Jim Henson Names North American Agent for Preschool Science Series

HOLLYWOOD, December 17: The Jim Henson Company has appointed
Los Angeles-based Brandolution to handle the U.S. and Canadian licensing for
its newest animated preschool series, Sid the Science Kid, formerly titled What’s the Big Idea?

Brandolution will work with The Jim Henson Company to
develop a licensing program across all relevant preschool consumer-product
categories, including toys, books, activities, party, apparel and home
furnishings. The goal is to introduce an assortment of key merchandise for the
2008 holiday season, followed by a full product assortment rollout in 2009.

Led by Melissa Segal, the previous co-founder of Evergreen
Concepts, Brandolution’s team of industry experts will look to exploit every
merchandise opportunity of this new series, focusing on its cast of characters
and preschool-appropriate topics.

Sid the Science Kid
follows a sketch-comedy format and features Sid, an inquisitive youngster who
explores the everyday ideas that preschoolers find fascinating. These include
questions such as Why do bananas go “bad”? and How does a bird fly without a
plane? Henson has partnered with KCET, PBS’s West Coast flagship station, to
produce 40 half-hour episodes of the series, to debut in September 2008 on PBS
KIDS.

The series continues a long legacy of successful preschool
programming from The Jim Henson Company, which includes Fraggle Rock, Bear in the Big Blue House and Muppet Babies.

—By Kristin Brzoznowski