AG, DIC team to build CBS kids block
 

AG Properties, the entertainment and licensing arm of American Greetings, and kids media firm DIC Entertainment, have signed a deal to launch educational programming on CBS's Saturday morning block.

The US network's Saturday morning line-up will showcase an all-new animated Care Bears series, as well as new animated series Sushi Pack and successful girls animation Strawberry Shortcake.

Both Care Bears (52x11') and Strawberry Shortcake (26x22') will target children aged between four and eight, while Sushi Pack will skew higher to children aged 6–11. All three series are scheduled to launch on CBS in September.

"We bringing the new look of Care Bears to another generation of kids, as well as introducing the brand new Sushi Pack and showcasing our timeless Strawberry Shortcake through this new programming,” said Jeffrey Conrad, senior VP of creative for AG Properties.

"The initial feedback to the new, updated look of Care Bears has been overwhelmingly positive, and Sushi Pack has the potential to be a breakthrough property for us, with its unique style, adventure and sense of humour."

Jeffrey Edell, president at DIC, said the new series of Strawberry Shortcake will complement DIC's existing programming line-up this fall on CBS, "and offer our viewers a broader range of programming options from preschool to tween.”

New comedy/action animation Sushi Pack (52x11'), coproduced by AG and DIC, follows five crime-fighting pieces of sushi that protect Wharf City from over-the-top diabolical villains. The series is created by Tom Ruegger and Nicholas Hollander, the writers/producers behind Animaniacs, Tiny Toon Adventures and Pinky & the Brain.

It sounds like some crappy shows, but I'm happy to hear that more cartoons might be returning to mainstream network tv. We have not seen that since the 80s, and it's slow demise in the 90s, to total death in the 2000s.