Cartoon Network is growing up… or trying to. And in the process, they’re getting away from the things that make them, well, a cartoon network.

That’s the theme that seems to be running through their upfront presentation for the 2009-2010 season. Highlights include entering into the reality TV genre, creating a new sports-centric programming block, and introducing 19 new programs, pilots, and movies, including six that are live-action (umm…) as well as 164 episodes of returning series.  In doing so, Cartoon Network stepped out on its evolutionary path to become what it described as a "dominant youth culture brand," that not only understands boys, including boys 6-11, but girls and older kids too, while creating "un-sanitized" "TV for kids, not kids TV". 

Luckily, no one seems to talking about renaming it "CyFy". Yet.

Highlights:

• Star Wars: The Clone Wars will return with new episodes in fall 2009; also returning are Batman: The Brave and the Bold; Chowder; The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack; and The Secret Saturdays.
   
• Ben 10 adventures will be continuing in Ben 10: Alien Swarm, a previously announced live-action movie, directed by Alex Winter, which premieres fall 2009; and Ben 10: Evolutions (working title) – where the adventures of Ben (16-years-old) continue.  From Cartoon Network Studios.
   
• The network’s first original all-CG animation movie will be Firebreather, which is based on the Image comic book of the same name created by Phil Hester and Andy Kuhn, who serve as co-executive producers.  Peter Chung (Aeon Flux) will direct.
   
• Cartoon Network is creating a new Saturday afternoon sports focused programming block titled CN AMPT, underscoring its new deal with the NBA and relationship with Turner Sports. NBA commissioner David Stern, who discussed Cartoon Network’s new partnership with the NBA announced earlier in the week, revealed that Boston Celtic Eddie House and his 7-year-old son Jaelen will be the stars of the first project together, the short-form series My Dad’s a Pro.  So pleased with the NBA’s new relationship with the network, Stern quipped to those assembled, "If I were a buyer, I would buy."

Other new series from favorite creators include:

• Total Drama Action, a follow-up to Total Drama Island;
• Sym-Bionic Titan, from creator Genndy Tartakovsky (Dexter’s Laboratory, Samurai Jack);
• Generator Rex, from Man of Action (comic vets  Duncan Rouleau, Joe Casey, Joe Kelly, and Steven T. Seagle; they created Ben 10), and…
• Prepped (working title) which is executive-produced and written by Paul Dini (Lost, Batman Beyond, Detective Comics, and Madame Mirage).

"The Art of Watchmen" co-curator, comics historian Peter Sanderson, will lead a screening and discussion of the two new short films Watchmen: Tales of the Black Freighter and Under the Hood at MoCCA. Sanderson will discuss the role of the two books within the Watchmen graphic novel from DC Comics.

Executive produced by Zack Snyder, the Director of Watchmen and 300, comes two tales from the celebrated graphic novel that do not appear in the extraordinary Watchmen Theatrical Feature. Tales of the Black Freighter (featuring the voice of 300’s Gerard Butler) brings to strikingly animated life the graphic novels richly layered story-within-a-story, a daring pirate saga whose turbulent events may mirror those in the Watchmen’s world. Stars from the Watchmen movie team in the amazing live-action/CGI Under the Hood, based on Nite Owl’s powerful first-hand account of how the hooded adventurers came into existence.

Peter Sanderson is a comics historian and critic who has taught "Comics as Literature" at New York University’s School of Continuing and Professional Studies. He regularly writes about graphic novels for "Publishers Weekly’s" online "Comics Week and has authored and co-authored numerous books, most recently Marvel Chronicle for DK Publishing. He also co-curated "Stan Lee: A Retrospective" at MoCCA in 2007 and was Marvel Comics first (and only) archivist. He will be teaching a course in comics and film at New York University’s SCPS this summer. Sanderson did his undergraduate and graduate work in English literature at Columbia University, and lives in New York City.

The event will be at MoCCA, Thursday, March 26th, 7pm. Admission is $5, free for MoCCA members.

From the BBC, the story of the day week:

An unusual disguise has helped a Bangkok fireman rescue an eight-year-old boy who had climbed on to a third-floor window ledge, Thai police say.

The firefighter dressed up as the comic book superhero Spider-Man in order to coax the boy, who is autistic, from his dangerous perch.

Police said teachers had alerted the fire station after the boy began crying and climbed out of a classroom window.

It was reportedly his first day at the special needs school.

Efforts by the teachers to persuade the pupil to come back inside had failed.

But a remark by his mother about his passion for comic superheroes prompted fireman Somchai Yoosabai to rush back to the station, where he kept a Spider-Man costume in his locker.

The sight of Mr Somchai dressed as Spider-Man and holding a glass of juice for him, brought a big smile to the boy’s face, and he promptly threw himself into the arms of his "superhero", police said.

Mr Somchai normally uses the costume to liven up fire drills in schools.

Mending their relationship, Twilight production company Summit Entertainment and director Catherine Hardwicke are coming together again for the new fantasy/drama movie If I Stay, according to Variety.  The movie is based on author Gayle Forman’s young adult novel If I Stay, which will be published this spring by Dutton children’s Books.

Additionally, via ICv2, Hardwicke is in discussions with Columbia Pictures to develop and direct a movie adaptation of James Patterson young-adult book series Maximum Ride. Ex-Marvel honcho Avi Arad is producing the adaptation of Patterson’s tale of six teens who have been genetically altered so that they can fly. On the one hand, both the text versions and Yen Press’ Maximum Ride graphic novels have done very well. On the other hand, Arad’s first film after leaving Marvel– was Bratz.

Man, we are so behind… busy busy busy here. Some items from the past few days to tide you over:

• The "comics on handhelds" panel at SXSW, covered by ComicMix contributor Chris Ullrich for one of the thirteen other blogs he writes for.
• And speaking of ComicMix contributors past and present, Rick Marshall made it up to the Webcomics Weekend and covered it heavily.
• Quote of the day, from John Rogers:
  There are two novels that can change a bookish fourteen-year old’s life: The Lord of the Rings and Atlas Shrugged. One is a childish fantasy that often engenders a lifelong obsession with its unbelievable heroes, leading to an emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood, unable to deal with the real world. The other, of course, involves orcs.
• Take the above with a grain of salt– Rogers drinks. Heavily. Quotes On Comics. This will probably save Dirk Deppey five minutes a day or so when he does ¡Journalista!
• Papercutz is going to publish Geronimo Stilton graphic novels beginning in August.  The first graphic novel titles under the deal are The Discovery of America and The Secret of the Sphinx.  Scholastic Inc publishes the Geronimo Stilton book series in the US.

Anything else? Consider this an open thread.