SPIKE TV, the first network for men, announced the launch of its Consumer Products Division at this year's Licensing Show where it unveiled its roster of properties including Ren & Stimpy and Gary the Rat, a new animated series that features the vocal talents of Kelsey Grammar in the title role as a slimy lawyer turned rodent.  The former Nashville Network has recently reformatted itself as SPIKE TV and has put together a block of adult animated shows, known as 'The Strip,' as its first 'original programming' move (see 'Spike TV Adds Adult Animation Block').  SPIKE TV has already licensed Palisades Marketing to create action figures, PVC figures, and resin statues for Ren & Stimpy.  The t-shirt manufacturer Balzout will create new Ren & Stimpy apparel items.  Both the new Ren & Stimpy toys and t-shirts should be available in specialty stores and pop culture shops by this fall.  SPIKE TV is looking for merchandise that will be 'as edgy and irreverent as the network itself.'

SPIKE TV's adult animation block also includes Stan Lee's Stripperella, starring Pamela Anderson, but that is not part of the network's licensing stable, which currently consists of Ren & Stimpy and Gary the Rat.  No licenses were announced yet for Gary the Rat, since licensees generally like to wait a bit and see how a TV series is received before committing.  Ren & Stimpy was something of a licensing phenomenon when it debuted in the early 1990s, and SPIKE TV will feature a new series, Ren & Stimpy Adult Party Cartoon, as well as reruns of classic Ren & Stimpy episodes.