Eugene producer's monsters debut on religious network.Byline: Lewis Taylor The Register-Guard Could Brine be the next Elmo? That's what Eugene TV producer Davey Porter Davey Porter is the executive producer and co-creator of Nanna's Cottage -- a half-hour Saturday morning children’s television program. He is also president and CEO of Polara Productions. is hoping as he prepares to roll out "Monster Sunday School Monster Sunday School is a series of children's shorts produced by Davey Porter Pictures. The series is seen during the Nanna's Cottage, exclusively on the Trinity Broadcasting Network. ," a new series created by his company, Polara Productions Polara Productions is a television production company based in Eugene, Oregon. The founders of the company are Davey Porter and Karen Sponsler-Porter. The company is currently in production on two children's television series: Nanna's Cottage and Monster Sunday School, both . Brine, a puppet monster with fuzzy white fur, is one of the characters on the children's program, which debuts on Saturday on the religious Trinity Broadcasting Network The Trinity Broadcasting Network, or TBN, is the largest Christian religious television network in the world and is headquartered near Los Angeles in Costa Mesa, California with studios near Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex in Irving, Texas and near Nashville in . "These characters are just fun," Porter says. "They're sweet and innocent and they're just like-able puppets." Porter, also the producer of the TV show "Nanna's Cottage Nanna's Cottage is a children's TV series created by husband and wife producing team Davey Porter and Karen Sponsler-Porter. The show is about a 75-year old grandmother Abigale "Nanna" Macaroon, a world traveler and archeologist, who dispenses love and knowledge to ," calls his latest half-hour program "religion light." Each episode of the show contains a simple Bible story Bible stories, Judeo-Christian parables retelling some portions of the Bible, have long had a place in family religious worship, spiritual instruction, literature, and the cultural underpinnings of many Christian and Jewish societies. lesson. In the debut, the monster characters take a journey back to the first Christmas Nativity scene A nativity scene, also called a crib or crèche (meaning "crib" or "manger" in French) generally refers to any depiction of the birth or birthplace of Jesus. In Italy it is known as presepe , where they play the characters of Mary, Joseph and the Three Wise Men in order to gain an understanding of what it means to celebrate Christmas. The show is shot on high definition video on Stage Five at Chambers Media Center in Eugene. A staff of four puppeteers brings to life the characters of Brine, Clyde, Topp, Gilda (all of them monsters) and Mrs. Church, the old-fashioned Sunday school Sunday school, institution for instruction in religion and morals, usually conducted in churches as part of the church organization but sometimes maintained by other religious or philanthropic bodies. In England during the 18th cent. teacher. The fact the students in this Sunday school are monsters is a reflection of the often-repeated notion that without religion, people are monsters, Porter says. "Monster Sunday School" grew out of "Nanna's Cottage," which debuted in July on KEZI-TV and got snapped up by TBN TBN Trinity Broadcasting Network TBN Trombone TBN Total Base Number (oil sampling) TBN To Be Named TBN To Be Nominated TBN Taekwondo Bond Nederland (Netherlands Taekwondo Association) TBN To Be Negotiated in October. That show, a secular children's program modeled after traditional live action programs such as "Captain Kangaroo Captain Kangaroo Medical slang A popular term for the chairman of a pediatrics department. See Medical slang. ," appealed to TBN's family-friendly programming mission, but did not have a requisite religious aspect. Porter added a mini-episode of the "Monster" program to satisfy TBN and the station ordered 13 episodes of the full-length show. ` `Nanna's Cottage' didn't exist 18 months ago,' Porter says. "Now we have two shows on the largest (religious) cable network." Reaching an estimated 92.5 million American households, TBN is the world's largest religious broadcaster, and Porter has high hopes for his partnership with the network. He believes there is a shortage of religious programming for children and says that many of the programs that do exist are outdated. Porter and head writer/associate producer Eric Stillwell are hoping to create a small children's TV production industry in Eugene. Already the two shows employ a total of 125 people. Several months ago, Gov. Ted Kulongoski visited the production studio and remarked on the jobs that had been created, Porter says. "He was impressed," Porter recalls. "These are jobs, they're green jobs, non-polluting jobs, high-end jobs." It's still too soon to call "Monster Sunday School" or "Nanna's Cottage" the next "Sesame Street." Porter says "Nanna's Cottage" has earned a Nielsen rating of three points compared to a 10 rating for children's TV juggernaut "SpongeBob SquarePants." Three points equates to roughly 570,000 to 850,000 viewers in North America, he says. Porter expects to see similar ratings from "Monster Sunday School" and says the program's numbers could climb even higher as it reaches its intended audience. "We wanted the sweetness and the cuteness of Sunday school," Porter says. "I think it will catch on. I think it will just be a blaze." MONSTER SUNDAY SCHOOL 7:30 a.m. Saturday: TBN (Comcast digital, Ch. 230; DISH Network, Ch. 260; DirecTV, Ch. 372) |
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