“Small Potatoes” Take Root On Disney Junior
NEW YORK , July 25, 2011 — Small Potatoes, the newest short-form preschool series from Josh Selig and Little Airplane Productions, is set to premiere Tuesday, September 6 in the US and will air daily on Disney Channel’s Disney Junior programming block for kids 2-7 and their families. This series premiered on CBeebies in the Spring where it took three of the top five spots on the CBeebies iPlayer during its very first week, including the #1 spot. The series has also had successful launches on the ABC in Australia and Canal+ and Piwi in France.
Each episode contains one Small Potatoes music video and two comedy sketches. The members of the band are Ruby, the diva, Nate, the artist, Olaf, the caretaker, and Chip, a quirky little spud. The band’s songs cover every popular musical genre, from Motown to reggae and rock & roll. Composers and lyricists for Small Potatoes include such luminaries as Jerry Bock, Tony Award winner for Best Musical and Best Composer and Lyricist of the classic Fiddler On The Roof. All the music for Small Potatoes is produced by Little Airplane’s three-time Emmy Award-winning Musical Director, Jeffrey Lesser. The series was created, directed and executive produced by Josh Selig, Founder and President, Little Airplane Productions.
In conjunction with the US launch, SiriusXM’s Kids Place Live will air a one-hour radio special. Titled Small Potatoes, Deep Roots, it introduces America to the band and covers their history. The radio show includes narration by the legendary British actor Malcolm McDowell who voices the role of the band’s manager Lester “Loops” Koop. The special will be preceded by an interview with Josh Selig and Kids Place Live’s Absolutely Mindy host Mindy Thomas. The radio special will air five times leading up to the television show’s launch on Disney Junior, with the premiere radio broadcast on Friday, Sept. 2 at 9:00 pm (EST) and 6:00 pm (PST) on Kids Place Live, channel 78.
Although the show has yet to hit the airwaves in the U.S., Small Potatoes has already become a phenomenon on Facebook. With over 1,000 new Facebook ‘likes” each week, these rockin’ spuds are social media’s hottest dish. In addition to interacting with the band members, fans of the Facebook page are invited to request their own free custom potato based on their Facebook profile picture. These “Photatoes” are adopted by their fans and used as avatars for all their Facebook activity. The Small Potatoes Facebook page has a strong following among teens and college students as well as parents of preschoolers (www.facebook.com/thesmallpotatoes).
“Fans all over the world are discovering the ‘Small Potatoes’ both on-air and on-line,” said Selig, “And once Small Potatoes begins airing on Disney Junior in the US, we anticipate Potato-Mania will be sweeping the globe!”
Small Potatoes has already won a 2010 BAMmie award at the 12th Annual BAMkids Film Festival for “Best Film for 2 – 5 Year Olds.” This award is given out each year by The Department of Education & Humanities at the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM).
