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As Hollywood basks in the streaming boom and the burgeoning era of premium television, kids, too, get to join in on the fun.

Unlike the Disney Channel and Nickelodeon multi-cam sitcoms that have dominated kids’ TV for decades, newer streaming series like Apple TV+’s “Puppy Place” and “Lovely Little Farm” function more like family dramedies. Avoiding that type of slapstick humor and over-accessorized costumes and sets, these series opt for a more naturalistic approach, oftentimes with serialized storytelling.

“Puppy Place” showrunner Andrew Green, who previously served as a co-executive producer on “Hannah Montana,” tells Variety: “Having worked in kids’ television for so long, you develop a certain rhythm, and Apple was like, ‘Let’s take a step back. Don’t think of it as a kids’ show, just think of it as a quality show that happens to have kids as the leads and stories about kids.’”

For “Puppy Place,...

Exclusive: Paul Bettany is set to star in the Miramax dramedy Harvest Moon, from a script he co-wrote with Dana Brown. Mark Waters is on board to direct, with Miramax producing. Bettany will star alongside Carmen Ejogo, Candice Bergen, Cary Elwes, Riley Looc, Malia Baker, Staz Nair, Rodney Richardson and Connor Falk.

“I’m thrilled to be teaming up with Bill Block and Miramax again to make Harvest Moon,” Bettany said. “The fact that it has come together so quickly is enormously gratifying and also hilarious. Dana and I wrote it to keep ourselves sane during lockdown and now we’re off to shoot with an incredible creative team led by Mark Waters. It’s all a bit of a dream. I’m very excited.”

The film revolves around a young boy who sees an opportunity to reunite his separated parents while the pandemic shuts down the world. Bettany, Brown...