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Delivering Smiles John Trabbic III and Dave Johnson take us on the creative journey of making Nickelodeon’s new show Middlemost Post.
J
ohn Trabbic III, the creator of Middlemost Post, can’t wait for audiences to discover the wild, optimistic world of his new Nickelodeon show. “My own backstory is that of a troubled youth, who went down the wrong path, got into a bunch of trouble and then, hit rock bottom,” he says. “Then, I got sober and decided to turn my life around. That’s why the main character of the show is Parker J. Cloud, an exuberant character that used to rain on people’s parades. But he also decided to transform and shine.” As Trabbic mentions, Middlemost Post, which is billed as Nickelodeon’s first original animated series in five years, centers on a dynamic rain cloud who lives and works in the Middlemost post office with Angus, a rule-abiding mailman, and Russell, their magical pet walrus whose stomach is so huge that it also serves as a storage room. The three unusual characters travel through Mount Middlemost and the
“six territories of Somewhere” to deliver packages, meeting quirky people and having terrific adventures along the way. The show creator’s partner in crime is exec producer and writer Dave Johnson. “I was brought in to help on the development side to work with show creators at Nick to get them ready for the greenlight process,” he recalls. “Middlemost Post was one of about half a dozen shows on the block, and it was the newest one. I loved the show concept, because it was weird and very character driven. John and I worked on the bible and wrote the pilot, and put it together in about nine months all the way to the pilot and presentation to the
studio. It was the one show that really stood out and was greenlit in February of 2020.”
Adjusting to Rainy Weather Trabbic and Johnson were excited about their new show and looked forward to putting their team together and to move to the new space for the production at the Nick studio in Burbank. Of course, that’s when the first wave of the COVID pandemic happened, and the studio had to shut down. “We were all sent home, so we ended up doing the show entirely from our homes, without even meeting our staff in person, and I think it has actually helped the show,” notes Trabbic, who worked
‘It’s a very layered comedy. We’re OK if it gets sad or emotional, too. Because you know what? You can’t lie to kids after these past two years!’ — Exec producer Dave Johnson
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august 21
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