Olivia the piglet makes TV debut
The central character of Ian Falconer's prize-winning books is now on Nickelodeon.
NEW YORK - Olivia, the little girl pig with the big imagination, is stepping out of her picture-book world into a bold, new, and much more colorful life on Nickelodeon.
The twirly drama queen and fashionista seems more mature at the ripe old age of 63/4 in the eye-popping animated series, which preserves her can-do spirit and love of red stripes while broadening her social life.
Gone is a bit of Olivia's squirm in Ian Falconer's award-winning, mega-selling books. The large-headed piglet still wants what she wants - and wants it yesterday - but there's a touch more patience as she navigates the day-to-day with friends and family.
The babyish voice of Olivia - with just a hint of whine - is pitch-perfect thanks to 12-year-old Emily Gray, a sixth-grade newcomer from San Diego. Emily vaguely remembers reading the books in her preschool days but said she grew fond of the popular porcine after voicing 26 half-hour episodes for the weekday show, which premiered Monday.
"I like how outgoing she is and how she tries new things and doesn't worry about what everyone else thinks about her and just wants to be happy with herself," Emily said.
Falconer, who based the character on a real Olivia - his niece - worked closely with creators of the series, said Megan Laughton, the supervising producer in New York for a London-based brand-management firm, Chorion.
The production company Brown Bag Films in Ireland was chosen to expand Olivia's basic look beyond red, white and black but preserve her spunk and physical humor.
Falconer, 49, wrote and drew the books with an illustrator's eye that he also has lent to 30 covers of the New Yorker magazine. His first Olivia book was an instant hit in 2000, selling a million copies its first year and earning a Randolph Caldecott Medal in 2001 for best illustrated children's book. Five books followed, with more than six million in worldwide sales.