Sugar Ray Gets Animated at CartoonNetwork.com; Animated 'When It's Over' Video to Premiere Exclusively on Web Site

Business Wire, May 17, 2001

Entertainment Editors

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NEW YORK--(ENTERTAINMENT WIRE)--May 17, 2001

If you thought Sugar Ray was already a pretty animated band, wait until you see them at CartoonNetwork.com.

The Web site introduces an innovative extension to its Web Premiere Toons franchise when it premieres an animated music video starring the Lava/Atlantic recording group. The band has been working with Cartoon Network Online to create and produce a video based on their new hit single, "When It's Over," from their forthcoming self-titled album, set for release on June 12. The animated video will premiere exclusively at CartoonNetwork.com on June 4.

"We got together with the band and started brainstorming different ideas for the video," said Sam Register, senior vice president and creative director of Cartoon Network Online. "It turns out they are all cartoon fans, so they were really psyched and had a lot of ideas for the direction of the animation. It's been a very collaborative process."

The video is a stylized tribute to classic animation, with each character representing a different genre. Lead singer Mark McGrath is reminiscent of the classic Hanna-Barbera Harlem Globetrotters animation; Murphy Karges looks like something out of The Flintstones; Stan Frazier takes his space-age look from everyone's favorite futuristic family, The Jetsons; Rodney Sheppard pays tribute to Speed Racer; and D.J. Homicide, of course, is already an animated character in his own right.

The video is part of CartoonNetwork.com's Web Premiere Toons program, which highlights the best in animated entertainment. In 2001, CartoonNetwork.com will premiere more than 40 Web Premiere Toons, demonstrating their commitment to online animation. Cartoon Network will promote the animated video on air beginning May 28.

CartoonNetwork.com is the Internet's top destination for online animation. With more than 125 million page views per month, CartoonNetwork.com, where users can interact with all of their favorite Cartoon Network characters, is consistently one of the most visited entertainment sites on the Web. Some of the more popular features include individual character homepages, Cartoon Orbit, games and Web Premiere Toons, CartoonNetwork.com's original animation shorts. The site recently added Cartoon Orbit, a secure online community where fans can buy, sell and trade their favorite characters with CartoonNetwork.com's online trading card, the cToon.

Cartoon Network, currently seen in 72.9 million U.S. homes and 145 countries around the world, is Turner Broadcasting System, Inc.'s 24-hour, ad-supported cable service offering the best in animated entertainment. Drawing from the world's largest cartoon library, Cartoon Network also showcases unique original ventures such as Sheep in the Big City, Courage the Cowardly Dog, Mike, Lu & Og, The Powerpuff Girls, Ed, Edd n Eddy, Johnny Bravo, Cow and Chicken, Dexter's Laboratory and Cartoon Cartoons. Since its launch in 1992, Cartoon Network has remained one of ad-supported cable's highest-rated networks.

Turner Broadcasting System, Inc., an AOL Time Warner company, is a major producer of news and entertainment product around the world and the leading provider of programming for the basic cable industry. -30-

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