• by Paul Gough , March 20, 2003

Nickelodeon unveiled its proposed schedule for the 2003-04 season, with seven new programs that include both live-action and animation.

“We’ve been raising our own creative bar, and this season will propel us further forward on behalf of kids. We feel we know kids and their tastes than ever before, and our new series are going to register with them and hopefully yield yet another round of hits,” said Cyma Zarghami, EVP/general manager of the Viacom-owned channel.

The new programs include:

Romeo!, a live-action series that will run in the Saturday night SNICK lineup. It features hip-hop’s Master P and his son, 13-year-old Lil’ Romeo. The series is about a single father and executive – played by Master P – as he raises his kids and works in the music industry. As well as Lil’ Romeo, his family will include a 16-year-old sister, a six-year-old brother and an 11-year-old foster brother. The series will begin production in Vancouver, Canada, in April. Twenty episodes have been ordered.

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All Grown Up, a spin-off of Rugrats with the familiar characters from that hit show as tweens. All Grown Up has been ordered for 13 episodes and is scheduled to premiere in the fall.

My Life as a Teenage Robot, about a robot named XJ9/Jenny who has been implanted with what the channel calls a “super-sensitive teenage heart.” The show – a spinoff of the Oh Yeah! Cartoons – shows Jenny’s job is to protect the Earth from disaster but she has her own ideas on how she’d like to live, including going to high school and being able to drive the family car. My Life as a Teenage Robot is scheduled to begin in the summer. Thirteen episodes have been ordered.

Rubbadubers, a stop-frame animated preschool series about bath-toy friends including a frog, a crocodile and a shark. The 20-episode run will begin in August.

Whoopi’s Littleburg, a series of three live-action, half-hour specials starring Whoopi Goldberg, puppets, preschool kids and guests including Sandra Bernhard and Rosie Perez.

Miss Spider and the Sunny Patch Kids, a one-hour animated preschool special based on the book series Little Miss Spider. Featuring the voices of Brooke Shields and Rick Moranis, it follows the adventures of Miss Spider as she and her husband search for one of their five children who is missing.

Drake and Josh, a live-action comedy that features two former Nickelodeon stars Drake Bell (The Amanda Show) and Josh Peck (The Amanda Show, Snow Day, Max Keeble’s Day Off). Bell and Peck are teen-age stepbrothers; Bell is a nerd who turns out to be an advice columnist named Miss Nancy who dishes advice in the local school newspaper. The show begins production in March and will run for six episodes.

Danny Phantom, an animated action/comedy story of 14-year-old Danny Fenton, who uses wit and superpowers to transform into a phantom-fighting superhero named Danny Phantom. Six episodes have been ordered.

The Backyardigans, a 3-D animated series that is set in the intersection of three backyards in the afternoon following preschool.

The channel, which reaches 86 million households nationwide, also announced a casting call April 5 in Los Angeles for a new program, “Are You All That?: Nickelodeon’s Search for the Funniest Kid in America,” The talent search is for a child ages 9 to 16 who will appear on the Nickelodeon program All That, a sketch-comedy show for kids.