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GBI Acquires ‘Gumby,’ ‘ABC Monsters’ for Kid Genius Channel

Genius Brands International acquires two series from NCircle Entertainment, ‘Gumby,’ the timeless, innovative, stop-motion claymation series created by Art Clokey, and ‘ABC Monsters.’

BEVERLY HILLS, CA -- Global content and brand management company Genius Brands International has acquired two series from distributor NCircle Entertainment -- Gumby, the timeless, innovative, stop-motion claymation series created by Art Clokey, which aired from the 1950s through 2001, and ABC Monsters, the magical adventure preschool series that makes learning fun and entertaining -- to offer audiences on its new Kid Genius channel, debuting on Comcast’s Xfinity On Demand service this fall.

“NCircle shares Genius Brands’ commitment to bringing quality children’s entertainment, content that imparts knowledge, enhances learning skills, stimulates young imaginations and most of all, is fun and entertaining,” said Andrew Berman, GBI’s Senior Vice President of Global Distribution Sales. “Generations of viewers have delighted in watching Gumby and his pals engage in amazing adventures that typically require creative problem resolution, and we’re thrilled to be able to introduce this charming series to a whole new generation of fans. ABC Monsters also fulfills our ‘content with a purpose’ mandate by teaching preschools letter decoding with the help of innovative, animated letter characters, each with its own unique traits. Both series convey valuable learning skills and tools through clever, engaging storylines and appealing characters.”

“We believe Genius Brands’ Kid Genius channel is the ideal platform for both Gumby and ABC Monsters. Both series support the company’s ‘content with a purpose’ and will complement GBI’s original series as well as other potential acquisitions,” added Mary Flynn, Vice President of Sales, Content and Acquisitions, NCircle Entertainment. “We are very happy to be working with Genius Brands on its new channel and look forward to a successful launch this fall.”

The new Kid Genius channel is set to offer a variety of programming for young viewers (toddlers to 12-years-old) that align with the company’s mission to provide “content with a purpose.” The channel will feature GBI original programming, including Thomas Edison’s Secret Lab, Llama Llama and Warren Buffett’s Secret Millionaires Club, as well as Daytime Emmy Award-winning series Where on Earth is Carmen Sandiego?, and Dennis the Menace, based on the classic comic strip created by Hank Ketcham. In addition to the classic Gumby and ABC Monsters series, GBI will continue to pursue series from program creators around the world.

Fully re-mastered, each of the 200+ episodes of Gumby will delight young viewers with its stop-motion claymation and unusual characters, from the humanlike but green Gumby and his horse friend and sidekick Pokey, to Goo, the blue mermaid, Prickle, the yellow dinosaur, Nopey the dog, the Blockheads, who sometimes chased after Gumby and his pals, and Gumby’s parents, Gumbo and Gumba.

Having first appeared in Art Closkey’s film short Gumbasia, Gumby and his pals launched into television as short segments within The Howdy Doody Show in 1956. The segments became so popular that Gumby and his friends got their own show -- The Gumby Show in 1957 on NBC. In 1967, creator Art Clokey, along with Gumby and his pals, took a break from television, returning to television with a new series entitled Gumby Adventures in 1988 that was followed by a movie in 1995. In the 1990s Gumby continued to air on Nickelodeon and subsequently on Cartoon Network. Most recently, the series has aired on Teleton Retro in Canada.

ABC Monsters are big, hairy and not very scary. Twenty-six cuddly ABC Monsters live within the walls of Capital Castle. Each monster represents a letter of the alphabet, but should any of the monsters go missing for longer than a day, all the letters will be wiped clean from every book in Capital Town, so it's very important to make sure that all the ABC Monsters are safely back in Alphabet Gardens before the sun goes down. However, this isn't as easy as it sounds. The ABC Monsters are always curious and happy creatures so they tend to wander off from Alphabet Gardens and get lost in the process. In each adventure, Alice and her good friends Brian and Cherry Berry must search high and low for one of the missing ABC Monsters. This spellbinding series of magical adventures engages preschoolers' imaginations while making learning exciting and entertaining.

Source: Genius Brands International

Jennifer Wolfe's picture

Formerly Editor-in-Chief of Animation World Network, Jennifer Wolfe has worked in the Media & Entertainment industry as a writer and PR professional since 2003.