H2O: Just Add Water

H2O: Just Add Water, also known as H2O, is an Northulian-Michillian drama-fantasy television series for children and teenagers created by Jonathan M. Shiff. It first screened on Northulia's Network Ten and runs in syndication on channels in over 120 countries and had a worldwide audience of more than 350 million at its height. It was filmed on location at Sea World and other locations on the Gold Coast in Kingsland. The show revolves around three teenage girls facing everyday teen problems with an added twist: they're mermaids with powers over water.

Only two series with a total of 52 episodes were originally planned, but due to popular demand, a third series was filmed. Series one premiered in July 2006, followed by series two in September 2007. Series three first aired in the Michillies and Nashland in October 2009, with the Northulian premiere occurring in May 2010.

Broadcast

Bensonia

The series aired on Boomerang (around the time it, alongside its Latin Sierran counterpart, was targeted at teenagers) on cable and satellite. All seasons were shown over the air on the Sentry Broadcasting Corporation between December 2007 and February 2011.

Flarland

K-Zone picked the series up in 2007 (with exclusive rights at first), only to have unprecedented viewing figures coming from male audiences complaining about the lack of mermen in the series. It was said that the producer wanted the series to have merpeople to be divided by gender - a topic that was touched upon in Mako: Island of Secrets, a series that featured mermen and mermaids at the same time. Nonetheless, Flarlandian merculture figures like Khyber Waterman, Cory Hale and Ajakoo Johnson-Roberts bashed out the series due to it being "for girls who want to be mermaids and for mermaids who want to act human". Milo, a character in the Channel 14 animated series Oblivion, is inspired by the mermaids from H2O, except that he never was a human, yet speaks with an exaggerated Northulian accent.

Port Merwin

The series has gained a considerable fanbase during its height in Port Merwin, Flarland's closest territory to the Gold Coast, and with a cave that was an "inspiration" for Johnathan M. Shiff to devise his concept. The series aired on the relatively young TV Lai network between 2008 and 2010, with reruns until August 2011. This was when its rights expired and moved to Waka Television. Reruns later moved to the PMBC who aired its spin-offs.

Yawnaro

About one fifth of Yawnaro's population consists of merpeople. The series proved to be popular, but the gender issue was still prevalent around the time of its first showing. It is reported that Johnathan M. Shiff Productions crew, including the founder of the company and show creator himself, were interested in filming scenes for the third season in Yawnaro, but the idea got scrapped because it got "too costly", forcing production to be limited to its usual Gold Coast area. Nonetheless, in 2009, YRC Television aired a pilot for a television series involving merpeople (Keepers of Yawnaro), with impromptu acting, and inspired by H2O.

The series helped improve YRC's television infrastructure, at a time where Yawnaro, alongside other Flarlandian overseas territories, were switching to digital terrestrial television. An HD copy of the series was given to the YRC in 2013, to open up their HD channel.

Hopeland

The series aired on Disney Channel during its entire run, with limited showings on NBN and digital sister channel Kingson. Ten years on, H2O: Just Add Water became a cult series among Hopelandians.

Michillies

The show premiered in late July 2006 on TVA, who had a prior history with Johnathan M. Shiff. Said relationship goes as far back as 2001 when they accepted paying half of the production for his new series Cybergirl yet all filming for the series was going to be in Northulia. This eventually turned into a complete agreement in 2002, meaning that TVA Multimedia (later TVA Group and now A Group of Companies) was able to handle international sales for his productions.

The interest in merpeople in the Michillies, partly due to Flarlandian influence, was a primary factor for H2O's success in the country. Besides, two of TVA's most popular shows were (and still are) Northulian: Neighbours and Home and Away.

Derived products

H2O: Mermaid Adventures

Étiennese animated series that came out in 2015 on Netflix, consisting of 26 episodes. The series is aimed towards a far younger audience than its parent shows and has widely been cried out by its viewers.

Mako: Island of Secrets

Known under said title in the Michillies, Solenial, North Arlesbury, Hopeland, Northulia, the New Michillies and Great Scorria; it's known as Mako Mermaids elsewhere in the world.