Nick tries to make kids stick around another half-hour

Rupert Murdoch is spending an estimated $ 100 million this year to promote his newest acquisition, Fox Family Channel, and get kids interested in watching Pat Robertson's old network. Then there was the cable channel that didn't need to spend a dime to command the attention of millions of youngsters. All it needed to say were two simple words: New Rugrats! Nickelodeon is America's No. 1 basic cable network, and it has the animated adventures of four toddlers known as the "Rugrats" largely to thank. Now it is enlisting that show's creators to help the network push further out into prime time, reclaiming another half-hour that had been, for 13 years, the domain of golden-oldies Nick at Nite. Tonight, Nickelodeon begins branding its 7 to 8 p.m. hour as "Nickel-O-Zone" and introduces three new series there this week. They're led by "The Wild Thornberrys," a raucously entertaining new cartoon about a family that makes nature films. Nickelodeon's kid appeal is almost as legendary as the teen appeal of its sister network MTV. (Both cable channels, as well as grown-up VH1 and pay cable's Showtime, are owned by Viacom.) As a result, it can spend all day promoting new programs during its existing favorites - marketing muscle that every cable network, not just Fox Family, wishes it had. The success of "Hey Arnold! " convinced the network to do more kids shows at night. "Arnold! " has had a 7 p.m. time slot for two years. "The timing (of the "Arnold" launch) was critical for us, because it was a time when it looked like the networks had abandoned the kid audience in prime time," said Cyma Zarghami, Nickelodeon's general manager. Now it looks like the kids have abandoned the networks. Two weeks ago, when Nickelodeon launched a new series of "Rugrats" episodes, an average of 2.5 million viewers ages 2-11 were tuned in, more kids than were watching the top three networks - Fox, ABC and NBC - combined. Such is the popularity of "Rugrats" that the show's creators, Klasky Csupo Inc., didn't produce a new cartoon for three years, yet during that time not one but several airings consistently rated among cable's 20 most-watched shows each week. Klasky executives had been kicking around the idea of a child who talks to animals. "The Wild Thornberrys," which debuts at 7 p.m. Tuesday, evolved from that kernel. It's organized around what Nickelodeon calls its "first animated girl heroine," young Eliza Thornberry (voiced by Lacey Chabert of "Party of Five"). Accompanied by her best friend, a chimp named Darwin, Eliza travels the world with her nature-photographer parents, her older sister and her adopted younger brother Donnie (Flea of the Red Hot Chili Peppers), who spins around like a dervish and speaks only in whoops and grunts. Eryk Casemiro, who is supervising producer on "Rugrats" and this new series, says there are obvious comparisons between the famous toddlers and the Thornberrys. "These are experiential stories, whether on 'Rugrats' it's of a 2-year-old who's seeing the giant toilet for the first time and is in awe of this giant porcelain thing, or on 'Thornberrys,' where it's imposing the family life on this land that's vast and wild," Casemiro said in a recent interview. "Eliza's gift is experiencing things much as Tommy Pickles or Chuckie Finster do." Nickelodeon also will roll out two live-action series this week in its new prime-time block. "Cousin Skeeter," which follows "The Wild Thornberrys" at 7:30, pairs a real 13-year-old boy (Robert Ri'chard) with a smooth-talking "cousin" (voiced by Bill Bellamy), who's a cross between Li'l Penny and a Jim Henson Muppet. The show is produced by Michael Tollin and Brian Robbins, who've delivered the goods for Nickelodeon with "Kenan & Kel" and "All That." The third new series, "Animorphs" (7:30 p.m. Friday), is a live-action adventure about teens who can "morph" into horses, dogs, mice - any creature they can imagine being - then use their animal disguises to thwart the schemes of bad guys. It's produced by juvenile book publisher Scholastic. In fact, much of the new prime-time hour will be a showcase for some of Nickelodeon's greatest hits, a demonstration of the incredible cultural influence one cable channel can exert over its viewers. "The Mystery Files of Shelby Woo" (7 p.m. Sunday), "Nick News" with Linda Ellerbee (7:30 p.m. Sunday) and "The Journey of Allen Strange" (7:30 tonight) are among the returning shows airing new episodes this week. "Hey Arnold! " also launches in the "Nickel-O-Zone" at 7 tonight. Will Nickelodeon take its young viewers further into the night? Apparently not: Zarghami said the network's research shows that the number of kids watching TV remains high throughout the 7 p.m. hour but then "drops off significantly" after 8. The conclusion is inescapable even to a TV executive. "With respect to kids and parents, they need a bedtime," Zarghami said.