via Nickelodeon press release:

Nickelodeon Greenlights New Animated Comedy Series Fanboy and Chum Chum for 26 Episode Order

Josh Duhamel, Jamie Kennedy, Estelle Harris Headline Voice Cast in All-New CG Animated Series from Creator Eric Robles, Executive Produced by Emmy Award-Winning Network Vet Steve Tompkins

BURBANK, Calif., Sept. 17 — Nickelodeon has ordered 26 episodes of Fanboy and Chum Chum, a new CG animated comedy series spinning off from the upcoming Nicktoons Network anthology series Random! Cartoons, it was announced today by Brown Johnson, President, Animation for Nickelodeon and MTVN Kids & Family Group. Combining classic squash and stretch animation with CG technology, Fanboy and Chum Chum centers on a fearless, comic book-loving 10-year old named Fanboy and his best friend and trusty sidekick, Chum Chum, whose wide-eyed acceptance of the bizarre is the perfect complement to his friend’s hyper imagination. For Fanboy, there is nothing more normal than living life in tights and a cape, and the concept of an ordinary day is one where anything and everything can happen.

“Eric’s wild imagination and diverse animation background have brought these hilarious characters to life and we’re excited to share them with our Nick audience” said Johnson. “Our search for unique and funny knows no bounds – and with Fanboy and Chum Chum, we found it in our own backyard on Random Cartoons.”

David Hornsby (The Mullets, Jake in Progress) voices Fanboy with Nika Futterman (My Gym Partner’s a Monkey) as Chum Chum, joined by a star-studded cast including Jamie Kennedy (Ghost Whisperer, The Jamie Kennedy Project), Josh Duhamel (Transformers, Las Vegas) and Estelle Harris (Seinfeld) as Fanboy’s untrusting wizard friend Kyle, Fanboy’s uber-geek mentor Oz and Oz’ mother, respectively.

The series was created by Eric Robles (Ni Hau Kai Lan, The X’s, Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy) and executive produced by Robles, Steve Tompkins (The Bernie Mac Show, Entourage, The Simpsons) and Fred Seibert (Frederator’s Random! Cartoons).

Robles has been living his childhood dream since getting his animation job in 1995. Since then, he has made his creative and imaginative mark on countless projects at nearly all of the major Hollywood studios, including Dreamworks Animation, Walt Disney Animation, Universal Creative, Cartoon Network, MGM Animation and The Jim Henson Company. Steve Tompkins is a successful Emmy and Humanitas Award-winning television writer whose credits include The Simpsons, Everybody Loves Raymond, In Living Color, The Bernie Mac Show and The PJ’s as well as writing and producing the pilot for HBO’s Entourage. A cable television and animation veteran, Fred Seibert was instrumental in the births of MTV, TV Land and Comedy Central and rebirths of Nickelodeon and VH1 and after serving as President of Hanna-Barbera Animation, formed an animation development think tank at Nickelodeon under the banner Frederator Cartoons.

Fanboy and Chum Chum joins Nickelodeon’s successful slate of animated series including Back at the Barnyard from the creative mind of box-office chief Steve Oedekerk, Emmy Award-nominated The Fairly Oddparents from animation veteran Butch Hartman, The Mighty B! co-created by and starring actress/comedian Amy Poehler and pop culture phenomenon, number one ranked SpongeBob SquarePants. Physical production of Fanboy and Chum Chum is based at the Nickelodeon Animation Studio in Burbank, currently the largest producer of television animation in the U.S.

About Nickelodeon

Nickelodeon, now in its 29th year, is the number-one entertainment brand for kids. It has built a diverse, global business by putting kids first in everything it does. The company includes television programming and production in the United States and around the world, plus consumer products, online, recreation, books, magazines and feature films. Nickelodeon’s U.S. television network is seen in more than 96 million households and has been the number-one-rated basic cable network for 14 consecutive years. Nickelodeon and all related titles, characters and logos are trademarks of Viacom Inc. (NYSE: VIA, VIA.B).

SOURCE Nickelodeon

via Nickelodeon press release:

Nickelodeon’s The Mighty B! Keeps Buzzing!

Animated Comedy Created by Amy Poehler and Nick Veterans Cynthia True and Erik Wiese Picked Up for Second Season (20 Episodes)

Burbank, Calif. – Sept. 17, 2008 – Nickelodeon’s hit animated comedy The Mighty B!, created by comedian Amy Poehler and executive producers/Nickelodeon animation veterans Cynthia True and Erik Wiese, has been picked up for a second season of 20 new half-hour episodes, it was announced today by Brown Johnson, President, Animation, Nickelodeon and MTVN Kids and Family Group. Busy bee Poehler will continue to executive produce the series and star as the voice of determined Bessie Higgenbottom, while Andy Richter will reprise his role as her brother Ben. The Mighty B! airs regularly Saturdays at 10:30 a.m. (ET/PT) on Nickelodeon, the number-one producer of television animation in the United States.

“The Mighty B!, has become a break-out hit for Nickelodeon, complimenting and strengthening our powerhouse Saturday morning line-up,” said Johnson. “Fans can look forward to more of Bessie’s dare-to-be-different attitude this season as she chases new badges and comes closer to her dream of becoming The Mighty B.”

Since its debut, The Mighty B! has attracted on average 3.1 million total viewers 2+, including 1.8 million kids 2-11, 1.2 million kids 6-11 and 764,000 tweens 9-14 on Saturday mornings. Reaching 50% of boys 2-11 and 50% girls 2-11, the series ranked among the top five animated properties on all of television: third among kids 2-11 and second among kids 6-11 and tweens 9-14 in second quarter 2008 (NMR: 4/26/08 – 9/7/08 / Full 2Q08).

Bessie Higgenbottom (voiced by Poehler) is the world’s most ambitious and loveably unhinged 9 ¾-year-old member of the Honeybee troop for girls. As a member of the Honeybees, Bessie wears her uniform every single day, leads her troop with a zeal General Patton would have admired and has earned more badges then any other Honeybee in history. Bessie is sometimes accompanied on her adventures by her ever-loyal younger brother Benjamin (voiced by Andy Richter), her very opinionated and somewhat reluctant dog Happy (voiced by Dee Bradley Baker), one of her closest pals, her imaginary friend Finger and Rocky Rhodes (voiced by Kenan Thompson), the cool, older skater kid who works part-time at the counter at Bessie’s mother’s eatery, Hilary’s Café.

Co-Creator, Executive Producer and voice of Bessie Higgenbottom, Amy Poehler is currently in her eighth season of Saturday Night Live (her fifth as the co-anchor of “Weekend Update”) and will star in a new NBC comedy from Greg Daniels and Mike Schur. Poehler has starred in numerous feature films, including the comedy Baby Mama opposite Tina Fey, the animated film Horton Hears a Who! with Jim Carrey and Steve Carrell, Blades of Glory alongside Will Ferrell and Will Arnett and the box office hit Shrek the Third as “Snow White.” She and husband Will Arnett are expecting their first baby in October 2008.

Co-Creator, Executive Producer and Story Editor Cynthia True has written for a number of shows, including Nickelodeon’s Ned’s Declassified School Survival Guide and My Life as a Teenage Robot; The N’s O’Grady and WB’s Johnny Test. She was also a staff writer for Nickelodeon’s The Fairly OddParents. True is formerly a journalist (Time Out NY, Rolling Stone, Texas Monthly, Harper’s Bazaar) and is the author of American Scream: The Bills Hicks Story (Harper Collins and Macmillan UK), now in its 7th printing.

Co-Creator, Executive Producer and Creative Director Erik Wiese is an Emmy and Annie-nominated storyboard artist and writer who worked on SpongeBob SquarePants for four seasons. Wiese’s other credits include The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie, Danny Phantom, Samurai Jack, Sammy and the animated Bjork music video “I Miss You.”

The Mighty B! is produced at the Nickelodeon Animation Studios in Burbank, Calif.

Nickelodeon, now in its 29th year, is the number-one entertainment brand for kids. It has built a diverse, global business by putting kids first in everything it does. The company includes television programming and production in the United States and around the world, plus consumer products, online, recreation, books, magazines and feature films. Nickelodeon’s U.S. television network is seen in more than 96 million households and has been the number-one-rated basic cable network for 14 consecutive years. Nickelodeon and all related titles, characters and logos are trademarks of Viacom Inc. (NYSE: VIA, VIA.B).

Nickelodeon Kids and Family Group Goes Dark for Fifth Annual Worldwide Day of Play

Nickelodeon Programming Resumes With My Family’s Got GUTS! Finale and More

NEW YORK, Sept. 16 — Nickelodeon Kids and Family Group will go off the air and offline on Saturday, September 27, from 12 to 3 p.m. (ET/PT), across all its TV properties and related web platforms for its signature Worldwide Day of Play. This marks the first time ever that all Nickelodeon television networks and its related websites — including: Nickelodeon, The N, Noggin, Nicktoons Network, Nick.com, Noggin.com, Nicktoonsnetwork.com, and The-N.com — will go dark to inspire kids to participate in the fight against childhood obesity. More than 250,000 kids in 10 different countries are expected to participate in Nickelodeon’s fifth annual Play Day, and more than 1,000 local events worldwide are scheduled to take place. Nickelodeon will return to the air at 3 p.m. (ET/PT) with healthy messaging, all-new programming, and the finale of the extreme sports competition, My Family’s Got GUTS!, at 8 p.m. (ET/PT).

“Our annual Worldwide Day of Play has encouraged millions of kids all over the world to be active,” said Marva Smalls, Executive Vice President of Public Affairs, Nickelodeon Kids and Family Group. “We are making our biggest commitment yet this year, utilizing all of our media assets and strong partnerships. This day truly exemplifies how kids and families can take charge of their health by taking time to be active together.”

On Worldwide Day of Play, Nickelodeon will kick off the programming day at 6 a.m. (ET/PT) with a Saturday morning cartoon line-up and a series of interstitials with the final My Family’s Got GUTS! families highlighting the benefits of active play. At noon (ET/PT), the three GUTS! families will “turn off” Nickelodeon to encourage kids across the country to get up, go out and play. Viewers will be directed via a Worldwide Day of Play loop to go play until 3 p.m. (ET/PT), when the network will be “turned on” again by cast members of Nickelodeon’s hit tween series iCarly and Olympic gold medalist swimmer Natalie Coughlin. The health and wellness messaging will continue at the top of the 4 p.m. and 5 p.m. hour (both ET/PT) with spots featuring the cast of iCarly. At 8 p.m. (ET/PT), Nickelodeon will present the exciting hour-long finale of My Families Got GUTS!, where three families will face off in several action sports events for ultimate GUTS supremacy. A complete schedule for Nickelodeon’s Worldwide Day of Play follows.

Noggin, Nickelodeon’s 24-hour preschool network, will go dark at noon (ET/PT) with favorite preschool characters Moose and Zee encouraging the little ones to get up and active. In addition to going dark on Sept. 27, Nicktoons Network will air spots during the day encouraging kids to get up and be active. The N, Nickelodeon’s 24-hour teen programming network, will air similarly themed spots throughout the week leading up to Worldwide Day of Play, encouraging viewers to get active on Sept. 27.

More than 250,000 kids are expected to participate in more than 1,000 Worldwide Day of Play events in all 50 states and 10 countries. Nickelodeon has partnered with several organizations for its Worldwide Day of Play, including its signature partner, Boys & Girls Clubs of America, as well as Big Brothers Big Sisters of New York City and the NFL. Boys & Girls Clubs of America will host more than 550 Worldwide Day of Play events in 50 states and 10 countries, reaching more than 60,000 kids. Throughout the week leading up to the Worldwide Day of Play, nine NFL teams will host events themed around healthy activity. Additionally, in New York City, Nick is partnering with Big Brothers Big Sisters for their annual Race for the Kids at Riverside Park, with media support by Time Warner Cable. Play Days, presented by local Nickelodeon channels around the globe, have also taken place in more than 40 countries around the world this year.

Worldwide Day of Play is part of the Nickelodeon’s overall Let’s Just Play health and wellness campaign. Launched in 2002 to give back to kids the right of play, Let’s Just Play has evolved to include a TV mini-series — The Let’s Just Play Go Healthy Challenge — focusing on real kids adopting healthier eating habits; a grants program, which awarded more than $2.5 million to local schools and community organizations; to online websites and games which empower kids and parents with information to help navigate good nutrition. Nickelodeon has committed more than $30 million and 10% of its air to pro-social messaging. Through the Let’s Just Play campaign, more than 750,000 kids have pledged to get healthy. Nickelodeon announced last year that it will limit the use of its licensed characters on food packaging to products that meet the “better for you” criteria as established by marketing partners in accordance with governmental dietary guidelines, beginning in 2009.

For more information about Nickelodeon’s Worldwide Day of Play and how to participate, visit http://www.worldwidedayofplay.com.

About Nickelodeon

Nickelodeon, in its 29th year, is the number-one entertainment brand for kids. It has built a diverse, global business by putting kids first in everything it does. The company includes television programming and production in the United States and around the world, plus consumer products, online, recreation, books, magazines and feature films. Nickelodeon’s U.S. television network is seen in more than 96 million households and has been the number-one-rated basic cable network for 14 consecutive years. Nickelodeon and all related titles, characters and logos are trademarks of Viacom Inc. (NYSE: VIA, VIA.B).

Nickelodeon’s Worldwide Day of Play, Saturday, Sept. 27, on-air schedule is below (all times ET/PT):

– 6 a.m. to noon Nickelodeon will air a Saturday cartoon line-up morning line-up with healthy-themed interstitials, including several with the three My Family’s Got GUTS! finalist families.

– 12 noon The three finalist families from My Family’s Got GUTS! will “turn off” Nickelodeon. Noggin, Nicktoons Network and The N will all go dark.

– 12 noon to 3 p.m. Nickelodeon, Nicktoons Network, Noggin, The N and related websites will go dark. Via a continuous loop viewers will be directed to go outside and be active in celebration of Worldwide Day of Play.

– 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. The cast of iCarly and Gold Medalist swimmer Natalie Coughlin will “turn the network back on.” Names of organizations hosting Worldwide Day of Play events will scroll across the screen and spots with the iCarly cast will appear at the top of each hour.

– 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. The cast of iCarly will take over hosting duties for the evening and introduce two back-to-back episodes of the hit series.

– 8 p.m. to 9 p.m. The hour-long finale of the first tournament of My Families Got GUTS! will air at 8 p.m. Three teams will face off in several action sports events, including: GUTS Grand Prix; Mile High Triple Jump; Free Run City: Wild Side; and Alley Hoop for the coveted last piece of the Aggro Crag.

– 9 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. The first episode of iCarly’s season two will premiere. In “iSaw Him First,” Freddie invites his techie pal Shane (guest star James Maslow) to help with a science experiment with magnetism for the webcast. Both Carly and Sam feel an attraction to the dreamy teen.

SOURCE Nickelodeon