...Elodeon.
End of the week found me wandering around Nick's Burbank cartoon studio. The crew for The Mighty B is coming to the end of the initial order of episodes, but an artist showed me the ratings for the show, pinned to a wall, and they were up there.
"For most of us, we're on hiatus in the next week or two, but hopefully the next batch of episodes gets greenlit quick and our time off won't be long"...
(A sentiment often expressed.)
The solid ratings are good news for the animation artists, since Nick, like every other kids cable network, eyes the Disney Channel's success with live action and thinks "why not us?"
Nickelodeon is approaching a 50-50 mix of live action and animation, says Marjorie Cohn, the executive VP of development and original programming at Nickelodeon Networks. “Live action has emerged as being just as strong as animation, which had been dominating the kids’ business for a very long time,” she says. “The immediacy of live action is really important to kids right now. The social currency, the feeling that it’s happening in real time in their lives, is exciting for them. These shows tap into a lot of the things that kids are feeling.”
Who cares that they often aren't cheap to produce? (Nobody, as long as the ratings are good. But that's often easier said than done.)
Nick right now has a bunch of animated shows percolating along. There's new episodes of SpongeBob and Fairly Odd Parents, there's the three pre-school cartoon shows headed up by animation vet Jeff DeGrandis. Then there's the CGI shows Nick is doing with DreamWorks (Madagascar Penguins high on the list.)
Happily, even with the recent burgeoning of live action projects, animation still thrives at most studios.
# # # # # # #One quick thank you is in order. TAG Blog hit an alltime high in eyeballs this month ... 30,892 (give or take). Not particularly big as blogs go, but not itty bitty, either.
Kevin Koch and I thank you from the tops of our heads to the tips of our keyboarding fingers.
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14 comments:
"Mighty B" isn't too bad, but I'd like to see how it does when it doesn't have Spongebob as a lead-in. That's the real measure of whether a new Nick show is a hit or not. "Back To The Barnyard" OTOH is hilarious - very nicely done, great voices, and it has a hip sensibility that doesn't sacrifice the heart. I look forward to every new episode, and so do my kids.
As for Fairly oddparents, the new episodes have proven that new baby or not, the show's best days are behind it. It went off-course some time back and while the baby was a nice gimmick, it's not the cure-all the show desperately needs.
"Back To The Barnyard" makes me want to claw my eyes out. then there is the humor which is consummately stale and predictable. If yo liked "Saved By The Bell" and Screech always has you giggling, then you'll love Back To The Barnyard".
FOP has done a lotta shows. When you get up there over a hundred, harder to be super original and creative.
The Mighty B consistently stops me in my tracks when I'm walking by a TV that it's playing on. Even with the sound turned down, it grabs my attention and holds it. The powers that be would be wise to decide on a pick up before the ubber talented crew is forced to take other jobs.
As to live action, I wonder what the numbers look like in re-run.
We know people will watch animation (SpongeBob, Bugs Bunny)over and over and over again for years. Will they do the same for H.S.M.? I doubt it.
*FOP has done a lotta shows. When you get up there over a hundred, harder to be super original and creative.*
Or learn from your mistakes, apparently.
*FOP has done a lotta shows. When you get up there over a hundred, harder to be super original and creative.*
Or learn from your mistakes, apparently.
Sorry about the multiple posts. I won't do it again. Because I DO learn from my mistakes. ;)
an optimistic creative spastic child and a none-to-bright sidekick - but this time for girls!
...how anyone can watch "Back to the Barnyard" without violently vomiting blood and bile is utterly beyond me.
Ugly. Lame. Horrible. unfunny. The stuff of nightmares. Anti-entertainment. Pure wretchedness. I could go on forever...
It's also the #2 show on Nickelodeon (second only to Spongebob) and Nick's first hit cartoon in 6 years.
I haven't seen The Mighty B (I frankly haven't been watching any TV animation lately), but if it stops Vince Waller in his tracks, I'm checking it out.
Review for Mighty B from Animation Insider review is spot on. I'll take Grey DeLisle over any SNL interlopers every time. Stunt casting ties the hands of Mighty B. Poehler and her SNL crew are just more animation ball-and-chains. 2D deserves far better.
Grab the names AFTER their prime, when they are cheap and willing to put the time in. That's the only time you get the rich performances on an economic playing field that makes sense. Poehler isn't giving up her on-camera time any time soon.
"It's also the #2 show on Nickelodeon (second only to Spongebob) and Nick's first hit cartoon in 6 years."
Oh wow! That must mean it's good! Thank you for setting me straight on that.
I forgot that it's unheard of that people collectively embrace something awful just because their choices are so incredibly limited.
In back to the Barnyard why does Otis the male sounding cow have an utter? Hasn't anyone seen this or is the cow transgender?:)
From a grownup.
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