Cookie Jar takes DoodleBops on tour

Montreal-based kids outfit Cookie Jar Entertainment (formerly Cinar) is delivering its new Monkees-inspired preschool music show in January 2005.

With Canadian public network CBC onboard, The DoodleBops will be the broadcaster’s flagship preschool property for next year, and will feature an eponymous rock band starring in their own TV show and going on live tours. Deedee, Rooney and Moe Doodle are the stars of the half-hour show, which encourages kids to dance and sing along at home.

“The DoodleBops is a funny, music and dance-filled music show that helps preschoolers learn and appreciate music, physical activity and pro-social topics like sharing and managing frustration,” according to a Cookie Jar rep. “Music and dance is an underdeveloped area that this market actively and enthusiastically responds to.”

Ex-Nelvana boss Michael Hirsh and Carl Lenox are co-creators of The DoodleBops, while Jamie Waese is producer and director, partnering with Kim Thompson as head writer, music director/song writer Lenox and choreographer David Connolly. Andrea Nevitt is line producer.

Cookie Jar is also launching its new teen live-action/animation series Dark Oracle (13×30′) on YTV Canada this autumn. A coproduction with Toronto-based Shaftesbury Films, it follows a pair of 15-year-old twins who discover a comic book that reveals their future.