Digital Media FX News Archives

Saturday - July 7, 2001
- The Proud Family Coming to Disney Channel
- Cartoon Network has Strong Second Quarter
- Friday Box Office Results
- News Link of the Day - TV Rolling Out Toons for the Tiny

The Proud Family Coming to Disney Channel
(by digitalmediafx.com) A new animated series called The Proud Family will be airing on The Disney Channel beginning in September 2001. The Proud Family is an animated sitcom that chronicles the adventures of Penny, a 14-year-old African American girl who's doing her best to navigate through the mysteries and mishaps of her early teen years.

Cast to voice the parts of the main animated characters are:

Kyla Pratt as Penny Proud
Tommy Davidson as Oscar Proud
Paula Jai Parker as Trudy Proud
Jo Marie Payton as Sugar Momma
Karen Malina White as Dijonay

The creator and executive producer for the series is Bruce Smith. Ralph Farquhar is also an executive producer.

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Cartoon Network has Strong Second Quarter
(from press release) The Cartoon Network concluded April 2 - July 1 with its highest-ever second quarter total day ratings and delivery of tweens 9-14, kids 6-11 and kids 2-11. Household delivery also scored a new second quarter record. In prime time, ratings and delivery for kids 6-11 and kids 2-11 set new second quarter records, while households and tweens 9-14 charted new delivery records. Cartoon Network also posted the largest prime time and total day net delivery increase of all ad-supported cable networks for kids 6-11 and kids 2-11, as well as the largest total day net delivery increase for tweens 9-14.

Capping off Second Quarter 2001 with yet another week in first place for total day ratings (1.4, tied with Nickelodeon), Cartoon Network continued its record-setting ratings and delivery growth trajectory with second quarter double-digit gains across all key demographics. The all-animation network finished Second Quarter 2001 in third place for both total day (1.1) and prime time (1.7, up from fifth place last year and tied with TNT) household ratings among all ad-supported cable networks.

Cartoon Network punctuated its second quarter ratings highlights with two weeks in June for first place for total day ratings (tied with Nickelodeon) , an achievement not equaled since 1995 when Cartoon Network last earned number-one for total day ratings. The week of June 11-17 charted a 1.3 total day rating, while June 25 - July 1 scored a 1.4 total day rating. For the week of April 30 - May 6, Cartoon Network also earned its first-ever May prime time victory among ad-supported cable networks, tied with Lifetime as the number-one network in prime with a 1.7 rating.

Additional programming highlights include last Sunday's (July 1, 10 p.m.) Toonheads: The Wartime Cartoons, a one-hour study of theatrical cartoons created during World War II, which averaged a 2.3 household rating and 3,400,000 different viewers, the strongest Toonheads performance year-to-date. Also, the network's annual Bugs Bunny tribute, June Bugs (June 1, 11 p.m. - June 3, 12 a.m.), featuring every Bugs Bunny cartoon in circulation and shown in chronological order, scored a 1.6 average household rating and attracted 29,320,000 different viewers, making it the most-watched stunt ever presented on Cartoon Network.

In May, Cartoon Network presented The Looney Tunes Fairy Tale Special (May 17, 9 p.m. - 12 a.m.) which earned a 1.8 household rating and delivered an average 1,340,000 homes. On Friday, May 25, the network aired two straight hours of Toonami's top-rated program, Dragon Ball Z, in Z-Day, showcasing episodes viewers voted online to see during the special. The stunt earned double and even triple-digit ratings increases for kids 6-11 (3.2, +146 percent), tweens 9-14 (2.7, +125 percent), boys 9-14 (3.9, +144 percent) and teens 12-17 (2.4, +100 percent).

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Friday Box Office Results
(by digitalmediafx.com) Friday's box office results are in. Here are the top 10 movies for the day:

1) Scary Movie 2 - $7.3 Million
2) Cats & Dogs - $6.7 Million
3) Kiss of the Dragon - $4.8 Million
4) A.I. - $4.5 Million
5) The Fast and the Furious - $4.0 Million
6) Doctor Doolittle 2 - $3.0 Million
7) Tomb Raider - $2.0 Million
8) Shrek - $1.7 Million
9) Baby Boy - $1.5 Million
10) Atlantis - $1.4 Million

Shrek is now outplaying Atlantis on a daily basis even though Shrek opened a full month before Atlantis. A.I. is still doing well, but playing well below analyst expectations. The movie has received mixed, but mostly negative, reactions from audiences who have seen it. The top complaints are that the movie is "disjointed" and that it has a poor ending.

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News Link of the Day - TV Rolling Out Toons for the Tiny

According to USA Today:

"The littlest kids are finding an expanded TV playground. Walt Disney early next year plans a spinoff of its Disney Channel, Playhouse Disney, aimed at preschoolers...

Disney also is playing catch-up. Many of its animated films have lost their dominance among young children, and ABC now lags on Saturday mornings. Disney Channel has been late in capitalizing on an increase in kid viewership and only began its preschool block two years ago…"

Click here for the full story.

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