LEGO Media Intl’s TV and film division has become Create TV & Film Ltd. The new independent production company will be headed up by former ITV Children’s controller Vanessa Chapman.

Chapman says the move will provide the company with flexibility to extend its portfolio into other programming and filmmaking areas. Create TV & Film is already in discussions for first option license deals on relevant properties.

The newly-formed entity’s first property, the animated pre-school series Little Robots, began airing on the BBC this month and will soon hit ABC in Australia. It is distributed by BBC Worldwide.

Create TV & Film is also producing the movie Bionicle: Mask of Light for the home video market on behalf of the Lego Company. The film will be distributed this autumn by Miramax and Buena Vista Home Entertainment.

The long-running prime-time animated comedy The Simpsons will run even longer as Fox has picked it up for two more seasons, according to Variety. The network will also carry its other Sunday night animated hit, King of the Hill, through 2004.

As it stands, The Simpsons will see a 16th season, making it the longest running TV comedy in history. On Sunday, it will be among the shows competing for Best Comedy Series at the Golden Globes. The series is exec. produced by James L. Brooks and creator Matt Groening for Gracie Films and Twentieth Century Fox TV.

Now in its seventh season, King of the Hill is expected to be moved back into the 7:30 timeslot in March. The Twentieth Century Fox TV, Deedle-Dee Prods., Film Roman, Judgemental Films and 3 Arts Ent. production was created by Mike Judge and exec. producer Greg Daniels.

After several date changes, MTV’s clever and highly entertaining new animated series Clone High will finally premiere on Monday, Jan. 20 at 10:30 (EST).

Co-produced by Nelvana, Clone High answers the question “What if a renegade band of evil scientists extracted the DNA from some of the most prominent figures in history and populated a high school with teenage versions of them?”

Characters include an awkward young Abe Lincoln, a party-hardy Gandhi, the beautiful and power-hungry Cleopatra, a womanizing John F. Kennedy and the cynical Joan of Arc, to name just a few.

The teen clones will have to put up with the normal pressures of high school while surviving the secret experiment of evil scientist-turned- principal, Dr. Cinnamon J. Scudworth and his robotic butler, Mr. Belvetron.

Abe is voiced by Saturday Night Live‘s Will Forte. Nicole Sullivan of MAD TV provides the voice Joan of Arc while fellow MAD TV cast member Michael McDonald takes on Gandhi. The role of Cleopatra is voiced by Christa Miller of The Drew Carey Show.

Special guest voices for the season will include Drew Carey, Michael J. Fox, Chris Berman, Jack Black, Joe Flaherty, John Stamos, Luke Perry, Mandy Moore, Marilyn Manson and Tom Green.

Described as “a comedy disguised as a teen drama,” Clone High promises to tell relatable stories that deal with real teen issues while poking fun at the style and melodrama seen in Dawson’s Creek and Beverly Hills 90210.

The series is created and executive produced by Christopher Miller and Phil Lord. Miller also provides the voice of JFK. Other credits include Tom Martin, supervising producer and Bill Lawrence, executive producer. The roster of staff writers includes alumni of The Simpsons, South Park and The Man Show.

For a complete list of airings, visit www.mtv.com.

Among the new animated series premiering at NATPE will be Rat’s Amore from pasi (philippine animation studio, inc.). This is the first of several productions slated to come out of pasi’s recently formed original development department.

Created by Frank Saperstein and Philip J. Felix, Rat’s Amore is a buddy toon chronicling the lives and misadventures of two rats from Italy. The world class chefs travel from restaurant to restaurant across America in order to stay one step ahead of the Hit Cats sent by the dreaded Quattro Formaggio crime syndicate, which is after them for an innocent mistake they made back in Old Napoli.

A pilot episode is currently in production with plans for 52×11 episodes to follow.

ShoPro Ent. (formerly ShoPro USA), hopes to follow its success in bringing Hamtaro and Inuyasha to North and South American audiences with the new children’s anime properties Mirmo Zibang! and MegaMan Battle Network. The company will bring both series to NATPE next week.

Based on a popular videogame series from CAPCOM, MegaMan Battle Network takes place in a future world where humans interface with a central computer system personal “NetNavis.” The central character is a fifth-grader named Lan, whose NetNavi and alter ego is a blue-suited, virus fighting cyber superhero named MegaMan.

Mirmo Zibang!, already a hit in Japan, follows the adventures of a fairy prince who stumbles into the human world to take residence at the bottom of a hot chocolate mug. When eighth grader Katie pours hot chocolate into the mug, Mirmo appears like a genie to fulfill her every wish. The relationship is threatened by other fairies, called muglox, who are sent to return Mirmo to muglox land.

ShoPro Ent. is a subsidiary of Shogakukan Inc., one of Japan’s largest publishing companies.

Launched today, Varsity TV (VTV) lays claim to being “the world’s first and only teen TV network.” Featuring animated projects and other programming targeted specifically at the teen market, the new broadcast entity aims to bridge the youth-programming gap between Nickelodeon and MTV.

The 24-hour network was co-founded by Joe Shults, a member of the executive team that launched MTV, Nickelodeon and VH1. He was also one of the original management members for E! Entertainment. Co-founder Kelly Hoffman has more than two decades of financial and administrative experience in building start-ups into profitable companies.

In addition to series and films acquired from ABC International, CBC, CTV, Granada, RDF International, and Universal Television, VTV will air teen-created programming. The original series Animation Nation will feature everything from 30 second shorts to feature-length cartoons from teen animators.

Another hightlight for animation fans is the stop motion comedy series Lary Labrat, which plunges a sewer rat into the challenging world of lab test subjects. The show also blends in live-action elements.

VTV debuted on Galaxy 11, Transponder 13 and has now been added to Pod 14 of Comcast’s Headend in the Sky (HITS), whose affiliates service nearly 7 million U.S. households. In addition, a letter of intent has been signed with the National Cable Television Coop, which has more than 14.5 million basic subscribers.

VTV has built a loyal and active audience through its website, www.MyVTV.com. The privately held company with corporate headquarters in Austin, Texas is currently in final distribution negotiations with some of the country’s largest Multiple System Operators.

Channelzero, creator of late night animated properties for mature audiences, will take its “fowl” new comedy, The Fupduck Show, to NATPE 2003 in New Orleans.

Described by series creator and producer Dave Warren as “Popeye meets The Sopranos,” The Fupduck Show is set in the seedy subculture of a topless cabaret where barfly Fup pays down his tab by doing odd jobs for Big John, owner of The Bada Boom Room. Fup also happens to be madly in love with the beautiful La Shea, Big John’s girl. Further complicating matters is beefy bartender Marty, who also has eyes for La Shea and deep hatred for Fup.

Channelzero will also be screening a new animated music video for its much hyped, racy upcoming series SoSophie, which was recently introduced at MIPCOM.

TV computer animation pioneer Mainframe Ent. Inc. (ReBoot) will be presenting two new animated projects at NATPE 2003. Alien Legion and Maxine 5 are the two most recent properties from the Vancouver-based company.

Based on the cult comic book series created by Carl Potts with Alan Zelenetz, Alien Legion follows the futuristic exploits of the Legion’s Force Nomad and its expendable, multi-species ranks culled from the unwanted of three galaxies.

Maxine 5 blends 2D and 3D animation to create a future where the hottest young video-game car racers become the talent pool for the real thing. The series tells the story of twelve-year old Maxine Walsh, the youngest-ever competitor in the junior World Racing Championship, as she follows in her father’s footsteps. Mainframe is handling sales and distribution in North America for the series, in addition to some production duties. Australia’s Yoram Gross EM TV, which developed the property and is overseeing the majority of production responsibilities, is handling sales and distribution outside North America.

In addition to these two new properties, Mainframe will be continuing discussions with broadcasters attending NATPE on such other Mainframe animation projects as Tony Hawk’s Feasters, Dot’s Bots, Scary Godmother, Wubbies, Family Values and Betty Boop.