Nickelodeon has given the green light to Mighty B, an animated series from Saturday Night Live cast member Amy Poehler. When she’s not helming SNL‘s Weekend Update desk, Poehler will be lending her voice to the new toon show, which will contribute to the 125 new episodes slated to make up Nickelodeon’s 2007/2008 season. Fans can also look forward to new installments of SpongeBob SquarePants, El Tigre: The Adventures of Manny Rivera and Tak and the Power of Juju. All four shows are Nicktoons Productions and are produced at the Nicktoons Studios in Burbank, CA.
Created by Poehler, along with Fairly OddParents staff writer Cynthia True and Emmy-nominated SpongeBob storyboard artist Erik Wiese, Mighty B is a comedy series that revolves around Bessie Higgenbottom, the world’s most ambitious 10-year-old ‘Honeybee’ scout. Though many patches adorn her well-worn uniform, many still elude her and she will stop at nothing until she has every last one.
‘Bessie represents the ever-optimistic spaz, who believes she can grow up to be a rock star, actress, politician and brain surgeon all at the same time,’ says Poehler. ‘And as a person who knows absolutely nothing about animation, I am thrilled to be in such great hands over at Nickelodeon. I can’t wait to find out how they make those cool little people move around.’
Nickelodeon has ordered 20 episodes of Mighty B and plans to premiere the series in 2008. The network is also busy producing 13 new episodes of SpongeBob SquarePants, taking the world-famous cartoon series into its sixth season. Voice cast members Tom Kenny, Bill Fagerbakke, Rodger Bumpass, Clancy Brown and Carolyn Lawrence will all be back for more Bikini Bottom shenanigans in the show from creator/exec producer Stephen Hillenburg.
The network has committed to another seven episodes of its original series El Tigre: The Adventures of Manny Rivera, bringing the total order to 20. The series stars Alanna Ubach (Meet the Fockers, Legally Blonde) as the voice of 13-year-old Manny Rivera, who must choose to become a great superhero like his father, or a feared super-villain like his Granpapi, voiced by Carlos Alazraqui (Happy Feet, Reno 911). As El Tigre, Manny has inherited the power, both good and bad, that runs through his family and finds himself stuck in the middle of a comical morality play. The series is created by Mexican-born husband and wife team Jorge Gutierrez and Sandra Equihua and will premiere on Nickelodeon on March 2, 2007.
Tak and the Power of Juju will also go to 20 episodes with the order of an additional five installments. Based on THQ’s video game series, the CG-animated show stars Hal Sparks (Celebrity Duets, Talk Soup) as the voice of Tak, who uses his Juju staff to perform magic and summon the outrageous and colorful Jujus, who always further complicate his plight and turn his world upside down. The series also features the voice fo Patrick Warburton (Seinfeld, The X’s) and will premiere in September of 2007.
