Warner Bros. Online Launches theoblongs.com In June

(May 30, 2000 – Burbank, CA) – In mid-June, Warner Bros. Online (www.warnerbros.com) will launch www.theoblongs.com, animation-driven Web experience based on the “The Oblongs,” an outrageous animated Warner Bros. Television comedy series from executive producers Jace Richdale (“The Simpsons”) and Bruce Helford (“The Drew Carey Show,” “The Norm Show”), slated to debut on The WB in 2001. The Web site will showcase 25 completely original, 30-second animated sketches -- “Oblong Moments” – produced exclusively for the Internet to introduce the Oblongs to online fans prior to the series’ debut. These original Internet animation shorts are scheduled to roll out one per day to coincide with the launch of the newly redesigned Warner Bros. Online Web site in mid-June. “‘The Oblongs’ is unlike anything else out there, and this Web site and these shorts are a great way to generate interest about our series,” said Helford. “We look at this as just the beginning of creating a total online-TV experience for fans.” “The Internet is the perfect place for us to showcase Jace and Bruce’s vision of ‘The Oblongs,’” said Kevin Tsujihara, Executive Vice President, Warner Bros. New Media. “By bringing ‘The Oblongs’ online now, we can cultivate and interact with an audience, capturing their interest and attention far in advance of traditional avenues. This furthers our goal to entertain fans on the Web with original content and also establish a brand, thereby utilizing the medium as a promotional vehicle as well.” theoblongs.com site, which utilizes Flash 4 technology, focuses on the quirky and unusual Oblong family. The Web site will introduce this group of six oddly relatable misfits, who live in a toxic valley downstream from an industrial waste dump, which has caused each family member a variety of bizarre physical and emotional abnormalities. theoblongs.com will also offer an animated montage biography of each family member demonstrating their most endearing and eccentric characteristic. Additionally, the Web site will feature alternative rock music composed exclusively for the series as well as Flash-animated Web cards. Just prior to the series’ debut, the site will add more traditional online content (such as interactive games and behind-the-scenes information about the creators) as a companion to The WB’s premiere promotional efforts. With laser-focused social satire, the half-hour comedy television series will depict the warped world of this bizarre yet loving family of have-nots who can't seem to beat the caste system of their hometown's beautiful people living high on the hill. The WB has ordered 13 episodes of “The Oblongs,” based on Angus Oblong’s book “Creepy Susie and Thirteen Other Tragic Tales for Troubled Children,” which was published in October 1999 by Ballantine Books. The television series is being created by Angus Oblong and Jace Richdale, and executive produced by Helford, Richdale and Deborah Oppenheimer (“The Drew Carey Show,” “The Norm Show”), for Oblongs Productions in association with Mohawk Productions Inc. and Jobsite Productions, for The WB and is distributed by Warner Bros. Television. # # #