Lucas Grabeel Rounds Up the Fun on Sheriff Callie's Wild West

(Photo by Disney Junior/Rick Rockwell)

In Disney Junior's new animated creation, Sheriff Callie's Wild West, the 3D titular character, voiced by Mandy Moore, keeps the town safe and doles out pearls of wisdom to young viewers. Helping the law-enforcing kitten Sheriff Callie maintain peace and order the best he can is her faithful sidekick Peck. Lucas Grabeel plays the lovable, albeit sometimes inept, woodpecker. In a recent one-on-one interview, the 29-year-old told us a bit about what he calls the “super dear, country western show.”

Madison Pettis Discusses Jake and the Never Land Pirates

Photo by Rick Rowell/Disney Junior

Looking for a kid-friendly way to spend International Talk Like a Pirate day this September 19? Why not tune in to the Jake and the Never Land Pirates special Jake Saves Bucky. In a recent exclusive interview the series' star Madison Pettis talked with us about the primetime movie, how she's like her character Izzy and what pop culture icon she would like to be for one day.

On the new special, which airs on Wednesday, September 19, Jake, Izzy and Cubby must race Captain Hook in his vessel the Jolly Roger. But if Hook wins, he gets to keep their boat, Bucky. Madison stated, "Obviously we love our ship and we don't want anyone to have Bucky so we're really confused about what to do." So the kid pirates enlist the help of Peter Pan to get Bucky back.

Izzy, the only girl on the crew and the keeper of the magic fairy dust, is a lot like the actress in real life. Madison explained, "She's really spunky and all about girl power. She can do anything the boys can do and she's always willing to help them. She's just a really good spunky girl role model."

The series, aimed at kids between the ages of two and five, tries to send good messages to the viewers. Madison noted, "That's what we're really all about. Captain Hook is the bad guy and all the morals we're trying to teach about sharing and teamwork, that's always something we're trying to help Captain Hook learn, as well as the kids at home."

In an extended effort to help kids learn, Disney Junior has launched four mini-games on their website as well as a pirate name generator. Kids can log in, answer some questions and be assigned a pirate moniker based on their unique responses. There is also a printable coloring book illustrating some of the principles of the show including bravery, confidence, kindness, loyalty and helpfulness.

Jason Ritter Talks About Gravity Falls

Photo from The  Disney Channel 

We’ve been fans of Jason Ritter since he played the wheelchair bound Kevin Girardi on Joan of Arcadia. We loved him on The Class and were so sorry to see The Event come to a premature end. And while Parenthood ranks as one of our favorite shows of late, it is made all that much sweeter by Jason’s portrayal of the calm, down-to-earth Mark Cyr. And so despite the fact that we have no children of our own, we will been watching Gravity Falls, the new animated kids’ show on the Disney Channel.

We recently got the chance to do an exclusive interview with Jason. And, yes, we restrained from gushing about his Joan days. Instead we talked about what drew him to the show, how he thinks it will go over with adults and what he’s most passionate about.

Jason admitted, while he has never voiced a cartoon character before, he has always had an interest in the art form. He noted, “I grew up watching Disney films and I grew up going to animation festivals with my parents. I just always loved the magic of that.”

So when he made up his mind that it was a genre he wanted to pursue, he started auditioning, thinking, “It’s just a fun thing. Nothing bad can come from just auditioning. The worst thing that happens is you don’t get the part.”

Be when he read the script for Gravity Falls, something changed. “It was so funny, in such a unique way, that it was the first time that I got really excited and really invested in it.” He got the part and has been working with the creators for several years on the project. He stated, “It’s been a really a fun, long road… and it’s so exciting that we finally get to share it with everybody.”

He says it is the show’s unique, strange humor that will draw in the adult audience. He pointed out that what he liked about the series initially is that rather than having jokes for the kids peppered with a few under the radar grown-up jokes, the humor is written for everybody. He stated, “To see a Gnome get kicked in the stomach and throw up a rainbow for ten full seconds is funny to everybody. We can all laugh at that.”

An Exclusive Interview with the Creator of Doc McStuffins

  

Every kid gets nervous going to the doctor’s office but hopefully the new Disney Junior show Doc McStuffins will take some of the sting out of it. The new animated series features a little girl who can help her toys cure their ailments. In a recent exclusive interview, we spoke with series’ creator/executive producer Chris Nee and medical consultant Sandra de Castro Buffington.

Doc McStuffins premieres on Friday, March 23 as part of the popular Disney Junior block on Disney Channel at 10 a.m. EST/9 a.m. Central and the new 24-hour Disney Junior channel at 4 p.m. EST/3 9 p.m. Central.

On Relating the Toys' Illnesses to Real Life Ones

  

For more exclusive "Doc McStuffins' videos visit our YouTube Channel.

H. Jon Benjamin on His Animated Alter-Ego, Archer

  Photo by Frank Micelotta / FX

Agent Sterling Archer is the edgiest secret agent on television and he’s voiced by super-funny actor H. Jon Benjamin. In a recent conference call interview, the animated star talked about getting cast in his iconic role and whether or not he gets those obscure references made on the series.

Jon recalled how he landed the title role on Archer, “Adam Reed, the creator of Archer, God rest his soul [said jokingly], he called me. I think he had heard me do some other work on Adult Swim shows. And he called me to read the part.  I don’t know if other people had been asked.  I don’t know if I was first choice or like literally last resort — probably last resort, right?  Right? So, yes. And then I accepted and then it worked out well.  But I was tentative because I didn’t think I could pull off a spy.  If you knew me, you’d know all the reasons why.”

Blessed with so many Christmas Carol Choices

Not that we’re complaining but it seems like Scrooged is playing around the clock as the countdown to Christmas continues. And as much as we love the Bill Murray classic, we have to admit that we like to explore all the versions of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol over the years in an attempt to keep things fresh. So we’ve made a list of five other adaptations of the holiday classic that we think deserve a look.

   

Rich Little’s Christmas Carol (1978)

You’ve got to give it up for Rich Little. Long before Jim Carrey digitally recreated multiple characters in the creepily animated 2006 adaptation, pop culture’s greatest impressionist did it far better (and without the help of CGI) in his beautifully cheesy HBO special. Of course to maximize his mastery of mimicry, Little’s Dickens characters had an added twist – he imitated famous stars portraying the various roles. So Little actually starred as W.C. Fields playing Ebenezer Scrooge and Paul Lynde as Bob Cratchet. God bless him, every one.

 

Scrooge (1970)

This musical great gets a bit of airtime every year around the holidays, but far from enough in our opinion. Not surprisingly, it has the best tunes of any retelling of Dickens’ classic tale. After all, composer Leslie Bricusse, is also known for the classic songs “What Kind of Fool Am I?” and “The Candy Man.” But it’s Finney’s dazzling performance as Scrooge that makes this one of our all time favorites. So to all involved in creating the ‘70s classic we say, “Thank you, very much.”

 

The Stingiest Man in Town (1978)

How come every year, we manage to overlook the classic retelling of A Christmas Carol starring one of Hollywood’s most beloved Grumpy Old Men? In The Stingiest Man in Town, the title role is voiced by none other than Walter Matthau, with an assist from Happy Days’ Tom Bosley in the new role or narrator/insect, B.A.H. Humbug (get it?). The animated show might not go down in history with the likes of producing team Rankin-Bass’ other stop-motion greats like Rudolph, the Red Nosed Reindeer and The Little Drummer Boy, but if you’re looking for a little remembered version of the tale, this is worth watching.

 

A Sesame Street Christmas Carol (2006)

The Muppets are back on the tip of everyone’s tongues thanks to their recent block bluster flick. But when the Henson’s made A Muppet Christmas Carol in 1992, they cast a human (Michael Caine) in the lead part. Luckily their Sesame Street counterparts got it right. They remade the tale in 2006 for a DVD special and brilliantly utilizing their hood’s crabbiest resident, Oscar the Grouch, in the Scrooge-like role.

 

Mr. Magoo’s Christmas Carol (1962)

We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again and again until the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come grabs us by our lapels and drags us struggling into the netherworld. There will never be a better version of A Christmas Carol than the animated special starring Jim Backus as Mr. Magoo. The play within a play asks you suspend your disbelief on so many levels. But at the end of the day it will leave you thank the lord for your bright blessings – even if you are still left craving razzleberry dressing.

Atticus Shaffer's Love of Stop-Motion Leads Him to the Big Screen

Photo by ABC/Craig Sjodin

 
When we think of all of the great young actors on TV right now, all of the kids on Modern Family and Max Burkeholder on Parenthood always spring to mind. But our favorite tween star is Atticus Shaffer from The Middle. His character Brick Heck’s signature head-tilted whisper only adds to his unique charm.

We were excited to have an exclusive interview with Atticus last week where, after talking with him about his hit ABC sitcom we shifted gears and asked him to discuss his passion — stop-motion Lego animation.

Atticus seemed excited to talk about his hobby. “Oh wow, well, gee that’s an out of the blue question and I have not had that question before… I love to do stop-motion animation. I think it’s just so much fun.”

The 11-year-old TV star enjoys combining his love of historic battles with his fervor for the tiny, colorful blocks. He explained, “Since I’m a history buff I like to make little military history type things — set-ups about certain battles and what not. No but I absolutely love to try to make the little become bigger in a way — have the little Legos be like a big storyline and whatnot.”

He is also taken with the behind-the-scenes aspects of his craft. He revealed, “It really is a lot of fun to be able to write scripts and [plan] camera angles. And that’s another thing I’ve learned from being on set, is I’ve learned so much about camera angles and directing and whatnot. And it really got poured into me into my factor of stop-motion animation.”

But he admitted that there isn’t one particular campaign he’d want to mount “because all the battles are interesting to me.” Besides his interest in warfare isn’t what might be expected of a typical kid. He confessed, “I’m not interested in them as the fact of, ‘Oh hey, there’s a bunch of blood everywhere and killing. Woohoo!” No, it’s not that at all. I love the strategy. I love tactics. Yes, I’m very much that type of person. I am such a huge nerd in that way. But I love the strategy of it all. And how to recreate older things — World War II to recreate the trenches or the camps or whatever it may be.”

Given his passion, you can imagine how thrilled he was when he landed a part in Tim Burton’s upcoming stop-motion film Frankenweenie. He recalled, “I was looking around on YouTube one day at Lego ‘Star Wars’ animations and I thought, ‘That would be so cool to do.’ Later on realizing that Tim Burton, what he does is Claymation, which is the same thing as stop-motion. And so being able to work with Tim Burton is so cool for me.”

Atticus added about the legendary director, “He really is cool because he is also different. He knows exactly what he wants. He can take a picture in his mind and recreate it on paper or on the screen. And I really think it’s just amazingly cool to be able to see and be part of his mind, really.”

Watch Atticus on The Middle every Wednesday night at 8 p.m. EST/7 p.m. Central on ABC and stay tuned for more info about Frankenweenie, which is due out in October of 2012.

Happy 50th Anniversary to The Flintstones

Yabba dabba do... 50 Years ago today the world was introduced to the residents of Bedrock—namely Fred, Wilma, Barney, and Betty.

The Stone Age cartoon was a hot bed of musical masterpieces. So in honor of The Flintstones' big day. Here are a few of our favorites:

"Happy Anniversary"

"Burger on a Bun"

"Way Out"

"Let the Sunshine In"