Friday, April 28, 2006

Ask and Umizumiz Shall Receive

What is "Umizumiz?" According to Dayna M. Gonzalez's CV, it's a flash animation show that's being developed for Noggin.

Even though I don't know anything else about the show, I reckon it has a decent chance of seeing the light of day in 2007. Why?
  • Dayna was the lead animator for another flash animated series, "Pinky Dinky Doo," which preemed on Noggin on April 10, 2006. Plus, she worked on "Blue's Room" & "Blue's Clues." I doubt that Viacom would waste her talent.
  • Dayna started working on "Pinky Dinky Doo" in January 2005, and one month later (February 9, 2005) Viacom filed its first app with the USPTO to protect "Pinky Dinky Doo."
  • Dayna completed her work on the pilot for "Umizumiz" in March 2006 and one month later (April 20, 2006) Viacom filed for trademark protection.
So far "Umizumiz" and "Pinky Dinky Doo" are following similar trajectories. We might find out more on May 2 at the upfront presentation for MTV networks.

Update (9 Mar 2007, 6:59AM PST): Thanks to a commenter's tip. Here's the link announcing that Nick has picked up "The Umizumiz." Congrats!

6 comments:

dr. tv (mike vicic) said...

MTV Nets did not announce anything for Noggin at their upfront. I have no other information and no contacts in their organization.

The domain name, umizumiz.com, is still available, which is not a always a good indicator this far after a trademark application -- especially for children's shows.

dr. tv (mike vicic) said...

The Sesame Workshop -- NOT Viacom (for Noggin) -- registered PinkyDinkyDoo.com way back in August 2001. That's way before Noggin even considered it.

That's one part of the development track where "Pinky Dinky Doo" and "Umizumiz" differ.

Anonymous said...

Have you heard Umizumiz has been picked?

Anonymous said...

yes, this show has been picked up for series. by the way, the domain name is not an indicator of anything; the network will feature the show on their website, nickjr.com, so they are not concerned with the domain name, unless they just want to protect it from other users.

dr. tv (mike vicic) said...

Even though nick jr (and other nets) tend to host show pages at their own sites, they do often -- but not always -- buy the *.com domain for the series. Especially for children's shows. As you know, the *.com site simply redirects traffic to the appropriate page on the network site.

I say especially for children's shows for one simple reason. If a user types the show name in the address bar instead of the search bar, that person is taken directly to the *.com site. If the network doesn't have control of the *.com site, it never knows what children might see in this case. Some people might post adult content on the site to prompt a network purchase.

That's why I often use a domain purchase as an indicator.

Anonymous said...

the first season is wrapped for writing and in production at nick jr/noggin. last rumors were that it would air in sept. 08.