Nickelodeon Brings Back Popular 90's Game Series, Figure It Out, Greenlighting 40 Episodes

Below is a Nickelodeon Press Release from PRNewswire:

Nickelodeon Brings Back Popular 90's Game Series, Figure It Out, Greenlighting 40 Episodes

Production Begins in April with Host Jeff Sutphen (Pick Boy) and Bevy of Celebrity Panelists to Figure Out Kids' Hidden Talents

LOS ANGELES, March 7, 2012 /Nickelodeon Press Release via PRNewswire/ -- Continuing its legacy of serving up family-friendly game shows, Nickelodeon has ordered 40 brand-new episodes of its popular game show from the 1990s, Figure It Out, it was announced today by Marjorie Cohn, Nickelodeon's President of Development and Original Programming. Set to premiere later this year, Figure It Out challenges celebrities to guess kid contestants' unique talents and skills. The series is slated to begin production in April in Los Angeles, Calif.

"Figure It Out is a show that celebrates kids and their wonderful and often bizarre talents," said Cohn. "In this internet age where kids are expressing themselves online, it feels timely to give them a TV platform to showcase those talents in a uniquely Nickelodeon way."

Every Figure It Out episode features a panel of celebrities trying to guess the unique feat or accomplishment of two kid contestants each, in three rounds of game play, by asking 'yes' or 'no' questions and being bombarded by messy visual and tactile clues. For every round the panel fails to figure it out, the contestant wins a prize. If, after three rounds, the panel can't figure out the kid's unique feat, the contestant takes home the grand prize. Each game culminates in the reveal of the talent with an in-studio demo.

Figure It Out originally aired for four seasons on Nickelodeon from July 1997 to December 1999 and was hosted by Olympic gold medalist swimmer Summer Sanders. Panelists from the original broadcast included Kenan Thompson [All That, Kenan And Kel, iParty With Victorious], Aaron Carter, Amanda Bynes [All That, The Amanda Show, What I Like About You], Chris Jericho, Coolio, Jack Hanna, Sherman Helmsley, Evander Holyfield, Joe Namath, Julius Erving, Michelle Trachtenberg [The Adventures of Pete & Pete, Harriet The Spy], Mike O'Malley [Guts, Global Guts] and Mya, among several others. The series was created by Kevin Kay and Magda Liolis with Eileen Braun and Magda Liolis currently serving as executive producers.

Nickelodeon has a long history of developing original, hit game shows. The first game show that aired on the network was Double Dare in 1986, featuring Nick's signatory slime. Over the next 16 years, Nickelodeon launched many other game shows including hits such as Finders Keepers and Super Sloppy Double Dare ('87), Family Double Dare, ('88), Make the Grade and Think Fast ('89), Wild and Crazy Kids ('90), Get the Picture ('91), GUTS and Nick Arcade ('92), Legends of the Hidden Temple ('93), Global GUTS, ('95), Figure it Out ('97), You're On! and Figure it Out: Family Style ('98), Figure it Out: Wild Style ('99), Double Dare 2000 ('00), and Nick Robot Wars and Scaredy Camp ('02). Six years later came Family GUTS [My Family's Got GUTS] ('08), BrainSurge ('09) and Family BrainSurge ('11) [and Nickelodeon Internationals Camp Orange] -- the new wave of game shows for the first generation of Nickelodeon parents and adults that grew up watching shows like Double Dare and GUTS.

Season to date, Nickelodeon's most recent hit game show, Family BrainSurge, has averaged 2 million total viewers.

Nickelodeon, now in its 32nd year, is the number-one entertainment brand for kids. It has built a diverse, global business by putting kids first in everything it does. The company includes television programming and production in the United States and around the world, plus consumer products, online, recreation, books and feature films. Nickelodeon's U.S. television network is seen in more than 100 million households and has been the number-one-rated basic cable network for 17 consecutive years. For more information or artwork, visit http://www.nickpress.com. Nickelodeon and all related titles, characters and logos are trademarks of Viacom Inc. (NASDAQ: VIA, VIAB).

SOURCE Nickelodeon

RELATED LINKS
http://www.nick.com

Nickelodeon UK unfortunately never showed the original "Figure It Out" series.

Also, from Deadline Hollywood's 'Deadline TV':

Nickelodeon Revives 1990s Game Show ‘Figure It Out’ With 40-Episode Order

Tags: Figure It Out, Nickelodeon

EXCLUSIVE: More than a decade after it went off the air, Nickelodeon’s 1990s game show Figure It Out is making a comeback. The cable network has ordered 40 brand new episodes of the family-friendly game show to begin production in April in Los Angeles for a premiere later this year. Every Figure It Out episode features a panel of celebrities trying to guess kid contestants’ unique talents and skills by asking ‘yes’ or ‘no’ questions while being bombarded by messy visual and tactile clues. If, after three rounds, the panel still can’t figure out the kid’s feat, the contestant takes home the grand prize. Each game culminates in the reveal of the talent with an in-studio demo. “Figure It Out is a show that celebrates kids and their wonderful and often bizarre talents” said Marjorie Cohn, Nickelodeon’s president of development and original programming. “In this internet age where kids are expressing themselves online, it feels timely to give them a TV platform to showcase those talents in a uniquely Nickelodeon way.”

Created by Kevin Kay and Magda Liolis, Figure It Out originally aired on Nickelodeon for four seasons from July 1997 to December 1999 and was hosted by Olympic gold medalist swimmer Summer Sanders. The panel was a mix of Nick personalities and celebrities and included Kenan Thompson, Amanda Bynes, Aaron Carter, Chris Jericho, Coolio, Jack Hanna, Sherman Helmsley, Evander Holyfield, Joe Namath, Julius Erving, Michelle Trachtenberg, Mike O’Malley and Mya, among several others. The show also spawned 2 offshoots, Figure it Out: Family Style and Figure it Out: Wild Style.

The reboot of Figure It Out, which will be executive produced by Eileen Braun and Magda Liolis, continues the 1990s’ boom on Nickelodeon. The midnight-4 AM block The '90s Are All That, which features reruns of 1990s Nick sitcoms, has done quite well on Nickelodeon's sibling Teen Nick. Figure Out also is the latest in a string of original game show franchises developed and launched by Nickelodeon in the past 25 years. The first game show that aired on the network was Double Dare in 1986, featuring Nick’s now signatory slime. It was followed by Finders Keepers and Super Sloppy Double Dare (’87), Family Double Dare, (’88), Make the Grade and Think Fast (’89), Wild and Crazy Kids (’90), Get the Picture (’91), GUTS and Nick Arcade (’92), Legends of the Hidden Temple (’93), Global GUTS, (’95), Figure it Out (’97), You’re On! and Figure it Out: Family Style (’98), Figure it Out: Wild Style (’99), Double Dare 2000 (’00), and Nick Robot Wars and Scaredy Camp (’02). The network’s most recent entries in the genre were Family GUTS (’08), BrainSurge (‘09) and Family BrainSurge (’11). Here is a [streaming video] clip from the original Figure It Out [featuring Nickelodeon Stars Lori Beth Denberg [All That], Danny Tamberelli [Pete and Pete] and Kenan Thompson [All That, Kenan & Kel], and American singer Aaron Carter]:

Also, from C21Media:

Nick returns to 90s gameshow

US kidsnet Nickelodeon has looked to one of its 90s formats for its latest gameshow order.

Figure It Out - original version
The channel has commissioned 40 half-hour episodes of Figure It Out, a studio-based series that ran for four seasons from July 1997 to December 1999.

The format sees celebrities challenged to guess child contestants’ unique talents and abilities through a series of ‘yes’ and ‘no’ questions and visual clues. Each episode ends with an in-studio talent reveal.

“Figure It Out is a show that celebrates kids and their wonderful and often bizarre talents,” said Marjorie Cohn, Nick’s president of development and original progrmming.

“In this internet age where kids are expressing themselves online, it feels timely to give them a TV platform to showcase those talents in a uniquely Nickelodeon way.”

Nick’s most recent studio gameshow, Family BrainSurge, averaged two million total viewers.

Nick began producing gameshow formats in 1986 with Double Dare, and has gone on to create others such as Finders Keepers, Nick Arcade, Nick Robot Wars and Scaredy Camp.

Jesse Whittock
08-03-2012
©C21Media

GENRES: Children's, Gameshow

SHOWS: Family BrainSurge, Figure it out

Nickelodeon UK Looking For Questions To Ask The Cast Of "House Of Anubis" At The Exclusive Launch Of HOA On 11th March 2012

To celebrate Nickelodeon UK and Ireland holding the UK premiere of the second season of Nickelodeon's hit live action teen mystery/drama television show "House Of Anubis" at a exclusive special Nickelodeon Screening in Central London, UK on Sunday, 11th March 2012, which will be attended by the cast of the "House Of Anubis", Nickelodeon UK is asking on their official Twitter profile page (@NickelodeonUK) for Nickelodeon viewers and "House Of Anubis" fans to Tweet (send) them questions they have for the "House Of Anubis" cast. Nickelodeon will then ask the best questions they receive to the cast of HoA and post the answers on their official Twitter feed on Sunday, when Nickelodeon UK will also be Tweeting live from Nick UK's exclusive "House Of Anubis Season Two Launch Screening"! To send Nickelodeon UK your questions for the "House Of Anubis" gang, simply post a Tweet containing your question(s) for the SIBUNA cast and Nickelodeon UK's special #anubis2launch Twitter hashtag to Nickelodeon UK's official Twitter profile page, @NickelodeonUK:

The event is exclusive so u can only come if u won tickets. DONT WORRY if u didnt! U can still b involvd as I'll b tweeting from the event:) - 4.35pm Wednesday 7th March 2012

Use #anubis2launch & send me any questions you would like to ask the HOA cast! Then keep ur eyes peeled on Sunday to see if urs is answered! - 4.35pm Wednesday 7th March 2012

Also:

Will there be a video taken of the #anubis2launch?

@NickelodeonUK: I'll b tweeting 3-6pm GMT pics & news! Dont 4get to send in Qs for cast!

And:

[...] afraid its comp winners (picked at random) only [that can attend the "House Of Anubis" screening event in London, UK] but send in ur Qs for the cast to #anubis2launch

Also:

I'll b tweeting from event & posting pics & news from the cast so u can still be involved #anubis2launch

And:

House of Anubis fans, dont forget I'll b asking YOUR questions to the cast themselves on Sunday! Eee! What do u want to know? #anubis2launch

Also:

Wish you would give out more tickets! I really want to go!

@NickelodeonUK: You can still b involved! Use #anubis2launch & tweet ur Q for cast!

And:

#anubis2launch Will you be tweeting live?

@NickelodeonUK: Yes I'll b tweeting live all day bringing the latest news from #anubis2launch Keep ur eyes peeled & dont forget to send in Qs for the cast!

Also, Tweeted (posted) by Nickelodeon UK and Ireland's Press Office on their official Twitter profile page (@NickelodeonUKPR):

HOUSE OF ANUBIS LAUNCH EVENT ON SUNDAY!! AHHH we are too excited!! Can't wait - it will be AMAZING! Follow @NickelodeonUK for live tweets!

Nickelodeon Inks Canadian Television Deals

From Kidscreen:

Nickelodeon inks Canuck TV deals

Canadian French-language broadcasters Telequebec, TVA/Yoopa and VRAK TV, along with English-language kidsnet YTV, have acquired and renewed licenses for a raft of Nickelodeon series from Viacom International Media Networks (VIMN).

Telequebec has renewed Go, Diego Go! (season two) as well as the specials Go, Diego Go! The Great Dinosaur Adventure and Go, Diego Go! Safari Rescue. It also signed five Dora specials including Dora The Explorer Pirate Adventure and Dora the Explorer Dances to the Rescue.

VRAK TV, meanwhile, has snagged licenses for SpongeBob SquarePants (season one), Victorious (season one), and in HD, season one of Victorious, Big Time Rush (season one), iCarly (season two and episodes from season 3), Victorious (season two) and movies Best Player and The Boy Who Cried Werewolf.

Over at TVA-owned French-language preschool net Yoopa, Bubble Guppies (season one) and seasons one and two of Team Umizoomi will be joining the schedule.

Corus-owned YTV, for its part, has taken House of Anubis (season one and two) and Nickelodeon movies Best Player, Boy Who Cried Werewolf and Fairly Odd Movie.

Tags: Big Time Rush, Diego Go!, Dora the Explorer, Go, Nickelodeon, SpongeBob SquarePants, Telequebec, TVA/Yoopa, Victorious, Vrak TV, YTV

Nickelodeon And Fisher-Price Renew Their Global Licensing Partnership For Preschool Toys Based on Nickelodeon's Preschool Properties

From Kidscreen:

Fisher-Price and Nick re-up licensing partnership

US preschool toy giant and Mattel brand Fisher-Price and Nickelodeon have signed a multi-year renewal of their global licensing partnership for toys based on the network’s preschool properties.

The new agreement covers a range of product categories such as infant and preschool toys, plush, figures, preschool vehicles and playsets.

Already announced is a new toy line developed for the preschool series, Team Umizoomi, as well as a gymnastics-inspired Dora the Explorer whose retail launch will coincide with the 2012 Olympic Games.

Tags: Dora the Explorer, Fisher-Price, Mattel, Nickelodeon, Team Umizoomi

Also, from Seeking Alpha:

Mattel's CEO Discusses Q1 2012 Results - Earnings Call Transcript

Mattel (MAT) Q1 2012 Earnings Call April 16, 2012 8:30 AM ET

Operator

Good day, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to Mattel's First Quarter 2012 Earnings Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] As a reminder, today's conference call is being recorded. I'd now like to turn the conference over to your host, Mr. Drew Vollero, Senior Vice President of Corporate Strategy and Investor Relations. Please go ahead, sir.

Drew Vollero

Thanks, operator. As you know, this morning, we reported Mattel's first quarter financial results. We've provided you with a slide presentation to help guide our discussion today. The slide presentation and the information required by Regulation G regarding non-GAAP financial measures is available on the Investors & Media section of our corporate website, corporate.mattel.com.

In a few minutes, Bryan Stockton, Mattel's CEO; and Kevin Farr, Mattel's CFO, will provide comments on the results, and then the call will be opened for your questions.

Certain statements made during the call may include forward-looking statements related to the future performance of our overall business. These statements are based on currently available information, and they are subject to a number of significant risks and uncertainties, which could cause our actual results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements.

We describe some of these uncertainties in the Risk Factors section of our 2011 annual report on Form 10-K and in our 2012 quarterly reports on Form 10-Q as well as in other filings we make with the SEC from time to time. Mattel does not update forward-looking statements and expressly disclaims any obligation to do so.

Now, I'd like to turn the call over to Bryan.

Bryan G. Stockton

Thank you, Drew, and good morning, everyone. Last week marked my 100th day as Mattel's Chief Executive Officer. During those first 100 days, I shared with you Mattel's plan to achieve consistent long-term growth and continued strong financial performance. We're aligning behind 4 key initiatives: plan for growth, structure for growth, nurture our talented and accelerate an already innovative culture. I'm pleased to say that after the first 100 days, we made some great progress towards achieving these goals.

Let me touch on some of these areas, starting with plan for growth. As we've told you before, Mattel will focus on 4 key growth strategies: growing core brands, building new franchises, optimizing our entertainment partnerships and expanding our international footprint. The big news with core brands is the addition of our newest core brand, Thomas & Friends. I'll discuss our plans for Thomas in a few minutes.

We're also continuing to extend our core brands. We recently announced 2 multi-year global licensing partnerships for Barbie and Hot Wheels-themed products, a license with MEGA Brands to develop construction toys and a license with Crayola to develop Barbie and Hot Wheels-themed arts and crafts products, including an app that turns the iPad into an interactive coloring book.

In our Entertainment business, we're very excited to have recently extended the Disney Princess license for North America and Latin America and have expanded the scope to include emerging markets such as Eastern Europe, Turkey, Greece as well as the Middle East and Africa. Disney Princess has been a strong performer for Mattel and is a solid fit within our Girls portfolio. And earlier this year, we announced the renewal of a multi-year global licensing partnership with Nickelodeon to develop toys based on Nickelodeon's preschool programs.

We're also growing internationally. We're driving our international growth by making disciplined, strategic investments in infrastructure and brand building. As you'll recall, we made a long-term strategic investment in Brazil, and it paid off in a big way. Brazil is now our second largest country in sales after the U.S. We’ve made great progress in both India and China. And earlier this year, in line with our emerging markets strategy, we transitioned from a distributor model to a wholly owned Mattel subsidiary with the opening of our office in Russia. We'll apply levels of investment and discipline into Russia consistent with the opportunity, and we believe we are well positioned for growth in this important BRIC country.

To support our plan for growth, we're also structuring for growth. The newly created North America division and global brand teams have been up and running since January 1. Our North America division now has a team of people fully dedicated to running the commercial part of our business. This brings decision making much closer to consumers and customers in this important geography.

Our global brand teams are now sharply focused on global brand building and product design to better meet the unique needs of consumers and customers by geographic region. Forming global brand teams and applying the international subsidiary-like approach to North America enables us to focus resources to grow the business more rapidly.

But even with the best plan and structure, it all comes down to people. Nurturing our talent is the key focus at Mattel. Earlier this year, I appointed Jean-Christophe Pean to lead our newly formed North America division. Jean-Christophe has been with Mattel since 1998 and has successfully served in a variety of key leadership roles, including Senior Vice President and General Manager of Asia Pacific and Vice President and General Manager of the U.K. I'm confident that Jean-Christophe will leverage his extensive global sales and marketing experience to lead and grow this important aspect of Mattel's business.

Last week, Ellen Brothers announced her plan to retire from American Girl at the end of the year. We thank Ellen for the outstanding job she's done over the past 12 years, leading the American Girl team to achieve the $0.5 billion sales mark, and congratulate Ellen on her planned retirement.

Jean McKenzie, Senior Vice President of marketing at Mattel, has been named Ellen's successor. Jean has a proven track record in brand-building in the areas of literacy, learning and girls' toys. While Jean has worked for companies such as Disney and Gateway Learning Corporation, the owner of the award-winning Hooked on Phonics brand, she also knows a lot about Mattel. In fact, early in her career, Jean was the general manager of the Barbie brand.

During the next 5 months, Ellen and Jean will begin making the leadership transition. Jean will assume the leadership role of American Girl on September 1, and Ellen will remain on as an adviser until the end of 2012.

We've made some really good strategic progress in the first 100 days. Now let's switch our focus to the quarter. While Kevin will provide a more detailed financial review, from my perspective, the quarter played out pretty much as we had anticipated. We carried over momentum in our portfolio of brands and countries into the first quarter. Through February 2012, we gained overall NPD toy category share across the U.S. and in Europe with Barbie and Hot Wheels gaining share in both regions. Monster High is doing extremely well globally and is now the #2 fashion doll year-to-date February in the U.S. and in Europe according to NPD. And we're sold out in many markets. This quarter also marked American Girls' seventh consecutive quarter of growth.

We continue to see growth internationally. For the quarter, we saw growth across all regions. Our Latin American business is doing particularly well as it has for the last few years. And our European business continues to perform well, despite the stiff economic challenges there, gaining NPD share through February.

Complementing our growth focus is an emphasis on costs and gross margins. For the quarter, gross margins were consistent with our long-term goal of about 50%, and we remain on track to deliver our Operational Excellence 2.0 savings target of $175 million.

That said, we know we have work to do in North America and with Fisher-Price. In North America, our shipping volume declined versus last year, primarily driven by 2 key factors: first, a decline in Cars shipping volume; and second, cautious retailer ordering patterns. Let me touch on each.

More than half of the U.S. shipping decline is attributable to the timing of last year's Cars 2 movie launch. As we discussed, Cars 2 was and will be a first half tail -- headwind for us as retailers were gearing up for the movie launch last year in the first and second quarters. That said, Cars continues to be a great success as an evergreen property, selling well over-the-counter and gaining NPD share in the first 2 months of 2012, both in the U.S. and Europe. Retailers were particularly cautious in their first quarter ordering patterns in the U.S. For the quarter, shipping lagged our POS as retailers reduced inventories. In fact, inventory at our top 4 U.S. customers fell mid- to high single-digit levels. Brands like Barbie experienced some of the most significant gaps between shipments and consumer takeaway.

Despite that, we continue to have the toy brands that consumers choose more often. Barbie, Hot Wheels, Monster High and Cars all gained NPD share in the U.S. through February 2012.

Fisher-Price remains a work in progress as we continue to execute our strategy to transition and globalize the brand. Overall, Fisher-Price shipping was flat for the quarter, which includes the benefit of licensed revenue from HIT Entertainment. International results at Fisher-Price were up 8% for the quarter, and we continue to see a big opportunity for the brand outside the U.S.

We continue to make good progress combining the HIT business with Mattel. The core leadership team at HIT is now in place and working under the direction of David Allmark, Executive Vice President of Fisher-Price, who's focused on driving the business forward. Growing Thomas continues to be a top priority, and we're excited about the opportunity to bring together all of the Thomas toy platforms, including die cast, plastic and wood. We're making good progress to successfully transition the wood business from the current licensee to Mattel in 2013.

Smart investments are already being made to roll out an enhanced product portfolio with new play patterns and characters, improved content to drive better brand engagement and align with our key broadcast partners around the world for better placement. We believe that better broadcast placement for Thomas in Latin America and other regions presents a great opportunity to drive brand awareness and sales.

While Thomas was the centerpiece of the acquisition, we're encouraged by the opportunity to create value from other brands in the HIT portfolio. Mike the Knight, for example, was launched on Nickelodeon in the U.S. in February 2012 and is already one of the top 25 shows for 2- to 5-year-old kids across all channels in the U.S. Mike is broadcast internationally on top channels like CBeebies in the U.K., TF1 in France and Super RTL in Germany and has been receiving excellent ratings. Much more to follow on HIT, but we continue to be excited about the opportunity to build the business on a global basis.

You can view the transcript of Mattel's First Quarter 2012 Earnings Conference Call in full here on SeekingAlpha.com.

Nickelodeon UK's MD, Tina McCann, Discusses The UK-Irish Boy Band 'One Direction' Performing At The Nickelodeon 2012 Kids' Choice Awards

From FemaleFirst.co.uk:

One Direction To Perform At Nickelodeon’s Kids’ Choice Awards 2012

Hot on the heels of making their US live performance debut while on tour with Nickelodeon’s Big Time Rush, international pop sensation One Direction has been confirmed to perform at Nickelodeon’s Kids’ Choice Awards 2012, Sunday 1st April at 5.30pm on Nick UK.

'One Direction is one of the UK’s hottest properties.' said Tina McCann, Managing Director for Nickelodeon UK. #Their talent and their infectious personalities make them the perfect performance choice for the Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards 2012 and we’re sure they will be a massively popular choice.'

One Direction, nominated for the awards of Favourite UK Band and Favourite UK Newcomer at this year’s event, will perform their debut single What Makes You Beautiful at the Nickelodeon’s Kids’ Choice Awards 2012, joining host Will Smith for the star-studded event airing live from the University of Southern California’s Galen Centre in Los Angeles, where kids will honour their favourite celebrities spanning the worlds of film, music, TV and sports.

UK fans can show their support for their favourites by registering their votes at nick.co.uk/kca

The X Factor group's debut single What Makes You Beautiful, recently won a BRIT Award for Best British Single, with the music video garnering over 61 million views on VEVO and had more than 132,000 downloads in its first week in the USA.

It is also the highest Billboard HOT 100 debut for a UK act in over 14 years since the Verve and is also the last UK group to chart so high since the Spice Girls. Most recently, One Direction featuring Harry Styles, Zayn Malik, Liam Payne, Louis Tomlinson and Niall Horan taped an episode of the Nickelodeon hit comedy series iCarly, entitled 'iGot Jungle Worms,' which is set to premiere later this year.

One Direction will debut their album Up All Night in the US on 13th March. Up All Night is already a global success entering the charts at #1 in 6 countries including Sweden and Italy and top ten in 12 more, plus it has been certified triple platinum in Ireland, double platinum in the UK and platinum in New Zealand & Australia.

One Direction joined the Big Time Rush Better With U Tour on February 24th in Chicago and their US debut kicked-off with the highly successful grassroots BRING1D2US online campaign which saw the band break records with social media platforms Twitition and Twibbon.

The campaign engaged thousands of fans across America to complete weekly challenges for a chance to win the Grand Prize of a special 1D event in their city.