The WB Network announced the addition of two new animated series to its Kids WB lineup for next fall.  The most important of these series for pop culture retailers is the return of the animated Scooby Doo.  We are apparently in the midst of a major 80s revival with the return of G.I. Joe (see 'G.I. Joe #2 Sells Out'), Micronauts (see 'Devil's Due Gets Micronauts'), Battle of the Planets (see 'Diamond Select Adds Battle of the Planets'), and Transformers (see 'Dreamwave Gets Transformers License').  This summer this 'back to the future' movement will heat up with the release of the live action Scooby Doo movie that stars Sarah Michelle Geller (aka Buffy).  Then in the fall a new Scooby Doo animated series will be broadcast on the Kids WB, while the classic Scooby Doo animated shows continue their reign on the Cartoon Network.

 

For retailers the new Scooby Doo animated series is more evidence that this venerable property is not going away.  Thanks to the movie this summer there will be a lot of Scooby Doo merchandise available, and the new series should give retailers additional confidence in the project.  Inkworks will be doing cards for the Scooby Doo movie, and there will undoubtedly be action figures of Scooby, Shaggy, Velma, Daphne, and Fred along with plenty of other merchandising possibilities.

 

The other new animated series slated for the Kids WB is based on the failed Warner Brothers animated feature Osmosis Jones (see 'Osmosis Jones Gets No Respect').  The new series, Ozzie & Drix features the same microcosmic, inside the body action that provided Osmosis Jones with its crude Farrelly Brothers charm, but this time the setting is the body of a teenage boy, not the wretched, wasted hulk of a dissolute Bill Murray.  Maybe they should have thought about that the first time around.  What little Osmosis Jones merchandise that was available last summer did about as well as the movie, so it is unlikely that retailers will have much interest in Ozzie & Drix unless that series becomes a major hit.