Earlier today, CBS announced giving a full series order to Lionsgate’s television adaptation of the wildly popular and addictive Candy Crush Saga mobile app. Matt Kunitz, former producer of Wipeout and Fear Factor, created the format and will executive produce the series with Peter Levin of Lionsgate, Russell Binder of Striker Entertainment, Nicki Sheard of King and the mobile app’s creator Sebastian Knutsson. The hourlong game show will have pairs of teams face giant interactive game boards to overcome levels, puzzles and obstacles for a chance to become Candy Crush champion. The series is also offering a play-along option for home viewers. According to CBS, the Candy Crush Saga and Candy Crush Soda Saga apps have generated over 18 billion game rounds last month. No word yet on who will be hosting the series or when the show will premiere.
This Candy Crush television adaption venture is the latest attempt to merge the wide and immense world of mobile apps with game shows. In April 2015, HLN debuted its short-lived series Keywords, based on the now-defunct mobile game, and FOX has ordered Beat Shazam, based on the music ID app. In August 2015, Studio Lambert announced its development of The Great Emoji Challenge. NBC and HLN were both interested in airing TV versions of QuizUp and Ellen DeGeneres’ Heads Up! until both networks decided to abruptly cancel the production on both series. GSN is also trying to cash in on the apparent trend by creating (and currently casting for) an app development competitive reality series called Breaking App. It’s going to be very interesting to see what will become of this (probably) primetime game show within the next few months.
Source: GSN TV, Iceland Monitor, Variety
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