entertainment, Wubbzy will continue to air regularly Tuesdays and Thursdays on Nick Jr. as well as airing on Noggin.

KyLinTV partners with family-friendly broadcaster Sky Angel to offer a host of English channels to its Chinese program line-up available to US subs.  Among the newly added English Channel Select Package in the US are kid/family targeted channels including, Discovery Channel, Discovery Kids, Animal Planet, Blue Highways TV, CBS College Sports, Hallmark Channel, Hallmark Movie Channel, NASA TV, NFL Network, Planet Green, and The Sportsman Channel.  KyLinTV currently offers 46 channels from Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan and the US, as well as 30,000+ hours of VOD programming.

Cookie Jar Entertainment will showcase its new animated action series, Metajets, at Mipcom 2008 this fall, per Animation World News.  Set in the year 2067, when the popular spectator event is the Aerial Racing Circuit (ARC), basically NASCAR in the air.  The story focuses on the top four ARC pilots and their ongoing race to be the best, but when they aren’t competing they work together as the Metasquadron, a flying team that aims to save the world from evildoers such as General Raven and his Black Cloud evil organization.

The 10th Annual Teen Choice Awards were handed out last night on Fox.  Hosted by Miley Cyrus, who also performed on the special, the big winners of the evening included were the TV series Gossip Girl and the music group Jonas Brothers, each walking away with six awards.  Cyrus walked away with the Teen Choice surfboard for TV comedy actress for her Disney Channel series Hannah Montana and for music female artist, the series also won as for best comedy TV show.

MTV continues to announce nominees for the 25th Annual Video Music Awards, which will be hosted by Russell Brand live on Sunday, September 7, 2008 at 9p.  This week nominees in two more categories, bests in Pop Video and Hip Hop were announced on MTV’s new series FNMTV.  Nods for Pop Video include performer (song, label): Jonas Brothers (Brunin Up, Hollywood Records); Britney Spears (Piece of Me, Jive/Zomba Label Group); Tokio Hotel (Ready Set Go, Cherrytree/Interscope Records); Danity Kane (Damaged, Bad Boy Records); Panic At the Disco (Nine In the Afternoon, DecayDance/Fueled By Ramen)

GS New Media is investing some several million dollars to create a new virtual world adaptation of the kid-targeted series The Saddle Club through Sun Microsystems’s online game platform Project Darkstar, according to Variety.  The Saddle Club airs on some PBS member stations and Discovery Kids.

Hachette Book Group USA hit an all time high for one-day sales for one of its books with release of Breaking Dawn, the fourth and final book in Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight saga, which has an enormous fan base.  The book was released at 12:01a with great fanfare and events at bookstores across the country and a big Hachette event here in NYC, with the publisher reporting that by the end of Saturday it had sold some 1.3 million copies of the tome.  While the first day sales for Breaking Dawn were significant, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (July 2007) still had the biggest 24-hour sales with 8.3 million books stealing off shelves.

MARKETING/LICENSING

Sanrio Far East (Sanrio F.E.), a unit of Sanrio Group, inks a licensing deal to exclusively represent Planetpals in Japan.  Under the deal Sanrio F.E. will introduce the kid-targeted environment-centric Planetpals website and property through a multi-platform effort as well through various partnerships.

RATINGS

Live + Same Day Ratings Kids Cable Network Averages (000) for Friday, August 1, 2008, 6am-11pm, ranked by K2-11:
NICKELODEON:         K2-11 1311; K6-11 752; TWEENS 9-14 562
DISNEY CHANNEL:     K2-11 1035; K6-11 721; TWEENS 9-14 644
CARTOON NETWORK: K2-11   702; K6-11 512; TWEENS 9-14 383
TOON DISNEY:           K2-11   165; K6-11   91; TWEENS 9-14   57
Source: MTVN Research from Nielsen Media Research Data

Answer to Yesterday’s Trivia Question:  What film was set in the fictional country of Florin?  THE PRINCESS BRIDE Kudos to: Steve Williamson-Orlando CVB/Orlando; Charles Lippert-Exel Direct/Cincinnati; Jeff Jacknis-IAC Consumer Applications and Portals/NY; Nicky Martin-ML Search/NY; Leigh Ann Schwarzkopf-Lookout Marketing/Minneapolis; Kevin Schmidt-National Cable Communications/Chicago; Izzy Neis-Six Degrees Games/LA; Carrie R. Wheadon-Common Sense Media/San Francisco; Pat Brady-Cunningham*Escott*Slevin*Doherty/LA; Erica Enriquez-Nickelodeon Australia; Claire Wilmut-Boomstone Entertainment Inc./Ottawa

Today’s Trivia Question: Characters Shnitzel, Panini, Ms. Endive and Kimchi can be found on what animated series? (Email [email protected] with your answer and be sure to include your name, company, city and time zone. Unofficial rules: Only the second four correct answers from each time zone will be mentioned; and once you’ve been mentioned in any of the Cynopsis editions, you can’t be mentioned again that calendar week.)

Later — Gwen
 Gwen Billings for Cynopsis Kids!
08.05.08

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