My daughter loves most of the shows put out by UK-based HIT Entertainment, and currently aired here in the U.S. on SPROUT. There’s FIREMAN SAM, BOB THE BUILDER, ANGELINA BALLERINA, BARNEY, and the big-money machine – THOMAS & FRIENDS. Today comes news that toymaker MATTEL has purchased HIT Entertainment for $680M (less than it was going for) rescuing the company from a vast amount of debt (and probably mis-management).
According to Deadline, Mattel’s true interest was initially to strip THOMAS & FRIENDS from the company and buy the property as a stand-alone entity. Hopefully they see the value in those other brands. Fellow toymaker HASBRO already has it’s own production studio, and an interest in THE HUB.
As for THOMAS, the show has always bothered me. Sure, the little one loves Thomas the Tank Engine and his friends – who, of course make great playthings – but I’ve always been under the impression that all was not well on the Island of Sodor. Sir Topham Hat has always appeared to be a big-business fat cat put in place to prepare children for the idea of bowing to authority and being controlled by the corporate masters. Meanwhile, Thomas, Percy, and the gang have never really been very nice to one another. They’re always taking jabs at each other like bullies on a playground. “I can do better than you…”
Just some observations from The Rock Father™.
