from E! Online
August 18, 2004
Howard Stern is 'tooning up for Spike TV.
The radio raunchmeister will revisit his awkward teen days in cartoon form in Howard Stern: The High School Years, the testosterone-fueled cable network confirmed Wednesday.
Several scripts have been written and production is underway--animation tests are being done as you read this. Stern, who is executive producing the series with Spike TV programming exec Kevin Kay, has not yet decided whether he will voice his cartoon self or narrate the series or simply work behind the scenes. However, Spike spokesperson says Stern's parents, who provide frequent fodder on his syndicated radio show, will be major players in the animated series.
No word yet on exactly what kind of adventures the adolescent Stern will encounter. But likely topics could feature our young hero experiencing puberty, getting picked on at his Long Island school (perhaps by a future Clear Channel exec?), surviving the locker room and discovering the talents behind his super-powered alter ego, Fartman (hey, it works in Smallville).
Signing up the popular shock jock is a big deal for the cable net. Spike's first stab at establishing a successful prime-time animated bloc with Kelsey Grammer's Gary the Rat and Pamela Anderson's Stripperella failed to generate ratings, forcing network executives to yank both shows off the schedule last October. Stripperella eventually returned to finish out its run earlier this year.
This marks Stern's second foray into TV animation. A planned UPN 'toon titled Doomsday was shelved in 1999 and never made it to air. Both UPN and Spike TV are owned by Viacom.
Aside from cartoons, Stern's West Coast-based shingle, Howard Stern Production Co., is also developing remakes of the classic teen romps Porky's and Rock 'n' Roll High School.
Stern's previous tube outings included the FX comedy Son of the Beach, which ended in 2002 after three raunchy seasons, and a Saturday night clip show, The Howard Stern Radio Show, saw its three-year run end in 2001. His Howard Stern Show continues to air on E!.
Spike TV has ordered 13 episodes of Howard Stern: The High School Years, which will begin airing in summer 2005.
from TV Week
November 3, 2003
Spike TV yanked its much-touted animation slate from its schedule last month, putting "Gary the Rat," "Stripperella" and "Ren & Stimpy Adult Party Cartoon" on hold until next year. The move prompted intense industry speculation that the first network for men may be retreating from its high-risk efforts to create animation for an adult audience.
Not true, said Kevin Kay, executive VP of programming and production for Spike TV.
"We played them a lot," Mr. Kay said. "They were all over the schedule and did well, and at one point we thought, 'Let's take them off' so they don't burn out. And it's so funny, because I've been hearing rumors that 'Stripperella' had been canceled before it even went on the air."
Mr. Kay said the network is developing several new toons, including "Big-Headed People" from producer Warrington Hudlin ("House Party," "Boomerang"). It is a political satire featuring characters with huge heads discussing everything from Osama bin Laden to what it's like to be a black Republican.
"Big-Headed People" joins a development slate that includes projects involving Hank Azaria, Howard Stern and John Leguizamo, all of which are expected to become part of the Thursday night block dubbed The Strip.
The long-term plan is to develop The Strip as a permanent block of rotating original programming. The block will be based on HBO's Sunday night model-where shows cycle in and out throughout the year-as well as Cartoon Network's late-night "Adult Swim."
Cartoon Network President John Lazzo said, however, that Spike faces an uphill battle. "I think Spike looked at us, looked at Comedy Central and 'The Simpsons' and said, 'We can do that,'" Mr. Lazzo said. "But it's very, very difficult to make this work."
Thus far, The Strip has been a modest success for the Viacom-owned network since it relaunched earlier this year. In its weekly 10 p.m.-to-midnight block, "Ren & Stimpy's Adult Party Cartoon" averaged 826,000 viewers, "Stripperella" averaged 801,000 and "Gary the Rat" garnered 755,000. Though hardly a blockbuster performance, all represented double-digit time slot increases from the previous year.
"We wanted to get younger," Mr. Kay said. "The animation block skewed 27. It helped bring down the median age of the viewer. It's 'Stupid Male Humor Night,' for lack of a better term. But if you hit it right out of the ballpark-like "South Park" and "The Simpsons"- there's all kinds of ancillary revenue streams [in merchandising]."
One unexpected complication has been a lack of new episodes from Spike's most popular animated title. The network ordered nine episodes (an original order of six, then an additional three-parter) of "Ren & Stimpy's Adult Party Cartoon" from creator John Kricfalusi. The network only received three.
Mr. Kricfalusi, now working from his new Spumco studio in Canada, has a history of warring with networks over content and delivery issues. In 1992 he was famously fired from Nickelodeon for pushing the network standards envelope on the original "Ren & Stimpy" series.
A representative for Spumco declined to comment, but Mr. Kay indicated that-despite the delay-new episodes are forthcoming. "John is an incredibly talented artist and he doesn't want to let anything go until it's finished," Mr. Kay said. "He wanted to tweak it a bit more, and we probably pushed him a little fast."
The fate of the Pamela Anderson-voiced "Stripperella" and Kelsey Grammer toon "Gary the Rat" is more murky, however. Both were pulled after about seven of 13 episodes aired. Mr. Kay said the remaining episodes will run in the first quarter of 2004 when The Strip returns, but the net has not yet decided whether to order a second season.
As for the new Spike TV programming, Mr. Kay said the network has about 18 animated projects in various stages of development. They include:
-- "Howard Stern: The Teenage Years:" A self-explanatory look at the shock jock in high school. The series is in the scripting and design stage. Mr. Stern will executive produce and may provide narration, but an actor will voice his character. No completion date is set. "We're trying to get to a point that Howard feels comfortable with it," Mr. Kay said.
-- "Zilch & Zero:" A John Leguizamo project about two slackers working in a video store who try to draw lessons from their favorite movies. "They're not so smart and use lessons that they learned from movies in their everyday lives with disastrous results," Mr. Kay said. The show is tentatively scheduled for next summer.
-- "The Immigrants:" Spike TV has ordered six episodes of the series from "Rugrats" producer Klasky Csupo. The show is a broad comedy about two tenement dwellers seeking success in their new country. It stars Eric McCormack and three-time "Simpsons" Emmy winner Hank Azaria. The series should debut in April or May.
Video game-related programming is another genre Spike TV is exploring with its upcoming Video Game Awards. Mr. Kay said one eventual goal of the network is to figure out how to cross-breed video game content and adult animation.
"We want to figure out how to use video games as a part of animation for a series that taps into what the experience is like," Mr. Kay said. "We're experimenting with found footage. I think it could be big."
from the NY Post
March 11, 2003
HOWARD Stern's high school years could end up being a TV show. And it will be a cartoon - honest.
The acerbic shock jock is in talks with TNN for an animated series that would focus on his high school years, according to the industry trade magazine Television Week.
Stern's tortured existence as a high school nerd has been a part of his on-air schtick for years, but this would be the first time outside of his radio show and the autobiographical film "Private Parts" that Stern would lend his voice to a new project.
The show is tentatively titled "Howard Stern: Teen Years" but he referred to it last week on his radio show as "Howard Stern The High School Years."
The show seems to be a good fit for TNN (The National Network) a cable channel that's now charged-up with pro-wrestling and loads of "Star Trek" repeats and has been struggling to redefine itself as something of a Lifetime channel for men 18-34.
Before changing its format, it was known for years as the country-western Nashville Network.
Much of Stern's regular radio show audience are men aged 18 to 34 years old.
If Stern's new show goes into production for TNN, it would the third adult-themed animated show headed for the cable channel.
TNN's other new toons Include shows featuring Kelsey Grammer and Pam ela Anderson and a revival of the '90s cult classic, "Ren & Stimpy."
Stern has apparently had TV on his mind lately. Last week he ranted that a reality flop on ABC (believed to be "Are You Hot?") was an idea that was stolen from his show.
from Electronic Media
March 10, 2003
Howard Stern is in talks for a new scripted series that would be seen on The New TNN.
It would be an animated show and focus on one of the subjects Mr. Stern refers to with regularity on his weekday nationally syndicated radio program: his tortured adolescence as a nerd. Mr. Stern could provide the voice for his self-titled character, and would likely executive produce as well.
Tentative titles for the new series include Howard Stern's High School Years and Howard Stern: The Teen Years.
Executives at The New TNN declined to comment; Mr. Stern and his agent, Don Buchwald, declined too.
Mr. Stern's radio show is immensely popular with men 18 to 34; coincidentally, that's a demo the New TNN, which is trying to build a heavily male-oriented schedule, is very interested in targeting.
The network, building on the strong animation-world connections of Nickelodeon, its sister cable network, also is making a strong push into original animated series aimed at adults.
Mr. Stern would be joining an animated roster that includes high-profile voice stars Kelsey Grammer and Pamela Anderson, both of whom have New TNN animated-series projects coming up.
Mr. Grammer will be the voice of Gary the Rat, an animated New York attorney so fiercely focused on winning the rat race that he becomes an actual rodent.
Ms. Anderson will be the voice of Stripperella, an animated series in development from Stan Lee (the co-creator of Spider-Man, among others) about a "stripper by night who is a superhero by later at night," as the network characterizes it.
Additionally, TNN is bringing back The Ren & Stimpy Show, animator John Kricfalusi's cult-hit cartoon series from the first half of the 1990s, about the comic (and often gross) misadventures of a chihuahua and a cat.
The network already has a strong male orientation with series such as Star Trek: The Next Generation and WWE Raw, the most-watched show on advertiser-supported cable, and its viewership is already approximately two-thirds male 18 to 49.
While Stern's radio show and the late-night TV version on E! Entertainment Television are problematic buys for many marketers, one buyer said depending on the content, the animated series could be much more advertiser friendly. Mr. Stern was also responsible for a now-canceled series on FX called Son of a Beach, but that show did not feature a Stern namesake.
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