Sprout touts robot toon, trio in development

US kids channel Sprout has greenlit a 26-episode toon about a girl and her robot friend, and outlined a development slate that includes a series inspired by Shaquille O’Neal.

Remy and Boo represents Sprout’s first series commitment since Deidre Brennan was tapped to lead NBCUniversal-owned channel as general manager.

The new series comes from Canadian toon house Industrial Brothers and its Boat Rocker Media stablemate Boat Rocker Studios.

Industrial Brothers’ co-founder Matt Fernandes created the show, which Boat Rocker Rights will distribute internationally.

Set in the near future, it follows a five-year-old girl and her new robot friend, who is programmed to feel emotions and learn new things.

Sprout has also commissioned second seasons of Nevision-produced Floogals and Pipeline Animation Studios’ Hispanic-themed Nina’s World.

Further to that, Sprout’s senior VP, programming and development, Amy Friedman, has revealed the channel’s development slate.

This includes Little Shaq, which is a Universal Cable Production series executive-produced by giant basketball star Shaquille O’Neal and inspired by his real life childhood in an urban American neighbourhood. Full Fathoms’ James Frey and Todd Cohen are attached as executive producers.

Ivy and Bean is based on Annie Barrows’ books and comes from UK-based Kindle Entertainment. The animated show follows two best friends who never wanted to like each other.

Make + Do, meanwhile, is a craft-themed studio-based live-action game show from Canada’s Breakthrough Entertainment, while Norm of the Forest is an animated comedy that focuses on a superintendent and the highly eccentric characters that inhabit the woods he manages. Alex Rockwell and Judy Rothman are the writers.

Also on the slate is Powerbirds, an animated comedy from cartoonist Stephen P. Breen about two pet parakeets that are secretly superheroes, and Wombat and Rabbit about a pair of ‘twin brothers’ who attempt to create great magic shows despite their antics constantly going wrong. Greg Dummett and Steve Westren are the creators.

“We know that moms and kids are coming to Sprout in large part for our original programming – and our 21% growth rate in women 18-49 tells us it’s resonating,” Friedman.