NEW YORK -- Bessie Higgenbottom, the newest character to join the Nickelodeon lineup, may seem familiar to many parents who tune in with their children to watch her debut Saturday morning.
Perhaps that's because the Honeybee trooper, voiced by "Saturday Night Live's" Amy Poehler, resembles a character Poehler did a decade ago on the sketch comedy show "Upright Citizens Brigade."
But it also could be because Bessie -- who aims to collect every Honeybee badge and transform herself into a superhero called the Mighty Bee -- is a throwback amid today's crop of slick animation.
The gap-toothed, bespectacled 9 3/4 -year-old is drawn with simple lines and googly circles. She and the other characters on "The Mighty B!" pop like balloons, stretch like taffy and prance across hand-painted scenes of San Francisco that give the series the feel of classic cartoons such as "Bugs Bunny" and "The Flintstones."
Perhaps most old-fashioned is Bessie's attitude: sheer, unadulterated enthusiasm.
"We didn't want it to be that ironic or sarcastic," Poehler said of the animated series, which she co-created and executive produces.
Bessie is "kind of like an open-faced sandwich," she added. "She's not very tricky. I liked how determined she is, often in the face of adversity. We didn't want to make a cute, girl-specific comedy. We wanted to do something where Bessie is a girl, so she can't help but like rainbows and unicorns and puffy stickers, but she also doesn't mind getting down and dirty."
The first episode finds Bessie on the hunt for a dog that she can enter into the Honeybee Dog Show. After wearing her mother down with a seemingly endless list of reasons why she should get a pet ("729: If I got a dog I would rescue it, and there are over 3,812 homeless animals in the city of San Francisco"), she happens upon Happy, a scruffy street mutt with a torn ear. Soon enough, she has the reluctant pooch in ballroom dancing lessons, while her devoted, cape-wearing little brother Ben (Andy Richter) watches in awe.
"The Mighty B!" was the brainchild of Poehler and husband-and-wife team Erik Wiese and Cynthia True, both animation veterans. (He's a storyboard artist who worked on "SpongeBob SquarePants" for four seasons; she's a writer who penned scripts for "The Fairly OddParents," among other children's shows.) The idea first took root when True's mother sent her some childhood photos, including one of True in her Brownie uniform.
