Nickelodeon Debuts New Animated Series, Sanjay and Craig, Featuring a Boy and His (Talking) Snake

This Saturday, May 25, at 10:30 (9:30 Central), Nickelodeon unveils a new cartoon series filled with the daily challenges and explorations of Sanjay and Craig, a boy and his pet snake. It also harkens to Nickelodeon’s wacky heritage, featuring a talking snake, Craig, and his twelve year-old boy, Sanjay. Together they evade life’s mundanities by creating fun and chaos while exercising their curiosity. Craig the snake knows how cool he is, while Sanjay is blind to considerations of cool factor or impossibilities.

The show’s creators/co-executive producers are Jim Dirschberger, Jay Howell, and Andreas Trolf, who cite Nickelodeon’s influence on their own youths as a gratifying factor in bringing their creations to Nick viewers now. Naming their favorite Nick shows from their childhoods, they mentioned the Double Dare game show, which inspired an homage in a Sanjay and Craig episode, and Ren & Stimpy and its patented close-ups of grossnesses. The art style is somewhat nonanatomical and exaggerated, reminiscent of Beavis and Butthead and King of the Hill, with bright colors. 

Also brought in as executive producers are Will McRobb and Chris Viscardi (The Adventures of Pete & Pete, Alvin and the Chipmunks). Sanjay is voiced by Maulik Pancholy (30 Rock) and Craig by Chris Hardwick (Nerdist, Back at the Barnyard). The rest of the cast includes Linda Cardellini (Mad Men, Freaks and Geeks) as Megan; Matt Jones (Breaking Bad) as Hector; Tony Hale (Veep, Arrested Development) as Mr. Noodman; Kunal Nayyar (The Big Bang Theory) as Vijay; Grey DeLisle (The Fairly OddParents) as Darlene and Sandy Dickson; and cameos by Remington Tufflips.

Sanjay and Craig is getting the full Nickelodeon treatment. A webpage is available with videos, more details about the show, a forum to discuss the characters and episodes, and S&C games.