Cannon, who dubbed them "the first rock 'n' roll girls group," hopes a global search for the three girls will yield a reality competition series and eventually evolve into a scripted comedy-drama, both to air on Nickelodeon's TeenNick channel where he serves as chairman.

The characters inspired two cartoon series in the 1970s and a 2001 live-action feature film starring Rachael Leigh Cook, Tara Reid and Rosario Dawson.

The "Josie" project is one of many in the works at Cannon's recently launched production company NCredible Entertainment. At MTV, where Cannon produced the sketch-comedy show "Wild 'N Out," he is behind "Nick Cannon Presents Hatin' on '09," a comedic year-in-review special that will air on New Year's Day. Cannon taped an appearance as President Obama, with rapper-actor 50 Cent also set to do a segment.

Also at MTV, NCredible did a reality docudrama pilot "Son of a Gun: A True Bronx Tale," about young rapper Corey Gunz, and is proceeding with filming additional episodes of the show about Gunz, one of the first artists on Cannon's music label.

At Adult Swim, NCredible is working on a puppet show set in the real world. Written by Hadjii, it is about members of a hip-hop group who live together and are on the verge of making it big. It's being described as a hip-hop version of HBO's "Entourage."

NCredible is also venturing into publishing, signing a deal with Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing Division to produce a multimedia book series to coincide with the upcoming premiere of the Cannon-written and -directed Nickelodeon movie "The School Gyrls."

The film features the NCredible-signed three-girl singing group whose debut album will be released by Island Records. Cannon penned the first book, a movie novelization, and plans to be involved in the writing of the six original novels under the pact. There also are plans for potential second movie and a possible TV series.

Cannon also is making his foray into radio with a daily morning drive show on CBS Radio's WXRK-FM New York (92.3 Now). He debuts on the top-40 station January 19.

"I always wanted to do radio," said Cannon, who has frequently filled in for radio hosts Ryan Seacrest and Steve Harvey.

Cannon, who married Mariah Carey last year, is keeping his summer job and will return as host of NBC's "America's Got Talent" next year.

Source: EURweb.com