‘Look down, way down, and I’ll reveal the website.’

Are these the words of new-age idol Friendly, the Byte-Sized Giant?

Why no, Dorothy. It’s the command of Canada’s munchkin master of convergence – you may call him ytv. He has put heart, brain and courage into new programming to lead his many viewers through the yellow brick maze of mid-season replacements. And when the children follow this wizard to the new shows, he will lure them with magical creatures to Internet Oz.

All of which is to say, while the major Canadian nets are launching intriguing new shows these days, ytv might just hold the most interactive magic.

Paula Parker, ytv’s vp of programming and production, says the kidcaster’s intriguing plan to drive kids and tweens to ytv.com begins Feb. 26. Viewers will see ‘an invasion of ytv consisting of little creatures (Yokomites) crawling across the screen and taking bites out of shows and credits and so on.’ In the first week, according to spokeswoman Laura Heath, the Yokomites ‘will just flash across the screen, making kids wonder if they really saw something or not. By week three, the Yokomites will be devouring shows, the credits, and the after-school programming block.’

Adds Parker: ‘The kids can help to contain the invasion by participating online [at ytv.com]. The payoff to the kids for helping to contain the invasion’ will come at the end of March break when the net will air three sneak-peek episodes of Xcalibur, a new cgi animation show from TVA International, which officially launches 13 half-hours next fall.

ytv graphic designer Chris Zammit spawned the Yokomites concept; senior animators John Ford and James Eng handled 3D modeling and animation; Vince Robles is art director; Matt Hawkins is creative director.

Meantime, when ytv launches its second season Feb. 5, it will introduce a total of five new Canadian series, including the preview of above-noted Xcalibur.

Screech Owls draws on the book series of the same name from Canadian author Roy MacGregor, tales of a boys and girls hockey team that does some off-ice sleuthing. Shaftesbury Films has produced 13 live-action half-hours, Moira Holmes producer.

Answering the global cry for tween fare, Protocol Entertainment and Crawfords Australia ride forth with The Saddle Club, a 26 x 30 Canada/Australia coproduction presold to ytv and ABC Oz. Parker says ytv worked with Protocol on the kids series Goosebumps, and notes The Saddle Club – aimed at the 8-12 set – delivers similarly ‘high-quality production values.’ Lynn Bayonas and Sarah Dodd produce.

For more tween tv, Sullivan Entertainment went to Parker last spring to pitch 13 half-hour eps of Super Rupert, which Sullivan calls an ‘action-comedy series…targeted to children aged 8-12.’ The stories follow 11-year-old evil-fighter Rupert Patterson (Adam Butcher). When crusading against the bad guys, he becomes animated comic book hero Super Rupert. Michael MacLennan is supervising producer on the acquired series.

Finally, in its first in-house computer-animated series for preschoolers, ytv introduces the vivaciously colored Chip ‘n Orbit, with 35 eps at 3:45 each. Produced/written/developed and designed by Michael Decsi, series supervising producer is Melanie York. Character animation is by John Ford.

Since the channel runs commercial free from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., interstitials fill the gaps between shows. Parker says this type of series also sells in countries which ‘support non-commercial preschool.’

At ctv, the programming brains are launching several new Canadian series – drama and children’s – along with a couple of slates of mows and possibly a musical performance or music/variety show.

The biggest hype has flown to the new Alliance Atlantis one-hour lawyer drama, The Associates, aimed at the 18-49 demo. Bill Mustos, vp dramatic programming, says this 13-parter was held for mid-season to avoid ‘the congestion’ of the fall launch of u.s. series, the American election, the Olympics and the baseball playoffs. ‘Also, as a series going into its first season, it had to find the right shape,’ Mustos adds, pointing to tweaking required for sound, music, post, the opening and so on.

Last fall, ctv tested the Tuesdays-at-9 p.m. slot and found dramatic movies worked well. Although The Associates is opposite comedy juggernaut Frasier, Rick Lewchuk, vp program planning and promotion, is not bothered. He says some people will always want to watch sitcoms, adding there’s no other major drama in that slot. cbc, which airs Da Vinci’s Inquest at that time, might beg to differ.

Less hyped but more unusual is ctv’s return to commissioned Canadian children’s series, which came to fruition with the Jan. 6 launch of D’Myna Leagues. Mustos says the net got involved with dml a few years ago when Louise Clark, in ctv’s Vancouver development office, started working with prodco Studio B. Since development and production take so much longer with animation, the baseball-playing boids of D’Myna Leagues are only now strutting their stuff. Lewchuk says ratings for the half-hour show – at around 153,000 for week one – compare well with Disney’s Recess and Teacher’s Pet.

Of the show’s appeal, Mustos says, ‘We enjoy the writing. There’s a great little writing department on that show [and they] all hail from Vancouver.’ Writers are Susin Nielsen, Dennis Foon and Graeme Manson.

Once the big u.s. series have passed through February sweeps into March reruns, ctv will launch Committed, a half-hour animated copro for adults from Nelvana and Philippine Animators Group. The voice cast includes Canadian sctv alumni Catherine O’Hara, Andrea Martin, Dave Foley and Eugene Levy in this ‘offbeat snapshot of middle-class family life.

Adult animation hailing from Canada has more or less been Bob and Margaret so far, on Global. ‘We’re dipping our toe into these waters and we’ll see how they do for us,’ says Mustos. ‘We were motivated by two scripts that Nelvana pitched and they really touched our funny bone.’

Committed could wait for March, he adds, because it’s not funded through the ctf and they didn’t have to make the fund’s February application deadline.

ctv will continue its mow programming – with Torso: The Evelyn Dick Story to air in April and After The Harvest (aka Wild Geese) in March from the Canadian Literature group, and Lucky Girl airing in April from the Signature series. As well, it has also just bought a slate of tv films from Alliance Atlantis. *

-www.ytv.com

-www.ctv.ca

Playback will discuss more on ‘the second season,’ including cbc and Global highlights in our next issue.