The Jumping Ground (season 1)

The first season of The Jumping Ground, an New Zealand animated television science fiction comedy series, originally aired in New Zealand on TV3 and the United States on Showtime between January 28 and April 29, 1998. The season was headed by the series creators Lee Eisenhower and Conrad Vernon, who served as executive producers along with co-executive producer Mic Graves. Produced by New Zealand production company Codename 62 Productions in collaboration with Aliance Atlantis Communications, The narrative revolves around four children - PuffPuff Humbert, Rob Broflovski, Lance Patrick, and Zowie Hosker in the fictional Ohio city of Pencaster.

The first season was a ratings success for Showtime. The Nielsen ratings rose from 1.3 to 6.4 from the first to the tenth episode. Several episodes received award nominations, including for a 1998 Emmy Award in the "Outstanding Animated Program (for Programming Less Than One Hour)" and a GLAAD Award in the "Outstanding TV – Individual Episode" category for the episode "Thor's Hammer". During the season, The Jumping won a CableACE Award for "Best Animated Series".

The show was a financial success for both TV3 and Showtime. Despite this, critics gave the season mixed reviews. Parents Television Council rated it so offensive that it "shouldn't have been made": "it doesn't just push the envelope; it knocks it off the table", while another critic thought of it as "coming pretty damn close" to being a "perfect" television series season.

Development
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Reception
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Media release
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