One of the most popular characters in "The Penguins of Madagascar" is Julien, a lemur who has somehow deluded himself into believing he is a king, against much evidence to the contrary.
As Hollywood has long known, there can be a jackpot in animals behaving badly. In just a few weeks, the animated "Penguins of Madagascar" has claimed a royal perch at Viacom's Nickelodeon, the cable network famous for "SpongeBob SquarePants" and "iCarly."
Spun off from the popular "Madagascar" feature movies, the TV show premiered last month and was the most-watched in Nickelodeon's history, with 6.1 million total viewers, according to Nielsen Media Research. The fact that the premiere aired right after the Kids' Choice Awards didn't hurt. But the ratings have held up well since then, with 4.9 million viewers for Saturday's episode, the first in its regular morning time slot. Season to date, "Penguins of Madagascar" is already the No. 3 show on basic cable among children 2 to 11, tied with "SpongeBob" and Nickelodeon's "Mighty B!"
"We knew it was going to be a hit; we didn't know it was going to be quite this big a hit," said Brown Johnson, Nickelodeon's president of animation.
"Penguins of Madagascar" is the latest in a line of penguin-themed entertainment, including the documentary "March of the Penguins," and the animated films "Happy Feet" and "Surf's Up."
Indeed, "Penguins of Madagascar" is shaping up as another powerful weapon in Nickelodeon's ongoing battle with Disney Channel, home of the formidable "Hannah Montana," for the hearts and minds of America's children. At the moment, who's winning depends on how you look at it. Last week, for example, Nickelodeon was the most-watched cable network among total viewers, averaging 2.3 million for the entire day. But Disney was No. 1 in prime time among children 2 to 11.
The key in this case was Nickelodeon's ability to leverage a corporate relationship with DreamWorks Animation, which produced the "Madagascar" movies. The studio has a movie distribution deal with Paramount Pictures, another arm of the Viacom empire, which helped facilitate the Nickelodeon pact, according to a network spokeswoman. "Penguins" could thus be thought of as one of the rare instances in which corporate "synergy" has performed as advertised.
"We got a lot of buzz from the money DreamWorks spent advertising the 'Madagascar' movies," Johnson said.
