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robskaschedulearchive · 9 days ago

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Here's some schedules for Hub Network for 2010 to 2014.

If anyone doesn't remember, The Hub (later Hub Network) was a joint venture between Hasbro and Discovery Communications (whom would later acquire both Scripps Networks Interactive and WarnerMedia to form the conglomerate that exists today) which would replace Discovery Kids as the latter's channel for family, children's and pre-school programming. The channel never really succeeded outside of its' core audience (which by the end, was a fan base for a show that I'll talk about here), which led to Discovery acquiring a 10% stake of Hasbro's half and its' rebrand to the current name of Discovery Family

Schedule 1 - October 11. 2010:

Now this isn't the first Hub schedule, but it is the first full week of programming, so I would like to talk about the schedule for The Hub during this week.

The schedule had been formatted, on the weekdays, where mornings had the types of programming that also aired during the after-school block. The shows during the Hub's early days, unlike the Cartoon Network schedule I did a year or two ago, was ALL imported shows. you know, Atomic Betty (ironically, that show started out as a show that aired on CN), Batman Beyond, Men in Black: The Animated Series, Fraggle Rock, The Twisted Whiskers Show (which honestly, seeing some of that show, looks like the show a dentist would put on to calm down a child, but it will only scar them more), all imports Discovery/Hasbro got for filling their daily schedule.

Other notable things to mention is that this was still early on in the transition between Discovery Kids and The Hub, so the weekend early morning lineup and some times during the day had old Discovery Kids programming airing (Tutenstein aired during the weekdays during the early days of the Hub), and the forgotten preschool block the Hub had, called "HubBub", which was also mostly imports (besides The Adventures of Chuck and Friends, but I had mostly forgotten everything about that show, also with Maryoku Yummy), but really everything special about the Hub was on their 3-day weekend (Yes, they really did call Friday the start of their weekend early on)

Their 3-Day weekend would include what they thought would be their franchise show for the network: Family Game Night. Now, this show, I remember seeing as a kid. I liked watching game shows, and Family Game Night was one I remember watching a bit and liking (the other was the Cartoon Network Hole in the Wall), and the funny thing is, I actually have no memory of what the show was like. Other than the basic rules of that they're playing Hasbro-owned board games as a game show, I don't remember much. I still remember more of Family Game Night more that I do of the Pictureka game show, which was another launch show.

However, Family Game Night wasn't their franchise show, that Honor actually went to a cartoon that they thought would only get a small fan base of girls age 6-11, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. Developed by Lauren Faust, MLP would become the biggest show for the network, which would include cute designs, likeable characters, tons of quotability and would give a lot of interest in this network. But the show, early on in airing (only ONE episode of MLP had aired at this time), didn't really track in the wide audience it'll soon develop, but online message boards will soon change the perception of both the show and The Hub, in general. The Hub's early schedule did not focus a lot on their later cash cow (this was before the Brony community really developed), instead focusing on the syndicated programming they already had.

The network was still really good, but it had some time to develop.

Schedule 2 - October 10, 2011:

Now, a year in, they are focusing more on the Hasbro products moreso than they were during the previous year.

Now it is to be said that My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic finally made the top 2 of the most aired programming on the network (behind movies), barely beating out Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader? (yes, that aired on The Hub), along with the show having some airings on Columbus Day (mostly used as a way to celebrate The Hub's first year of existing, with other shows by Hasbro airing, as well)

Now, some notable programming from the Hub's history had premiered/aired during this time, like Dan Vs. (which premiered in January), R.L. Stine's The Haunting Hour (premiering 2 weeks after that initial Hub schedule pic), and they had acquired the rights to Goosebumps, as well. Pound Puppies, developed by the creators of Recess, debuted with the network, but it took a while for the show to get it's steps on The Hub (the first 7 episodes did launch after The Hub debuted, but the rest of season 1 took a year after to release), and two more game shows based on Hasbro board games were released: The Game of Life and Scrabble Showdown.

But this isn't really mentioning one thing I forgot about: Transformers Prime was airing on the network. Considered another one of The Hub's attempted flagships, TF Prime was another iteration of the long-running Transformers franchise, which had done really well with Hasbro and toy sales.

With all of these changes were considered a new schedule and new bumpers, with the bumpers in a neon setting, replacing the CG graphics from launch, and the aforementioned schedule replacements focusing more on IPs. As an example, the HubBub block was discontinued, with the preschool programming airing a single half hour a day on the channel (besides Chuck), and the primetime sitcom block switching up some shows to be a bit more mainstream.

Schedule 3 - November 5, 2012:

So... I have referred to the year of 2012 for The Hub as "Peak Hub" because I feel like this year was THE year for the Network.

My Little Pony was at its' heights, TF Prime was still really hot, Dan Vs. was a really good program (I mean, it did have Curtis Armstrong in it, so...), Pound Puppies was also hanging on, new additions like Transformers Rescue Bots and Kaijudo would be things that helped the network chug through, and The Aquabats had a SUPER SHOW! (Sorry, Ska/Homestar fan here, and you'd be a cool ska fan if you had listened to at least ONE Aquabats song before Charge!!, also Strong Bad was in an episode of the Aquabats show).

Hasbro had also been taking rights to the toy oriented shows at the time. The Super Hero Squad Show and Transformers Animated jumped from Cartoon Network to The Hub. Speaking of "rights", I can tell the Hub was running out of sitcoms to air during Primetime. They had acquired ALF, The Facts of Life and Mork & Mindy to add to the rights they had with Laverne & Shirley and Happy Days, but they would also get Hercules, Sliders and LOIS AND CLARK (yes, the Dean Cain Superman) to air.

Oh yeah, and this isn't even mentioning they had premiered their (arguably) second biggest show for the Network, and that was Littlest Pet Shop. The show, developed by the creators of My Gym Partner's a Monkey, would be a success for the Network (it premiered right after the season 3 premiere of My Little Pony, which had gotten the highest ratings for a season premiere for the Network), and, like My Little Pony, had likable characters and some cute designs (for the most part).

The Network would also introduce another rebrand, this time, in a colored background with giant 3D Text promoting the shows, with the network introducing a slogan, "It Could Happen".

Now, the network was not doing as hot as I made it sound. the network was averaging about 123,000 viewers compared to Nickelodeon, which averaged 1.7 million, and Disney, which averaged 1.69 million. Cartoon Network had averaged about 1 million, for a "fairer" comparison. So, the network was NOWHERE near the big 3, despite what some online reviewers wanted.

Schedule 4 - November 4, 2013:

The network, which had come off a strong 2012, had tried to make more adjustments during 2013.

The network would rebrand to Hub Network during the fall, and two retro Fox Kids/Kids' WB programs would air on the network in the Animaniacs and Tiny Toon Adventures (both coming during earlier in 2013), both would attempt to try to increase the ratings Hub Network tried to have.

The network would stop trying to attempt anything big in Primetime (as in, new episodes of programming), and instead decided to do a daily "Family Movie" at the evening timeslot instead. Hub Network did have "Family Movies" before this year, but 2013 was the year they started doing them daily, as opposed to on the weekends.

As for programming, uh... they got Ninja Turtles: the Next Mutation. Joking aside, My Little Pony, Littlest Pet Shop, Pound Puppies and The Aquabats still trudged along with the debuts of Sabrina: Secrets of a Teenage Witch and SheZow to the network adding some more originals. the aforementioned Animaniacs and Tiny Toons provided the network with some older originals, and Step by Step would come in with an eventual change in primetime coming in real soon.

Schedules 5 & 6 - September 8, 2014 & October 6, 2014:

Now, this final year for the network was an interesting one.

Hub Network had gotten a major rebrand the previous Winter (flattening and italicizing the logo), with a new slogan being introduced, "Making Family Fun", with a heavier focus on family programming.

Still having a heavy focus on the primetime Family Movie for the network, they would also get the rights to more older sitcoms, like Sister, Sister and Blossom, giving a major overhaul for the primetime sitcom block. It was almost at the point where it went to the lengths of how Nickelodeon currently airs films in how much they had aired them. Thankfully, Hub Network had some variety in their film library, so it didn't feel as tiring as Nickelodeon's current schedule.

As for new originals, there was a show that had a more Family approach/showcased Families, Parents Just Don't Understand, a show that had showcased a YouTube Star, Kid President: Declaration of Awesome (whom, fun fact, I had watched his videos from that era at the time), and an acquired foreign-produced animated series, Teenage Fairytale Dropouts. You could tell the channel was financially struggling with how much programming they could get.

Also to note that this schedule would have a switch, removing shows they would lose the rights to (most notably Dan Vs., The Aquabats and Happy Days)

Two weeks after the week of September 8th, Discovery would acquire 10% of Hub Network and would rebrand it into Discovery Family, shortly before Margaret Loesch, who had helped with the programming and rebranding of the network into The Hub, would leave the network.

Conclusion

The Hub was an interesting four years for Discovery Communications. It started out as a hodgepodge of rights of shows, then from just 10 years ago. then they found their footing with My Little Pony, which ultimately was the key audience for the network. They would then keep that running with Hasbro shows with similar concepts (Littlest Pet Shop, Pound Puppies), and some game shows to appease the family viewership, but just the Ponies wouldn't bring in a key family viewership, so they would get older cartoons (Tiny Toons, Animaniacs) and family-oriented programming (Step by Step, Blossom, Sister, Sister) to try to keep it up, but then they just gave up after Margaret Loesch left at the end of the year, and they would buy 10% of it.

I might do the Discovery Family schedules someday, probably after the DFC rebrand fully settles in.

#hub network #hub network schedule #my litte pony friendship is magic #my little pony #littlest pet shop #pound puppies #dan vs #the aquabats super show #transformers prime #hasbro #the hub #the hub schedule #animaniacs #tiny toon adventures

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