New York -- Disney previewed its expanded slate of 13 new original series on Disney Channel, Disney XD and Disney Junior at its annual upfront presentation to advertisers Wednesday here at Gotham Hall.
Disney Channels Worldwide president Carolina LIghtcap told media buyers at the upfront, themed "Time to Shine" that the channels plan to up their number of original episodes to 435 in 2011, a 30% increase from last year, as well as double its animation output in 2012.
Among the new series joining the kids' nets is ANT Farm on Disney Channel (premiering in June), about a group of high school kids in a gifted program; martial arts comedy Kickin' It on Disney XD; and the Disney Junior animated series Oki's Oasis, a preschool Western; and pilot 7D, about the seven dwarfs before Snow White's arrival.
New series are also in production for when Disney Junior becomes a fully programmed, 24-hour network in 2012. Those include animated series Doc McStuffins, about a six-year-old who heals stuffed animals, and Sofia the First, a special and pilot about a commoner girl who becomes a princess when her mother marries the King. It has also greenlit a second season of Jake and the Never Land Pirates, TV's top series among kids and boys 2 to 5.
Read more at B&C here.
