Cartoon Network Renews ‘Dude, What Would Happen?’
With pickup, two of six unscripted series find legs
By Alex Weprin -- Broadcasting & Cable, 10/5/2009 5:52:06 PM
Cartoon Network has ordered additional episodes of its unscripted alternative series Dude, What Would Happen? Dude resembles a Mythbusters for the tween set, tackling questions like “what would happen if you tied hundreds of balloons to a sumo wrestler?”, or filled a camper with popcorn kernels and torched it.
Dude, which premiered in late August, is only the second alternative series to break out for Cartoon, which announced an ambitious slate of live action programming at its upfront this year. The first round of unscripted series hit in June, with one, Destroy Build Destroy, getting additional episodes ordered in August.
Dude has been able to gain particular traction with boys, boosting Cartoon’s ratings in its 8:30 p.m. timeslot. Compared to the same slot in 2008, Dude is up 75% in kids 9-14 and 125% in boys 9-14.
With the pickup of Dude, out of six unscripted series hitting the network this year, only two will be coming back for another go around.
Cartoon has not announced premiere dates for the new seasons of Dude or Destroy, though the network will likely develop new alternative series to launch off of them when they do to help build its unscripted brand.
Cartoon executives were well aware that the unscripted series were a major sea change for the network. In an interview with B&C in June when the new shows launched, Cartoon Network Chief Content Officer Rob Sorcher laid out the expectations the network had for the new shows.
“We are doing something that is very different than anything in the nearly 20 years of history of the channel,” he said. “It is possible that this is going to take a while.”
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