City Announces Start of Production on Original Adult Animated Prime-time Series Mr Up!, Starring and Executive Produced by Eva Longoria

13-episode, half-hour animated comedy series to debut in fall 2013 on City in Canada and Hulu in the U.S.

Homegrown series is written, produced, and voiced in Canada

TORONTO (January 8, 2013) City today announced start of production on Mother Up!, a 13-episode, half-hour adult animated comedy series starring Eva Longoria (Desperate Housewives), who also serves as the show's executive producer. Developed by Rogers Media and co-produced by Canadian companies Breakthrough Entertainment and Bardel Entertainment, in association with U.S.-based Mass Animation, Mother Up! will debut in fall 2013 as part of City's prime-time lineup and be available exclusively in the U.S. on the free, ad-supported Hulu and Hulu Plus subscription service. Additional broadcast details to be announced at a later date.

Mother Up! revolves around the daily life of Rudi Wilson (Longoria), a former high-powered music exec who takes on the greatest challenge of her life: motherhood in suburbia. Rudi is striving for the life of a super-mom but she forgets one important detail shes not a very good parent. Bringing her street smarts and urban lifestyle to the suburbs, Rudi confronts the endless challenges of parenthood with a series of misguided improvised solutions, putting her life on the line like never before.

Smart and hilarious, Mother Up! epitomizes the kind of comedy that City's prime-time schedule is famous for, said Claire Freeland, Director of Original Programming Rogers Media. With the star power of Eva Longoria, Mother Up! is the perfect addition to the premium City lineup and furthers our commitment to the development and production of original content.

Executive producers for the series are Eva Longoria, Yair Landau (Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs) and Susan Purcell (Live Music) from U.S.-based Mass Animation, noted television industry veteran Fred Fuchs (Transporter: The Series), Breakthrough Entertainment's Ira Levy (Less Than Kind) and Peter Williamson (Kenny vs. Spenny), and Bardel Entertainment's Barry Ward and Delna Bhesania (Bob's Burgers).

Mother Up! combines famed Hollywood actor, director and producer Eva Longoria with the comedic genius of writers Michael Shipley, Greg Lawrence, Mark McKinney, Laurie Elliott and Jenn Engels and the development, production and animation talents of Mass Animation, Bardel Entertainment and Breakthrough Entertainment, said Ira levy, Executive Producer and Partner at Breakthrough Entertainment. We could not be more excited about collaborating with this extraordinary, high-profile team.

Developed by Michael Shipley (American Dad, My Name Is Earl, Family Guy) who will also serve as an executive producer Mother Up! is based on the original material of Marnie Nir and Katie Torpey. Recruited to serve as showrunner and executive producer is Canadian Greg Lawrence (Crash Canyon, Kevin Spencer), who joins the all-Canadian creative team of celebrated writing talent including Mark McKinney (Less Than Kind), Jenn Engels (Seed), Laurie Elliott, and Laura Kosterski.

Mother Up! also stars Canadians Jesse Camacho (Less Than Kind) as Dick, Gabrielle Miller (Corner Gas, Robson Arms) as Sarah, Cle Bennett as 2Bit, Helen Taylor as Jenny, Rebecca Husain as Apple, and Scott McCord as Greg.

Breakthrough Entertainment will distribute the series worldwide outside of North America.

Mother Up! reinforces City's strong commitment to original Canadian programming, which includes original series Seed and Package Deal premiering mid-season on City.

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About Breakthrough Entertainment

Headquartered in Toronto, Breakthrough Entertainment Inc. (BEI) is a world class studio, being a leading global producer and distributor of acclaimed primetime comedy and drama series, as well as factual entertainment, documentaries, television movies, feature films, family entertainment and children's animation. As one of Canada's largest television production and distribution companies, BEI has licensed programs to major broadcasters in over 200 territories. With a catalogue of over 3000 half-hours of programming, the company handles distribution as well as worldwide pre-sales, co-productions and third-party acquisitions. In addition to its dedicated program development, production and distribution divisions, Breakthrough's digital media division ranks among one of the industry's most respected producers of high quality digital entertainment including ebooks, webisodes and online and mobile games. BreakthroughEntertainment.com

About Bardel Entertainment

Co-founded in Vancouver BC by Barry Ward and Delna Bhesania, Bardel Entertainment Inc ranks among Canadas leading animation and digital media companies. Since its formation in 1988, the studio has delivered award- winning animated content for global broadcast while also providing creative animation services to major North American entertainment companies. Bardel is currently co producting the pre-school series Lah Lahs Adventures with Stella Productions in Australia and a prime time animated series, Mother Up! with Breakthrough Films and Mass Animation. The studios current service contracts include Teenage Mutant Turtles and Monsters Vs Aliens for Nickelodeon, Teen Titans for Warner Bros. and The Alphabet Factory for LeapFrog. For more information please visit Bardel.ca

About Mass Animation

Mass Animation, founded by Yair Landau, former Sony Pictures Vice Chairman, develops and produces crowd-sourced high quality animation using an innovative production model a virtual studio and an open invitation to artists around the world to collaborate in creating the next generation of stories. Grounded in the belief that there are talented artist

LINK:	http://www.rogersmediatv.ca/pr_detail.php?id=807...
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