Nick’s ‘O-Zone’ Series Deliver Fresh Air Into Prime Time

You and your kids may have to start tossing a coin to see who gets access to the remote control--or you might want to just give in now: Nickelodeon’s “Nickel-O-Zone,” an hour of prime-time kids’ programming airing Sundays through Fridays, includes several watchable series--”The Mystery Files of Shelby Woo,” “Nick News” and “Hey Arnold”--plus three new offerings, only one of which comes up short.

The best of the newcomers is “The Wild Thornberrys,” arriving tonight. From “Rugrats” studio Klasky Csupo Inc., this animated romp is a tongue-in-cheek wildlife adventure, featuring the kind of grotesque cartoon characters--humans in shapes never to be found in nature--that have become a TV staple, but still beat the once-dominant bland alternative.

The star of the show, an intrepid pre-adolescent named Eliza (voiced by “Party of Five’s” Lacey Chabert), has a face like a grouper with buck teeth and braces. She and her family--a stormy teenage sister; an adopted, leopard-skin-wearing, bug-hunting “wild child” (his grunts come courtesy of the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Flea); an ever-optimistic mom; and a gung-ho, pencil-necked, veddy British explorer dad (Tim Curry)--are traveling the world to film nature documentaries.

Eliza, who has a stuffy British chimp sidekick, can talk to the animals--which comes in handy, natch.

Look for exotic climes, creative visual silliness and edgy humor, unexpected voice-over guest artists (Eartha Kitt and Sheryl Lee Ralph play lionesses tonight), real nature infobits and surprisingly careful renderings of flora and fauna.

“Animorphs” (airing Fridays) is sort of a sci-fi/”Goosebumps,” live-action/computer animation combo, based on the hugely popular books by K.A. Applegate. It’s about five heroic teenagers who, unlike so many of their TV peers, aren’t obsessed with sex, but with saving the world--from a secret army of alien invaders.

The teens acquire the power to “morph” into any animal they touch after an encounter with a dying alien good guy. This helps them fight the alien Yeerks, who could be anyone, even the school principal.

The “morphing” effects--eyeballs elongating, bodies scrunching, hands and feet lumping into paws, talons or hooves, all accompanied by suitably gross squelchy sounds--are pretty cool, and the diverse cast, led by Shawn Ashmore as the group’s sensitive leader, has real appeal.

If it doesn’t get better after the initial episode, “Cousin Skeeter” (also beginning tonight) is the weak link in the new lineup.

In this live-action sitcom, irritatingly accompanied by canned laughter, the talented human cast--Rondell Sheridan, Meagan Good, Angela Means and the striking young Emmy winner Robert Richard (“In My Father’s Shoes”)--play second fiddle to a puppet, a la “Alf.”

Richard plays shy, 13-year-old Bobby, who has just moved to New York. To help Bobby adjust, his parents (Sheridan and Means) invite Skeeter (a big-headed, Muppet-style puppet kid, voiced by Bill Bellamy of “MTV Jams”) to come for a prolonged stay. Who wouldn’t want their offspring to have an obnoxious, fast-talking, hyperactive, hyper-hip, hip-hop, spotlight-grabbing companion?

Skeeter’s saving grace, apparently, is that everything he does is for Bobby’s benefit. His dominance of the show, however, simply makes everyone else look like a spectator.

* “The Wild Thornberrys” airs Tuesdays and Thursdays at 8 p.m., followed at 8:30 both nights by “Cousin Skeeter”; “Animorphs” airs at 8:30 p.m. Fridays, with a repeat at 9:30 p.m. Saturdays, all on cable’s Nickelodeon.