The ESPN sports network makes its first foray into animation with the help of Walt Disney Television Animation Special Projects. The two have teamed up to create a series of animated shorts based on Steve Moore’s popular syndicated comic strip In The Bleachers. The 15-second animations will air within select ESPN original programming beginning Nov. 4.
Featuring the voices of April Winchell (Recess), Kevin Michael Richardson (Lilo and Stitch) and Jeff Bennett (Return To Never Land), the In The Bleachers shorts will match the tone and look of the strip.
Moore, who serves as executive producer, created the comic strip in 1985 while working as an editor at The Maui News in Hawaii. Today In The Bleachers is syndicated by Universal Press Syndicate and runs daily in approximately 200 newspapers across the country. John Carls also serves as executive producer.
In The Bleachers is produced and directed by Ed Wexler and Gary Katona, the award-winning Walt Disney TV Animation Special Projects team that created the acclaimed educational interstitial series, Great Minds Think for Themselves and Find Out Why. Antran Manoogian and Ben Bardens serve as producer and technical director, respectively.
The first of the shorts will debut during the program Around the Horn, which premieres at 5:00 p.m. ET/2:00 p.m. PT on ESPN.
