Nickelodeon Negotiates Rights at MOA (almost)

While personally, I'd rather see Peanuts at the parks, I can see why its a better buisness decision to have Nic characters at the parks.

I guess it must be different in the states, here in the UK if you asked a kid if they knew who Snoopy was then I'm sure you'd get a blank look on their face.

However, Spongebob (*shudders*) is a different matter.

^ Peanuts, FWIW, is a VERY family-oriented, highly-conservative, dyed-in-the-wool, red-white-and-blue cartoon with alot of Christian overtones...

I'm not saying there's anything wrong with that...but I'm also NOT surprised to hear Peanuts isn't a huge hit in Europe... ;)

I don't think Peanuts is much of a hit with the 12 and under crowd in the US either.

With no new material, what's left only gets more and more dated and irrelevant to the youth of today (and tomorrow) - it's a dying franchise with an old-school feel.

To me that's a big part of the deal. These licenses are generally for kiddie areas. Peanuts may have a history of relevance for an older crowd, but I still say it's far from the best choice for the young'uns.

LOL Gonch, if you read my first sentence together with YOUR second sentence, it's not THAT suprising the the small kids today, OR their parents, are less than *attached* to Peanuts...

Now if they'd only *out* Peppermint Patty, then it might be a tad more relevant...LOL! ;)

Heh, sharing one mind? :)

Don't get me wrong, I grew up simply LOVING Peanuts. I spent countless hours reading books full of the comic strips as a kid, still watch the holiday specials, try to turn the kids on to it and all that.

But I can look at it unobjectively in that I do have kids...who also have friends. As as far as I can tell - Peanuts doesn't even register on the radar...mostly for exactly the reasons that you list in your description, Gator. (and general lack of exposure)

Family-oriented, conservative, red-white-and-blue and with christian overtones. Yeah, that's exactly what gets the kiddies all worked up these days. (insert rolleyes smiley)

Correct me if Im wrong but isnt the Christmas special still one of the top holiday specials? Then there is the Great Pumpkin which seems to be the only Halloween special now broadcasted on the big networks. I think that the specials will keep drawing new fans in for a while yet.

The X-mas special draws about 16 million viewers - once a year.

The Saturday morning airings of Spongebob (just one of 60+ weekly) and the Saturday morning airing of Fairly Odd Parents (just 1 of 30+ weekly) each draw an average of 4 million viewers - give or take a couple hundred thousand.

No real point - just cold, hard numbers. Feel free to draw your own conclusions.

There is a Valentine's Day Peanuts special coming up this weekend. I wonder what kind of ratings it draws?

Or look at it this way: who is perhaps most kid's most cherished, beloved character? I say Santa, but the big red guy only happens to be around one month a year.

Repitition is not the key, its recognizablity and loveablity. Im not saying that Peanuts is better then the entire Nick catalog, Im just trying to argue that I dont think Peanuts is a completly dead franchise.

I understand and there is some truth to it.

But I look at it as Snoopy will never be more popular than he is right now. Charlie Brown will never be more popular than he is right now. Peanuts will never be more popular than they are right now.

Charles Schulz is gone. I don't believe there's any new material coming out. It's all downhill from here - unless some weird revival thing happens. With each passing year it gets less significant and fades a little more from memory.

It's not dead yet, it's just dying... a long... slow... death. More of a fading away, really.

Sure, there's still dollars to be had with the Peanuts gang. It's just that I'd rather be on the ship that's floating (even if I have no idea how long it'll sail) rather than the one I know is slowly sinking.

^I agree with you that its popularity is going to shrink a lot in the next coming years, however the optimist in me hopes that it settles into a niche like the Dr. Suess characters have because the stories and the morals they teach are just too good to die.

As for that specific park, since it is in the home to Charles Schulz and that it was the orginal theme of the park, I wish they would have been able to hold on to that license and if they still had it I would be against them changing.

However, seeing as they squandered that I definatly think that Nick is a great ship to attach too and I hope they pull it off. I havent visited that park since it lost the Snoopy characters (will in a month) but Im sure that its a pretty bleak theme right now, and they definatly need to find some childhood characters to bring into the park.

You make a good point with Dr. Suess. There's a franchise that seems to hold up beyond it's time. Even if it's in its own little niche. Peanuts could be something like that for a long time, I suppose.

I just don't think either is a brand you slap across a whole chain of parks in an attempt to draw in kids.

But I think that's the beauty of the MOA park. It's not the characters that are going to draw the crowds. That park will draw either way. The characters are just the decoration.

And yes, the location of MOA makes it seem like a no-brainer. If the Peanuts characters are going to work anywhere, it's going to be there - as a local shrine to Schulz's work and the Peanuts in general.

I guess you really have to look on a case-by-case basis, but in general - in a more traditional, big park setting - I think the Nick characters carry a lot more weight than the Peanuts characters do.

If I have a Paramount or Cedar Fair or Six Flags park, I want Nickelodeon there first and foremost.

I don't mean to hate on Snoopy. I do dig Peanuts. I'd be saying the same blasphemous things about the Looney Tunes characters too and they're probably my personal favorite. The catch is that the kiddie areas aren't really trying to attract me, they need my kids to be interested. (although I suppose there's some residual effect of parent recognition and them dragging kids out based on their own memories)

And don't even get me started on how silly licensing something like Garfield seems in this day and age. (sorry, KW - maybe kpjb can come in and divulge some scoop on how well it works for them and blow my whole take out of the water :) )

^ Not with Garfield he won't...at least Peanuts has a *regional* following. I guess you could say Garfield has an "in" with the lasagne crowd...but isn't that NJ more than Pittsburgh? ;)

What do *I* know, though, I still think you could theme a ride to Woodsy Owl. As long as the kids are thrilled by the ride, they couldn't give a hoot about the theme... :)

Snoopy/Peanuts characters are still HUGE in the Twin Cities. Over the last few years, the Twin Cities have been celebrating the life of Charles Schulz. There were statues of the Peanuts gang decorated all over the cities, that were sponsored by local businesses. There was a different character in the spotlight each year, with ~50 statues scattered around the cities. The local papers also published maps showing where they were all located. It was fun walking around downtown St Paul finding all of the statues. All of this was happening at a time when MOA was losing its license with Peanuts. BIG mistake. I agree Nick has much greater appeal in the national market, but Snoopy temporarily rules the Twin Cities. How long will it last? I don't know. MOA is a park for younger kids. Parents go shopping in the mall and take the kids to the park for awhile so they stop whining. MOA lost its identity and now they need to re-establish it.

Gonch, dont assume that because I think Snoopy is a better fit for the park fka CS for sentimental reasons carries over to CF, Im going to have to agree with you 100% about what they should do with Nick, allthough I think that some of the bigger parks (like CP) could probably have Snoopy and Nick coexist in different areas much like the bigger SF have Looney Toons areas and Cartoon Network areas, provided of course that they cant unload the license/it doesnt expire anytime soon.

*** Edited 2/6/2007 6:44:44 AM UTC by Touchdown***

Well, They've finalized the deal, and it'll be fully re-themed, and redone next year! New drop tower, themed coaster and 2-5 other rides! Sounds great!