The only thing that could make me happier than a 24-hour Wallace and Gromit channel is this: Shaun the Sheep is getting his own show.

The animated series, which just last week won the Cristal Award as Best TV Production at the Annecy Animated Film Festival, will premiere on Disney Channel on Sunday, July 8, 2007, in primetime. Since its successful launch as the most viewed show at Mipcom 2006, the property has sold to primary broadcasters in 145 territories including Australia, New Zealand, Spain, Germany, India, France, Benelux, Japan and Latin America.

Targeted at kids 5-10, SHAUN THE SHEEP follows the comedic misadventures of a young sheep who leads his barnyard buddies into all sorts of calamitous situations, turning peace in the valley into mayhem in the meadow. As a character, Shaun was first introduced in director Nick Park’s Oscar-winning animated short, A CLOSE SHAVE. While the rest of the flock is content to spend all day chewing on the cud, Shaun is out to have as much fun as possible — whether flying a kite, organizing synchronized swimming in the water troth or nipping into town for a pizza.

I pink puffy heart Shaun. I mean, I still love Gromit most of all, but this is spectacular news. You could tell from the way he was utterly unflappable in A Close Shave that he’d have to be back. Of course, I thought the same thing about the evil penguin (did he have a name?) and I haven’t see him yet, so who knows.

Anyway, the series will be premiering in a few short weeks. In the meantime, get your Shaun fix over at the official site, which hosts all manner of distractions to liven up your work day. Erm, I mean, for your kids! Yes, of course, for the children. Naturally. Ahem.

This entry was posted on Friday, June 22nd, 2007 at 6:19 am and is filed under Random acts of television, Movies. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.