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Fraggle Rock returns from the '80s as Hulu's first original kids show
For video services like Hulu and Netflix, there's no doubt that having a solid lineup of original content is imperative for the future. But, it is also very important to cover as many demographics as possible, whether it be that of people who love a good drama, or kids who need to watch something a little more colorful. With the debut of Doozers on the streaming platform today, Hulu now has a show that a young audience can enjoy and, in the process, continues to grow its portfolio of original series.
Hulu Plus adds new and classic CBS shows, boosts Kids offering with Fraggle Rock spinoff
More than a year after CBS struck a deal with Hulu to stream its shows on the latter's subscription service, and the Tiffany Network has finally agreed to add even more programming to the mix. About 2,600 episodes, to be exact. The addition includes full-length videos from classics such as The Brady Bunch, Cheers and Happy Days, along with titles like United States of Tara and Everybody Loves Raymond. This arrives on the heels of last week's announcement that CBS agreed to an exclusive partnership with Hulu to stream complete past seasons of Sherlock-inspired Elementary along with police drama Blue Bloods. If you prefer something a little more kid-friendly, Hulu has plans to expand its kids programming as well. It just signed a deal to be the exclusive US distributor for The Doozers, a spinoff of the popular '80s children's show Fraggle Rock. It's marked as a "Hulu Original" even though it's already aired elsewhere in Australia, Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and will be available on Hulu starting April 25th. Hulu also recently announced a deal for the Pokemon franchise and plans to bring classics like Charlie Brown and Strawberry Shortcake on board as well. The year's barely started and it looks like the streaming service is already making good on its promise to add even more content to its library.
Fraggles and Farscape come to iTunes!
OK, this is cool. Starting today, properties from the The Jim Henson Company are coming to iTunes. The complete first seasons of Farscape and Fraggle Rock are available now for $1.99 an episode. According to the company's press release, the entire series should be available on the site in the coming months.Now, I never watched Farscape, but as a television addict, I was pretty familiar with the various controversies over home video rights and for the show and how difficult it is to find on DVD. I can only guess that legions of Farscape fans will be happy to be able to download first season episodes from iTunes.As for Fraggle Rock, well, this is something I can get behind. I remember watching the show on HBO at a very early age and the theme song still makes me smile. Fraggle Rock is actually the only "Muppet" property not owned by The Walt Disney Company (in 2004 The Jim Henson Company sold the rights to The Muppets and a few other properties to Disney), and as a result it's trek to DVD has not been as drawn out (though in the US we're still only up to season 3), but despite my general feelings about buying TV shows on iTunes, I will totally indulge in the nostalgia of the Fraggles.Now that the TV season is pretty much at a standstill (we have Project Runway and American Idol, but that's about it), watching 25 year old Muppets sing songs or watching a beloved Sci-Fi show on the Mac or Apple TV is a bit more enticing than watching the emergency season of Big Brother.
