Teen Puppet Pals Jump from TurboNick Shorts to New Nickelodeon Comedy Series, Mr. Meaty, Premiering September 22 at 8:30 p.m.

Teen Puppet Pals Jump from TurboNick Shorts to New Nickelodeon Comedy Series, Mr. Meaty, Premiering September 22 at 8:30 p.m.

Mr. Meaty Sizzles Online with 2.3 Million Unique Visits, 6.2 Million Page-Views and 326,000 Podcast Downloads on Nick.com Restaurant Mini-site

SANTA MONICA, Calif., Sept. 12 /PRNewswire/ -- Nickelodeon's absurd new buddy comedy/puppet series Mr. Meaty, premiering Friday, September 22 (8:30 p.m. ET/PT), serves up super-sized laughs from the mall food court bunker tended by teen "odd couple" Josh Redgrove and Parker Dinkelman, who geek out and concoct life-changing plans to escape the monotony of minimum wage. And the best pals work in the mall that has it all: love, ambition, aliens, zombies and ample parking. The series developed from Nickelodeon's TurboNick broadband platform on nick.com -- where it appeared first as a series of shorts -- is a co-production of Nickelodeon Television and 3Js Productions. Jack Lenz serves as executive producer; creator-puppeteers Jason Hopley and Jamie Shannon write and direct.

(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20060912/NYTU178 )

"Mr. Meaty is a truly original comedy," says Tom Ascheim, Executive Vice President and General Manager, Nickelodeon Digital Television, of the series spiced with two 11-minute adventures per episode. "You literally feel the unique voice of its creators in every grease-stained puppet moment. In Josh and Parker, our slightly challenged burger flipping duo, they've given us a great new buddy tandem in the comedic tradition of Laurel and Hardy, Drake and Josh and SpongeBob and Patrick."

Hopley and Shannon (Whoopi's Littleburg, Nanalan'), who've partnered in puppetry for 15 years, point to the unique appeal of the medium and Mr. Meaty. "These puppets are rubbery, three-dimensional cartoons with an awkward, raw style," says Hopley, admitting the unabashedly dorky Parker on his arm "is me." Shannon, who brings Josh to life, savors the show's satire, affirming, "We've recreated a whole world in 3-D -- from hot dogs to walls and escalators, people and even monsters -- to magnify kids' mall-centric social lives and to make fun of suburban monotony, bad food and too much meat."

Kids first got a taste of Mr. Meaty shortly after TurboNick launched in July 2005. Tempting samples sizzled throughout the summer, when Mr. Meaty re-emerged on TurboNick in May with a steady stream of bloopers and shorts and arrived with free video podcasts on iTunes and www.nick.com/meaty, as well as on all of the kid channel's Video on Demand (VOD) partners and its wireless carriers. And while the series hasn't yet premiered, the chockfull Mr. Meaty restaurant website is burning up at nick.com with 2.3 million unique visitors, 3.2 million visits and 6.2 million page-views to date and nearly 326,000 podcast downloads. It features training videos with Josh and Parker, print-up menus, mall employee of the week profiles, Mr. Meaty job applications, games, sneak peek clips, a message board and character profiles. Following the on-air series premiere, complete Mr. Meaty episodes will be offered on TurboNick.

Behind the flashy facade of the vast Mr. Meaty franchise beats the heart of angst-ridden, self-absorbed Josh and Parker who unleash disaster at every turn. At 16, newly cool cashier Josh pursues as many girls as possible, often to the annoyance of geeky cook Parker, who at 15 still lives in childish fantasies. They're opposites, but Josh can't help but like his longtime pal, and Parker is undyingly loyal to his best friend and Mr. Meaty sidekick. Josh's under-developed shoulders are weighed down at times by Parker's emotional outbursts in the kitchen behind him, the voracious customers in front and the Mr. Meaty Head Office watching from a surveillance camera mounted on the wall above. As the unofficial, unaware champions of the underdog in a world that relies on the veneer of a perfect customer service experience, the awkward duo endure one of the most soulless jobs on earth in order to save enough money to someday produce their breakthrough sci-fi horror movie: Ninja Zombies.

Decoding girl missions, meat explosions and Parker's fantasy transformations into a unicorn are just part of the pals' shift at Mr. Meaty, and the call of the mall pulls them into a glistening haven of pop-teen madness. Venturing there, they find denizens like Goth Girl, Josh's chalky crush who works as a candy girl at Sparkle City Movie Theatre and has given up on mainstream society; and ex-paintball champ/cop Doug, a mountain of a man who keeps the peace and comes to Josh and Parker's rescue. Teen trio Ashley, Brittany and Ashley 2 indulge in a free-for-all frenzy of lipstick testing and perfume bathing while mercilessly gossiping at Pantosphere's make-up counter. There's also Melissa the vegetarian who works in the food court at Soy What. And hanging out at the fountain are Jocks, Skaters -- and Master Kindu, dispenser of interstellar wisdom. All visit Mr. Meaty and suffer Josh and Parker's actions.

Lifelong puppeteers/fantasy fanatics Hopley and Shannon met in sixth grade at Toronto's Claude Watson School for the Arts. In 1993, they launched their career in puppetry by creating the Grogs and gained popularity with the puppet troupe on Canada's YTV, then segueing to CBC, TVO, Showcase -- and Nickelodeon. The duo honed their skills as creature-makers, creators, writers and puppeteers for numerous specials, shorts and commercials. In 2004, Hopley snagged a stint as art director/puppet designer/lead puppeteer on Nick Jr.'s Whoopi's Littleburg specials. And he and Shannon created Michael's Island, a series of puppet shorts for Nick Jr. After five years of incubating ideas and style for the Grogs brand, Hopley and Shannon launched Grogs, Inc. under the banner of Jack Lenz's Lenz Entertainment, which evolved into the trio's current production company, 3 Js. Their two-time Gemini Award-winning CBC pre-school series Nanalan' (2004-06) also aired as interstitials on Nick Jr.

Nickelodeon, now in its 27th year, is the number-one entertainment brand for kids. It 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 90 million households and has been the number- one-rated basic cable network for eleven consecutive years. Nickelodeon and all related titles, characters and logos are trademarks of Viacom Inc. (NYSE:VIA)(NYSE:and)(NYSE:VIA.B).

Photo: NewsCom: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20060912/NYTU178
AP Archive: http://photoarchive.ap.org/
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PRN Photo Desk, photodesk@prnewswire.com
Source: Nickelodeon

CONTACT: Margo Zinberg, +1-310-752-8207, margo.zinberg@nick.com;
Jennifer Musselman, +1-310-752-8205, jennifer.musselman@nick.com; Photo
contact: Michelle Hernandez, +1-212-258-7722, michelle.hernandez@nick.com

Web site: http://www.nick.com/meaty
http://www.nick.com/

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