Well, it seems that KIDS WB is going to be given ANIMANIACS fans what they've asked for for Christmas! Comic Cook Continuum has an articl eon KIDSWB holiday schedule, including a week of new ANIMANIACS episodes in preparation for the release of WAKKO'S WISH!
See it here.

---Dick Grayson

Collectible News: BB at BK
Thu Dec 9 12:48:00 1999

McDonald's has Disney for their toys; Burger King, apparently, has the WB. Here's the story from www.comicscontinuum.com:

Burger King's promotion with Batman Beyond toys begins on Jan. 3.

There will be eight toys available with Kids Meals and Big Kids Meals; Burger King is advertising toys will based on Batman, Inque, Blight and a member of the Jokerz.

The promotion will last four weeks.

Yeah baby! I would much, much rather have an Inque than Batman in yet another altered costume or Jokerz member #472. I've got room at work for more random knick-knacks... then again, I'm already frightening my co-workers with the Harley action figure and the Batman beanie baby I've got on display.

Oh yeah, they also mentioned news on some other toys they're currently hawking:

Burger King's current promotion with another Kids' WB! property, Pokémon, has been highly successful. Burger King has announced that it will be distributing to its restaurants full-size sheets of Pokémon trading cards to address temporary spot shortages of toys.

The "Master Trainer Collector Set" of cards come on 20 different sheets, with nine cards to a sheet and will begin appearing this week at participating U.S. and Canadian Burger King restaurants.

While company officials stressed that toys are being delivered ahead of schedule to restaurants, the overwhelming demand for the property is straining supply. One Trading Card sheet will be included in each Kids Club meal, at participating restaurants that are awaiting their next Pokémon toy shipment.

Hm, interesting. BTW, did you know that if you order something from the Warner Brothers studio store, they kick in a free Poke-card? Yup. And if you do it right, you can sell it for $5-10 on internet auctions... that's what I'm doing, anyway.

Hatter

New TTA Playstation Game Reviewed
Wed Dec 8 12:06:23 1999

psx.ign.com/reviews/13548.html.

Apparently, they think Toonenstein is a good game, if aimed at the littler kids. The plot: Furball must prevent Elmyra from sucking Plucky and Hamton's brains out. They say that there's good animation in there, and makes for a decent rent.

Also, they note that Billy West does the voice of Hamton... I wonder how close it is to Don's?

Just thought I'd slip that in before I head back to work.

Hatter

KWB Ratings Update
Tue Dec 7 17:51:31 1999

Take from the official press release:

"KIDS’ WB! CAPTURES FINAL SATURDAY OF NOVEMBER SWEEPS AMONG ALL SATURDAY MORNING COMPETITION IN KIDS 2-11, KIDS 6-11, BOYS 2-11 And BOYS 6-11

BURBANK, CA — For the final Saturday of the highly competitive November sweeps ratings period, Kids’ WB! (4.1/19) captured the morning of Saturday, November 27, taking the #1 spot among all Saturday competition in Kids 2-11, Kids 6-11 (4.6/22), Boys 2-11 (5.4/25) and Boys 6-11 (6.4/29). The network ranked #1 among the broadcast competition in Girls 6-11 (2.7/13) and Girls 2-11 (2.7/13), tying ABC in that demo. The network defeated Nickelodeon’s 4-hour "Catdog" marathon (3.8/18), ABC (2.4/12) and Fox Kids (2.2/10) among Kids 2-11. Kids’ WB! continues to lead the Saturday morning competition season-to-date, delivering a 4.2/18 twelve-week rating/share average among Kids 2-11, while Nickelodeon averages a 4.1/18, Fox Kids a 2.9/12 and ABC a 2.8/13.


Pokémon continues to rank as the #1 program for the morning with a 7.3/29 rating/share among Kids 2-11 in the 10:00 a.m. time period. The series also topped all Saturday competition in Kids 6-11 (8.0/32), Boys 2-11 (9.7/38) and Boys 6-11 (11.6/44). At 8:30 a.m./ET, Pokémon ranked #1 for the time period with a 5.1/29 among Kids 2-11, Kids 6-11 (6.3/37), Boys 2-11 (7.1/39), Boys 6-11 (8.9/47), Girls 2-11 (3.0/18) and Girls 6-11 (3.6/24). The series ranked as the #2 program for the morning, behind its 10:00 a.m. broadcast, among all Saturday competition.


Additional Kids’ WB! Saturday morning program highlights include:


At 9:30 a.m./ET, Men In Black delivered a 4.9/21 among Kids 2-11 to rank as the #3 program for the morning. The series dominated all time period competition among Kids 6-11 (5.6/24), Boys 2-11 (6.7/28) and Boys 6-11 (8.3/35).
The New Batman/Superman Adventures posted a 2.5/21 among Kids 2-11, ranking #1 among all 8:00 a.m./ET time period competition, including cable. The series also dominated the time slot in Kids 6-11 (3.2/28), Boys 2-11 (3.7/29), Boys 6-11 (4.4/33) and Girls 6-11 (2.0/20).

Batman Beyond, in its 9:00 a.m./ET time period, delivered a 3.9/17 among Kids 2-11, Kids 6-11 (4.3/20) and Boys 2-11 (5.3/23) to top all time period competition.

Men In Black ranked #1 for the 10:30 a.m./ET time period among all competition in Kids 2-11 (3.7/15), Boys 2-11 (4.5/18) and Boys 6-11 (5.4/22).

Detention posted a 2.7/12 among Kids 2-11 and Kids 6-11, Boys 2-11 (3.4/15) and Boys 6-11 (3.7/16) to rank #1 among the 11:00 a.m./ET time period broadcast competition.

For the third full week of the November Sweeps, November 22-26, Kids’ WB!’s Thanksgiving holiday week line-up delivered a 2.3/14 among Kids 2-11, Kids 6-11 (2.7/16), Boys 2-11 (3.1/18) and Boys 6-11 (3.7/22). The network beat Nickelodeon’s (2.2/15) and Fox Kids’ (1.9/10) morning (7:00-8:00 AM/ET) and afternoon (3:00-5:00 PM) blocks. Pokémon led the week among all competition, taking the top two spots for the week among Kids 2-11 with a 4.0/20 in its 4:00 p.m. time slot and a 3.5/31 in its 7:00 a.m./ET time period. Batman Beyond, (M-W-F) and Men In Black (T & TH) weekday average posted a 2.2/10 among Kids 2-11 to rank among the top ten programs for the week."

---Rembrant

Sounds like a "Variety" headline...

Found this while making my occasional visit to Ron "Keeper" O'Dell's site, since he occasionally updates...it's a fairly old news item, and some of you may have seen it, but for those who haven't, I figured it might make for a decent source for on-topic discussion (whatever that is...).

"The order for new episodes of The Sylvester & Tweety Mysteries was only five. These five episodes were for the first time animated on computer. Only the backgrounds were drawn by hand, then scanned. Producer Tom Minton's new project, which I can't describe or name until Warner Bros. officially announces it (which may be several months), will be done entirely on computer. Following that, Batman Beyond is expected to go completely digital as well. This news may be of interest to cel collectors. Should that series enjoy a long run, cels of it would be rather rare, and perhaps (this is my own speculation) considered especially valuable because of the abandonment of traditional celluloid animation partway through its run."

Hm...personally, as neat as digital animation looks, I never like to see tradition methods abandoned in favor of the easier, slicker-looking way...wonder why S&TM was chosen as the first to make the jump (esp. considering that it's pretty much done in a more, "traditional" style, from what I can tell...

-C
Feels like braking into song...dunno why...it comes and goes...

Pokémon: The THIRD Marketing Blitz
Mon Dec 6 11:50:11 1999

Yup, there's a third movie in the works, over in Japan. Sounds like this one is set in the gold/silver epoch, but it looks like Ash is in it. I thought Ash wasn't in the gold/silver series? Never mind, trying to make sense of Pokémon makes my head hurt.

The cut n' pasted info below is from ign.com. Looks like Pokémon could be one of those fads that lingers on and on long after it's ceased to be popular, ala Power Rangers. Then again, for all the griping we do about the WB execs, they look like the Brain compared to Haim Saban, so maybe not.

---Hatter

Just when you thought it was safe to go back to the movies, that scary yellow electric rat's raised his head again. Although Toy Story 2 blew it out of the water weeks later, Pokémon: The First Movie grossed more than $50 million in its first weekend, which prompted Warner Brothers announcement of the second movie, arriving this summer. But if that weren't enough, Nintendo's begun production on movie number three.

Announced yesterday in Japan, "Emperor in the Crystal Tower" or "Lord of the Unknown Tower" (depending on the translation) has just begun production, and will ready for Japanese audiences this summer. The story's about Ash going to investigate Greenfield Island, and the Crystal Tower that rests on it, built by a girl's imagination. Of course, what would a Pokémon movie be without a brand new Pokémon? No name, no number. It just looks really cool.

And, as usual, there's a Pokémon short before the movie. This one is called "Pikachu's Birthday Party." Guess you can tell what this one's all about, hmmm?

In any case, with Pokémon Gold & Silver scheduled for a Fall US release, you can bet you'll be seeing the movie around that time, too.

Ratings Records
Fri Dec 3 16:07:56 1999

Kids WB! won for the 20th consecutive weak with record tieing ratings from Pokémon. Not to mention, big ratings from Batman Beyond and MIB: The Series. Click here to go to the official press release. If you don't feel like clicking there, here's what the press release had to say: Pokémon Ties Its Record-High Rating
Nov 29, 1999



Pokémon TIES ITS RECORD-HIGH RATING AMONG KIDS 2-11 TO RANK #1 THIRD SATURDAY OF NOVEMBER SWEEPS

KIDS’ WB! POSTS HIGHEST RATING AMONG KIDS 2-11 FOR REGULAR SCHEDULED PROGRAMMING


Network Weekday Line-Up Delivers Third-Highest Rating To Rank #1 Among Kids 2-11


BURBANK, CA — On Saturday, November 20, Pokémon tied its all-time record-high rating with a 7.9/26 among Kids 2-11, ranking as the #1 program for the morning and topping Nickelodeon’s 4-hour "Rugrats" marathon. In its 10:30 a.m./ET time period, the series also ranked #1 among all Saturday morning competition in Kids 6-11 (9.6/32), Boys 2-11 (10.9/33) and Boys 6-11 (13.0/40).


For the third Saturday of the November Sweeps, Kids’ WB! delivered a 4.6/18 among Kids 2-11, posting its highest rating in that demographic for regular scheduled programming. Among Kids 2-11, The network ranked #1 among the broadcast competition for the twentieth consecutive week, winning every half-hour it programmed and beating ABC (3.1/13) and Fox Kids (2.5/10); while Nickelodeon posted a 5.6/22 for the morning. Kids’ WB! ranked #1 among all Saturday competition, including cable, in Boys 2-11 (6.1/23) and Boys 6-11 (7.2/26). Season-to-date, the network continues to lead the Saturday morning competition among Kids 6-11 (5.0/22), Boys 2-11 (6.0/24) and Boys 6-11 (7.5/29). Among Kids 2-11, Kids’ WB! delivered a 4.2/18 eleven-week average, tying Nickelodeon, while Fox Kids averages a 2.9/13 and ABC a 2.8/13. Season-to-date, Kids’ WB! continues to be the only kids’ network to post rating/share growth versus last year in every single key Kids demo.


In its 8:30 a.m./ET time period, Pokémon ranked #1 in the time slot among Kids 2-11 (6.2/26) and Kids 6-11 (7.5/30), posting its highest-ever ratings in those key demos and in Girls 2-11 (3.6/16). The series also beat all competition with its second-highest rating among Boys 2-11 (8.7/34) and Boys 6-11 (11.2/42).


At 9:00 a.m./ET, Batman Beyond, ranked #1 for the time slot among the broadcast competition in Kids 2-11 (4.8/16) and Kids 6-11 (5.6/19), and beat all competition, including cable, in Boys 2-11 (6.9/25) and Boys 6-11 (8.3/29.


Men In Black, at 9:30 a.m./ET, posted a 4.6/15 among Kids 2-11 to top all broadcast time period competition. The series dominated all time period competition, including cable, among Boys 6-11 (7.7/25) and Boys 2-11 (6.5/20), tying Nickelodeon’s "Rugrats" (6.5/21). In its 10:30 a.m./ET time period, Men In Black ranked #1 for the time slot among the broadcast competition among Kids 2-11 (4.2/16) and Kids 6-11 (4.5/17), and beat all time period competition among Boys 2-11 (5.6/20) and Boys 6-11 (5.7/21).


For the second full week of the November Sweeps, November 15-19, Kids’ WB!’s weekday line-up delivered its third highest rating/share among Kids 2-11 (2.7/16), Kids 6-11 (3.1/20), Boys 2-11 (3.8/22) and Boys 6-11 (4.5/28). The network beat

Nickelodeon’s (2.1/15) and Fox Kids’ (2.0/11) morning (7:00-8:00 AM/ET) and afternoon (3:00-5:00 PM) blocks. Pokémon led the week among all competition, taking the top two spots for the week among Kids 2-11 with a 4.9/24 in its 4:00 p.m. time period and a 4.5/32 in its 7:00 a.m./ET time period. Batman Beyond, (M-W-F) and Men In Black (T & TH) weekday average posted a 2.5/12 among Kids 2-11, tying Fox Kids’ "Power Rangers Lost Galaxy," to rank #3 for the week.

---Rembrant

Some Poke-News
Thu Dec 2 00:03:09 1999

A THIRD Pokémon movie, 'Lord of the Unknown Tower', is in production and scheduled for a summer '00 release in Japan. I think the American version of 'The Explosive Birth of Revelation-Lugia' (let's call it 'Pokémon: The Second Movie') is supposed to come out then too.

Also, there's a new theme song for the Orange Islands episodes now airing in Canada and Pokémon has 2 mentions in the new Guiness Book of World Records. I believe the tv show has held the record for causing the most seizures for at least a year, and it also is noted for "Pocket Pikachu" being the best-selling fitness(?) game.

---Kojiro