Mariusioannesp Speculates Wildly on the Future of MLP After the End of The Hub · 3:30am Oct 14th, 2014
Hello, everybrony.
Today was the end of an era. A rather brief one at that. As you all should be aware, today what was once known as The Hub network became Discovery Family. Even though this change has amounted to very little so far, it has led me to radically rethink what I suspect lies in the future for MLP.
Now, I’m usually the kind of guy who assures everyone else not to panic over the littlest thing. Well, I’m still not panicking, but I admit this does give me a fair bit of pause. I confess I’ve been bitten in the flank by networks who’ve undergone rebranding on multiple different levels in the past. ABC Family was one instance. They used to have really cool shows like Kyle XY and The Middleman. Then all of a sudden they cancel those shows and start making shows that are borderline pornographic like Pretty Little Liars. Although I really liked The Nine Lives of Chloe King. But then they had to cancel it. The Sci Fi Channel was worse though. I loved shows like Stargate: SG-1 and Stargate: Atlantis and on occasional watched Battlestar Galactica before it stopped making sense. Then it became Syfy. Syfy! You know in some countries they abbreviate syphilis as “syfy”. Syfy: It’s Syphilis for your Mind! Even though I was a big Stargate fan, I never got a chance to see one of Syfy’s first shows Stargate: Universe. Probably for the best because I didn’t hear good things about it. Never saw Caprica because I was never really that into Battlestar Galactica. I’ve seen Warehouse 13 a few times, but I could never get into it. I admit though that Defiance is a pretty cool show.
So far, Hasbro still retains 40 percent ownership of the network and will be continuing to air shows like Transformers: Rescue Bots, Littlest Pet Shop, and most importantly My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic there. As we all know, Equestria Girls: Rainbow Rocks will be making its network TV premiere on Discovery Family this Friday. I’ve been doing a bit of reading on this rebranding and stuff. Frankly, the biggest casualty of all this is actually Dan Vs. Apparently, The Hub’s overlords at Hasbro didn’t really like how they sometimes made original programming unassociated with one of their preexisting toylines. I suspect that’s what did Dan Vs in. You know until like two weeks ago, I wasn’t even aware they still aired reruns of Dan Vs on The Hub like at 6 in the morning or something. That is no more now with Discovery Family. 
DISCOVERY FAMILY!!!!!!!!
Not a total loss though. The complete series of Dan Vs sans two episodes is available on Starz Media's Youtube channel.
Anyway, in my previous blog speculating on the future of MLP, I posited the possibility that Season 5 could be the last season of MLP given that is always a possibility. However, The Hub downsizing into Discovery Family does make this even more of a possibility. I’ve noticed that some people seem worried that there isn’t going to be a fifth season of MLP, probably since there has yet to be an announcement concerning a release date. I, for one, am certain there will be a Season 5. The powers that be behind MLP have made it very clear that’s what they’ve been working on. It’s beyond Season 5 where I feel things are up in the air, especially since Hasbro is open to considering further reducing their involvement in Discovery Family in the future. I have no idea how that could figure in Hasbro’s five year plan they have for My Little Pony.
There is some glimmer of hope though that MLP will last far beyond The Hub. In the wake of this rebranding, Hasbro was apparently in talks with Time Warner about renewing a partnership they once had. The fruits of that was the confirmation by Equestria Daily that Transformers: Robots in Disguise, the sequel series to The Hub’s Transformers: Prime, will be airing on Cartoon Network rather than Discovery Family. From what I understand, it was slated to air on The Hub before it became Discovery Family. The way I see it, this opens the possibility of either MLP or one of the spin-off series I speculated could be in the works, Equestria Academy in particular, could air on another network if Hasbro indeed further decreases its involvement in Discovery Family. I imagine such a move would be preceded by the announcement that MLP will begin airing in syndication on the network it will be eventually moving to. MLP has had enough episodes for syndication since the end of Season 3. (That’s apparently the explanation for its abridged length. They chose to only make enough for syndication at the time.) It’s not like this has never happened before. One of my favorite shows of all time Futurama got a second life on Comedy Central a few years after it was canceled on Fox. (Whether it maintained the same quality is debatable.)
Given Transformers: Robots in Disguise will be moving to Cartoon Network, I imagine that is the best candidate for MLP’s future home network should it end up moving. I could imagine MLP on Cartoon Network. Cartoon Network has been a bit of a roll lately with shows like Adventure Time and Regular Show. It was also where Lauren Faust got her start on The Powerpuff Girls and Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends. (Still, never seen Foster’s.) Perhaps Cartoon Network could foster an environment conducive for Lauren Faust returning to MLP to guest write some of these future episodes.
Still, there remains another possibility for a network MLP might end up moving to. Equestria Daily also recently revealed that Hasbro and Disney were entering a partnership to create a line of Disney Princess dolls. While hoping that this could mean ponified dolls of Anna and Elsa from Frozen (which would be awesome), they revealed quite a few interesting tidbits. Apparently, Hasbro and Disney have had loose business ties with each other since 1954, and MLP merchandise is sold at Disney Parks. Perhaps Disney would also be interested in partnering up with Hasbro over MLP. Given Disney’s acquisition of Marvel and Star Wars in the past few years, maybe they have their sites on MLP. I could see MLP making the move to Disney’s secondary network Disney XD. They’ve got pretty cool shows there like Gravity Falls and most recently Star Wars: Rebels. Even Lauren Faust has had dealings with Disney while working on its program Wander Over Yonder. Maybe they could also get her to return to MLP to guest write a few of these future episodes.
In the end, I don’t imagine Hasbro giving up on MLP just because their partnership with Discovery fell apart. Bronies have played a role in making MLP the success it has been at least in my opinion. A bigger success than they could have ever imagined. Only time will tell.
God bless you. God bless America. And God bless Equestria.
One must remember that the key decisions about the show are made by people who don't even understand it as art. As is always the case on television. We're lucky we've had four good seasons, we'll be lucky if we get a fifth, and I'd be gladder to see the show go out on a high note than descend into a wretched parody of its glory days and drag out undead.
If Season 5 is the last season of MLP: FiM, I'll be happy as long as they end on a satisfying note (a vague request, I know). But, I have a feeling that MLP is going to be staying around for quite a while. It's one of Hasbro's most popular shows (if not the most popular) and no corporate executive likes to get rid of a cash cow (unless if you're a corporate executive who works for Capcom *cough*Ace Attorney Investigations 2*cough*). However long MLP stays around, let's just hope that it manages to keep its level of high quality instead of descending into a world of flanderization and crap *cough*Spongebob*cough*.