Burbank, Calif., Nov. 8 2000 -- Kids and Toons alike will find the ultimate destination for animated fun at "Disney's House of Mouse," a new series from Walt Disney Television Animation featuring Mickey Mouse and Disney's entire stable of animated feature film and television characters to premiere in early 2001 as part of the "Disney's One Saturday Morning" lineup on the ABC Television Network.

The announcement was made today by Jonathan Barzilay, senior vice president and general manager, ABC Children's Programming, and Barry Blumberg and David Stainton, executive vice presidents, Walt Disney Television Animation.

"Disney's House of Mouse" is the Toontown-style "nightclub" where animated characters are entertained each Saturday with Mickey Mouse acting as Master of Ceremonies, telling jokes, introducing musical guests and prefacing the cartoon shorts "shown" on the club's oversized screen. "House of Mouse" provides a comic balance between on-stage performances, entertaining cartoon shorts and backstage chaos, the latter resulting from the ongoing rivalry between club co-owners Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck, and the pressures of successfully executing a "live" weekly show.

The series breaks new ground in that it offers hilarious combinations of animated characters from Disney's feature films, television series and cartoon shorts in treatments that are both irreverent and respectful of the Disney heritage. "ABC is delighted to be the home of House of Mouse," Barzilay said. "This breakthrough series joins together Disney's most-loved animated characters in a single venue."

"This series extends the groundwork initiated by 'Mickey MouseWorks' into new realms in terms of creative content, music and style that will have an even broader appeal to all generations," Blumberg said. "We've pulled together some of the most creative talent in the business to create a show that viewers will want to keep coming back to each and every week," added Stainton.

Roberts Gannaway and Tony Craig are executive producers of "House of Mouse." The writer-animator team was responsible for returning Mickey Mouse to his cartoon short roots with the 1999 premiere of "Disney's Mickey MouseWorks." Gannaway and Craig have established a successful track record for Walt Disney Television Animation, also producing two highly-rated, Emmy Award-winning seasons of "The Lion King's Timon & Pumbaa," and executive producing the Emmy-winning "101 Dalmatians: The Series" for ABC and syndication.

Not only do the long-running voices of Disney's standard characters continue their legendary work with Mickey Mouse (Wayne Allwine), Donald Duck (Tony Anselmo), Goofy (Bill Farmer) and Minnie Mouse (Russi Taylor), but most of the original voices from Disney's popular feature films return for guest appearances on "House of Mouse." Those performers include James Woods (Hades), Jason Alexander (Hugo), Jerry Orbach (Lumiere), David Ogden Stiers (Cogsworth), Robby Benson (Beast), Jodi Benson (Ariel), Pat Carroll (Ursula), Ming Na (Mulan), Tate Donovan (Hercules), Bobcat Goldthwait (Pain), Matt Frewer (Panic), Gilbert Gottfried (Iago), Catherine Beaumont Levine (Alice in Wonderland), Jim Cummings (Winnie the Pooh) and John Fiedler (Piglet), to name a few. "House of Mouse's" precursor, "Disney's Mickey MouseWorks," was successfully launched in 1999 as the first-ever, original animated television series to feature the Studios' biggest stars -- Mickey, Donald, Goofy, Pluto and Minnie.

The May 1, 1999 series premiere registered a 3.8 rating/25 share among kids 2-11, the highest share delivery of any individual kids show for the 1998-99 season (Source: NTI, 9/12/98 - 5/22/99). "Mickey MouseWorks" has dominated its timeslot during its initial run, including a May (1999) sweep triumph that saw an improvement in timeslot delivery by 18 percent. In addition to critical acclaim, the series was recently bestowed the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences' only two special achievement Emmy Awards for 1999. Produced by Walt Disney Television Animation, "Disney's House of Mouse" premieres in early 2001 as part of the "Disney's One Saturday Morning" lineup on ABC. Roberts Gannaway and Tony Craig are executive producers.

Source: Walt Disney Television Animation
Web Site: http://www.disney1.com