Insidus Plus

Former StarSat Channel Home To Inside The Factory And Air Warriors Is Closing Down In The UK

The Smithsonian Channel is an international channel operated by Paramount Global which is home to factual shows such as Inside the Factory, How Did They Build That?, WWII Battles in Color, Air Warriors, Ocean Super Predators and many more.

The channel was available in Africa alongside Love Nature a while back on StarSat as a replacement to National Geographic and National Geographic Wild as the pay-tv platform got into a bit of a disagreement with their suppliers, The Walt Disney Company.

Prior to that, The Smithsonian Channel was also allocated on the East African platform Zuku TV but I prefer to credit StarSat since consumers are more familiar with the platform.

Anyways, The Smithsonian Channel what can I say I'm not too familiar with the brand and I only knew of existence when it was introduced by StarSat but what was more shocking was that it's owned by Paramount that are home to various popular brands most of which are on DStv.

But considering how they screwed over VH1 I'm the least bit shocked that they'd be another channel lurking around the same corner.

StarSat:
- Delayed SABC channel launch on StarSat explained
- Russia Today to launch South African hub
- StarSat trying to be DStv friendly
- BYUtv should be added onto StarSat
- StarSat to offer more African dubbed telenovelas
- Could StarSat be losing two more channels?

From what I can establish no actual reason was given for The Smithsonian Channel's exit in the African market my guess on StarSat has to do with costs as they've scrapped over 40 channels most of which weren't even replaced to date.

But considering the times both Love Nature and The Smithsonian Channel both left the platform it's possible that may not be the case as Zuku TV fell prey to similar circumstance.

During the week, officials announced the exit of The Smithsonian Channel in the UK with consumers having to rely on Paramount+ for more factual entertainment which has just got me thinking. Is it possible that the termination in Africa may have something to do with what's already seen in the UK?

I mean I kind of suggested that theory a while back that The Smithsonian Channel's demise had to do with streamlining efforts.

I've got nothing to say about The Smithsonian Channel except for the fact that a lot of viewers depend on the channel but I think part of the reason it got scrapped had to do with the rivalry with National Geographic and Discovery both of which offer similar entertainment.

The Walt Disney Company:
- The Good Doctor getting a female led spinoff
- King Kong Series in development
- The Walt Disney Company to extend the reach of Star Channel
- DStv Streama now offers Disney+
- List of scrapped spinoffs for The Simpsons
- Disney Television Animation unveils Kiff!

National Geographic is about to undergo a similar fate leaving Discovery and from what I've seen Curiosity and BBC Earth to cater for these audiences or at least in Africa.

Paramount+ besides carrying content from The Smithsonian Channel will also leverage from MTV, BET, Nickelodeon, CBS and many more. Although I have yet see them streamline their linear offering I had noticed that they've been closing irrelevant or non-performing channels.

The Smithsonian Channel was neither but I do feel it's presence on Paramount+ will help the brand gain more acknowledgement.

Recap: We Baby Bears Is Currently The Only Original Program On Cartoon Network

During the year, WarnerMedia and Discovery Inc. merged into Warner Bros. Discovery and since then stirred up a lot of scrutiny following the cutback in original programming part of which included current Cartoon Network shows like Summer Camp Island and upcoming shows like Batman: Caped Crusader.

Now the channel is just down with 1 original program We Baby Bears as Craig Of The Creek became the latest victim to get axed from this merger with the final season alongside movie to be made available in the coming year with questions amounting to their last remaining original.

Yes, I'm very much aware of Unicorn Warriors Eternal, Invincible Fight Girl and Adventure Time: Fiona And Cake and something the internet doesn't talk about The Adventures Of Ivanhoe but this is directed at We Baby Bears.

We Baby Bears serves as a spinoff to We Bare Bears as it follows Grizzly, Panda and Ice Bear in their childhood as they embark on a series of adventures as they struggle to find a place they can settle down and fit into.

Insidus Games:
- Nicktoons: Freeze Frame Frenzy
- Garfield 2: Royal Adventure
- Legend Of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse
- Sonic Advance 3
- Foster's Home For Imaginary Friends: Cheese Phone's Home
- Wheres Waldo Now?

Created by Daniel Chong, the series debuted on Cartoon Network earlier in the year which took a U-Turn from the original We Bare Bears as the crew use their imagination to escape the hardship of their reality and try to see the positivity in everything.

As much as I feel a sense of discomfort for the show and I'm referring to the Yabba Dabba Dinosaur kind the concept makes a whole lot sense. We Bare Bears was kind of depressing and often enjoyable especially with those Baby shorts.

All I'm saying is you know what when I watched We Bare Bears I often felt sad looking at the bear's early lives and We Baby Bears doesn't do as much of a good job covering it up to older audiences as myself as it does with their demographic.

If anything, it's good to know that within the bear's childhood they were able to find some form of happiness even if it wasn't real. While some would choose to let the world eat them up it's good that these bears were able to forge their own path in the midst of it all.

Regular Nick:
- Best & Bester coming soon to Nicktoons
- Moonbug Kids gets a dedicated cameo account
- January on Disney Channel
- January on Disney Junior
- January on Da Vinci Kids
- The concept of Cartoonito and Boomerang (review)

Roundups #120: Lioness Returns For A New Season On M-Net, The Proud Family: Louder And Prouder Gets Season 2 Renewal And BritBox To Add Two New Doccies To Their Lineup

Another local drama gets a season 2 renewal

Shannon Esra returns to TV screens as Samantha Hugo when M-Net's (DStv 101) edgy thriller drama, Lioness, returns for its second season next year.

Lioness returns for season 2 on 16 January. It follows the story of a woman fresh out of jail for fraud and returning to a life even more fractured than when she left.

"After the cliffhanger finale of season 1, season 2 picks up with Adrian Hugo's (played by Jacques Bessenger) second wife (played by Carla Classen) in desperate search for her missing husband," a press statement reads. "The fiercely protective mother (as the titular "lioness") that she is, Samantha must shield her son Liam (played by Joshua Eady), no matter the cost."

DStv Flex:
- The Heartless coming soon to TLNovelas
- What to expect this January on The Home Channel?
- Reyka renewed for season 2 on M-Net
- What to expect this January on Qwest TV?
- Reviewing major changes coming soon to the SABC
- What to expect this December on TNT?

The Proud Family is back on Disney+

The Proud Family: Louder & Prouder fans rejoice as the Proud Family revival gets renewed for season 2!

But, before we delve deeper into what we know about the upcoming new season on Disney+, we have to mention that the series is unquestionably making its mark as it recently won the Outstanding Casting for An Animated Program award at the first Children’s & Family Emmy Awards.

Season 2 of The Proud Family: Louder & Prouder will hit the airwaves in February and is expected to feature a stellar list of new guest stars. According to JustJaredJr.com, here are some of the voices that we can expect to hear in upcoming new episodes and the names of the characters that they will portray.

- Gabrielle Union as Talia Rouge
- Chance the Rapper as Darrius St. Vil
- Normani as Giselle
- Leslie Odom Jr. as Kwame
- Anthony Anderson as Ray Ray
- Gymnasts Dominique Dawes, Gabby Douglas and - Laurie Hernandez as themselves
- Holly Robinson Peete as Dr. Lord
- Maury Povich as himself
- Storm Reid as Emily
- Courtney B. Vance as Merlin Kelly
- Liana Mendoza as Singing Judge

BritBox picks up two British actor documentaries

The Ghost of Richard Harris debuted in September 2022 at the Venice Film Festival. The actor is known to modern viewers best as the Original Dumbledore, but he had a long career before Harry Potter, including starring in the Oscar-nominated This Sporting Life and Camelot. However, he was even better known for his hard-partying ways, with a reputation for drinking and riotous behavior.

The documentary will feature his children, who followed in his footsteps to Hollywood, including Jared Harris (The Crown), Jamie Harris (Carnival Row), and director Damian Harris (Brave The Dark), as well as co-stars Vanessa Redgrave and Dick Cavett, and his late wife, Elizabeth Harris.

Peter O’Toole – Along the Sky Road to Aqaba only just debuted recently at the end of November 2022 in Spain. Directed by Jim Sheridan, who ironically also appears in The Ghost of Richard Harris, the documentary is structured into four acts, each introduced by a quote from or about the Lawrence of Arabia star to encapsulate that period of his life.

Nominated seven times for Best Actor, the new documentary covers everything about O'Toole from his self-belief to his alcoholism, using his own words, gleaned from 100s of hours of footage, allowing him to act as a narrator for his own life. It also includes interviews with O’Toole’s family, artists, actors, and directors, including Sir Kenneth Branagh, Brian Cox, Stephen Fry, Sir Anthony Hopkins, and Sir Derek Jacobi.

YouTube Premium:
- VH1 is making a comeback to international shores through BET
- DStv Streama bundles Disney+
- The Walt Disney Company to expand the reach of Star Channel
- Acorn TV shutting down in South Africa
- TelkomOne rebrands into SABC+
- New Spider-Man series coming to MGM+ and Amazon Prime Video

Roundups #119: Snoozefest Best & Bester FINALLY Making Its African Debut On Nicktoons, God Of War TV Series Ordered By Prime Video And Stephen Twitch Boss Famous DJ Dead At Age 40

The long forgotten Nicktoon finally gets the time of day

Best & Bester (52x11) is a co-production between London-based studio Eye Present and Finnish studio Gigglebug Entertainment. Nickelodeon International acquired the pre-buy rights to the series in February 2020.

The series follows siblings and best friends obsessed with comparing the best things of all time while enjoying the power to transform themselves into anything they want, once a day – if only they can figure out what the best thing to be actually is!

Nickelodeon channels in various territories are currently airing Best & Bester with Nicktoons scheduled to air the short-lived comedy series by January 2023.

Regular Nick:
- Moonbug Kids gets a dedicated cameo account
- January on Disney Channel
- January on Disney Junior
- January on Da Vinci Kids
- Craig Of The Creek has been cancelled on Cartoon Network
- The concept of Cartoonito and Boomerang (review)

Another video game is being ordered to series

A live-action adaptation of PlayStation’s hit video game franchise “God of War” has been ordered to series at Amazon’s Prime Video, with “Wheel of Time” boss Rafe Judkins set as showrunner.

Based on the massively popular 2018 video game, the show follows Kratos, the God of War, who, after exiling himself from his blood-soaked past in ancient Greece, hangs up his weapons forever in the Norse realm of Midgard, per Amazon’s description. When his beloved wife dies, Kratos sets off on a dangerous journey with his estranged son Atreus to spread her ashes from the highest peak — his wife’s final wish. Kratos soon realizes the journey is an epic quest in disguise, one which will test the bonds between father and son, and force Kratos to battle new gods and monsters for the fate of the world.

“’God of War’ is a compelling, character-driven franchise that we believe will captivate our global customers as much with its expansive and immersive worlds as its rich storytelling,” Vernon Sanders, head of global television at Amazon Studios, said. “We are honored to share in the adventure of exploring the God of War mythology in such a momentous way with Sony Pictures Television, PlayStation Productions, and Santa Monica Studio.”

The world bids farewell to another artist

DJ, dancer and producer tWitch, whose real name is Stephen Boss, has died at the age of 40. His death was confirmed by the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner's office and the Los Angeles Police Department.

At around 11:20 a.m. local time Tuesday, officers were dispatched to a motel in the Encino neighborhood on a call of an "ambulance death investigation," the LAPD said in a statement Wednesday. Investigators said Boss' death was a suicide.

Boss and his wife, Allison Holker, are both dancers who appeared on the competition series "So You Think You Can Dance?" and "Dancing with the Stars." The couple married in 2013 and marked their ninth wedding anniversary this week. They share three children.

Google:
- A look into the life of X-Rated Rocky star Sylvester Stallone
- Malverde : Legend or Myth, a look at other patron saints
- 7 things you didn't know about Tom's Diner
- Inside the enduring mysteries of Elvis Presley's tragic fate
- Michael Jackson's Moonwalker became a childhood horror
- How Scooby-Doo inspired a generation of drug junkies?

HBO Max And Discovery+: My Expectations For The Purposed Max Streaming Service

WarnerMedia and Discovery Inc. merged to form Warner Bros. Discovery during the year which has been met with a lot of media scrutiny following the cutback on staff and programming and one of the topics already discussed the newly formed company was the merger of their two streaming services, HBO Max and Discovery+.

HBO Max was more of a general entertainment type service as it offered drama series and movies from DC Comics, HBO, The CW and several others with animation coming from Cartoon Network and Crunchyroll. Basically, it made the HBO brand name more valuable.

Discovery+ was more factual and reality based supplying and expanding content from various Discovery brands including Discovery Channel, Animal Planet, Investigation Discovery, TLC, HGTV, Food Network and an endless list of brands.

I don't know why these two streaming services are merging soon but it kind of makes sense from a business perspective. HBO Max is lacking in terms of variety it's definitely something I'd recommend to anyone but let's be honest here compared to Discovery+ they have more of the same thing with alternatives.

That's probably why they were even relevant to consumers like me in the first place. The part that mostly turned me on was the anime, DC and Cartoon Network everything else was okay I got to watch certain shows like Euphoria and Flight Attendant.

Discovery+ isn't what I'd call a strong competitor in the market but Discovery Inc. before the merger wasn't putting all their hopes in killing off Netflix but keeping it sustainable in the near future. What can I say there's a lot to explore on the app but it depends on the consumer.

The thing about Discovery is that some of the content can come in the alley of HBO Max which is general entertainment particularly that of TLC and Discovery Channel. You could say Discovery+ offered more than HBO Max in terms of variety so the merger makes all the more sense.

Warner Bros Discovery:
- Boomerang might be rebranding in more parts of Europe to Cartoonito
- Inside Warner Bros. Discovery EMEA kids content strategy
- Warner Bros. Discovery to launch new free-to-air channel in some parts of Europe by 2023
- The history of Fine Living
- Warner Bros. Discovery cancels several animated shows
- Sesame Workshop and Discovery Education launch new channel

Warner part of the service has the audience while the Discovery part has the content all of which will soon be available under one streaming service with the working title, Max.

Max from what other outlets not gonna mention names speculated family and kids wouldn't be part of this new streamer which made absolutely no sense as those are one of the biggest consumers around particularly on Disney+ and the other having to do with the content as brands like Animal Planet are regarded as such.

Taking to all the cutbacks into account, I'm guessing that the proposed Max streaming service will HBO Max come out simply as HBO in one tile with another tile for movies infused with doccies from Discovery+ then you have Cartoon Network also coming as tile under it is content for Cartoonito and Adult Swim with Crunchyroll serving as a seperate tile.

In short, I'm expecting more Discovery to come out of this streaming service not that there won't be any Warner in it but Discovery produced a lot of original content (partially duplicated) while the other had a few brands picking up all the slack with the others getting scraps.

Review On The Potential Name To The Merged HBO Max And Discovery+ Streamer, Max And Also Some Weird Names You See Online

I don't know why these two streaming services are merging but it kind of makes sense from a business perspective. HBO Max is lacking in terms of variety while Discovery+ needs a boost in audiences and who better than Emmy Awarded brand like HBO.

Been keeping tabs online to the merged streaming service which is set to unveiled by mid 2023 with most parts of Europe which is where I reside only getting access to what's left of Discovery+ and HBO Max by 2025/6 due to pending deals on HBO's side with local broadcasters.

Anyways regarding the merged streamer, folks were awaiting on the brand name for several months and I'm more shocked that they haven't shared anything I mean I'm not expecting an official logo which is where Warner Bros. Discovery wants to get at when unveiling it but honestly I'm kind of disappointed.

The justification was already proven when the purposed name for the streamer surfaced the net, Max.

I mean there's nothing wrong with it but is this what everyone was awaiting several months for. The new name was right in front of our faces the entire time regardless it's not a bad name as HBO Max unlike Discovery+ had branded content as Max as to not collide with the current HBO brand.

But Max has been used one to many times so I can clearly see why it's regarded as a working title. I don't have a better option to Max but one way I'd find a suitable brand name is to look into old properties or existing franchises like a certain company did when rolling out Utsav in parts of Europe.

Now some of the names I've seen online for the purposed streamer includes HBO Discovery, Discovery Max (DMAX), WBMax, The WB, The WD and several others.

Some of these names seem idealistic such as HBO Discovery but DMAX is a definite no some people are still woke by this merger blaming Discovery Inc. when the truth is WarnerMedia was always hovered with problems.

Max is not a bad idea as it doesn't cause much conflict within the Warner or Discovery better yet it's more of a crossover I mean Max exists as a linear channel in parts of Europe and HBO couldn't have thought of a better time to bring Max up proving my point earlier - crossover.

If Max happens to be what everyone is going for I'll just have to accept it. I mean they are two Discovery one for insurance and another for entertainment the difference is in the logo and the fact one had ended the company name with Inc. so I'm saying only a certain amount of people will know these companies ain't linked.