Nickelodeon & NFL Teaming Up for Animated Series

vansau

Mortician of Love
May 25, 2010
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Nickelodeon & NFL Teaming Up for Animated Series

Nickelodeon has announced that it's working with the NFL to create a new short animated series based on the NFL's online community for kids. No news yet about a possible Sponge Bob cameo.

Nickelodeon and the National Football League have announced that they're joining forces to put out a new animated series. The series, Rush Zone: Guardians of the Core, is set to feature New Orleans Saints Coach Sean Payton and New York Giants Quarterback Eli Manning, as well as a number of other sports stars. If the title sounds familiar, that's because the show is going to be based on the NFL's online community for kids, NFL Rush Zone.

The premise of the series is more than a little vague. "The 22-episode series... is comprised of two-to-five minute shorts," Nickelodeon and NFL explained when they announced the project, "featuring an unexpected new hero, all 32 NFL teams and the voices of NFL players and coaches as themselves, such as Coach Sean Payton, who led the New Orleans Saints to victory in Super Bowl XLIV, and New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning... This new series combines fantasy, sports, game play, team work, competition and the age old theme of good vs. evil, under one compelling new narrative."

The series is set to air once a week during the upcoming NFL season, from September through February, with a one-hour movie special airing the day of the Super Bowl. Aside from being available on NFLRush.com and Nicktoons.com, the animated shorts are also going to be shown (in high definition) on Jumbotron screens in NFL stadiums.

I vaguely remember a Saturday Morning Cartoon called <a href=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prostars>ProStars having a similar premise, though instead of just starring NFL teams it featured athletes from various sports franchises (with Bo Jackson representing both Football and Baseball). There were thrills, chills, and spills designed to entertain kid viewers. As I remember, it was also awful. This new series doesn't sound like it's going to be much better, though it might have some potential if it deals with situations involving sex scandals, steroid abuse, and ridiculous payroll demands.

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The Great JT

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Oct 6, 2008
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This...is not going to work. As a fellow survivor of the terrors that is ProStars (as well as Captain N and the Super Mario Bros. Super Show), I can say with 100% certainty that this just will not work. Why? Because seldom are athletes capable actors, voice or otherwise.
 

NeoAC

Zombie Nation #LetsRise
Jun 9, 2008
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All 32 teams are going to be represented? Oh goody. I can't wait until they get to the crappier teams in the league. "Hey look kids! It's Oakland Raiders punter Shane Lechler!" Yeah, that's entertainment right there.

At least it can't be worse than the other stuff they put out for kids nowadays.
 

Jared

The British Paladin
Jul 14, 2009
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Well...Im not too sure on this, but...I am sure young children will enjoy it...
 

oppp7

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Aug 29, 2009
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I'm glad I wasn't raised on this stuff. I got to enjoy my childhood.
*Has a heart attack due to lack of exercise*

I blame the Democrats.
 

Onyx Oblivion

Borderlands Addict. Again.
Sep 9, 2008
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NeoAC said:
All 32 teams are going to be represented? Oh goody. I can't wait until they get to the crappier teams in the league. "Hey look kids! It's Oakland Raiders punter Shane Lechler!" Yeah, that's entertainment right there.

At least it can't be worse than the other stuff they put out for kids nowadays.
I want to see Michael Vick...
 

Therumancer

Citation Needed
Nov 28, 2007
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Sadly this doesn't surprise me given the junk that they produce for cartoons nowadays, oftentimes missing the entire idea of "fun".

The biggest problem I have with this is that today a lot of pro-athletes are basically the dregs of humanity, and proud of it. It's hard to present a lot of these guys as heroes given that they behave like overpaid thugs, and we seem to be moving from scandal to scandal. Pretty much anyone they can put on this show is going to be a risk because someone can go from being an idol seemingly worthy of adolation, to the bloody boogey man.

I can just wait until the show airs, and then one night one of the major recurring athletes is busted for doing drugs and hiring underage hookers or something.

In the day and age of publicity agents and the like, who exist specifically to cover with these guys and generated positive spin, I'd personally be reluctant to put any of them into a TV show aimed at children unless I knew them personally.

I mean while he's not NFL, look at Tiger Woods, gifted golfer, but over time it became fairly obvious that he's not exactly what his PR guys were making him out to be. After the incident with his wife, I'd have been slamming my head into a brick wall if I gave him his own cartoon show.
 

daftalchemist

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Aug 6, 2008
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I'd prefer we didn't start the obnoxious NFL obsession at a young age. They'll probably end up being even bigger assholes in the future because the obsession will have that much longer to fester in their systems.
 

TWEWER

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Feb 8, 2009
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But we already have Eyeshield 21. I'd much rather see that on TV than whatever the he'll this crap is.