Big Weekend for Small-Screen Toons

While Finding Nemo was the center of attention this past weekend, two small-screen toons also managed to get the limelight from audiences.

Nickelodeon unveiled the second season of ChalkZone, the well-conceived series created by Larry Huber and Bill Burnett and executive produced by Fred Seibert. The show centers on the adventures of a boy cartoonist named Rudy Tabootie who has a magic chalk that allows him to visit the land of erased blackboard drawings. The new season introduced the recurring character of Vinnie Raton (voiced by Rob Paulson), a nasty land developer who is determined to ruin the whimsical land of drawings. Chalkzone airs Fridays at 9:30 p.m, following the powerhouse line-up of SpongeBob SpuarePants, Jimmy Neutron and The Fairly OddParents.

Meanwhile, a toon of a completely different kind bowed on femme-oriented cable outlet Oxygen. Hey Monie, a show about the lives and loves of two African American professional women in the big city airs Saturdays at 1 p.m.

Voiced by Second City alumni Angela Shelton and Frances Callier, the toon began its life as a short on Oxygen’s X-Chromosome. Oxygen partnered with BET and Soup2Nuts to turn the short into a series this summer. Based in Watertown, Mass., Soup2Nuts has produced such innovative animated series as Dr. Katz: Professional Therapist, Squigglevision, Home Movies and The Dick and Paula Celebrity Show. For more information, visit http://www.oxygen.com/ and www.soup2nuts.tv.