– Skeds announced by YTV

YTV jump-starts its fall season with an early launch on Aug. 12. This year, 20 new shows are on the block at the kids’ specialty network.

New animated programs include Nelvana’s Stickin’ Around, a deceptively simple-looking series which employs a boiling paint technique; Flash Gordon, based on the comic strip series and produced by Lacewood Productions; and Cinar’s Nighthood, the all-new adventures of ‘The Gentleman Thief,’ based on the novels by Maurice Leblanc. Beasties, the latest in 3D computer animation from Alliance Multimedia and Mainframe Entertainment, is a new action-packed sci-fi series showcasing the Transformers toy line.

The fall schedule also sees the debut of the Mercier Films/ytv/tva coproduction My Hometown, a half-hour series about the day-to-day misadventures of 13-year-old Thomas John Thompson (Jay Baruchel), his friend Simon (Albert Rosos) and sister Tracy (Chantal Leblanc).

A new sports show, Xtreme, will target sports enthusiasts of all ages. Produced by Australia’s Sports World Network, the series will feature live-action footage of daring athletes set to music.

– and Family Channel

Family Channel’s fall sked highlights include the Canadian premiere of Cinar’s Space Cases, and following the September launch of the sci-fi adventure/comedy about misfit space academy students stranded on a spaceship, is the October debut of Nilus the Sandman, an animated/live-action series produced by Cambium Film and Video Productions and Delaney and Friends Cartoon Productions.

Other new series include teen fantasy/adventure series Spellbinder and Ocean Girl.