It’s a Big Big World

TV Kids Weekly, August 29, 2006

NAME: It’s a Big Big World

ORIGIN: The show is an original idea from Emmy-award winning
writer, director and creator Mitchell Kriegman.

CREATOR: Mitchell Kriegman

TV SHOW: It’s a Big Big World
consists of 40 half-hour episodes produced in “Shadowmation”—a unique,
patented production technique that combines a 300-year-old form of animatronic
puppetry called Bun-Raku with CGI animation, creating a lush, 3-D environment.

It’s a Big Big World opens up the world of science and the environment for kids
and their parents, emphasizing the joy of discovery. A second series is in the
works.

EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS: Mitchell Kriegman, Marianne Culbert

COMMISSIONING BROADCASTER: PBS in the U.S.

TV SALES: Sony Pictures Television International (SPTI) will be introducing
It’s a Big Big World to buyers at
MIPCOM.

MAJOR TOY LICENSEE: Mattel

STRATEGY FOR ROLLOUT: Mitchell Kriegman started his career as a performer, then
became a short-story writer and his work appeared in several publications,
including the New Yorker and National
Lampoon, among others. He went on to write
and make short films for Saturday Night Live in the early ’80s. He then focused on children’s
programming and created such critically acclaimed series as Clarissa
Explains it All, Bear in the Big Blue
House and The Book of Pooh. “One of the primary directives for anybody in the kids’
business is to create shows that help kids grow,” says Kriegman, “After 9/11
the world had become such a dicey place, and since I had kids who were pretty
young at the time, I felt we needed a show that had some sort of positive take
on the world.”

Kriegman realized there was still
a way to look at the world through biology and geology and environmental
sciences that made the world make sense. “And so I developed the show to
feature this giant dancing sloth named Snook who plays a guitar and is very
cool. He’s like your older brother, a surfer kind of guy who knows about the
world. He’s great and so Zen, he’s not all worked up, but he can dance and he
when he gets the energy he really gets going.

It’s a Big Big World takes place in a giant rainforest tree, with a host of
characters, including marmosets, anteaters, old sea turtles, frogs and birds. “It’s
a preschool show, but it really attracts kids 4- to 7-years-old,” says
Kriegman. “We have science lessons in the series and we don’t hide the big
words, like metamorphosis. We did an episode that featured brother and sister
marmosets who are looking for a missing friend. They go searching throughout
the whole tree for him and what they eventually find is that their friend, who
was a tad pole, now is a frog and that is why they couldn’t find him—he
had transformed. We are also trying to develop awareness about environmental
issues.”

But mostly, as Kriegman explains, “It’s
a fun show, there is tons of music with a lot of world music and African
rhythms and Spanish rhythms.”

Sony Pictures Television
International, which is distributing the show around the world, has already
signed Mattel on as the master toy license. Kriegman, who is involved in
deciding which products the show lends itself to, says, “We will always try to
integrate the science into the products, but they will also be a lot of fun.”
He envisions musical products, books, CDs, DVDs and much more.