Curious Pictures

**Curious Pictures** (stylized as **curious?ictures**) was an American animation studio and multi-media company set in New York City and Los Angeles that created and produced television programs, commercials, animation and video games. The company is known for its flagship work such as the preschool television series *A Little Curious* for HBO. Other well-known works include *Sheep in the Big City* and *Codename: Kids Next Door* for Cartoon Network.

## History

After working at Stowmar Enterprises, Steve Oakes and Peter Rosentheal co-founded Broadcast Arts in Washington, D.C. in 1981. The company's first assignment was a series of network IDs for MTV, which set the standard for the network's irreverent humor. This success established the fledgling studio and brought them projects for WPLJ, Showtime, Cinemax, ABC, and more. Broadcast Arts moved to New York City in 1985. Broadcast Arts produced hundreds of commercials, constantly weaving together multiple animation and special effects techniques for various projects, as well as the animation for the first season of *Pee-wee's Playhouse*. Broadcast Arts changed its name to Curious Pictures in 1993.

Having worked together for several years, the team of five partners (Susan Holden, Steve Oakes, David Starr, Peter Rosentheal, and Richard Winkler) continued producing TV commercials, with the intention of expanding to television programming, toy production, and other ventures. In 1994, the company expanded into a 25,000 square-foot studio in lower Manhattan, fully equipping it with a cel and a computer animation department, a shooting stage with two motion control camera systems, a prop and model shop and digital editing rooms. Over the years, more directors began working for Curious, and by 1995 Curious was producing over 100 commercial projects annually. The 1996 production of Mo Willems' "The Offbeats" for Nickelodeon's animated sketch show *KaBlam!*, marked Curious' expansion into the TV business. In 1998, *A Little Curious* for HBO became the company's first half-hour series, followed soon after by another Willems project, *Sheep in the Big City*, for Cartoon Network. Other TV animated products included *Codename: Kids Next Door*, created by Tom Warburton, for six seasons on Cartoon Network, and *Little Einsteins* for Playhouse Disney, and *Team Umizoomi* for Nickelodeon.

From 1995 to 1999, an office was maintained in San Francisco to support the company's expansion into cel animation.

## Filmography

### Television series

* *Max Trax* (bumpers; 1984)
* *The George Michael Sports Machine* (main titles; 1984)
* *Pee-wee's Playhouse* (season 1; 1986)
* *Vandemonium Plus* (1987)
* *The Off-Beats* (1996–1999)
* *Elmo's World* (season 1; 1998–1999)
* *A Little Curious* (1999–2000)
* *The Cartoon Cartoon Show* ("Prickles the Cactus") (2000)
* *Sheep in the Big City* (2000–2002)
* *Saturday TV Funhouse* ("The Narrator That Ruined Christmas") (2001)
* *Cyberchase* (1999 Pilot, original main character designs; 2002)
* *Hey Joel* (2003)
* *Codename: Kids Next Door* (2002–2008)
* *The Wrong Coast* (2004)
* *Sunday Pants* ("Freshman Clowns") (2005)
* *Little Einsteins* (2005–2009)
* *Bored to Death* (main titles; 2009–2011)
* *Team Umizoomi* (2010–2015)
* *NFL Rush Zone* (2010–2011)
* *Eureka: Do You See What I See* (animation; 2011)
* *A Day in the Life* (opening animation; 2011)

### Films and specials

* *Star Trek: The Motion Picture* (graphic display animation; 1979)
* *I Go Pogo* (1980)
* *Who's That Girl* (title sequence; 1987)
* *The Jackie Bison Show* (1990)
* *Smoke Alarm* (1996)
* *An Off-Beats Valentine's* (1999)
* *My Scene: Jammin' in Jamaica* (2004)
* *My Scene: Masquerade Madness* (2004)
* *My Scene Goes Hollywood: The Movie* (2005)
* *PollyWorld* (2006)
* *The Barbie Diaries* (2006)
* *Codename: Kids Next Door: "Operation Z.E.R.O"* (2006)
* *Chicago 10* (animation; 2007)
* *The Grim Adventures of the Kids Next Door* (co-produced with Cartoon Network Studios; 2007)
* *Where in the World Is Osama bin Laden?* (graphic design; 2008)
* *August* (additional visual effects; 2008)
* *Codename: Kids Next Door: "Operation: I.N.T.E.R.V.I.E.W.S."* (2008)
* *Codename: Kids Next Door: The Movie* (co-produced with Cartoon Network Studios; 2009)
* *The Love Guru* (graphics and visual effects; 2008)
* *Black Swan* (motion capture; 2010)
* *It's Kind of a Funny Story* (visual effects; 2010)

### Video games

* *Rock Band* (2007)
* *Rock Band 2* (2008)
* *Grey's Anatomy: The Video Game* (2009)
* *The Beatles: Rock Band* (2009)
* *Grand Theft Auto: The Ballad of Gay Tony* (2009)
* *Red Dead Redemption* (2010)
* *Green Day: Rock Band* (2010)
* *Dance Central* (2010)
* *Homefront* (2011)
* *Dance Central 2* (2011)
* *Leela* (2011)

### Shorts

* *Don't Answer Me* (music video; 1984)
* *Bite & Smile* (1989)
* *Foil Man*, by Chris Gilligan (assisting only; 1995)
* *The Louie 'n Louie Show*, by Gary Baseman (1996)
* *Cartoon Network Shorties* (1998)
* *Life* (special thanks; 1999)
* *A Sheepy Vacation* (theatrical short; co-produced with Cartoon Network Studios; 2009)