Calling all our #Winx fans! Three un-aired episodes will be premiering on http://Nick.com next week!

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Are YOU ready to GET CHARGED?? #PowerRangers#DinoCharge is coming soon to @NickelodeonTV! - Thursday 8th January 2015

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#PowerRangers#DinoCharge is almost here! Don't miss the premiere episode coming soon only on @NickelodeonTV! - Thursday 15th January 2015

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'Bella and the Bulldogs' Creators: Two Guys Writing About A Female Quarterback – TCA

A TCA panel on Nickelodeon's new series Bella and the Bulldogs— starring Brec Bassinger as Bella Dawson, a cheerleader who finds herself taking over as quarterback of the Bulldogs football team — revealed that its two co-creator/EPs, Jonathan Butler and Gabe Garza, were discovered by Nickelodeon's writers development program.

Both of the newcomers praised the Nick writer's program for seeking diverse voices. When they applied for the program with sample scripts. Said Butler: "The writing program prepares you It can take plumbers from Buffalo and turns them into people who can create a show."

The writers still had to work to create diversity in the writers' room though. They knew they wanted to create a fun young female character, not the stereotypical wet blanket to the boys' ambitions, but they acknowledged they are two guys writing about a girl. "So half the writers we hired were females," they said. Also on today's panel: EP Jeff Bushell and actor Coy Stewart.

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PASADENA, CA - JANUARY 10: Russell Hicks, President, Content Development and Production, Nickelodeon speaks onstage during the Viacom Winter Television Critics Association (TCA) press tour at The Langham Huntington Hotel and Spa on January 10, 2015 in Pasadena, California. (Photo by Imeh Akpanudosen/Getty Images for Viacom)

'Bella' star Brec Bassinger poised to be next big Nick star

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Brec Bassinger stars as a cheerleader-turned-football-player on Nickelodeon's “Bella and the Bulldogs."
Photo: Robert Voets/Nickelodeon

Whether girls should be allowed to play football with boys is still up for debate in some circles, but Nickelodeon has firmly chosen a side with its new comedy series.

“Bella and the Bulldogs,” premiering Saturday at 8 p.m., revolves around a head cheerleader (played by newcomer Brec Bassinger) who goes from the sidelines to the gridiron when she becomes her middle school's starting quarterback — giving her the chance to realize a lifelong love of the game that she inherited from her late dad.

"She did cheerleading because she thought that was the closest she could get to football," Bassinger, 15, tells The Post on a trip to New York last month. "When she realizes she could actually be on the team, it's like a whole new thought to her. She feels like it will bring her not only closer to her dad, but closer to her dream of playing football."

As the only girl on the struggling Bulldogs football team, Bella has to learn to fit in with her male teammates without losing her two best friends from the cheer squad.

"That's probably the main challenge, the boys trying to accept her because it's breaking down stereotypes," she says. "It's something they're not used to. [It's] her trying to be one of the boys yet still being herself."

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The "Bella" cast includes, from left, Haley Tju, Jack Radinsky, Bassinger, Tyson Stewart, James "Buddy" Handleson and Lilimar Hernandez.
Photo: Jim Fiscus/Nickelodeon

Bassinger grew up with two older brothers in the football-crazed state of Texas, where the show is also set. Like her character, she's a Dallas Cowboys fan and also an athlete: she was a competitive cheerleader and played volleyball, basketball and competed in track and field events.

To prepare for playing a quarterback (Bassinger throws the ball herself in all the football scenes, though she has a stunt double for the sacks), she got pointers from her father and went to football camp with her co-star Coy Stewart, who plays Troy, the Bulldogs' former quarterback and Bella's rival.

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5 days until Bella and the Bulldogs. I am so excited for y'all to see what we have been working on @nickelodeontv January 17 at 8! - instagram.com/brecbassinger.

"They taught us the correct form and also the cadence of a quarterback, how he walks out onto the field and takes control," she says.
While "Bella" is the young actress' first starring role, Bassinger started entertaining in pageants at age 3, winning the Little Miss World title in 2009. At 13, she booked a guest-starring role in "The Goldbergs" pilot and followed that up with a recurring role in Nickelodeon's "The Haunted Hathaways."

Having grown up watching the network's shows, it's been a surreal experience to star in one herself, especially filming on the same stage as her favorite show, "Drake & Josh." Besides the opportunity to meet the stars of that show, "Bella" has given Bassinger a new appreciation for football.

"Now I can throw a pretty mean spiral," she says. "When I go out and play with my guy friends back in Texas, they're like 'Woah, where did this come from?'"

S.C. Native Teen Actor Coy Stewart Debuts on New Nick Show

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Coy Stewart (No. 8 on the right) co-stars as Troy in Bella and the Bulldogs

The Henry Ford quote, "Whether you think you can or you think you can't — you're right," is posted on 16-year-old Coy Stewart's Twitter profile. Ford's quote is a mantra this teenaged actor says he learned early from his parents while growing up in Columbia.

"My parents always told me and my brother that we could do whatever we wanted to," Stewart says.

Stewart and his brother decided what they wanted to do is act.

Like many kids, Coy grew up watching shows on the Disney Channel and Nickelodeon, but unlike most, he is now co-staring in a new show, Bella and the Bulldogs. The show debuts on the Nickelodeon network on Jan. 17 at 8 p.m.

"It's an amazing blessing," Stewart says. "I used to watch a lot of shows on Nickelodeon and now here I am recording a show in their studios."

The story behind how it all happened could be a television show spinoff of the Stewart's real life.

When he was young, the actor loved watching movies with his dad. When he turned 5, he realized he loved making people laugh. He ended up taking some acting classes, but he says he didn't get serious about acting until the ripe old age of 9 or 10.

"We always thought we'd have to move to Los Angeles or New York if I ever wanted to do this seriously," Stewart says.

So they did. The Stewart family packed up their lives to follow a dream. Coy's mother Keisha left her job with Verizon in South Carolina over five years ago, and this family of four moved to Los Angeles. Since they arrived, Hollywood has become a family affair.

"My dad went to film school and he's directing now," he says. "Mom is in fashion school, and my brother is acting, as well, so we all found different pieces of the industry that we love."

The 16-year-old has had a number of acting gigs over his young career, but he landed his biggest role recently when he was cast as Troy, the Bulldogs' starting quarterback in Bella and the Bulldogs. It's a position Troy might not hold for long when the actress who plays Bella joins the team.

"It's a story about a young lady who wants to follow her dreams," Stewart says. "It's more than football and laughs — it's got a lot of heart. It's a great story."

While he loves his job, Stewart says being an actor is not all glitz and glamor. His schedule can be grueling. He works Monday through Friday and on an occasional weekend. He works for three weeks straight on the show, then he gets one week off. They shoot an episode per week and when he is not acting, he's working to keep up with his studies.

"I'm homeschooled. I do it while I'm at work. We have three teachers on set so when I'm not filming I'm doing school work. When I'm not working I'm doing that at home as well. I'm in the 11th grade right now. I will be graduating next year. I'm in my final stretch."

Like many child actors, Coy Stewart seems wise beyond his years. He takes his work seriously. He says he's in show biz for the long haul — just like the actors he looks up to.

"Will Smith, Denzel Washington — these actors have been around for such a long time and made their mark in the industry."

A young man with a clear head on his shoulders, he is well aware that many childhood actors lives don't always have happy Hollywood endings. But he says he's confident that remembering where he came from will keep him in check.

"I was born and raised in Columbia, South Carolina. I still say yes ma'am, and no ma'am and yes sir and no sir. Sure, I'm in this business ... I think the main thing to do is stay true to yourself. Stay true to your roots. My parents are with me all the time. If I ever, ever show any symptoms of [letting Hollywood go to my head], it will be smacked right out of me."

Bella and the Bulldogs premiers Saturday, Jan. 17, in a one-hour special that airs at 8 p.m. The show will air regularly on Saturday's at 9 p.m.

Nickelodeon Remixes Its Sitcom Formula to Adapt to Children's Media Consumption

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New series, like “100 Things to Do Before High School,” are trying to reflect more of the sophistication of shows aimed at adults. Credit Robert Voets/Nickelodeon

LOS ANGELES — Buffoonish parents. Voice-of-reason best friend. Laugh track. Extra-bright lighting. Nifty girl's bedroom with window seat.

For years, Nickelodeon arranged and rearranged those children's sitcom building blocks to spectacular effect. By the time young viewers tired of watching slightly different versions of the same simple show, they were moving on to MTV. Their younger siblings cycled into Nickelodeon. The old formula was new to them.

But children — as ratings declines have taught Nickelodeon and its cable competitors — don't devour entertainment as mindlessly as they used to. "By the time kids are 8, they have now consumed so much media that they are demanding something different," said Russell Hicks, Nickelodeon's programming chief.

So Mr. Hicks is throwing out some of the cookie cutters and trying to make series for children that reflect more of the sophistication of shows aimed at adults. "We want to explore all of the things that kids' TV doesn't normally do," Mr. Hicks said. "This generation of kids does not want the last generation's leftovers."

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Brec Bassinger, with Dorien Wilson, was cast in “Bella and the Bulldogs” because she was not groomed for Hollywood. Credit Robert Voets/Nickelodeon

Children’s sitcoms, for instance, are typically taped entirely in the fake bubble of a soundstage. It is expensive and more technically complicated to shoot on location (and executives would rather funnel money to cartoons, which perform better in reruns abroad). But “Bella and the Bulldogs,” a new Nickelodeon comedy about a high school girl who plays football, brings its cast outside to scrimmage under the actual sun.

"Bella," which made its debut on Saturday, is also experimenting with story lines that aren’t always wrapped up in 22 minutes — breaking with another children's television convention. And for the lead role, producers cast a 15-year-old Texan, Brec Bassinger, who had not been groomed for Hollywood.

"We wanted a real, grounded, not secretly 23, not a celebrity-in-training kind of teenage actress," said Gabriel Garza, one of the show's co-creators.

Another new series, "100 Things to Do Before High School," about completing a middle-school bucket list, tries to riff on pop culture in a layered way. Its first episode slyly lampooned "Glee," and it is shot on film, giving it visual distinctiveness.

Mr. Hicks is also working on a sitcom about two brothers that will be taped in the pseudo-documentary, single-camera style of NBC's "Parks and Recreation."

"There's this deeply held notion in the industry that kids only understand multicam shows," Mr. Hicks said. "That's silly. Have you heard of this new thing called YouTube? Believe me, they understand single camera."

To the average adult viewer without children, these changes may not even be noticeable. But to regular watchers of Nickelodeon and other children's channels, some of the adjustments — outdoor filming, for instance — may very well pop off the screen.

"Sam & Cat" offers one sign that Mr. Hicks is moving in the right direction. That teenage sitcom, which began in 2013, was notable for its rapid-fire comedic pratfalls, an effort to bring a YouTube sensibility to traditional television. The show was an immediate hit, but Nickelodeon was forced to cancel it after one season; the two lead actresses (both in their 20s) were burned out on children's shows and wanted to pursue adult music careers.

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With billions of dollars on the line, even the most subtle programming changes carry risks. Nickelodeon generates annual ad sales and affiliate fees of $2.24 billion a year, according to the research firm SNL Kagan. Merchandising sales are estimated to total roughly $5.5 billion.

But standing pat was not an option. Nickelodeon's programming shift reflects a shake-up after a much-publicized 2011 ratings implosion. To recover from viewer declines of up to 30 percent, the channel parted ways with longtime content executives and promoted others, including Mr. Hicks. It also sharply increased spending on original programming, relying less on endless "SpongeBob SquarePants" reruns.

Ratings recovered in 2013, in part because of new animated hits, like "Sanjay & Craig," about a boy and his pet snake. But last year viewership began to erode anew. The number of children ages 2 to 11 watching the channel fell 14 percent in 2013 compared with the year before, according to Nielsen.

And this time Nickelodeon is not alone: Disney Channel is in even worse shape, suffering a 21 percent year-on-year decline. (Unlike Nickelodeon, however, Disney Channel does not rely on ad sales.)

One explanation for the decline involves viewer measurement. Firms that keep count have struggled to keep pace with the changing ways in which children consume television programming — TV sets, iPad apps, websites, video-on-demand services. But Mr. Hicks, citing focus group research, believes there also may be generational reasons.

"The media world for kids has expanded, and that means we have to change, too," he said, sitting in his office on the Paramount Pictures lot here. (Nickelodeon, like Paramount, is owned by Viacom.) Referring to new scripts, he added, "The days of 'that's worked for us before, we'll buy it again' are over."

"Bella and the Bulldogs" reflects how Mr. Hicks, 57, is trying to bring fresh writing to his network. The creators, Mr. Garza and Jonathan Butler, have never had their own series before and both were discovered through an in-house writers' development program that Nickelodeon will more than double in size this year.

Mr. Garza is Hispanic and Mr. Butler is black, adding some much-needed diversity to the producing ranks of children's television. Mr. Garza, 30, grew up in Texas and suburban Los Angeles. Mr. Butler, 40, is a former plumber from Buffalo who moved to California in 2007 to pursue his Hollywood dream.

"We don't want our show to be the same as every other show," Mr. Butler said. "We all know how a copy of a copy turns out."

Nickelodeon Says It's Growing Audience by Adding Sports to the Mix

Programming block also opened a door for a new set of advertisers

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NFL Rush Zone: Season of the Guardians is part of NickSports lineup.

It's been four months since kid-focused cable network Nickelodeon took the leap of dedicating a 2-hour prime-time block to sports programming. So how is it working out?

Pretty well, say the numbers. Since its September debut, NickSports has grown the Wednesday block by 15 percent with boys ages 6 to 11 and 19 percent with kids (girls and boys combined) in the same age group. "We are hitting all the touch points everyone wants to be involved in," says Keith Dawkins, svp and general manager for Nicktoons, TeenNick and NickJr.

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Michael Strahan hosted 2014's Kids' Choice Sports Awards, drawing 2.7 million viewers.

The idea for the programming block, airing from 9 to 11 p.m. ET, came about relatively quickly. After the first-ever Kids' Choice Sports Awards hosted by NFL Hall of Famer Michael Strahan this past summer drew impressive ratings, Dawkins realized that regular, dedicated sports programming could do well with his demographic.

"Our research shows sports gets big ratings in every quadrant. Add the participation rate of boys and girls in youth sports, and it all adds up to the right time to do more in sports," Dawkins said.

As powerful as many sports leagues are these days, they still turned out to be an easy enough sell for Dawkins' proposal. "The leagues are used to getting big numbers on their own, but we are a place that gives them an entry to kids and families," Dawkins said.

The NFL, NASCAR, Major League Soccer and the WWE have all signed on. And for the NFL, the biggest fish of all, it was an easy decision. "We are always looking for ways to create lifelong fans and to connect with kids in unique ways," said NFL marketing and sales vp Jaime Weston said.

For a league dealing very publicly with some serious offseason concerns—[...]—partnering with Nickelodeon offered a positive counterpoint to much of the public discussion. It's also helped Nickelodeon seem like an attractive place for advertisers looking for options beyond gameday ads.

Dawkins believes that the best parts of the sports industry also align well with his network's strengths. "Nickelodeon has always been a place and space of creating iconic characters, such as SpongeBob and Dora the Explorer, that people have a deep affinity for," Dawkins said. "The sports world too has its characters, and they end up creating lifelong Lakers, Cowboys and Yankee fans."

It just so happens that such character-driven content also turns out to be the best antidote to all those digital devices that kids often prefer these days over television. "Sports has a stickiness that sets it apart," Dawkins said.

Mega Brands to showcase Minions, Thomas & Friends and SpongeBob SquarePants lines at Nuremberg 2015

This year sees the construction firm inject new products into its pre-school, girls and boys lines.

Autumn/winter 2015 is set to be a big season for Mega Brands as it continues to build upon its successful pre-school ranges, including the Mega Bloks First Builders line being showcased at Nuremberg this year.

New products joining the range include the innovative Block Picking Wagon. This allows pre-schoolers to pull the wagon, fill it with blocks for classic play or push it to scoop up blocks up for fun and easy clean-up.

To mark the 70th anniversary of Thomas & Friends, Mega Bloks will be launching a Sodor’s Celebrations themed set featuring an exclusive new buildable Thomas engine, complete with a birthday hat.

In addition there will be new characters and movie related product introduced to the range.

Elsewhere, in line with the new Dora and Friends TV series featuring a grown up Dora, Mega Bloks is launching a new range with friendly characters, buildable locations and post building play features, such as music and magic.

Also new for autumn/winter 2015 are six ‘spooktacular’ play-sets and eight mini monster figures creeping into the new Mega Bloks Monster High line.

Fans can build and create their own freaky fun with Monster High characters that feature full articulation so they can strike any pose. Each character comes with different fashion styles, trendy accessories, while there are also secret reveals hidden in the sets.

Consumers can also build and host a premiere with the Monster High Monster Moviemobile, dance away to the real music with the Graveyard Garden Party or strike a pose in Draculaura Vamptastic Room.

Mega Bloks is also launching its own IP brand for girls in the form of The Craftails. Based in Storywood, Craftails is a range of friendly little creatures boasting big imaginations and even bigger tails.

The brand allows boys and girls to indulge in building and mess free crafting with a selection of different collectable animal figurines, each with furry tails.

Mega Bloks will be building upon its popular Barbie range with new easy to build themes including Careers, Pets and Entertainment.

The stars of Despicable Me will be taking over the big screen this year with the Minions movie, and the little yellow creatures will be starring in their own Mega Bloks set, too.

The Mega Bloks Despicable Me line, inspired by the franchise’s new movie, characters, locations and vehicles, features easy-to-build and fully customisable construction sets with mix-and-match capabilities.

The sets include buildable Minions unique to each kit. This means there is a wide variety of Minions for fans to collect, build and play with.

Sticking with animated icons, the Mega Bloks SpongeBob SquarePants line will continue to focus on buildable collectible figures with new underwater themed vehicles and locations.

Elsewhere, for the first time, the popular Mega Bloks Hot Wheels line will incorporate real Hot Wheels track pieces into its play-sets.

Petrolheads can enjoy building cars that can ride on the new track and the sets landing in autumn/winter 2015 will include all-new original Mega Bloks designs, as well as a line of new drivers.

Mega Brands can be found in Hall 12.2 at Stand P-15 at Nuremberg 2015.

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