Canadian-
Indian company
UTV International set up an office in Singapore in 1995 with the aim of producing offshore animation, marketing local characters and situations at an international scale. A pilot episode aired on Prime 12 on 30 January 1998 as a
Ramadan special. In this episode, Jo and his friends search for a lost companion in
Geylang Serai during Ramadan. The aim of the series was to showcase the popularity of local animation and storylines in a country keen on appreciating Western animated series such as
The Simpsons. Producer Marhaini Kamarudin was confident that the characters in the series were set to become a hit among children and adults. Animation was done by a
Mumbai team led by Indian animation expert Rem Mohan. One such detail was that the policeman wore a white uniform, which in Singapore was blue. In February, it was announced that the series would start in April, while UTV pitched international sales for
Malaysia and
Indonesia, trying to attract the wider Malay population in the archipelago, estimated at the time of being 200 million. The Hari Raya special received praise from the SBA Programme Advisory Committee at the end of February, for its portrayal of life in Singapore. The full series eventually premiered in September 1998. The first episode was broadcast on 20 September. The series won an award in December 1998, becoming the most popular Malay-language kids show of 1998, surpassing two educational series on Prime 12, and . Following the retooling of Singapore Television Twelve's channels and the creation of the current Suria, the new channel aired reruns from 31 January 2000 to 15 April 2000. ==References==