Can You Walk Like a Dragon? Pt. 1
Bubble Bursting in Children's Media - Metaphorically and at Macy's
Children’s Media is called an industry, but it really isn’t an industry in its own right - more of a subset. As the larger entertainment industry is crashing down and conglomerates have less of an interest in creating works outside of established brands, it’s interesting to look at what businesses and creatives that exist in this space are doing and ways at which work was created in the past. I believe that Children’s Media/Entertainment is currently in a transitionary stage. Business as reported in the trades is growing and expanding across the globe as countries entice producers with animation1 specific tax breaks.
It may seem a large claim that CM (Children’s Media) is not an industry of its own. CM consists of a lot of different components that include - screenwriting, animation, live performance, music and education research. For the purposes of this article, books - children’s books, young adult (YA) and kidlit are not included as it’s a separate industry entirely and generally “feeds” CM.
No one really studies Children’s Media - and what I mean is that unlike other industries, there are no degree programs that feed into CM. There are degree programs in all the above listed components and even children’s books - but nothing specific to children’s media. Currently there is one certificate program, but it’s only offered for undergraduate and feels like it’s all over the place in terms of focus. It kind of reads like doing an internship for college credit. Whatever you make of it.
The first page of screenwriter William Goldman’s seminal book “Adventures in the Screen Trade,” says;
This book was begun at the greatest time of panic and despair in modern Hollywood history - late January of ‘82 … During the holiday season of ‘81'-’82, sixteen films were released by the major studios. Of those, only one -On Golden Pond- was a runaway success. And ten of the sixteen each lost more than ten million dollars. One major studio executive told me recently, “Of course the failures are upsetting. But there have always been failures. What’s got us so immobilized now is that whatever it is that we’re making, we’re missing the audience by a wider margin than ever before. We don’t know what they want. All we do know is that they don’t want what we’re giving them.”
Perhaps the key word above is immobilized. … The point being this: Movies are a gold rush business.
Anyone interested in what follows had best commit that fact to memory.
As I mentioned above - it’s interesting to look at the past and compare the situation that entertainment is in right now. The same immobilization that affected the 80’s is back again in the modern streaming world. The audience that loves and wants Game of Thrones is not the same one that wants House of the Dragon or Rings of Power - three of the most expensive, expansive productions for streaming.
Back to CM and in some ways, back to the 80’s … I highly recommend the graphic novel; “The He-Man Effect,” by Brian “Box” Brown. The blurb for the book - Powered by the advent of television and super-charged by the deregulation era of the 1980s, media companies and toy manufacturers joined forces to target and dominate children in the 1980s and unravels how it has shaped adults in the present.
Another phrase for this era … Gold rush in children’s media. Or, mining minors2.
The book does a terrific job at exploring productions that *seem to have different goals, but are really all interested in the same profit source. After all, while the Sesame Street and Children’s Television Workshop was funded operationally by government grants, their profits3 came from merchandising.
This is all context for today’s topic/case study - because not all programs for children strike gold. Sometimes they burst - literally.
The time: 1983, The Place: Toronto, Canada.
The Ontario Ministry of Energy had a goal of educating children on conservation - this was the time, after all of the energy crisis, oil embargo (1979) and the discovery of the hole in the ozone. One of the methods was to have a traveling school show presenting the benefits of energy conservation and dangers of pollution. In the play; The Conserving Kingdom, the source of energy was Dudley the Dragon.
The play was performed ‘84-’87 throughout the provinces of Canada in both English and French. The popularity of the school tours prompted a television special in ‘86 for TV Ontario produced by Peter Williamson and Ira Levy. The producers saw a future for Dudley and purchased the rights of Dudley from the Ministry of Energy and created a new television pitch with Dudley performer, Alex Galatis called; The Adventures of Dudley the Dragon. The show would focus on all forms of environmental awareness as it was primarily funded by Canadian energy programs.4
Meanwhile, also in 1983, down south in Texas there was another costume reptile that was starting with live daycare performances and home video releases. Instead of green, this loud goofy voiced character was … purple.
By the 1990’s, Sesame Street had been on the air in the US for 20 years. CTW had exported the show’s structure globally along with licensing its characters and segments in addition to co-producing new streets specific to partnering countries. CTW and Sesame Street was it’s own CM machine.
The key difference to keep in mind about PBS of the 70’s and 80’s and the PBS we currently have (2024) is that each regional PBS station was in charge of their own budget and programing. Sesame Street was one of the few shows5 that aired nationally on all of the stations. With this autonomy, there were a lot more regional productions airing during daytime slots, mostly created to take up air time, inform on local events and entertainment. Very rarely were these shows made with education in mind…let alone researched and tested in the same way Sesame Street was. The modern PBS is more like what modern ABC channels are - one or two time slots for regionally produced News programs while the rest of the time is taken up with pre-determined/negotiated productions. Another way to think about it is in terms of shelf space in big box stores and brands negotiating for space. Shopping at Target looks and feels the same anywhere you go vs. an independent, regionally specific shop (do these exist anymore?….exactly…)
The Gold Rush
Under Reagan there was deregulation of television (all channels, pre-cable) essentially allowing for 30 minute toy commercials, parents caught on, complained and under Bush Sr. new regulations were implemented as well as increased oversight on government TV (PBS) and growth of premium cable television. In 1992 Clinton is elected and Barney & Friends airs on PBS.6
1993 - Children in the US are introduced to; Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, Shining Time Station (Thomas the Tank Engine), Hello Kitty, Boy Meets World, Animaniacs, Dudley the Dragon …. And so much more.
So many shows were competing for eyeballs that for the first time ever, that Sesame Street was feeling a strain with dipping numbers. But not just that, structurally - Sesame Street had always been designed for 6-9 year olds. That younger children were entertained and picked up merchandise was a happy bonus.
Barney the Dinosaur was specifically designed for ages 0-4, daycare age. This was an age group that had not previously been explored financially - primarily due to changes the US socio-economic climate (too much to go into, read between the lines above re: deregulation.) Suddenly, in kids tv there was a lot of money to be made. Those who had missed out on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (‘87) fad were not going to repeat their mistake.
This is a case study because we know what happened to Brands such as Thomas the Tank Engine and Barney the Dinosaur. Those are still with us, and like Ninja Turtles, are actively being rebooted. What happened to Dudley?
The Adventures of Dudley the Dragon was created for ages 6-9, the same group that Sesame traditionally courted. It taught mindfulness, environmental responsibility, stewardship and activism for anti-pollution. Fairly advanced topics, ideal for 2nd grade and let’s be honest … not the favorite topics of corporations. It was not as “easy” a sell as teaching the alphabet and numbers as Sesame did. “Easier” still was communicating that your show was about love and kindness, which is what Barney was selling. That and cleaning up your toys.
Sesame considered both properties (Dudley and Barney) to be competition and in ‘93 had expanded their street to go around the corner in order to introduce more characters and segments. Sesame also started to explore how it could maintain its core audience of 6-9 and expand more specifically to 0-4. Up until this time, Sesame’s stand out Muppet was also a large, walk around costumed character … and in order to compete, Sesame chose to keep the idea of Love, but do the opposite of the competition and go small. And red7.
When Barney and Friends aired nationally on PBS in ‘92, the brand had already been licensing home videos and plushes since the 1990 and already had a significant store presence.
Dudley the Dragon began airing in September of ‘93. Fast forward to
June 10, 1994.
The Wall Street Journal previewed the Licensing Expo to be held the following week. The article compared Dudley favorably to Barney the Dinosaur, a preschool smash at retail stores. Licensees covered “video, toys, towels, bags and rainwear, bedding and children’s apparel” featuring the green dragon.
Was Dudley the next Barney? The Wall Street Journal seemed to suggest that. At the Expo, [producers of Dudley were] besieged with 250 people clamoring for licensing rights to the character.8
Dudley as a character is invited to participate in the ‘94 Macy’s parade and by November ‘94 merchandise started appearing in stores. Licensee Happiness Express flooded stores with 250,000 plush Dudleys and scheduled TV commercials through the spring 1995.
Important note, product commercials are not allowed to air on PBS member stations. So, the targeted audience may or may not have seen these ads. A gamble.
In review - Barney has product on shelves 2 years before airing due to starting with home videos. Dudley airs and does not have a product presence until a year and a half later. This is in fact, pretty standard. Current shows such as PBS’s Donkey Hodie started airing in ‘21 and did not start licensing until 2023, well into the production of season 29.
Dudley’s consumer goods were doing well enough, in June ‘95 it estimated that Dudley’s worth could reach $100 million in the U.S. and $20 million in Canada over the next two years. In contrast, in ‘94 alone Barney merchandise had already moved $1 billion worth of product.
What surely was not a gamble would Dudley appearing on a float in the televised Macy’s Day parade in front of 45 million people.
However, New York Magazine reported;
“Dudley had meandered off [the float] to the curb to greet children just as his float pulled into Herald Square and into the TV viewing range of millions of potential Dudley consumers.”
The Associated Press also cited this two years later, in November ‘96.10
Pretty not good …
With the same Dudley product on store shelves, fresh VHS tapes and filming a 2nd season, the brand might as well try Macy’s real-time commercial again, but this time instead of Dudley himself appearing - make a balloon. A huge balloon cannot wander off course!
…… But it CAN get stuck on a lamppost and POP in Columbus Circle just before it’s meant to air …. and it did.
Poor Dudley …. producers for NBC were prepared though and quickly aired footage from the previous day’s test flight. Seen here at timestamp 54:33
It kind of feels like writing about an alternate reality. All this bad luck that a single property experienced. To promote the parade balloon, Dudley was meant to appear on the Today Show, but that too was cancelled in lieu of breaking news. Still, Dudley continues on to a third season
“The strategy is to make Dudley an evergreen character, like Big Bird of Sesame Street, on the air for more than 25 years. The key is to protect Dudley’s soul. It’s the social value of a TV show like Dudley that will make it a long-lasting thing. Whether the licensing goes on with it is another thing.” said Dudley‘s executive producer Peter Williamson.
End of Part 1.
I am not claiming animation to be a medium limited to children - however most of the wording in press releases for the tax incentives and commissions include language specific to children oriented cartoons.
Something, something about Minecraft, Roblox, Meta and TikTok….
This fact is interesting because the profits were split between Children’s Television Workshop and Jim Henson Co. who licensed the Muppet characters to CTW.
The Canadian Parks Service, Environment Canada; Energy, Mines and Resources Canada; Environment Canada—Environmental Citizenship Initiative, Government of Canada: Science Culture Canada Program; Health Canada; Ontario Ministry of Environment and Energy; Rogers Telefund; and the Ontario Film Investment Program.
Other shows included Mr. Rogers Neighborhood, the Joy of Painting and Masterpiece.
Probably unrelated ….
“Newborns can see contrast between black and white shapes. The first primary color they are able to distinguish is red. This happens in the first few weeks of life. Babies can start to notice differences in shades of colors, particularly between red and green, between 3 and 4 months old.” Source.
Elmo was not a new character and had been seen around the street since ‘80 and as the character we know him as since ‘85. It wasn’t until this time period that he came to the forefront and then became the most popular in ‘96. “Elmo Loves You!”
Kevin Goldman, Wall Street Journal. (Eastern edition). New York, N.Y.: June 10, 1994, “Marketers Search for Successor to Barney and the Power Rangers,” quoted from Source.
Source via Kidscreen on Donkey Hodie.
Sources - “Ex-Civil Servant Likely Next Hit: New PBS Star Dudley is a Do-Right Canadian-Style Dino,” p. 26; Gayle MacDonald, Financial Post, Toronto, Ontario, December 22, 1994, “Watch Out Barney, There’s a New Reptile in Town,” Sec. 1, p. 5; Norman Vanamee, New York Magazine, vol. 28, no. 49, December 11, 1995, “Miracle on 34th Street II,” p. 22.