Nickelodeon Taps Pete & Pete Co-Creator for New Position

BURBANK: Nickelodeon has appointed Chris Viscardi, co-creator of the kids’ classic The Adventures of Pete & Pete, as senior VP of content development for Nickelodeon Franchise Properties, with the executive currently in development on an original Hey Arnold! TV movie.

In this newly created role, Viscardi will oversee the creative strategies for the network’s key franchises, including Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, SpongeBob SquarePants and Dora the Explorer. He will be charged with reimagining and developing select shows from Nickelodeon’s library of original series. The executive will work closely with other Viacom divisions such as Paramount Pictures to explore partnership opportunities for Nickelodeon. His first project is the development of an original Hey Arnold! TV movie with series creator Craig Bartlett returning as writer and executive producer. The movie will pick up where the original series ended in 2004, resolving unanswered questions.

Viscardi currently serves as one of the executive producers on Nickelodeon’s Emmy-nominated animated series Sanjay and Craig. He began his career at Nickelodeon, where he and Will McRobb created the award-winning series The Adventures of Pete & Pete, along with the alternative animation series Kablam!

Viscardi will be based in Nickelodeon’s Burbank headquarters and will report to Russell Hicks, the president of content development and production for Nickelodeon Group. Hicks said, “Chris is a creator who innately understands the Nickelodeon DNA and our audience because of his long history with us. As someone who has worked on two generations of Nickelodeon hit shows, Chris is the perfect person to manage our most important franchises and reimagine stories and characters from our library for today’s kids and for the Millennial generation who grew up on them. It’s also incredibly exciting to pair Chris with another master storyteller, Craig Bartlett, to bring our iconic Hey Arnold! back to life in a new, modern way.”