Clarifying Hasbro Productions and Discovery Kids Rebranding
There’s been a good deal of information come out recently about the new Hasbro Productions and their partnership/half-takeover of the cable channel Discovery Kids. Here’s the basic information we know right now. Hasbro Productions will be rebranding into a new channel in Fall 2010. Hasbro will take over around half of the channel. They will help with original programming for the network from some of their many properties. In addition to toys, Hasbro has an incredibly large board game operation going on. They’ve got things like Trivial Pursuit and many more already name-dropped.
It’s not going to be a full new game show network, but there will be quite a few on there. This is extremely evident by one of the real champions of the genre, Bob Boden. Mr. Boden will be leaving his post at FOX Reality Channel and going to Hasbro Productions as the head of game and reality show development. If they’ve got their own department that specific, you know they are seriously looking at game shows. We’re hearing they are going to be focusing on family programming; not just kids but stuff the family can watch (like game shows). We’re also hearing that game shows may be one of the primary focuses of the network but it won’t be the sole purpose. GSN may have some competition, and with Bob Boden in command of that field I’d be very very afraid.
It’s going to be really exciting to see what happens in Fall 2010. I wasn’t really paying attention to the Discovery Kids rebranding into a family network until now. With Bob Boden in there it’s clear they are taking this very seriously and are looking for some competition. I can’t wait to see what developments we here coming down the pipeline in the upcoming few months. It should be very interesting.
Edit: Failed to mention the network will be getting a new name as well.
I've read this in a couple of different places and for game show fans this is good news; Bob Boden basically helped GSN get all of the great programming that they aired in it's early years and if he's involved in this new network chances are fans of the genre will be happy.
Sounds like good news to me. Hopefully, if the network does well, it'll put some pressure on GSN to be good again (then again, the network is still going to be called "Discovery Kids", so until the day it changes its' name to the "Hasbro Channel", I'm keeping my expectations low).
On an unrelated note, since Hasbro owns the rights to Transformers and G.I. Joe, I wonder if they'll consider running classic episodes of the two aforementioned shows.
Whoops, forgot about that and just edited it in. The channel will get a new name.
I heard that as well! It'll be interested in seeing what kind of game show programming they have. I'm sure there will be some originals, but I wonder if they'll have classic game shows that had Hasbro themes, like Scrabble with Chuck Woolery or Pictionary with Alan Thicke, even the recent Trivial Pursuit with Christopher Knight…Can't wait to see what happens!
Can't forget about Monopoly from the 90s!
All of those episodes are still out there, and will probably see the light of day again…
I would love it if Monopoly would be on there
It’s good news, because Hasbro was trying to from its own network for years. But judging by the post, it’ll probably be more like the (pre-Fox/ABC) Family Channel. Either way, it’s a good thing. I’m with some of you, I would love to see classic episodes of Hasbro-owned shows like Scrabble, Pictionary, Monopoly (although that would likely be on a weekly basis since there isn’t enough episodes to put it on a weekday lineup) and Trivial Pursuit (both the Wink Martindale and the most recent version).
To insaneben: I would love it if they did, and I wouldn’t be surprised if they did seeing as both movies did well this summer.
One possible snag. I don't know that Hasbro owns the SHOWS of Scrabble, Pictionary, Monopoly, et al. Those are probably owned by the companies that made them (Scrabble, for example, was produced by Reg Grundy, which I believe is now owned by FremantleMedia). Doesn't mean these shows WON'T show up on a Hasbro network. Just that rights probably still need clearing.
As a Transformers fan, I've already been following this development with some interest for a few months now, since any new TF programming will probably also be found here. If they start doing game shows, too…. I may have to actually get cable!
I think they should really make board game shows. Here are a couple ideas.
It is a kids channel so it might be fun to make a candyland. Keep the board and have 3 cards randomly generated. Then ask a tossup question to the three contestants. If they get it right they will be given a category and can answer as many as the three followups. The more they get right the more valuable of a card they get. 1 Wrong answer and another tossup will be asked. First to travel 50 spaces wins the game and gets to play the bonus round for some great prizes. In the bouncing bonus the must get through ten the ten space game board. They are given twelve cards to pick from. 2 cards are strikes and the remaining ten are checks. A check moves you one step up the board and a check ends the game. The farther they get the more prizes they get. So what do you think.
I really think they should make a battleship game show. The game is the same as usual except that each piece has a prize attached to each ship and on your turn you must get a $100 true or false question correctly. On your turn if you get a hit it is for another $50. After 30 questions whoever has the biggest loot gets to play the bonus round. In the bonus round you are given ten second plus ten seconds for every surviving ship. You have that much time to get as many true or false questions as possible. Each right answer is for 1 pick and a wrong answer costs you a pick. You will then get to take your picks to the board where every hit is for $100, every miss makes you $50 and each sunken battle ship is for 3 bonus picks and $250. Sinking all five is for the jackpot that starts at $5000 and goes up $2500 for every game it isn't won. There will be returning champions who play till 3 bonus round wins or 7 games total. Retirement is for a bonus $2500 for every game played. What do you think.
Battleship i have thought for years would be an interesting idea for a gameshow. I would love to see more gameshows though like Scrabble, Trivia Pursuit. While this may not fit many gameshows back in the 70s and 80s i felt were family friendly. I doubt this would be likely but i would to see reruns of Classic Concentraion on this network. Why i saw Concentration because of it being based off of the children’s game Memory.
Sounds good. One problem, three letters: N…B….C.
Trivial Pursuit, Most Likely.
I remember that episode! That was so cool! Here's how I'd work Battleship:
Each player will each have 5 ships to use in battle. Each direct hit is worth 50 points with a 100 point bonus for total destruction of the ship. If one player sinks a "designated" ship, s/he wins a bonus prize. Whoever destroys all 5 ships or whoever scores more points wins. In the bonus round, a player's given which ship to destroy in 2:00 or less. A direct hit on said ship is worth $100 & a complete destruction wins $5K. Of course, there are other ships in play as red herings, so a direct hit on any of those ships results in a 5-second penalty.
FWIW, "Battleship" is being readied for production as a major motion picture. No joke.
I know you deleted it, but for those who cared, Google’s Chrome is still coming up with this site is infected with Malware… Also just ran Malware Bytes to check, and 5 occurances were installed from this site.
and so is Monopoly. Wow…Hollywood has run out of ideas if they're going to board games for ideas. I mean, Clue worked back in the 80's since it is a game of whodunit. But now…Battleship and Monopoly? Give me a break.
and so is Monopoly. Wow…Hollywood has run out of ideas if they're going to board games for ideas. I mean, Clue worked back in the 80's since it is a game of whodunit. But now…Battleship and Monopoly? Give me a break.
If they have only kids as contestants, they will still be more intelligent than the average Catch 21 contestant from this past season.
It's worth pointing out here the difference between good board games and good game shows.
Good board games are something you play.
Good game shows are something you sit down to watch someone else play.
Hollywood is out of ideas because i haven’t made it out there yet. I do have some great ideas for TV Gameshows.
I just saw in a press release that the new network is supposed to cater to kids under 14
http://corporate.discovery.com/discovery-news/has…