A Family Phenom in the Making Nickelodeon is carefully guiding ‘Wild Thornberrys’ from popular show to a brand with film potential.

Even as millions of kids flocked to movie theaters to see Nickelodeon’s “Rugrats in Paris” over Thanksgiving weekend, the folks at the cable channel were plotting and planning to take “The Wild Thornberrys,” already a quiet success on television, to the big screen too. The idea is to turn “Wild Thornberrys” into a mega-hit like “Rugrats.” It will be two years before Nick knows for sure if it has managed anything close.

For those not in the know, “The Wild Thornberrys” tracks the adventures of the animated Thornberry family as it travels the world so eccentric dad Nigel (voiced by Tim Curry) can make his nature documentaries, which are filmed by mom Marianne (Jodi Carlisle). Along for the ride are teen daughter Debbie (Danielle Harris), who is obsessed with her appearance and portable tape player, and pigtailed younger sister Eliza (Lacey Chabert from “Party of Five”), the show’s true star, who has the gift of being able to talk to the many animals they encounter every episode. Eliza has a chimp companion, Darwin (Tom Kane); there’s also young Donnie (the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Flea), an adopted wild child who joined the family on one of its trips. Betty White and Ed Asner also provide voices for occasional appearances by the grandparents.

And just in case you’re not yet familiar with what has stealthily become Nickelodeon’s third-most popular show among the 2- to 11-year-old crowd, the cable network has found a way to guide you there. No crazy Thornberrys family adventure this: The journey from sweet TV show to billion-dollar brand is as closely charted as trip directions provided by a satellite navigation service.

One big stop along the trip, which could ultimately take a decade or more: Sister studio Paramount Pictures has just approved a third “Rugrats” movie for fall 2002, in which the babies will just happen to run across the gang from “The Wild Thornberrys.” A stand-alone “Thornberrys” movie is tentatively set to follow the next year.

“The Wild Thornberrys” got its start in 1998 after Nickelodeon put out a call for projects that had the potential to become five-day-a-week shows with appeal for boys and girls, and the possibility of spin-off products. Out of the handful that came in, two were made. One was “CatDog,” a zany animated show that initially seemed the better prospect and got a five-night-a-week run, while the more complicated, story-based “Wild Thornberrys” aired two times a week.

But then, “kids started voting with the remote,” says Nickelodeon President Herb Scannell. “Out of the gate, it was a performer.” An initial order of 20 episodes was immediately increased--80 have been ordered so far--and a year ago the show went to a coveted five-night-per week slot (Although “CatDog” is still on the air, new episodes are no longer being produced.) Thus far this year, “The Wild Thornberrys” is Nickelodeon’s third-highest-rated show among the 2- to 11-year-old set, behind “Rugrats” and “SpongeBob SquarePants.” Among 6- to 11-year-olds, it is second to “Rugrats.”

“Thornberrys” has none of the gross-out potty humor of “Rugrats,” although both are from the distinctive pens of the Arlene Klasky-Gabor Csupo production team, which also does Nickelodeon’s “Rocket Power” and “As Told by Ginger,” which just launched to strong response. “Thornberrys” is not such an immediately obvious hit as the silly “Rugrats,” but several elements combine to give it great appeal, in particular the exotic locales and the animals. Scannell calls it a “Discovery-esque world done in a tongue-and-cheek aspect that parents appreciate.”

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Indeed, it’s one of those rarities on television, a true family show, with a character for each age group and enough adult humor that parents aren’t driven away. One posting on the Family education.com Web site notes: “Anything that gets a preteen and her mom to laugh at the same humor has got to be doing something right.” This Internet writer praises the program because “it shows a family where Mom and Dad love each other, Mom and Eliza are strong female role models--OK, the older sister is a ‘ditz’ but they love her anyway. And they all stick together, even though all the characters have their own weaknesses and insecurities.”

Csupo’s original idea was to have Dad Nigel as an animal psychologist, says Eryk Casemiro, the program’s co-executive producer. But when the show went to Nickelodeon, “it just became obvious to make changes, that it was a perfect idea to have a 12-year-old girl with the ability to talk to animals. It’s the way kids role-play with their own pets.”

Instinct proved right. “You know it’s a fertile idea when you have an embarrassment of story ideas,” Casemiro says. “Even after 80 episodes, we still aren’t close to maxing out on ideas.” If they are, they can always turn to their fans: Two girls wrote in with their own script for a Midwest Thornberrys adventure revolving around prairie dogs, anecdotal evidence, Casemiro says, that the connection with viewers is strong.

The writers treat their animated characters as though they were “flesh and blood,” he says, exploring how the traditional family structure functions when moved to the wild. For parents, there’s the appeal of a working mom “often struggling with the anxiety of not having a traditional family life. It’s a very relatable anxiety,” Casemiro says.

Advertisers can relate too because the show appeals to the broad age range that advertisers buy. But to become a mega-brand, a show has to have spinoff products. That was a pretty easy sell to master toy licensee Mattel, says Scannell, because of the “multiple, well-defined characters” and the instant appeal of the animals. As Nickelodeon pushed up its schedule for “Wild Thornberrys,” Mattel speeded up its product release as well. Among the current offerings, in addition to activity books, are plastic action dolls outfitted with adventure gear such as a camera and canteen, and a raft for “Jungle Princess” Debbie. There are also more educational products, such as an interactive camera and CD-ROM that allows kids to “make” their own nature documentaries, as well as party favor products.

“We definitely feel that this has long-term potential,” says Sara Rosales, director of marketing communications for Mattel. “Part of this company’s criteria for when we sign up with entertainment partners is that it does have some long-term potential.” A second wave of products is planned for 2001, including board games, card games and some plush animals, although, like Nickelodeon, Mattel says it is “being very judicious.”

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Not all Nick shows become a consumer product, says Leigh Anne Brodsky, senior vice president of consumer products.”We wait until the show has made an emotional connection with kids,” she says. Among the signs that a program is ready: It’s among the top-five-rated shows on the network and gets great responses in the 250 or so focus groups that Nick conducts every year. A show also needs to appeal to boys and girls and a wide age range. And the roll-out should be slow, she says. “We want to see how some of the first categories are seen by consumers, then we can ramp up and step up the amount of the product. . . . We don’t want to burn it out the first year.”

That doesn’t seem likely, given that 2002 is the release date for a first “Thornberrys” appearance on the big screen, a vote of confidence that Nickelodeon’s movie department has so far accorded only “Rugrats,” “All That,” whose Kenan and Kel sketch was made into “Good Burger,” and eventually “Hey, Arnold,” which has been in production for some time. Casemiro, who equates the project with Disney’s ambitious “The Lion King,” says the stand-alone movie, tentatively set for 2003, will be exactingly factual and deal with the dark subject of animal poaching, but with an uplifting message of how individuals can make a difference. “We really have to raise the stakes to grab an audience,” he says.

Nickelodeon executives are cautious about the show’s ultimate prospects, whether it can hit the billion-dollar brand status of a “Rugrats.” Brodsky says the elements are there for it to last a decade or more, including an ensemble cast to provide “different facets to the storytelling,” and a “strong central character like Eliza that kids can connect with.”

Nickelodeon, with the successful “Rugrats” movies and others, “has now built real credibility within Paramount,” says Christopher Dixon, an analyst who tracks Viacom, parent company of both, for UBS Warburg. “So if they get a brand that starts to work, to gain traction, there is much more willingness on the part of Paramount to find a slot for it, promote it . . . than there was two or three years ago.”

And the interplay with film extends the life of a TV brand, which on its own often dies out after five years, he says. In film, “you can layer on a degree of depth that might not exist in just the television world. It’s big screen, a different environment.” Moreover, he says, film can be a valuable way of bringing new elements to a TV show, such as the new characters, launched in the recent “Rugrats in Paris” movie, that will join the TV show in January. “If you can do that, you can create that extraordinary heft that does create a 10-year brand.”

To keep it fresh, a four-part miniseries is scheduled for the fall on “The Origin of Donnie.” A National Wildlife Foundation tie-in will take the show’s visibility beyond the Nickelodeon airwaves and lend valuable credibility, including with the merchandising. But “will it have a life of its own? It’s too soon to tell,” says Scannell. “But it’s clearly the hot prospect in our stable.”