HLN this morning unveiled its first program development slate since newly rebranding itself earlier this month as “the first TV home for the social media generation (millennials and the millennial-minded).” “HLN is driving a development slate with a key goal in mind: debunk the myth that the world of social media is only about videos of cats riding skateboards,” said Albie Hecht, who is EVP and general manager of HLN, a CNN Worldwide network reaching more than 100 million households. Set aside debate as to whether that myth got debunked awhile ago, and take a look at the list of shows HLN is developing, with which Hecht promises to de-myth-tify social media:
· Keywords—A game show of search and tag trivia for internet addicts. We put your browser history to the test by challenging you to guess a search term from five keyword clues. Celebrities, song lyrics, ailments, gifs, memes, photobombs—everything is fair game. Created by HLN program development.
· I Can Haz NewsToons—Finally, a place on TV for social media’s best satire cartoons. We’ll scour the internet to present the most original e-cards, caricatures and doodles, and for the first time bring people’s favorite political and social cartoonists from the world of print to TV. Produced and created by Fred Siebert (Adventure Time, Cartoon Hangover)
· One.Click.Away—The untold stories behind the online classifieds…the world’s biggest yard sale. Going beyond the hyperlinks, HLN digs into such stories as the unused wedding dress for sale on Craigslist and the people behind those strange and hilarious roommate ads. Online classifieds greatest stories are now just One Click Away. Created by John D. Williams Jr. (Author, former president of the National SCRABBLE Association)
· Vacation Hunters—One tweet, two vacation teams, one amazing vacation. Viewers send in a 140 character description and our two vacation adventurers, and their travel agent teams, compete against each other to stretch a vacation dollar as far as humanly possible…all for the cause of giving a user the vacation of a lifetime. Produced and created by Tom Lynch (South of Nowhere, The Secret World of Alex Mack)
· Videocracy—This series counts down the most talked about entertainment ripped from social media. Hosts and a team of panelists comment on the stories and the people creating the shared content we’re all talking about. Created by My Damn Channel, with Rob Barnett, Warren Chao and Charlie Singer executive producing.
· #What’sYourFomo—This app will collect your list of FOMO’s (Fear Of Missing Out) and guarantees that you never miss a thing. J-law gifs? Ugly sweaters? Lamping? Everything you are afraid to miss out on in one place. This app was conceived by HLN staff during its December 2013 offsite.
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