“Dexter’s Laboratory” Premiere Scheduled on Cartoon Network, TBS Superstation, TNT
[via press release – original release date uncertain]
DEXTER’S LABORATORY First World Premiere Toons Breakout Star To Be Expanded Into Series Debuting April 27, 1996
Dexter’s Laboratory, the first breakout cartoon star from the World Premiere Toons project, will now be expanded into a new half-hour series, to air on three of the Turner entertainment networks—Cartoon Network, TBS Superstation and TNT, beginning Saturday, April 27. Airdates and times are as follows (all times are ET):
TNT: Saturdays beginning April 27 @ 6:00 p.m.
TBS: Sundays beginning April 28 @ 9:30 a.m. and 5:05 p.m.
Cartoon Network: Sundays @ 3:30 p.m., Wednesdays @ 8:30 p.m. and Saturdays @ 9:30 a.m. and 8:30 p.m.
Dexter’s Laboratory, created by 26-year-old Genndy Tartakovsky (2 Stupid Dogs, The Critic, Tiny Toons, Batman, the Animated Series), is about Dexter, the boy genius who creates inventions in his huge bedroom-laboratory. Six of the new episodes will be paired with a Dexter’s spin-off, Dial M For Monkey, also created by Tartakovsky, as well as Craig McCracken (The Powerpuff Girls) and Paul Rudish (Super Secret Secret Squirrel). The star of Dial M For Monkey is, of course, “Monkey,” a superpowered, crime-fighting chimp who sets out to save the world when Dexter isn’t looking.
The highest-rated World Premiere Toons short to debut on Cartoon Network’s World Premiere Toons program, Dexter’s Laboratory has become the first breakout cartoon star of the year-old series. Series director Tartakovsky’s cartoon was one of 48 new, seven-minute animated shorts to be introduced on Cartoon Network over the next several years.
Dexter’s Laboratory becomes the first World Premiere Toons short to be taken to the next level, thanks to a system set up by Hanna-Barbera and Cartoon Network, to evaluate and elicit feedback from viewers worldwide. Information was gathered through focus groups, 1-800 phone lines, Cartoon Network’s America Online bulletin board, and this summer’s consumer promotions, which included a 10-city Dive-In Theater tour and traveling Cool Toons Mobile. The television industry also recognized
Dexter’s Laboratory, honoring it with a 1995 primetime Emmy Award nomination for “Outstanding Animated Program.” Tartakovsky will return the favor to fans of the show by participating in an America Online discussion following the Cartoon Network’s April 28 debut.
“We have discovered a huge talent in Dexter’s creator, Genndy Tartakovsky,” says Fred Seibert, president of Hanna-Barbera, Inc. “The World Premiere Toons project is the only venue both new and experienced artists have to create their own cartoons. There is no other animation studio where this could have happened, and it is a testimony to how we are re-defining the way in which people view cartoons.”
“The development of Dexter’s Laboratory into a series is a perfect example of how we’re making good on our original promise to use these World Premiere Toons, shorts, along with viewer feedback, to develop the cartoon stars of tomorrow,” said Betty Cohen, President of Cartoon Network Worldwide. “Our hope is that additional characters will also be embellished in this fashion.”
Dexter’s Laboratory is produced by Cartoon Network Studios, a division of Hanna-Barbera Cartoons, Inc. Cartoon Network Studios was created as part of an overall and ongoing Turner initiative to use the Cartoon Network brand and name in major consumer branding and marketing strategies. Three Turner Entertainment Group entities — Cartoon Network, Hanna-Barbera and Turner Home Entertainment (THE) — are making a strategic effort to put forth the Cartoon Network name and brand with consumers. Previous entities created as part of the Cartoon Network branding initiative include Cartoon Network Home Video, Cartoon Network Licensing and Cartoon Network Wacky Racing, a racing team which competes in NASCAR’s Winston Cup circuit.
World Premiere Toons is a program from Cartoon Network and Hanna-Barbera Cartoons, Inc. which is unlike anything else ever attempted by a major animation studio. Cartoon Network and Hanna-Barbera have sought out new ideas from both new and experienced animators worldwide in an effort to discover the next Tom and Jerry or Bugs Bunny, providing animators like Tartakovsky an opportunity unavailable anywhere else. Since the premiere of World Premiere Toons in February 1995, 30 shorts—cartoons that are roughly seven minutes in duration—have debuted on Cartoon Networks worldwide.
Turner Broadcasting System, Inc., a subsidiary of Time Warner Inc., is a major producer of news and entertainment product around the world and the leading provider of programming for the basic cable industry.