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RUGRATS
CRAWL TO NEW HEIGHTS TO CELEBRATE 10TH ANNIVERSARY
Viewers' 10 All-Time
Favorite Episodes Will Comprise Rugrats Marathon, Saturday,
April 21, Preceding Kids' Choice Awards.
Time-Travelling Tots Will Be Tweens for a Day in Climactic Anniversary
Special, Saturday, July 21
Los
Angeles, CA - April 13, 2001
- A decade has flown by in a burp and a hiccup since Nickelodeon's
Rugrats debuted, and as the perennial babies scurry toward their
milestone 10th anniversary this year, they'll fill a tall programming
order with April's Rugrats marathon. Moreover, they'll grow to unprecedented
heights above rug level in July's one-hour, primetime anniversary
special, when the time-travelling tots will be tweens for a day.
"As the Rugrats turn 10, it is clear they are in a category all
their own. Seven years as the top-rated kids' show proves that this
unique property has staying power like no other," says Cyma Zarghami,
Executive Vice President and General Manager of Nickelodeon.
Rugrats' yearlong celebratory programming events include
telecasts of every episode of the series ever produced -- all will
air from January 1-March 31 -- and a special anniversary marathon
of viewers' all-time 10 favorites will be telecast Saturday,
April 21 (4:30-8 p.m. ET/PT). In a special online poll,
viewers are invited to rate the episodes by logging onto nick.com
every day in January, February and March and assigning each episode
from one-to-four ("just okay" to "the best") Reptar bars. Nick.com
will tally their top-ranking choices, and the 10 favorites will
comprise the April 21 Rugrats marathon, to be telecast with
the number one all-time favorite episode immediately preceding the
Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards (8 p.m. ET/PT).
The celebration climaxes with the hour-long primetime special on
Saturday, July 21, in which the diapered tots travel
10 years into the "foocher" with Tommy's time machine and become
"tweens" for a day. Audiences will have a one-time-only glimpse
above and beyond the playpen at Angelica, Chuckie, Tommy and the
whole gang, as they prepare to attend their first concert.
A home video titled "Decade in Diapers" -Rugrats' 10th Anniversary
Collector's Edition featuring kids' 10 favorite episodes -will be
available in stores this summer individually or as a two-volume
boxed set with a companion book version of the fantasy episode,
"All Growed Up." In addition, a third home video will feature the
"All Growed Up" episode.
Since premiering in 1991, Rugrats has emerged as a TV phenomenon
- the number-one-rated kids' program in all of television --and
a formidable franchise including two box office hits -The Rugrats
Movie and Rugrats in Paris --and a vast array of toys.
A three-time Emmy Award winner with an enormous following of kids
and adults, Rugrats finished its fourth straight year as
the highest rated kids program on broadcast and cable. In addition,
it has been the highest rated kids show on cable seven straight
years and is the highest rated property among all kids programs
for both Boys 2-11 and Girls 2-11. The most watched program on Nickelodeon,
Rugrats reaches a total of 26.7 million viewers each week.
This includes 14.7 million Kids 2-11, 3.2 million Teens 12-17, and
8.8 Persons 18+. In addition, Rugrats is seen internationally
in over 75 countries.
In November of 1998, the diapered tots made their feature film debut
in "The Rugrats Movie," which took the nation by storm by earning
the top box office gross during its opening weekend. This winter,
they headed overseas on a terrific new journey in "The Rugrats in
Paris: The Movie," another box-office smash from Paramount Pictures
and Nickelodeon Movies, which has earned more than $75 million domestically
to date.
Rugrats was created by Arlene Klasky, Gabor Csupo and Paul
Germain and is produced by Klasky-Csupo, Inc. for Nickelodeon, a
programming service of Viacom International Inc. The feature film
also is produced by Klasky and Csupo through their company at their
production headquarters in Los Angeles.
Nickelodeon, the number-one entertainment brand for kids, has built
a diverse, global business by putting kids first in everything it
does. The company includes television programming and production
in the United States and around the world, plus consumer products,
online, recreation, books, magazines and feature films. Nickelodeon's
U.S. television network is seen in more than 80 million households,
and has been the number-one-rated basic cable network for more than
five consecutive years. Nickelodeon and all related titles, characters
and logos are trademarks of Viacom International Inc.
MEDIA CONTACTS:
Lauren Sklar
Nickelodeon Communications
212/846-7653
Margo Zinberg
Nickelodeon Communications
310/752-8207
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