Show of the week: Pig, Goat, Banana, Cricket

Each of the four main characters in Nick’s new toon for the international market has a defined character: Pig is the fool, Goat the artist, Banana the wiseguy and Cricket the brains. These four live together in a city called Boopelite, and get into fantastical, colourful and madcap adventures.

The series started out life in Nickelodeon’s comic magazine before its creators, Dave Cooper and Johnny Ryan, took it to TV, where it bowed on Nick in the US last summer. David Sacks (The Simpsons, Regular Show) is a co-writer and exec producer.

“Dave Cooper and Johnny Ryan are known for their irreverent comics, and this is an absurd comedy set in a fantastic city where everyday objects can come to life and bizarre things can happen,” says Caroline Beaton, senior VP of programme sales at Viacom International Media Networks, which is giving the show its global launch at MIPTV. “This is loud and splashy, and it engages you at a visceral level. There’s nothing subtle about it,” she adds.

Nick’s research shows it is gender neutral (there is, in fact, a slight 48-52 split in favour of girls). The show skews 6-11, but its simple brand of wacky fun means younger and older viewers will tune in. “The core demo is 6-to-11 but it does well across 2-to-11 because it isn’t complicated, it’s fun and not full of sophisticated messages,” Beaton says.

It will hit Nick’s international channels in September, and Beaton, who says Pig, Goat, Banana, Cricket has some of the madcap energy of early SpongeBob SquarePants, adds that the VIMN team is confident it will fit into Nick-branded blocks, and into the volume deals it has with partners.

The show: Pig, Goat, Banana, Cricket
The producer: Nickelodeon Animation Studio
The distributor: Viacom International Media Networks
The broadcasters: Nickelodeon (US, international)
The concept: Madcap comedy toon following the adventures of a pig, a goat, a banana and a cricket who live together