• Check out this preview page for the upcoming Animaniacs movie "Wakko's Wish" [no longer available].

• Batman Beyond is coming to Canada! Check out the newest issue of Batman: The Animated Newsletter for more info.

• WB Animation did very well at the Daytime Emmy Awards this year, winning four statuettes. Pinky & The Brain won for "Outstanding Special Class -- Animated Program", Rob Paulsen won for "Outstanding Performer in an Animated Program" as the voice of Pinky, Animaniacs won "Outstanding Achievement in Music Direction and Composition", and The New Batman/Superman Adventures won for "Outstanding Sound Mixing -- Special Class". Click here for a complete list of winners.

• In other awards news, CornyDog reports the following:
  
  BMI, the performing rights organization, Wednesday evening honored the composers and songwriters of the music in the top-grossing films of the year and the top-rated prime-time and daytime network television shows at its annual Film & Television Awards dinner. These are the awards given to animaniacs:
  
  Daytime outstanding musical achievement: Julie Bernstein "Steven Spielberg Presents Animaniacs"; Steve Bernstein "Steven Spielberg Presents Animaniacs"; Richard Stone "Steven Spielberg Presents Animaniacs"

• The "Animaniacs Super Special" which aired two weekends ago helped boost Kids' WB's ratings, thanks to the Star Wars spoof "Star Warners". Click here [no longer available] for more info from Ultimate TV. For those of you who are curious about the complete credits listing for the "Star Warners" episode, click here [no longer available] for the credits as transcribed by James, from an airing of the episode outside of the USA.

• Click here for the list of cartoons airing on this year's "June Bugs" on Cartoon Network.

• The Animation World Network recently reported that three new Looney Tunes movies are being planned, including one that will star the Tiny Toons. Click here for the story.

• Click here to take a look at the cover of the recently released Animaniacs compilation CD "The Animaniacs Go Hollywood". Thanks to CornyDog for the pic.

• ZENtertainment has reported that this fall Pokémon will be airing on weekday mornings, as well as weekday afternoons. Thanks to Eddie Beiles for this news.

• Rhino Records slipped a few interesting titles onto their upcoming releases page, including a "Batman Beyond Soundtrack" to be released on August 17th. Thanks to Jon for this news.

• Vincent, who has contributed much news to this site over the past few months, recently e-mailed me three updates on the status of the upcoming WB prime-time animated series "Baby Blues" and "The Downtowners":
  
  Update #1
  
  Previously this week, I emailed the makers of "Baby Blues", from their "email us" section on their official website, Baby Blues Homepage. I have got some replies from them. I have been told by Jerry Scott, one of the makers of the "Baby Blues" comic strip and the new show, that the show will be family oriented, there will be jokes that kids, teenagers, as well as, adults get. I have also received email from webmistress@babyblues.com  (Beth, Baby Blues Webmistress), which included this message, that you may include on your site, as well as the information about it being family oriented:
  
  "We're in production on a prime-time animated TV series based on the comic strip. It will be airing in the Fall of next year. Right now we have a series commitment for 13 shows, including a Christmas special December of 1999. We've just seen the rough cut of the special, and we think it's going to be a lot of fun.
  
  "As for the voices, Darryl is Mike O'Malley (for those ESPN fans, he's 'the Rick') Wanda is played by Julia Sweeney formerly of SNL. Nicole Sullivan (Mad TV) plays a teenage babysitter added for the series. The show has been fleshed out  with a full neighborhood, including next door neighbors that figure in a lot of the action. Joel Murray (Dharma & Greg) plays one of the neighbors and Arabella Fields (Godzilla) plays his wife. Deidrich Bader (The Drew Carey Show) plays one of  Darryl's co-workers. Kath Soucie (Rugrats) plays two of their children. E.G. Daly (Rugrats) plays the voice of Zoe. Some of our guest voices include Steven Weber (Wings, The Shining), Dan Cortese (Veronica's Closet) and Bob Costas. The day and air-dates have not  been decided, but we'll let you know!
  
  "We're hard at work on the scripts, artwork, recording and animation. Check back here to find out the dates and times of the show in your area. Go to  http://www.babyblues.com/junk_drawer/wbtv.html to catch up on all the latest news."
  
  Update #2
  
  The WB Network has announced it's fall schedule today, which you can find at various sites, like Ultimate TV, and the Associated Press as well as others. On it, notably, the long awaited animated show from former "Simpsons" writers, "Downtowners." The show will air Fridays at 9:00 pm, in a new WB comedy block. "Baby Blues" wasn't on the fall schedule, but it expected mid-season. I received an email from Jerry Scott, who writes on "Baby Blues."
  
  ".......We don't have official word yet. They're (The WB Network) supposed to call us this week and let us know what timeslot they've selected. Rumors are that we'll be moved to mid-season because we only have 13 episodes, and a fall premiere would put at least 9 months between the first group of shows and any new episodes ordered for fall 2000 {it takes 9 months to do an episode start to finish.}
  
  Stay tuned!
  
  Jerry Scott
  Baby Blues"
  
  Update #3
  
  My WB local affiliate WPIX (WB11 New York) has a Sneak Peek at Fall '99 for the WB Network. Since you cover WB Animation, you might wanna check out their Baby Blues and  The Downtowners pages, which both will now air on the WB next season. "The Downtowners" will air Fridays at 9:00 pm, and "Baby Blues" will definitely now air mid-season, which a Christmas special already developed. "Baby Blues," has no official timeslot that I know of, but will might air for the launch of another new night for the WB, Saturday, which is planned for 2000, or for a failed show. So, these two new animated shows look for very promising, so check them out.

• Check out the Press Releases page and The Comic Book Continuum for lots more miscellaneous stuff from the past month.

Many thanks to Vincent for continuously sending me news; most of what you see on this page came from him.

May 12, 1999

• This weekend's Histeria is "Americana", replacing the previously scheduled "Episode #31". Segments include: "Pledge of Allegiance," "Symbol of Our Country," "Political Animals," "Plymouth Acres," "Carry Nation" and "Strange Coincidences."
  
  WB has again changed it's mind about the airing of the remaining Histeria episodes. The season finale will be on May 29th. The rest of the episodes will be saved for next season, with the exception of a special space exploration episode, which will air around the time of the 30th Anniversary of the first lunar landing in July.