American Dream Launches First-Ever Wish Week

American Dream Launches First-Ever Wish Week

Thanksgiving Holiday Extended to One Full Week of Retail Promotions, Surprise-and-Delight Attraction Giveaways to Make Dreams Come True

East Rutherford, New Jersey, Nov. 12, 2020 -- This year, American Dream continues to reinvent the entertainment, shopping, and dining experience by expanding the Black Friday start of the holiday shopping season from one day to eight and making dreams come true. Working closely with its brand partners and attractions, American Dream’s Wish Week will bring holiday magic to the traditional Thanksgiving season and create new memories for guests.

Beginning November 23 through November 30, guests visiting American Dream will be treated to special surprises, magical giveaways, and one-of-a-kind experiences all week.  To provide a safe experience throughout Wish Week, and all season long, American Dream’s #dreamsafe initiative, which launched together with Hackensack Meridian Health, sets the standard in cleanliness and health and safety protocols. The property will ease the common stresses of the season by offering online to offline gifting consultations, curated gift guides, and curbside pickup, among others.

American Dream will have extended hours during Wish Week and all throughout the holiday season. Visit www.americandream.com for its holiday operating hours. American Dream will be closed on Thanksgiving Day, November 26.

“At American Dream, we’re always re-thinking, re-inventing, and putting a fresh spin on conventional experiences,” said Mark Ghermezian, co-CEO of American Dream.  “This year, we’re moving away from the traditional one-day Black Friday holiday and expanding to eight magical days, giving families the chance to experience American Dream at a time most convenient for them,” he added.  

There are surprises around every corner—here’s just a sneak peek at what’s in store at American Dream’s Wish Week (and all holiday season):

• Monday, November 23: Love’s Got to Give!: With more than 500 poinsettias in the Winter Garden Court, a winter wonderland of 550 snowflakes over The Rink, more than 100 holiday trees and 12 Photo Booths throughout, American Dream is sure to be the most Instagrammable backdrop to capture all your holiday moments.  
• Tuesday, November 24: Wish for Fun and Sun: We’ve brought the sunshine indoors at American Dream. Don’t miss our splash-worthy Wish Wave Pool at DreamWorks Water Park, complete with a DJ and dance music for some serious--and safely distanced--family fun. While you’re here, be sure to reserve one of our Jonathan Adler-designed private cabanas! Whether shopping our Resort collections throughout our stores, or cooling down on tropical frozen treats, American Dream is the ultimate staycation destination this holiday season.
• Wednesday, November 25: Winter Wishes: It’s cold outside, so bundle up and enjoy all the warmth of the holiday season at American Dream. Whether you choose to hit the slopes at Big SNOW, take a spin around The Rink, or shop our curated collections of sparkly jewelry, cozy, layered knits and outerwear, American Dream makes winter wishes come true.
• Thursday, November 26: American Dream will be closed on Thanksgiving Day so that our Dream Makers can celebrate the holiday with their loved ones.
• Friday, November 27: The Wish List: Holiday wishes, granted. Today, we’re all about making the biggest day in shopping even better, as only American Dream can do. Shop our Curated Collections on our online holiday hub. Now, isn’t that dreamy?
• Saturday, November 28: Celebrating Our Small Businesses: In celebration of Small Business Saturday, please visit our unique mix of retail and dining partners that represent the dozens of small, independent businesses at American Dream. Look for special signs throughout American Dream indicating where these businesses are located and support the local businesses that are integral to our community.
• Sunday, November 29:  Nickelodeon’s “Nickmas Universe” Opening: Mark your calendars; you don’t want to miss out on this action-packed celebration! Join us for the opening of “Nickmas Universe,” a holiday version of everyone’s favorite indoor theme park. Roaming Dream Makers will be on hand to provide bottles of water, coloring books and other treats to our guests. Shhhhh—some guests will be randomly selected to win complimentary passes to Nickmas Universe.
• Monday, November 30: Cyber (Music) Monday: Live from American Dream! Take a break from online shopping and tune in as we bring the magic of our weekly, holiday-themed performances right to your living room. Local performers--dance troupes, choirs, performance artists--will be showcased across TikTok, Instagram, and throughout our property-wide digital network with pop-up, live sets to boot.

 * To learn about all the health and safety precautions American Dream is taking together with Hackensack Meridian Health, please visit https://www.americandream.com/dreamsafe.

ABOUT AMERICAN DREAM

American Dream, developed by Triple Five Group, is an unparalleled mix of world-class entertainment, retail and dining, comprising more than 3 million square feet in East Rutherford, New Jersey, just minutes away from New York City. American Dream is home to leading attractions that includes DreamWorks Water Park, Nickelodeon Universe, Big SNOW, Angry Birds Not So Mini Golf Club, The Rink, Out of This World Blacklight Mini Golf, and a curated collection of premier dining and retail stores, including flagship locations for H&M, Uniqlo and PRIMARK as well as Lululemon, Sephora, Aritzia, Zara and IT’SUGAR, the world’s first “candy department store.” For more information on American Dream and our health and safety protocols, visit www.americandream.com or follow us on Instagram @americandream.

More Nick: Nickelodeon Unwraps Holiday Programming Guide!

Originally published: Thursday, November 12, 2020.

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Actor Paige Howard talks 'The Astronauts' and Growing Up on Set with Her Father | WFLA News Channel 8

Actor Paige Howard discusses voicing Matilda, the computer system for Odyssey II, the spaceship in Nickelodeon’s new series, The Astronauts, and growing up on set with her father, Ron! The Astronauts premieres Friday, November 13 at 7p/6c, only on Nickelodeon! Click here for more info!

Classic Rugrats Comic Strip for Thursday, November 12, 2020 | Nickelodeon

Classic Rugrats Comic Strip for Thursday, November 12, 2020 | Nickelodeon

Rugrats, provided to Creators Syndicate by Nickelodeon, based off the popular animated television series has been created for children and family's to laugh and enjoy together.

Follow these comics and their take on real episodes of the show and their own spin on hilarious adventures.

Read more Rugrats comic strips!: https://www.creators.com/features/rugrats

More Nick: Nickelodeon Unveils First Look at CG-Animated 'Rugrats' and 'Big Nate'!

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Nickelodeon International's Nina Hahn to Take Part in 'Kids Content: Opportunities For Inclusivity' Panel of C21’s Content London On Demand Event

Nick News Mini: Nina Hahn, Senior Vice President (SVP) of Production & Development at Nickelodeon International and head of ViacomCBS International Studios' (VIS) VIS Kids will be taking part in the "Kids Content: Opportunities For Inclusivity" session of C21’s Content London On Demand event.

C21’s Content London On Demand event will publish online at ContentLondon.net between November 16 and December 4, focusing on the programming and strategies that will define the content business in 2021.

In the "Kids Content: Opportunities For Inclusivity" panel, leading international children’s content commissioners and executives will discuss their commissioning strategies and priorities, exploring the crucial role of diversity and inclusion within kids TV content to ensure programming reflects and is made by the diverse society we live in.

Joining Hahn will be Miki Chojnacka, Chief content and creative officer, Hopster; Jon Mason, Founder of Jollywise and creator of the Secret Story Draw; and Cheryl Taylor, Head of content, BBC Children’s.

Access to view the sessions is free of charge to C21PRO subscribers.

To gain access to view this year’s Content London On Demand sessions you can take out a C21PRO subscription by clicking here.

From C21 Digital Screenings:

C21 DIGITAL SCREENINGS

Theme Festival - Kids Programming

C21 explores how the children’s TV sector coped with the events of 2020 and looks ahead to what studios and distributors have to show after a year of development and remote production.

It would be simplistic to suggest that the kids content business has come through Covid-19 without any bumps or bruises. But compared with most sectors inside and outside TV it is weathering the storm pretty well.

Animation studios have had to make adjustments to their workflow, but this has meant temporary suspensions rather than cancellations, says Cyber Group Studios CEO Pierre Sissman. “We had a brief pause on our preschool series Gigantosaurus while we got animators set up to work at home, but they soon caught up. People have been working so hard during lockdown that productivity isn’t suffering.”

Kids live-action is, in theory, more at risk from the virus. But for the most part, children’s drama productions have fewer moving parts than adult dramas – which makes them more manageable. Viacom Studios UK’s live-action series Goldies Oldies, for example, bounced back from lockdown and re-entered production in the second half of 2020. Wildbrain, meanwhile, has scored strong sales for Malory Towers, a live-action series produced for Family Channel Canada and CBBC in the UK.

 

True, there is a financial downside to Covid-19, with ad-funded networks likely to trim their kids’ programming budgets heading in to 2021. But public broadcasters still provide valuable support as coproducers. To illustrate the point, Komixx Entertainment has just completed delivery of 52-episode animation series Dog Loves Books for BBC’s CBeebies, ABC in Australia and German children’s network KiKa.

Even more significant is the continued voracious appetite for kids’ content from both studio-backed and independently run SVoD and pay TV platforms. Some of this demand is met by in-house production divisions, notably Disney, Warner, ViacomCBS, or by subsidiaries, such as NBCUniversal (NBCU)-owned DreamWorks, which has just struck a long-term supply deal with NBCU’s pay platform Sky.

But there are also abundant instances of streamer commissions, from the AppleTV+ deal for Wildbrain’s Peanuts franchise through to Netflix’s greenlight of Xilam animated series Trico. Xilam has also been the beneficiary of renewed demand from Chinese streamers – recently unveiling a copro deal with Alibaba-backed Youku on preschool series Lupin’s Tales (78×7’).

Further evidence of Chinese support for the global kids’ sector is Tencent Video’s new swathe of copro deals with Luxembourg-based Zeilt Productions as well as Sixteen South and Silvergate Media in the UK. As reported in C21, the three partnerships mark the start of Tencent’s multi-year strategy to partner with European studios on copros that will see children’s shows air as originals on the Tencent Kids platform.

Ed Galton, co-founder and CCO of animation studio Cake, says his company has continued to do brisk business during Covid-19 in both production and distribution. Activities range from “a new Angry Birds series for Netflix to the third series of Total Dramarama, produced with Fresh TV for Teletoon Canada and Cartoon Network US,” says Galton. Further underlining the growing importance of streamers, Cake is also handling global distribution on Lucas the Spider, a Fresh TV show that will be shared by Cartoon Network and HBO Max.

Galton is not in denial about the challenges presented by Covid-19, pointing out that the current downturn may also result in households with kids taking fewer streamer subscriptions. “But the industry needs content. Even if there is downward pressure on budgets, that will lend itself to risk-sharing coproductions and distribution opportunities.” On the latter score, Cake has just sold series including Mush Mush & The Mushables, Pablo and Mighty Mike to broadcasters across Asia.

Cyber Group’s Sissman echoes the story at Cake. “We can see a drop-off in ad revenue occurring in Europe, but the overall picture for kids remains strong. We are close to delivering a second season of Gigantosaurus to Disney and are also in production on a new show, 50/50 Heroes, for France Télévisions. At the same time, our catalogue sales have almost doubled on last year, with recently produced series in high demand.”

The company’s increased emphasis on development proves that Cyber Group is feeling upbeat about the future, says Sissman. “We have boosted development by 20% compared with 2019, so we have 12 series in development right now. Two of those, Monster In My Pocket and Alex Player, received a very strong response at Cartoon Forum.”

Both of these series are aimed at older kids, underlining a broad trend towards action-comedy animation for the 6-11 demo. Monica Levy, head of international sales at Federation Kids & Family, says this category has also been a priority for her firm. “We make sure we cover every segment, but there are buyers for this age group across all types of platforms,” she says. “We recently licensed Squish to HBO Max and have just made our first third-party acquisition in the demo, a show called Presto: School of Magic, which is being produced by TeamTO. We’re also developing a 6-9 animation series based on a classic property.”

At the same time, Covid-19 has not discouraged Federation from continuing its expansion into kids’ live-action. “Find Me In Paris has been a huge success for us and proved that there is demand for high-quality drama that kids can co-view with their parents. Following that, we are working on two or three more high-end series where the emphasis is on great production quality, strong writing and compelling acting.”

Clearly, Covid-19 restrictions have not been ideal for producing high-end live-action series with sumptuous locations. Fortunately for Federation, however, the third season of Find Me In Paris was complete and the new series are in the development phase. “In the end it worked out quite well,” says Levy, “because we were able to spend a lot of time with writers. It was a chance to create some really great scripts.”

While a large part of 2020 has been about keeping kids projects on track and on time, one parallel narrative across the year has been how to keep kids stimulated and educated while away from school. In the UK, the BBC has been running blocks of education programming while Nickelodeon made 450 interactive and educational games freely available on its sites and apps during lockdown.

In the US, Sesame Workshop has been producing both live-action and animation educational content under its Caring For Each Other banner, says senior VP of international media and education Ed Wells. “We turned to our experts to really get an understanding of what kids and families would need during this time. We then developed content and resources on everything from hygiene to body movement to change of routine.”

Pandemic-specific activities have not deflected Sesame Workshop from its other priorities, however. Commercially, says Wells, the organisation continues its drive into the streaming market. “We still have excellent relationships with broadcasters such as the BBC, NHK and ABC in Australia, but it was important for us to embrace the new platforms that kids and families use. So we have forged a strong relationship with HBO Max on Sesame Street and a new animation series, Mecha Builders. We also have original content on AppleTV+.”

Socially, the issue of diversity has loomed large this year, says Wells. “Diversity has always been a mainstay of what we do, but the conversation shifted this year. So we’ve put a lot of effort into our anti-racism curriculum and created content like The Power of We.”

In fact, diversity has been a key theme across the industry. ViacomCBS recently introduced a No Diversity, No Commission policy, while the BBC is producing new episodes of JoJo & Gran Gran, the UK’s first preschool animated series featuring a black British family. Galton points out that his company and Triggerfish are creating Africa-led project Mama K’s Super 4 for Netflix.

It’s similar in Asia-Pacific, where Omens Studios’ business director Harry Teper says “diversity is part of our DNA. From the upcoming season of Leo the Wildlife Ranger to other shows in development, it all showcases diversity in different forms.”

Chi Sim Tang, CEO of Singapore-based Omens, echoes Sesame Workshop’s Wells by saying education has been a key theme for his company during Covid-19. “We have edutainment preschool shows Leo the Wildlife Ranger and Counting With Paula in production. With children taking to home-based learning in the pandemic, we’ve seen increasing interest in our shows, from parents, buyers and commissioners. We feel commissioners are now more receptive when we pitch ideas with educational and social development values.”

At the other end of the spectrum, demand for escapist fare means that slapstick shows are also seeing accelerated demand, with examples including Trico & Squish. Silas Hickey, executive producer of Omens series Amy & the Afterlife and Dragon Lizzardo, adds: “We are working with showrunners and animators on physical ‘toony’ shows. These are the kind of shows inspired by Vaudeville and incorporate slapstick comedy, and nutty, dimensional, wonderfully neurotic characters.”

The upbeat message from producers and distributors is reinforced from the buyer side. Louise Bucknole, VP of kids programming for ViacomCBS Networks’ kids brands Milkshake! and Nickelodeon UK, says: “It’s been a testing year, but we’re still offering a balanced mix of live-action and animation on Nickelodeon and Channel 5 kids block Milkshake!. Our animation was able to continue in production during lockdown and, despite some live-action series having to go on pause, our pipelines are well stocked. All of our productions are now back filming and we’ve forged ahead with live-action series including Go Green with the Grimwades and The World According To Grandpa.”

Last year, Channel 5 said it would double its content investment in Milkshake!, taking production from 160 to over 300 episodes from 2021 onwards. Nothing has changed on that score, says Bucknole, with CGI series Pip & Posy (a copro with Sky) and Mya Go and Brave Bunnies among the titles coming through.

In terms of how Covid-19 has impacted editorial strategy, Bucknole says the company has sought to “remain reflective and relatable to our audience. We’ve commissioned series with topical themes in mind. Go Green with the Grimwades is a reflection of kids’ interest in the environment and ways they can be more green at home. We’ve also produced over 50 shortform ‘stay at home’ episodes to keep kids occupied in a fun, safe learning environment. We’ve had great success with that and will continue to build on into next year.”

On Nickelodeon and Nicktoons, iconic franchises like Paw Patrol and SpongeBob SquarePants have been supported by specific Covid-friendly formats such as gameshow Nickelodeon Unfiltered and Group Chat, “both filmed in a Covid-style production,” says Bucknole. She says Covid-19 has done nothing to diminish the popularity of Nick’s iconic characters and this will be reinforced by the arrival of The Smurfs in 2021.

Away from Nick, other big brands that are set to reboot or extend include Hasbro/Entertainment One’s Power Rangers; Mattel’s Thomas & Friends, which is being reinvented in 2D by Nelvana; and Warner Bros’ Batman, which will spawn preschool series Batwheels for Cartoon Network and HBO Max. While this is not a new trend, it seems likely that the kids industry’s preference for the safety net of big brands is being further cemented by Covid-19.

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More Nick: Nickelodeon Updates Icons, Sets New Characters for 2021 | Next-Gen Nick!

Originally published: Friday, November 06, 2020.

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Australia's 10 Shake Joins The Search For Blue’s Clues

10 Shake Joins The Search For Blue’s Clues

Blue’s Clues & You! Premieres Monday, 23 November at 8.00am on 10 Shake

Australia - Pull up your Thinking Chair and grab your Handy Dandy Notebook, because hit preschool series Blue’s Clues & You!, a remake of the 90s’ classic Blue’s Clues, is shaking it’s way on to 10 Shake from Monday, 23 November at 8.00am.

Airing weekday mornings, Blue’s Clues & You! invites our littlest audience to join CG-animated Blue and new host Josh Dela Cruz, on clue-led adventures to solve a puzzle in each episode. With each signature paw print, Blue identifies clues in her animated world that propel the story and inspire the audience to interact with the characters. Original hosts Steve (Steve Burns) and Joe (Donovan Patton) also make cameos throughout the series.

Blue’s Clues & You! has been reimagined for today’s younger generation. Pups Blue and Magenta return with a fresh CG-animated coat; fan-favourites Tickety Tock, Slippery Soap, Shovel, Pail, Mr. Salt, Mrs. Pepper, Cinnamon, Paprika, Mailbox and the original Thinking Chair are back for more clue-lead adventures; and the Handy Dandy Notebook is now fully equipped with smartphone technology, allowing emails and video calls.

Excited to be part of a show for kids that encouraged participation, host Josh said: “It’s more of a transfer of power and authority to the home viewer, which is something as a kid, you don’t usually get. You’re usually told to be quiet and listen.

“Our show gives us the opportunity as kids, to voice our opinions and make mistakes, because that’s a part of learning.”

The original Blue’s Clues series launched in 1996 to critical praise from educators, parents, and preschoolers for its unique interactivity that helped change the way kids watch television. The landmark series also raised the bar in preschool television by exploring advanced subject matter such as sign language, geography, physics, emotions, and anatomy.

With fandom already afoot, the series premiere will coincide with the launch of the first toy range, an adorable animated plush Blue that raises her ears and barks fun phrases from the show. Available exclusively to Big W online (RRP $45) Peek-A-Blue is the perfect companion to help solves clues.

Blue’s Clues & You! also airs on Nick Jr. Australia.

Blue’s Clues & You!

Premieres Monday, 23 November at 8.00am on 10 Shake.

More Nick: ViacomCBS Launches New FTA Network 10 Shake in Australia!

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