• Belly Bro's and Care Dudes Axed


    Some of you may have run into a certain Carebear article on Cartoon Brew the other day.  An over excited Hub PR rep wanted to make it the next brony phenomenon, and the guys in comments didn't seem to agree with that one! This was the press release for it:
    Hey Amid-
    What’s the Care Bears equivalent of a Brony? Belly-Bros? Care-Dudes? “Care Bears: Welcome to Care-a-Lot” premieres this June on The Hub TV Network and features the same re-imagined CG animation and spirit of friendship and caring that made shows like “My Little Pony Friendship is Magic” a cult hit.
    “Care Bears: Welcome to Care-a-Lot” is a modernized, CGI-animated version of the classic animated cartoon, which hits its 30th anniversary this year! Re-imagined in the same vein as the Hub’s other hit television shows, everyone’s favorite bears and their iconic Belly Badges have been transformed with today’s technology into a series that kids and families can enjoy together. I’d love to see if you’d be interested in featuring the bears for the series launch this June.
    I have art and clips available and can also do email interviews with Executive Producer Sarah Finn, our director and voice talent. Let me know if this interests you and I can send over some more details!
    Thanks!
    [PR flack]
    I'm going to give the show a shot, but I don't know if I'd ever want to be called a Belly Bro.  After the  fallout in comments, it looks like someone else from The Hub came in to clean up the mess:
    Hi Amid,
    Last night I came across your story on Cartoon Brew titled “The Hub Hopes Men Will Start Calling Themselves “Belly Bros” and “Care Dudes.” In response, I wanted to let you know that this was an unapproved and unsanctioned pitch by our PR agency that we are completely taken aback by. Both The Hub TV Network nor American Greetings Properties had any knowledge of the pitch angle. It is not our intention to compare Care Bears to My Little Pony and/or the Brony community.
    All the best,
    Crystal Williams
    Manager, Communications & Publicity
    The Hub
    But hey! Who knows? Maybe it will blow us all out of the water like Friendship is Magic did?  I know my initial reaction to pony was completely negative, but here I am spending ALL HOURS on it.  I'm pretty open minded these days. 

    During the Royal Wedding event, I did talk to someone about this show.  He mentioned that Care Bears was a bit younger on the humor, and urged me to check out Littlest Pet Shop instead when that arrived.  Apparently it will be rolling with some sit-com style humor that they are all really excited to share with us. It's going to be hard to beat the success of FiM, hell I don't think any network will be able to clobber that one yet, but after this fandom, I'm willing to give anything a chance.