MUMBAI: Cartoon Network has begun production on the untitled Andre Benjamin Primetime series. Created by Andre Benjamin (Andre 3000 of OutKast) and Tom Lynch (Romeo!), 12 half-hour episodes and a one-hour premiere are being produced at Cartoon Network Studios in Burbank, California.
 
 

The highly anticipated primetime half-hour series features a group of musically gifted kids and an unlikely visitor that brings sunshine to their lives.

The series is scheduled to debut in 2006. The show title will be named at a later date.

The series is produced by Cartoon Network in conjunction with the Tom Lynch Co. and Andre Benjamin's production company, Moxie Turtle.

Benjamin and Lynch will serve as executive producers, and Benjamin will provide voices and musical direction for the show. The show's co-executive producer and head writer is Patric M Verrone, a writer for Futurama, The Critic and Pinky and the Brain and a supervising producer on Futurama. Animation veteran Donovan Cook (Two Stupid Dogs, Mickey, Donald, Goofy: The Three Musketeers) joins the production as supervising producer.

Andre Benjamin is best known as one half of the Grammy-winning musical group OutKast. His acting career has led to roles in Four Brothers starring Mark Wahlberg, Be Cool, starring John Travolta, and Hollywood Homicide, featuring Harrison Ford. He also lends a voice to Elwyn in the film Charlotte's Web, which blends live-action and animation and will be released in 2006.

Tom Lynch has been an innovator in the field of kids', tween and teen programming for the past 20 years. His groundbreaking debut series, Kids Incorporated, was the first variety show for youngsters; his series The Secret World of Alex Mack was both the first series created for tweens and the first show to feature a tween girl as its central character. Since then, Lynch has continued to blaze new trails with such original programs as the Emmy-nominated Scout's Safari (filmed in South Africa) and Romeo!, starring the real life musician Romeo and his father, music mogul Master P.

In addition to the untitled Andre Benjamin Project, Cartoon Network Studios' current production slate includes four half-hour series set to premiere on Cartoon Network in 2005 and 2006 (The Life & Times of Juniper Lee, Camp Lazlo, My Gym Partner's a Monkey and Ben 10), three original shorts and ongoing production of hit series Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends and The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy.