The YES App is taking a swing at bringing back the era of Saturday morning cartoons.
The Yankees’ flagship network announced Thursday morning that its digital arm is launching “HexClad Presents Bronx Buds” on Saturday, Aug. 17.
“We’re always looking for strategic opportunities to reach younger fans,” Jason Feneque, the Senior Director of Distribution & Special Projects, told The Post in a phone conversation earlier this week.
After deciding to embark on an animation project, YES brass quickly got connected with Tzero Studios co-founders Justin Shenkarow and Tom Borowski.
Feneque recalls immediately thinking they were “creative geniuses, and they really had passion, not only for animation but for sports and baseball.”
Shenkarow has spent his life’s work in cartoons.
As a child, he voiced the role of Harold Berman, the bully in the popular Nickelodeon cartoon “Hey Arnold!”
He ultimately launched Tzero after he met Borowski, who had also worked on “Hey Arnold!” as a background painter for the show’s movie.
The two had never met before, as there was a separation of talent and creative.
“We realized there was such an opportunity to create cartoons for the next generation of sports fans,” Shenkarow told The Post.
“It was lacking. Kids grow up playing sports. They love sports, they love cartoons. I grew up a huge Yankees fan. That’s how ‘Bronx Buds’ came together. It was: How do we create compelling stories and adventures that kids want to watch? Where the next generation of Yankees fans can sit down, with their parents, and watch this cartoon together.
“That’s what I grew up with. We wanted to bring Saturday morning cartoons back.”
The show will follow the trials and tribulations of a youth baseball team in The Bronx.
Shenkarow felt it was important for the show to have New York authenticity.
“The Bronx is a central character in the show itself,” Shenkarow said.
“It’s so culturally rich, with tradition and incredible diversity, and so one of the main settings is a restaurant called Papa Sardines on Arthur Ave., where the kids go before their baseball games.”
The show will be available for registered YES App users in the tri-state area and northeastern Pennsylvania.
Yankees fans who subscribe to YES Network’s national feed will also be able to watch on the YES App.
The show follows other YES App originals including “Bronx Beat,” “The Balance,” and “The Story of My Number.”
There will be a new seven-minute episode each Saturday for six weeks, and a second season has already been green-lit.
There won’t be any cameos from Yankees players, at least in the show’s first season.
People involved in the creation of the show have also worked on “Beavis and Butt-Head,” “SpongeBob SquarePants” and “Ice Age: A Mammoth Christmas.”
YES was able to get HexClad, a cookware company, to buy into the vision and sign on as the presenting sponsor.
Feneque, the YES executive, emphasized the life lessons viewers will take from the show.
“It’s geared perfectly to kids. It shows how to overcome adversity, work together and prosper through teamwork,” Feneque said.
“It’s a feel-good, animated story that’s going to give a great message to not only young viewers but also their parents and anyone that watches.”
