SHOWS FOR YOUNGSTERS AND THEIR PARENTS TOO : Family Channel series puts a human touch on the animal kingdom

Like Dr. Doolittle before him, zookeeper Dan Winfield not only walks with the animals, he can talk with them too. You’ll meet them all this week on The Mighty Jungle, a live-action family comedy premiering on the Family Channel.

Dan (Francis Guinan of “Eerie, Indiana”), his wife Susan (Charlene Fernetz) and their two children live in what seems like a normal suburban neighborhood. But an equatorial rain forest surrounds their home, part of an experiment that hopes to prove wild animals can live together in captivity without the restraints of cages.

Dan’s menagerie consists of puppets, animatronics figures and real animals.

A puppeteer in a full-body gorilla suit plays the Cambridge-educated orangutan Winston; his electronically controlled mask works much like those used in the feature film “Gorillas in the Mist.”

Vinnie, a New York sewer born-and-bred crocodile, is an animatronics animal with Tony Danza’s voice; Viola, a Southern belle of a toucan, features Delta Burke’s voice. Jack, a surfer sea lion, is the third featured animatronics character, similar in operation to many of the talking creatures at Disneyland.

Real birds and monkeys are brought in to round out the crew, which includes actress Sylvia Loeillet as Winfield’s assistant.

The show, a U.S.-Canadian-French co-production (from Tri-Star, Alliance and Screen Ventures VI, and Le Sabre Groupe), is shot in Toronto before a live audience, with other actors’ voices redubbed for Canadian and French audiences.

Relationships among the humans and animals are important to the show, says Canadian producer Greg Copeland (NBC’s “Woman on the Run”).

“Dan has an excellent relationship with his family, as well as one with the animals,” Copeland says. “We’ve really geared it to all family members as well.”

However, youngsters in a test audience were drawn to the animals most. Executive story editor Bernie Orenstein reports: “They loved the way they talked and moved.”

“When you see the animals on camera, they really do seem real,” notes Copeland’s associate, Tim Duncan. “It’s not only the kids who’ll think the animals are real.”

“The Mighty Jungle” airs Sundays at 8 p.m. on the Family Channel. For ages 4 and up.

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