Cute baby animals sing to the rescue in The Wonder Pets!, a new animated preschool series premiering Friday, March 3, on Nick Jr. and Noggin. Two back-to-back episodes of the half-hour show will simulcast on both networks beginning at 11:30 a.m., and the first episode will repeat on Nick Jr. on Sunday, March 5, at 8 a.m.
The Wonder Pets! Follows the adventures of a guinea pig named Linny, a duckling named Ming-Ming and a turtle named Tuck, who travel the world in their jet-powered, flying boat and use teamwork to save other animals in distress. Being hyped as the first mini-operetta for preschoolers, the show has its cuddly stars singing to music written and developed by Tony and Grammy-winning composers. Musical contributors have worked on such Broadway productions as Avenue Q, Monty Python’s Spamalot and Fiddler on the Roof.
The show was created by the team at Little Airplane Prods., (which previously brought Piper O’Possum to Nick Jr. and Oobi to Noggin) led by president and founder Josh Selig and creative director Jennifer Oxley. The musical adventure program began life as a series of short films titled The Adventures of Linny the Guinea Pig. Linny’s pals were added to the mix and for a longer show, The Super Singing Power Pets!, which later became The Wonder Pets! Selig previously served as head writer on Nick Jr.’s Little Bill and received eleven Emmy Awards for his writing on Sesame Street.
The Wonder Pets! employs a style of animation Little Airplane Prods. has ‘photo-puppetry.’ The animators manipulate photographs of real animals to create a look that is unique to Nick Jr. More information on Little Airplane is available at www.littleairplane.com. A host of Wonder Pets! activities for kids can be found at www.nickjr.com.
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