Baby Prodigy Announces New Preschool Cartoon "Sensational 5!"
To celebrate the 20th anniversary of the award-winning Baby Prodigy brand, company founder Barbara Candiano-Marcus announces her next adventure: a preschool animated series called Sensational 5!
Baby Prodigy continues to be a favorite with children and is available on The Genius Brands / Kartoon YouTube channel with over 65 million views. Candiano-Marcus set out to take this success to the next level by creating a television series that reinforces the premise of the Baby Prodigy DVDs: stimulating the senses to foster smarter, happier babies.
Sensational 5! encourages parents and children to navigate the world by engaging the senses. Starring a character introduced for the first time in the Baby Prodigy series, the diverse and inclusive cast of Sensational 5! solve the problems of their world using their senses: see, hear, touch, smell and taste.
Emmy-nominated writer Andrew Viner is on board to write the series. Viner has been writing children's television shows for over 20 years. He has written over 200 animated episodes from The Thomas train e Fireman Sam a PJ Masks e Noddy as well as working on several shows for Aardman.
“I am thrilled to be part of the developing team Sensational 5! It was a lot of fun helping develop the show - it's full of action, comedy, characters and science, and I'm sure kids all over the world will love it, ”says Viner.
Launched in 2002, Baby Prodigy has won over 25 national awards including DVD of the Year. The DVDs have been distributed in the United States, Canada and internationally. Candiano-Marcus also partnered with Random House for a book about parents with the brand released in 2005, as well as securing dozens of licenses with toy and video distributors.
Four months after its release, retail giant Wal-mart collected the Baby Prodigy DVD and sold tens of thousands of units in just four weeks. Other famous stores such as Costco, Sam's Club, Barnes & Noble, Toys “R” Us, Babies “R” Us and many others have followed suit. It has negotiated several licensing agreements including a partnership with Nestlé Canada and Prestige Toy Company.
Now an established author, parenting expert and executive producer, Candiano-Marcus' Baby Prodigy video was inspired by her newborn daughter, Samantha, who was suffering from bouts of unbearable colic at just six weeks. Not knowing what else to do, Candiano-Marcus went online and discovered something very intriguing. He found that certain types of brain stimulation, such as sensory involvement, affect a child's happiness and intelligence.
Although Candiano-Marcus didn't find a cure for colic, he found that music and visuals helped calm Samantha. With this new information, he wrote, produced and directed Baby Prodigy videos to help other moms raise smarter, happier babies.
Before being a stay-at-home mom, Candiano-Marcus worked in television production as a production assistant and liaison between line producers and all departments, including executive producer, screenwriters and post-production. Additionally, as story and production coordinator, assistant writer and assistant production, she has produced prime time hits through Bright Kauffman Crane Productions / Warner Bros. Television, Brad Lachman Productions, Nickelodeon, BSB Productions, Paramount and HBO, including Baywatch, Martin, The Maury Povich Show, Jesse and many others.
Prior to working on television, Candiano-Marcus worked in marketing at BMG / RCA Music to help launch the careers of many talented Grammy-winning artists. He is a longtime member of the Producers Guild of America and has served on several committees.
“This has been an amazing 20 year journey! With all the new scientific research on sensory stimulation, it makes perfect 'sense' to launch the Sensational 5! right now, ”says Candiano-Marcus.
