HOLLYWOOD, Calif. (March 26, 2019) – The Jim Henson Company announced today that several top broadcasters around the globe will be airing the latest episodes of the Company’s award-winning pre-school series.
Spain’s TV3 and Ireland’s TG4 have acquired season five (22 x 11’ episodes) of the six-time EMMY®-nominated and Parents’ Choice Silver Honor animated series Dinosaur Train, that will begin rolling out in the U.S. in summer 2019 on PBS KIDS. TV3 has also acquired the rights to seasons one through four. Celebrating a momentous milestone of 100 half-hour episodes, the new season of Dinosaur Train continues the exploration of natural science with Buddy the T-Rex and his adoptive family of Pteranodons. Together they visit different climates, go underground, under the sea, and even up in the air in their search for the new and unknown, making new dinosaur and even non-dinosaur friends along the way!
Australia’s ABC, France’s Piwi+, Spain’s TV3 and Ireland’s TG4 have acquired season two of Parents’ Choice Silver Honor Award-winner Dot. (26 x 11’), based on the popular children’s book by Randi Zuckerberg. Season two launched in the U.S. in October 2018 on Universal Kids, NBCUniversal’s Cable Entertainment network for kids 2-11, and CBC in Canada. Season one of the series has also recently been acquired by TV3 and India’s Viacom 18. Children around the world join Dot and her friends as they embark on tech-fueled adventures to satisfy their imaginations, curiosities and latest passions and use any tool or technology that will help enhance their play and exploration.
Additionally, Germany’s KIKA has acquired season two of Doozers; and India’s Viacom18 has acquired season one of the series. Doozers, a CG animated Hulu Original, features the wildly popular characters from the classic Henson series Fraggle Rock. With Doozers, preschoolers learn about design thinking, making eco-friendly choices, becoming more aware of their surroundings, and understanding how things work.
“We are celebrating the launch of these engaging properties with our international media partners,” commented Claudia Scott-Hansen, Senior Vice President, Global Distribution, The Jim Henson Company. “The Jim Henson Company is renowned as a trusted world-wide brand and our partners know that these acclaimed titles will engage children, spark imagination, inspire learning, and appeal to parents everywhere.”
Dinosaur Train, created by Craig Bartlett (Hey Arnold!), is produced by The Jim Henson Company and co-produced with Singapore animation company Sparky Animation with the participation and assistance of the Singapore Media Development Authority. The series is executive produced by Craig Bartlett as well as Lisa Henson and Halle Stanford for The Jim Henson Company.
Doozers is produced by The Jim Henson Company, with Lisa Henson and Halle Stanford serving as executive producers, along with Canada’s DHX Media, which provided production and animation services for the series, with Anne Loi and Josh Scherba serving as Executive Producers.
Dot. is the first animated show for New York Times best-selling author Randi Zuckerberg and was born from her passion of motivating and inspiring young girls to develop an early love and appreciation for technology, math and sciences. Dot. is produced by Industrial Brothers in association with The Jim Henson Company and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC). Matthew Fernandes, Arthur Spanos and Tammy Semen, of Industrial Brothers, Lisa Henson and Halle Stanford of The Jim Henson Company, and Randi Zuckerberg serve as Executive Producers.
ABOUT THE JIM HENSON COMPANY
The Jim Henson Company has remained an established leader in family entertainment for over 60 years and is recognized worldwide as an innovator in puppetry, animatronics and digital animation. Best known as creators of the world-famous Muppets, Henson has received over 50 Emmy Awards and nine Grammy Awards. Recent credits include Dot. (Universal Kids /Hulu), Word Party (Netflix), and Doozers (Hulu/ Sprout), and the Emmy®-nominated Splash and Bubbles (PBS), Julie’s Greenroom (Netflix), Sid the Science Kid (PBS), Dinosaur Train (PBS), and Pajanimals (Universal Kids). Television productions include Fraggle Rock, The Storyteller and the sci-fi cult series Farscape. Features include Sony Pictures Animation’s The Star and Disney’s Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day, as well as The Dark Crystal, Labyrinth, MirrorMask, and Jim Henson’s Turkey Hollow. The Company is currently in production on the upcoming Netflix original series The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance and Guillermo Del Toro’s Pinocchio (Netflix).
With additional locations in New York and London, The Jim Henson Company is headquartered in Los Angeles on the historic Charlie Chaplin lot, complete with soundstage and post production facilities. The Company is home to Jim Henson’s Creature Shop™, a pre-eminent character-building and visual effects group with international film, television, theme park and advertising clients, as well as Henson Recording Studios, one of the music industry’s top recording facilities known for its world-class blend of state-of-the-art and vintage equipment. The Company’s Henson Alternative brand recently premiered The Curious Creations of Christine McConnell (Netflix) and is currently touring Puppet-Up! – Uncensored, a live puppet improvisational show. Its feature The Happytime Murders, starring Melissa McCarthy, was released last summer.
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