Comedian Colin Mochrie confirmed as narrator for the Canadian series
Blue Ant Studios will produce a Canadian version of Old Enough! an unscripted format from Nippon TV to air on TVO in 2024 with Colin Mochrie as narrator.
(Toronto, Canada) January 29, 2024 – Blue Ant Studios has secured the coveted Canadian rights to the long-running Japanese unscripted hit Old Enough! from Nippon TV in Japan. Production on the first North American version of the show has begun and is set to air this September on TVO. Canadian comedy star and improv genius Colin Mochrie will lend his voice to the project as the narrator. The announcement was made jointly today at the 2024 Realscreen Summit by Matthew Hornburg, Co-President of Blue Ant Studios, Natasha Negrea, Head of Programming at TVO and Akane Alex Inoue, Global Format Licensing, Nippon TV.
Old Enough! is a heartwarming, unscripted series that follows toddlers independently running errands for the first time. While each episode focuses on the child’s task, the series will also explore each parent’s approach to raising their kids. On each adventure, the kids are always under the watchful eye of the show’s safety team. The highly sought-after format has been a ratings juggernaut and cultural phenomenon in Japan for over 30 years. Its popularity skyrocketed in English-speaking territories when Netflix streamed Nippon TV’s original series in 2022 in over 190 countries, and even Saturday Night Live tapped into the cultural zeitgeist with a skit that parodied the show.
“Old Enough! typifies the vision of our studio moving forward – entertaining and enlightening franchises – and we’re thrilled to be bringing the first North American version to audiences,” said Matthew Hornburg, Co-President of Blue Ant Studios. “This series is going to be an engaging, co-viewing experience for families, and children will definitely enjoy watching their peers find their independence when given the freedom to do so. It also explores themes of what parenting means from different cultural perspectives and in the modern age.”
“Independence is a key part of healthy childhood development. It begins with taking our first steps and flourishes through our appetites to learn and explore,” says Natasha Negrea, Head of Programming at TVO. “This exciting new version of Old Enough! showcases young kids discovering their delightful first moments of being independent.”
“It is such a joy to announce the Canadian adaptation of Old Enough!, our heart-warming factual entertainment format and global phenomenon,” says Akane Alex Inoue, Global Format Licensing, Nippon TV. “I am very proud that the passionate team at Blue Ant Studios has created a truly enjoyable version using the unique, new camera style we developed together. We are delighted to show the world that children’s big adventures can be delivered in different cultures and hope for more international versions to follow.”
Matt Hornburg, Mark Bishop and Donna Luke from Blue Ant are Executive Producers for the series. Stefanie Haist is the Supervising Producer. Mitch Burman (Undercover High, Extreme Babysitting) serves as Series Producer and Showrunner. For TVO, Natasha Negrea is the Head of Programming, Kirsten Hurd is the Commissioning Editor, TVOkids and Alexandra Roberts is the Commissioning Editor, TVO Docs. For Nippon TV, Naoko Yano and Akane Alex Inoue are Executive Producers. Kiyotaka Tokunaga (Masquerade) is the Chief Director and Ayaka Isshiki is the Producer for the original Japanese series. Tom Miyauchi (Sokkuri Sweets/Eye Candy, Mute it!) is the Format Producer and Yuko Nakano is the Flying Producer. Old Enough! was produced with the participation of the Canada Media Fund and in association with Rogers Sports & Media.
Blue Ant Studios is an international production studio and rights business with offices in Toronto, Los Angeles, New York, Miami, London, Singapore and Sydney. The company’s diverse production slate spans scripted comedy and drama, unscripted entertainment, formats, high-impact documentaries, live-action kids + family, and animation. The studio is anchored in original storytelling, with award-winning series that include Blown Away (Netflix), Canada’s Drag Race (Crave), the upcoming scripted teen comedy series, Davey and Jonesie’s Locker (Hulu and Prime Video), Casey Anthony: Where the Truth Lies (Peacock), Drink Masters (Netflix), Race Against the Tide (CBC), The Kids in the Hall: Comedy Punks (Prime Video), 9/11 Kids (CBC), See No Evil (Investigation Discovery US), and the adult-animated series, Gary and His Demons (Prime Video, Amazon Freevee). The company’s recent feature-length documentary, Mr. Dressup: The Magic of Make-Believe (Prime Video), was awarded the Toronto International Film Festival’s People’s Choice Award for Best Documentary in 2023. Blue Ant Studios’ distribution arm has a vast catalogue of over 7,000 hours of premium programming from the studio and third-party, top-tier producers around the world. Blue Ant Studios is a subsidiary of the global media company, Blue Ant Media. staging.blueantmedia.com Twitter⼁Instagram⼁LinkedIn
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Nippon TV is Japan’s leading multiplatform entertainment powerhouse and ratings champion broadcaster, as well as owner of streaming giant Hulu in Japan. Over 90% of its content IP is fully owned by Nippon TV and the company has been active in bringing its content to the international market in the form of anime, ready-made programs, formats, and through co-production partnerships. One of the biggest successes for the nation’s finest producer of all genres of programming is the Emmy Award-winning Dragons’ Den/Shark Tank, a globally successful business show format that has 49 versions in more than 186 countries across all continents of the world. Additionally, their hit drama series Mother has also achieved global success as the most exported scripted format out of Asia, with its format sales to South Korea, Turkey, Ukraine, France, Thailand, China, Indonesia, Spain, Mongolia and more. The company is also known for its viewer-engaging show Old Enough!, streaming on Netflix in over 190 countries and adapted in Canada, BLOCK OUT, an action-packed game show format that has been adapted in Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, Spain, and the Netherlands, the award-winning unscripted format Mute it!, and Sokkuri Sweets, both produced in the Netherlands, and Sokkuri Sweets/Eye Candy on The Roku Channel in the US, UK, and Canada. Nippon TV has recently acquired Studio Ghibli, making the Academy Award-winning animation studio its subsidiary. https://www.ntv.co.jp/english