Nickelodeon greenlights raft of new content

Nickelodeon has ordered two new full-length animation series and greenlit four pilots.

In the US, the Viacom-owned kids network has endured a rocky ride in the ratings in the past 18 months and is refreshing its content line-up with new shows to sit alongside perennial favourites including SpongeBob SquarePants and newer hits Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

The new animation series are Bad Seeds and Pig Goat Banana Cricket for Production, both of which will be made by Nick’s Burbank-based Animation Studio.

Bad Seeds follows Harvey, a sweet and well-meaning bird, makes two new best friends, Fee and Foo, the wildest kids in the forest. It was created by C.H. Greenblatt (SpongeBob SquarePants, Chowder).

Pig Goat Banana Cricket is a series of absurd interwoven stories about four friends and roommates, Pig (the fool), Goat (the artist), Banana (the wise-guy) and Cricket (the brain). It will be executive produced by David Sacks (The Simpsons, Regular Show).

The four live-action pilots are Twang (WT), a comedy about a family that relocates from Hollywood to run a diner in Tennessee; Nicky, Ricky, Dicky & Don (WT) about the titular thirteen year-old quadruplets; Smart Alec (WT), a comedy about kid geniuses; and an untitled cheerleader project about a perky head cheerleader named Bella.

There are also two new digital series. Welcome to the Wayne is animated comedy about two adventurers set in the lobby of the weirdest apartment building on the planet, which was created by Billy Lopez (The Wonder Pets!).

The other digital series Junior Eye follows three junior high school friends who set about solving the myths that plague their classmates’ daily lives.

“All these projects represent fresh, new creative voices from diverse backgrounds who want to make great, funny content for kids,” said Russell Hicks, president, content development and production, Nickelodeon. “We are very excited about adding two new original animated series to our upcoming slate, and we have very high hopes for these live-action pilots and the new talent we are bringing on board.”