Tonight, Cartoon Network quietly released two new pilots that were produced in 2013: “AJ’s Infinite Summer” created by Toby Jones and “Long Live the Royals” by Sean Szeles. Both Jones and Szeles work on “Regular Show”—Jones as a writer/storyboard artist and Szeles as a supervising director/writer/storyboard artist.
While Fox’s Sunday night lineup was dubbed Animation Domination in May 2005, it did not officially become all-animated until 2010. Now, the announcement of their fall 2014 schedule reveals that the cartoons will be ceding some of their Sunday night territory to live-action comedies “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” and “Mulaney,” which will be taking over the 8:30 and 9:30 time slots, respectively.
Fox’s experiment with late-night animation didn’t go as well as they had anticipated. The network will end its Saturday late-night animation block ADHD (Animation Domination High-Def) in June, less than a year after it began. It was originally created as a replacement for the cancelled sketch comedy show “MADtv.”
Following Sylvain Chomet’s first-class “Simpsons” opening, I didn’t expect any animator to top it creatively—and certainly not so soon after. I’ve never been happier to be wrong.
The most fascinating bit of news out of WonderCon last weekend? Japanese director Masaaki Yuasa (“Mind Game”) has storyboarded and directed an upcoming episode of “Adventure Time.”
This week’s issue of “The New Yorker” does something that they rarely ever do: review an animated TV series. The show they elected to discuss is “Adventure Time.”
“Green Lantern: The Animated Series” showrunner Giancarlo Volpe drew a mini-comic about his first experience attending a focus group for his series.
The elaborate “Simpsons” couch gag directed by Sylvain Chomet (“Triplets of Belleville,” “The Illusionist”) now has a making-of video courtesy of the production company that produced the opening, London-based th1ng.
DC Comics has posted online the new Bruce Timm short “Batman: Strange Days” that was created in honor of the character’s 75th anniversary.
The first extended clips have been released from The Tom and Jerry Show which premieres tomorrow, April 9th, at 5:30/4:30 Central on …
Nickelodeon is making a concerted effort to promote its renewed dedication to creativity at its animation studio. This week, they will open an art exhibit, “Butt What Is Art? A Sanjay and Craig Fine Art Retrospective,” at California State University, Fullerton’s Atrium Gallery (Pollak Library). The exhibit will focus on art created for, and inspired by, the series about an Indian boy and his talking snake:
Bruce Timm has completed a new short entitled “Batman: Strange Days” which will premiere on Cartoon Network next Wednesday, April 9th, following an episode of “Teen Titans Go!” (6:30pm ET/5:30pm CT). The monochromatic piece, which was created as part of this year’s 75th anniversary Batman celebration, pits Batman against Dr. Hugo Strange, a classic “Detective Comics” villain who predates the Joker and Catwoman.
Table tennis sounds like just about the last thing that needs an animated series, but leave it to the Japanese to make the sport as exciting as a superhero action-adventure series. This is our first extended look at “Ping Pong,” a new 11-episode animated series by Japanese director Masaaki Yuasa (“Mind Game,” “The Tatami Galaxy”) that will debut April 10th on Fuji TV’s late-night noitaminA block.
A second season of Mickey Mouse shorts will begin airing April 11th at 9pm (ET/PT) on the Disney Channel. Each new short will be available the day after its cable premiere on WATCH Disney Channel, Disney.com, iTunes, and YouTube.
“The Tom and Jerry Show” will premiere Wednesday, April 9th, at 5:30pm (ET/PT) on Cartoon Network. It’s being pitched as “a fresh take on the iconic frenemies that preserves the look, core characters and sensibilities of the original theatrical shorts.” Unlike the original 6-7 minute theatrical shorts, which were produced during the 1940s-’50s, the new episodes will be 11-minutes each.
It was recently announced that, after a nearly four-year hiatus, the Adult Swim animated series “The Boondocks” would be returning on April 21st for its fourth and final season. However, any excitement that fans of the show experienced when hearing the news was cut short when they learned that the show’s creator, Aaron McGruder, would not be involved.
There’s something about Steven’s dad Greg that doesn’t add up. Will we ever really know why Greg distances himself from his son? This week in “Onion Trade,” we explored a dad’s horrible ability to remember things, witnessed Steven’s lack of male role models, and learned a lot more about Onion, a character who revealed quite a few new layers.
As part of its recent upfront presentation, Nickelodeon released new art from their previously announced series: “Pig Goat Banana Cricket,” “Bad Seeds” and “Welcome to the Wayne.” If their new slate of shows look comedy-centric, it’s the result of Nick’s market research, which revealed to them that children rank laughter as more important than vacation, family meals and holidays.
The Cartoon Network upfronts took place yesterday and the now Stu Snyder-free network presented its slate of upcoming shows for the 2014-’15 season to their advertising and promotional partners.
“So Many Birthdays” Written and Storyboarded by Raven M. Molisee and Paul Villeco. “Lars and the Cool Kids” Storyboarded by Lamar …