The Very First Noel Animated Special Comes to DirecTV

[Josh]

The Very First Noel Animated Special Comes to DirecTV


Exclaim Ent.'s new animated Christmas special, THE VERY FIRST NOEL, will be available on DirecTV starting Friday, Nov. 24, 2006 and will run through Dec. 31. Featuring the voice of Andy Griffith (as Melchior), THE VERY FIRST NOEL will air daily on a regular basis on DirecTV Channel 103.

"The Christmas story provides a beautiful -- and powerful -- opportunity for bringing families together, so we think THE VERY FIRST NOEL will resonate with DirecTV's audience," said Exclaim co-founder Dennis DeShazer, who is also an exec producer of the special.

Created by the award-winning animation team Carrie and Yarrow Cheney as a seven-year labor of love, they strove to make THE VERY FIRST NOEL in the tradition of the classic animated Christmas specials from the '60s and '70s. "Those shows had charm and sincerity that brought so much to us as kids," says Carrie Cheney. "We wanted to create a new show with the same warmth and heart."

The 3D animated special features whimsical rhyme throughout. As the voice of Melchior, one of the Three Wise Men who traveled from the east to see the newborn King of Kings, Griffith brings a charming familiarity to the beloved Christmas story. The program also features a soundtrack of Christmas carols performed by The Brothers Cazimero from Hawaii.

THE VERY FIRST NOEL is available at Wal-Mart and other retailers, as well as online at www.veryfirstnoel.com.

Jon Green and Dennis DeShazer started Exclaim Ent. in 2002 with a commitment to developing programming with a religious theme or message. Their first endeavor was BOZ, THE GREEN BEAR NEXT DOOR, a preschool program that quickly has become one of the top three children's programs in Christian retail. Exclaim soon became part of Reel FX Creative Studios www.reelfx.com), a growing animation company with more than 100 employees in studios in Dallas and Pasadena, California.