HBO Max wraps up its first holiday content

Inaugural holiday programming includes festive Looney Tunes, Sesame Street and Esme & Roy specials.
November 26, 2020

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas at WarnerMedia’s HBO Max, which is prepping its first-ever holiday-themed kids and family content.

The streamer will kick the festive season off on December 3 with a new half-hour animated Looney Tunes special entitled Bugs Bunny’s 24-Carrot Holiday Special (pictured). Storylines include Porky the Pig and Daffy Duck traveling to the North Pole to save Christmas, and feuding neighbors Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd going toe-to-tail in an epic snowball fight.

A week later, a pair of new Esme & Roy animated preschool shorts will air together as one 26-minute special from Sesame Workshop and Corus Entertainment’s Nelvana. In Holiday Spirit, lovable monsters Simon and Snugs learn about the true meaning of the holidays, while Snow Worries finds Fig and the Monstersitters looking for new ways to play outside when the snow melts.

The Workshop has also produced Holiday at Hooper’s, a 26-minute Sesame Street special about Elmo and Baby Bear making their own Christmas Eve and Hanukkah celebration after an unexpected visit to Hooper’s store that will premiere on December 17.

HBO Max’s new Sesame content is aligned with WarnerMedia’s strategy to build up its preschool slate under kids head Tom Ascheim through the network’s existing Sesame Street/HBO partnership, which was established in 2015.

Julia Pott’s Cartoon Network series Summer Camp Island will also premiere on HBO Max, with the third season rolling out over a three-week period, led by themed episodes focusing on mythical creatures like witches (December 10), aliens (December 17) and yetis (December 24).

The streamer’s move into holiday content follows a major restructure last month that saw Ascheim’s global kids, young adults and classics division take over management of HBO Max’s kids and family programming. Cartoon Network exec Amy Friedman was also promoted earlier this week to head of kids and family programming at Warner Bros. She will develop and produce kids and family content for HBO Max, along with steering the creative and strategic direction of kids and family programming for Cartoon Network and Boomerang.

 

About The Author
Jeremy is the Features Editor of Kidscreen specializing in the content production, broadcasting and distribution aspects of the global children's entertainment industry. Contact Jeremy at jdickson@brunico.com.

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