According to this official WB press release, the new Warner Bros. animated-somedy, "Baby Blues' (which airs Fridays at 8 and 8:30 p.m.) has shown ratings improvement over it's premiere episodes.  Here's what the p.r.
said:

"New Animated Comedy Ratings Up for Week-To-Week & In-the-Time-Period Season-To-Date Averages


BURBANK, CA (August 8, 2000) – The WB’s new animated comedy, BABY BLUES, showed nearly across-the-board ratings improvement in its second week on the air and improved on both of its time period season-to-date averages.


The 8:00 p.m. episode improved week-to-week from its premiere in adults 18-34, where it scored a 1.4/7, women 18-34 (1.5/6), men 18-34 (1.4/8), men
18-49 (1.0/5), persons 12-34 (1.5/7) and females 12-34 (1.5/7). BABY BLUES also achieved solid growth over the time period season-to-date average across key demographics. The episode made particularly strong gains versus the Friday 8:00 p.m. season average in the key male demos, growing +40% in rating among men 18-34 (1.4/8) as well as in men 18-49 (1.0/5). BABY BLUES was also up over the time slot season average among adults 18-34 (1.4/7), and built in rating over the S-T-D delivery among persons 12-34 (1.5/7). BABY BLUES ranked #3 in the time period among men 18-34, defeating ABC, NBC and UPN. The show also defeated the NBC MOVIE OF THE WEEK among adults 18-34 (1.4/7 vs. 1.0/5), persons 12-34 (1.5/7 vs. 0.9/5) and females 12-34 (1.5/7 vs. 1.3/6). BABY BLUES finished #2 in the 8:00 p.m. half-hour among male teens with a 1.5/8.


The 8:30 p.m. episode of BABY BLUES made double-digit percentage gains in nearly every demo versus it’s 8:30 p.m. debut a week ago. It was up
week-to-week an impressive 36% in women 18-34 (1.5/7) and 30% in women 18-49 (1.3/5). BABY BLUES also showed growth in adults 18-49 (1.1/5), better than the previous week, persons 12-34 (1.5/7) and females 12-34 (1.5/6). The episode also made improvements over the season-to-date time period average – posting growth among adults 18-34 (1.4/7), men 18-34 (1.3/7, up +30% in rating) and persons 12-34 (1.5/7). The 8:30 p.m. episode ranked #2 in its time slot among men 18-34 (1.3/7)."

Return of the Joker Update
Rembrandt
Thursday, August 10, 2000 9:37

Wednesday's Comics Continnum has an update on Batman Beyond: ROTJ.  The article contains information from Paul Dini, producer/writer of ROTJ.  Here's what it said:

"Paul Dini, producer/writer of the upcoming Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker direct-to-video movie, said that the flashback sequence takes up "not quite a fourth of the movie."

"It's an extensive chunk, which fills in a lot of the gaps," Dini said. "It answers a lot of questions. And it brings up some other questions."

Dini previewed the film at last weekend's Wizard World convention in Rosemont, Ill., with a short trailer put together by producer Bruce Timm that ends with Batman saying, "Let's dance, Bozo."

"There's some really cool stuff. There's some humor, there's some action and there's some real tragedy in there," Dini said. "It's sort of a big turning point in Batman's life and it explains the set up for why he became the man he did in Batman Beyond.

Dini said putting the movie together wasn't overly complicated.

"Glen (Murakami), Bruce (Timm) and I wrote the story last year," Dini said.
"We sat in a room for like two days. We came up with some ideas and by the end of two days, we had this really cool story and we pitched it to Alan Burnett, to get his blessing. And he liked it.

"Then I went home and spent six weeks writing it and we basically shot it. Other than a couple of notes here or there - Bruce thinking a scene is too long or to change this here or there - it's pretty much everything I wrote. I liked it an awful lot." 

Dini said he was scheduled to be part of a commentary track recording this week, part of the bonuses on the DVD.

"There's going to be two scenes that were cut just prior to animation, that didn't effect the story any; they just added a fair amount of background color," Dini said. "They are going to be included on the special material. The voices had been recorded. We shot it as a lycra reel, so we shot it from the storyboard and timed it as if it went to animation. And it's going to have music behind it. So these are going to be two lost sequences."

Dini said the animation for the film is being done by TMS. "They really are the best studio we've ever worked with, and they did a phenomenal job," Dini said.

In other Batman Beyond news:


The Continuum has obtained a first look at the cover for the comic-book adaptation of Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker by Craig Rousseau. The one-shot is written by Darren Vincenzo.

The "Ace in the Hole" episode, which kicks off Batman Beyond's third season, will air on Kids' WB! on Saturday, Aug. 19 at 10:30 a.m. (ET)."