Nickelodeon announces 2010/11 slate

March 11, 2010 by Lana Castleman

Held this morning at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York, top-ranked kidsnet Nickelodeon unveiled its 2010/11 slate at its annual advertising upfront presentation.

Joining new seasons of 16 returning series on Nickelodeon US, including iCarly, SpongeBob SquarePants and preschool outing Team Umizoomi, are six new shows. While an additional five new series will debut across diginets TeenNick, Nick Jr. and Nicktoons.

As for the new series, US Nickelodeon viewers will get a look-see at:

• House of Anubis (working title) from Belgium’s Studio 100, the first live-action Nick show ever produced in Europe. The long-form mystery series set at an English boarding school migrated from Nick Holland.

• Victorious, from Sony Music and live-action hitmaker Dan Schneider, follows Tori Vega as she navigates her way through an elite performing arts high school. It’s set to debut on March 27, right after the 23rd edition of Nick’s Kids’ Choice Awards.

• Nick’s dipped into the DreamWorks vault again, this time it’s pulled out Kung Fu Panda: The Series. Based on the DreamWorks animated feature, the series keeps portly panda Po at the center of the comedy-driven action.

• Planet Sheen, meanwhile, is an intergalactic tale of an attention-span-challenged kid who crash lands on Zeenu and tries to find his way back to Earth. From the creator of Jimmy Neutron.

• T.U.F.F. Puppy is the latest toon from Butch Hartman, and thrusts dim-witted dog Dudley Puppy into the role of hero when he’s recruited to join a super secret crime fighting organization. It’s being produced at Nickelodeon Animation Studios in Burbank.

• Bubble Guppies is a new CGI outing for the preschool set that takes place in an underwater classroom and encourages viewer discovery.

On the diginets, look out for:

• Gigantic, a series from Reveille, the company that brought NBC the US version of The Office. This one will air on TeenNick and take a fictional look at the chaotic lives of a cast of Hollywood ‘it’ kids.

• On Nicktoons, there’s Voltron Panthera Force, which chronicles the exploits of five cadets fighting evil forces. It’s produced by World Events Production in conjunction with Kick Start Production.

• Nicktoons will also debut Dragon Ball Z Kai, the latest outing in the long-running Funimation Entertainment property.

• And it’s not surprising after Nick’s acquisition of those heroes in a half shell that they are getting an outing on Nicktoons. The 4Kids Entertainment/Mirage Studios co-pro Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles will debut later this year.

• At Nick Jr., look for Sinking Ship’s Dino Dan, a new preschool series that places paleontologist-in-training Dan in a world where dinosaurs roam freely.

As for other re-ups, The Penguins of Madagascar, The Fairly Odd Parents, Dora the Explorer, Go, Diego, Go!, The Wonder Pets and The Backyardigans will all be back with new seasons.