Nickelodeon Brings Upfront Presentation to Los Angeles, Announcing 650 Episodes of New Content and Returning Hits
Nick’s 2012-13 Programming Slate to Feature New Scott Baio Project for Nick at Nite, James Franco in Multi-Episode Arc on Hollywood Heights, Premiere of The Legend of Korra, Original TV Movies, a SpongeBob SquarePants Stop-Motion Christmas Special, a Raving Rabbids series, and a Development Project for Hit-maker Dan Schneider and iCarly star Jennette McCurdy –LA Presentation Highlighted by Music Performances from Big Time Rush, How to Rock‘s Cymphonique Miller and Gravity 5, and Rachel Crow; and Appearances by Scott Baio, Keke Palmer and Cast of Hollywood Heights
LOS ANGELES, March 27, 2012 — Nickelodeon brought its annual Upfront presentation to Los Angeles, where it announced the pickup of Scott Baio’s Daddy’s Home for Nick at Nite and the casting of James Franco for a multi-episode arc on Hollywood Heights, in addition to a robust 2012-13 programming slate detailed in its March 14 presentation in New York, including an unprecedented 650 new episodes of brand-new content and returning hits, including: the highly-anticipated animated series The Legend of Korra; a stop-motion SpongeBob SquarePants Christmas special; original primetime TV movies; an original animated series based on the Raving Rabbids video games; and new projects with UK pop sensation One Direction, iCarly/Victorious show creator Dan Schneider and iCarly star Jennette McCurdy.
Nickelodeon has ordered 20 episodes of Daddy’s Home (working title), starring Scott Baio. Daddy’s Home is a multi-camera half-hour comedy for Nick at Nite that follows David Hobbs (Baio), an actor who, after ten years of starring as America’s favorite TV dad, becomes a stay-at-home father to honor the deal he made with his soap star wife so that she may return to the limelight. The series comes from creators/executive producers Tina Albanese and Patrick Labyorteaux and is helmed by executive producers Nat Bernstein and Mitchel Katlin who will show run. Eric Bischoff and Jason Hervey are also executive producing through their production company Bischoff Hervey Entertainment (BHE), along with Baio. The series begins production later this year in Los Angeles.
Actor James Franco will also be joining the cast of Hollywood Heights, a daily scripted series premiering on Nick at Nite this summer. Franco will star in a multi-episode arc, playing the role of Osborne “Oz” Silver – a passionate, intense eccentric movie mogul who lives life to the fullest, often outrageously. Funny, offbeat, seductive, ruthless when he has to be, Oz adores the moviemaking process and does whatever it takes to make the films he wants.
Held this morning at Avalon in Los Angeles, Nick’s presentation featured special guest appearances and contributions from: Scott Baio; Keke Palmer; the cast of Hollywood Heights; and performances by Nick’s own Big Time Rush, How to Rock‘s Cymphonique Miller and Gravity 5; and Nick’s newest star, Rachel Crow of The X Factor fame, who capped the presentation with a performance of Cee Lo Green’s “Forget You”.
Details of Nickelodeon’s new content slate include:
ANIMATION:Nickelodeon, the top producer of television animation in the U.S., will roll out a new roster of over 300 new animated episodes in 2012 which includes:
New episodes of returning hit series including SpongeBob SquarePants, T.U.F.F. Puppy, Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness, The Penguins of Madagascar, The Fairly OddParents and The Winx Club.
The Legend of Korra, in which the mythology of the beloved animated franchise from Avatar: The Last Airbender creators Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko continues. The series centers around a new Avatar named Korra, a 17-year-old headstrong and rebellious girl who continually challenges and bucks tradition on her quest to become a fully realized Avatar in a world where benders are under attack. The half-hour series will debut on Saturday, April 14, at 11:00 a.m. (all times ET/PT), as part of Nickelodeon’s Saturday morning block (8AM-Noon), which has been the number-one destination for Kids 2-11 for 12 consecutive years and currently delivers more than three million total viewers each week. The Legend of Korra will air regularly on Saturday at 11:00 a.m.
Raving Rabbids, which will join the net’s animation line-up in spring 2013, brings to television the hysterical physical comedy that has become so popular in Ubisoft’s Raving Rabbids video games. Nickelodeon has secured global broadcast rights for 26 new CG episodes of Raving Rabbids, which will be produced by Ubisoft.
Monsters vs. Aliens, the all-new animated television series marking the third partnership between Nickelodeon and DreamWorks Animation. Green-lit for 26 episodes and based on the popular characters from the 2009 blockbuster hit feature film ($383 million worldwide gross), the new series will continue to follow the funny escapades of the beloved, well-meaning monsters.
Robot & Monster, which will also be hitting Nickelodeon’s air for a 26-episode run for the 2012-2013 season. Created by Josh Sternin, Jeff Ventimilia and Dave Pressler, this CG-animated buddy comedy is set in a unique world where gangs of Howling Cyber Monkeys roam the streets at night, everybody loves bacon, and robots and monsters live side by side, but typically don’t get along.
It’s A SpongeBob Christmas! – Nickelodeon’s first full-length stop-motion animated special is inspired by the classic Rankin/Bass (Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town) specials, and the popular SpongeBob song released in 2009, “Don’t Be a Jerk, It’s Christmas,” written by Tom Kenny (voice of SpongeBob) and Andy Paley. In It’s A SpongeBob Christmas!, Plankton vows to get his Christmas wish — the Krabby Patty formula — by turning everyone in Bikini Bottom bad by feeding them his special jerktonium-laced fruitcake. The special features John Goodman as Santa Claus, and will air in December 2012.
Seven new animation pilots picked up for the 2012-2013 season, including four pilots helmed by hit-maker Butch Hartman (The Fairly OddParents, T.U.F.F. Puppy).
