Production begins this week on BrainBuzz, a new children’s program for the Nine Network.
Shooting at Nine’s Mt Coot-tha studios, Brainbuzz is the first kids’ program in seven years to be produced by Channel Nine Queensland.
The factual series, billed as “science by stealth”, will see host Kellyn Morris (ToastedTV) and scientist Clare Van Dorssen team up with kids from around Australia to “explore, dissect and solve many of the world’s frequently asked questions”. Brainbuzz is produced in-house by Nine Entertainment Co (NEC).
Kellyn Morris.Queensland production and programming manager Geoff Cooper, said: “It’s great to have some life back in the studios at Nine Queensland, which have been a bit dormant for a few years.
“We’ve created BrainBuzz to be a more active experience, where kids will see their peers participating in the exploration of interesting topics. We will also ensure there is a healthy dose of fun, silliness and comedy in every episode.”
Brainbuzz‘s announcement comes as debate rages over the future of children’s content quotas. The free-to-air networks, including Nine, have each made a case to the House of Reps inquiry into the sustainability of Australian film and TV to have the quotas scrapped, arguing that it is difficult to reach audiences and recoup investment on such programming in the current media environment.
NEC’s submission to the inquiry questioned the need for the children’s quota when the ABC already provides ample children’s programming on ABC2, ABC3 and iview and there are a plethora of new digital destinations for the genre.
Brainbuzz is set to launch in 2018 on 9Go!