Preschoolers Travel the World in NOGGIN's New Original Animated Series Toot & Puddle

Preschoolers Travel the World in NOGGIN's New Original Animated Series Toot & Puddle

Best-Selling Books by Famed Author/Illustrator Holly Hobbie Come To Life, Beginning With Two Prime-Time Premieres, Sunday, Nov. 16

Two Weeks of Brand-New Episodes to Follow Monday, Nov. 17 - Friday, Nov. 21, Monday, Nov. 24 - Friday, Nov. 28

NEW YORK, Oct. 20 /PRNewswire/ -- Toot & Puddle, a new original, half-hour animated adventure series, is set to debut on NOGGIN, the 24-hour commercial-free educational preschool network from Nickelodeon, with two back-to-back episodes on Sunday, Nov. 16, from 7:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m. (ET). The Toot & Puddle prime-time premieres will be followed by two weeks of brand-new episodes from Monday, Nov. 17 - Friday, Nov. 21 and Monday, Nov. 24 - Friday, Nov. 28 at 5:00 p.m. (ET). The 26-episode series, produced by Mercury Filmworks, in association with National Geographic Kids Entertainment, is based on the award-winning and New York Times best-selling book series by renowned children's author and illustrator Holly Hobbie. Toot & Puddle follows a pair of best friends who travel the world and find adventure wherever they go. Toot & Puddle airs daily on NOGGIN at 5:00 p.m. (ET).

(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20081020/NY40087 )

Toot & Puddle encourages exploration and adventure, both at home and afar, by piquing kids' natural curiosity about the world around them. The pig pals never know where they might end up or who they might meet as they go on adventures exploring their own neighborhood backyard, or traveling to exotic locales like Paris, Tokyo or the Bavarian Alps. Each episode will expand preschoolers' awareness of the variety of people and places around the world. The series is also designed to invite young children into a world where whimsy and imagination are an integral part of figuring things out and to encourage young children to solve problems with humor, fairness and creativity.

Throughout November, Toot & Puddle will have a dedicated category on NOGGIN Video On Demand via Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Charter, Cablevision, Verizon FiOS and Cox. Beginning Monday, Nov. 3, five-minute sneak peaks of both premiere episodes will be available, as well as two music videos. Full episodes of the series will launch on VOD mid-November.

The premiere episodes of Toot & Puddle will feature the following stories:

Sunday, Nov. 16, 7:00 p.m. ET
-- "Party Pride" -- After days of rain, Toot and Puddle plan an indoor
beach party for their friends. Puddle tries to do it all himself but
learns that it's more fun for all when everybody pitches in.

-- "The Race" -- Toot and Puddle travel to Mallorca, Spain, and build
their own soap box car to compete in a race. Along the way, they meet
a rooster and hen team that are quite cocky. Race day comes and off
they go!

Sunday, Nov. 16, 7:30 p.m. ET
-- "Free Falling Friends" -- Toot has the desire to fly, so he decides to
take skydiving lessons. He manages to get Puddle, who is scared of
heights, to sign up and train with him. Taught by a near-sighted
flying squirrel, Toot and Puddle train day after day until Puddle has
overcome his fear of heights just in time for Toot's big jump.

-- "Curried Flavors" -- Toot travels to India, where he quickly finds
himself amidst the busy civilian streets of Jaipur. He befriends a
monkey named Kammu, who shows him to a historical sundial that's more
than 200 years old. Battling the heat, Toot wants to get off his
feet, so he gets a guided tour of the city by an elephant named
Rohini.

Toot & Puddle follows the adventures of two very different best friends from Pocket Hollow who find adventure wherever they go: Toot the intrepid world-traveler and Puddle, the backyard explorer. Toot is the young pig-on-the-go who might be off in the far reaches of the globe, while Puddle finds delight using his imagination to seek out world-expanding escapades a little closer to home. Through Toot and Puddle's wonder-filled world of exploration, viewers will come to understand that having friends with differing points-of-view can be exciting. Each storyline encourages young children to recognize and value other people's feelings and perspectives as well as their own and demonstrates attributes of friendship.

National Geographic Kids Entertainment is an independent production and U.S. distribution entity of National Geographic Ventures. Established in 2003, NGKE brings the renowned National Geographic brand to children's entertainment through the development, production and distribution of quality animated and live-action, entertainment-driven programming that excites kids to explore their world. NGKE will work with all major broadcast outlets in the United States and abroad. For more information about National Geographic, visit www.nationalgeographic.com.

Having delivered hundreds of hours of animation and family entertainment to television and theatres worldwide, Mercury Filmworks offers full script to post services from concept and creative development to design and production. Specializing in animation, puppets and hybrid techniques, Mercury is one of Canada's premier studios. Since 1998, Mercury's client list has grown to include some of the finest companies in the world, recognized in the industry for their commitment to quality television and feature entertainment. Among many others, Mercury is proud to be associated with: BBC, Breakthrough Films & Television, Cartoon Network, Cartoon Network Studios, CBC, Classic Media, Cookie Jar Entertainment, Corus Kids/Nelvana/YTV, Discovery Networks, Disney Television & Feature Animation, DreamWorks Animation, MTV Networks/Nickelodeon, National Geographic, Paramount Pictures, Universal Studios, Warner Bros. Pictures, Warner Bros. Television & Feature Animation.

NOGGIN, the 24-hour, commercial-free educational preschool network from Nickelodeon, currently reaches 65 million households via cable, digital cable and satellite TV. NOGGIN is like preschool on TV, with educational programming both on-air and online at www.noggin.com. NOGGIN and all related titles, characters and logos are trademarks of Viacom International Inc.

Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20081020/NY40087
AP Archive: http://photoarchive.ap.org/
AP PhotoExpress Network: PRN10
PRN Photo Desk, photodesk@prnewswire.com
Source: Nickelodeon

CONTACT: Maggie Wang, +1-212-846-6381, maggie.wang@nick.com, or Heather
Brown, +1-212-846-6240, heather.brown@nick.com, both of Nickelodeon

Web Site: http://www.nationalgeographic.com/
http://www.noggin.com/

Company News On-Call: http://www.prnewswire.com/comp/583050.html

NOTE TO EDITORS: Art and DVD screener available upon request.

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