Apple TV+ launches 'Fraggle Rock: Rock On!' all shot on the iPhone

AppleInsider

Apple TV+ is set to get its own brand new "Fraggle Rock" series that shows kids how to have fun while practicing safer social hygiene.

The teaser, which shows Gobo Fraggle dancing to an instrumental version of the show's iconic theme song, doesn't provide much information about what to expect. The video description offers a little clue, though.

"The Fraggles might be apart in separate caves, but they can still find ways to have fun together," Apple says. "Join Gobo, Red, Boober, Mokey, Wembley, and Uncle Traveling Matt for stories and songs that show everyone how we're all connected."

The show aims to help teach children and their families how to have fun while practicing safe social distancing during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

Even the producers of the show are taking the premise of safe social distancing seriously. "Fraggle Rock: Rock On!" is entirely shot on iPhone 11 phones from the homes of the production team and individual artists from all over the US.

New mini-episodes will feature music, silliness, and special guests, and will premiere globally for free on Apple TV+, every Tuesday.

beats

Ummm Apple said they passed on the Friends reunion because they wanted TV+ to be all original series'. Fraggle Rock is a reboot.

(I'm not a Friends fan just pointing out the innaccuracies)

And to beat a dead horse iPhone AGAIN proves to be a versatile and cheap tool. Same with iPad. Nowadays you can film an entire series on iPhone and edit on iPad. Both only $2000ish and can potentially return millions.

spamsandwich

Is Steven Soderbergh directing?

amar99

Could they not afford the license for the lyrics?

mjtomlin

Beats said:

Ummm Apple said they passed on the Friends reunion because they wanted TV+ to be all original series'. Fraggle Rock is a reboot.

(I'm not a Friends fan just pointing out the innaccuracies)

And to beat a dead horse iPhone AGAIN proves to be a versatile and cheap tool. Same with iPad. Nowadays you can film an entire series on iPhone and edit on iPad. Both only $2000ish and can potentially return millions.

Technically a “reboot” is a retelling of an original story line and characters. This could hardly be considered that. Nor could it be considered a reunion or even a sequel. These are just familiar characters doing random things.

pumpkin_king

But will there be Doozers? 

beats

mjtomlin said:

Beats said:

Ummm Apple said they passed on the Friends reunion because they wanted TV+ to be all original series'. Fraggle Rock is a reboot.

(I'm not a Friends fan just pointing out the innaccuracies)

And to beat a dead horse iPhone AGAIN proves to be a versatile and cheap tool. Same with iPad. Nowadays you can film an entire series on iPhone and edit on iPad. Both only $2000ish and can potentially return millions.

Technically a “reboot” is a retelling of an original story line and characters. This could hardly be considered that. Nor could it be considered a reunion or even a sequel. These are just familiar characters doing random things.

But certainly not any more original than a Friends reunion.

Now that I think of it Snoopy and Sesame Street characters weren't original either. I guess I'm just upset that Apple missed an opportunity to bring in millions of new subscribers with Friends and their excuse was hypocritical.

Again, not a Friends fan but I'm not gonna deny the popularity and the missed opportunity.

edited April 2020

mattinoz

So is Ben Folds Music director?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mEyrfFwf3rI

beats

Just realized Disney owns Jim Henson's and this is on Apple so this is a Disney+ Apple TV+ collab. 

razorpit

Wow, 6 months in to it and the second thing both of my kids can watch on AppleTV+ is a PSA, and only because there is a world pandemic.

Well, I guess the crowd that thought AppleTV+ was going to be all for the kiddies can rest easy.

beats

razorpit said:

Wow, 6 months in to it and the second thing both of my kids can watch on AppleTV+ is a PSA, and only because there is a world pandemic.

Well, I guess the crowd that thought AppleTV+ was going to be all for the kiddies can rest easy.

LOL. They're gonna start complaining that there's not enough kids shows now.

applezulu

Beats said:

mjtomlin said:

Beats said:

Ummm Apple said they passed on the Friends reunion because they wanted TV+ to be all original series'. Fraggle Rock is a reboot.

(I'm not a Friends fan just pointing out the innaccuracies)

And to beat a dead horse iPhone AGAIN proves to be a versatile and cheap tool. Same with iPad. Nowadays you can film an entire series on iPhone and edit on iPad. Both only $2000ish and can potentially return millions.

Technically a “reboot” is a retelling of an original story line and characters. This could hardly be considered that. Nor could it be considered a reunion or even a sequel. These are just familiar characters doing random things.

But certainly not any more original than a Friends reunion.

Now that I think of it Snoopy and Sesame Street characters weren't original either. I guess I'm just upset that Apple missed an opportunity to bring in millions of new subscribers with Friends and their excuse was hypocritical.

Again, not a Friends fan but I'm not gonna deny the popularity and the missed opportunity.

Because I don't want to check on it, I'll take at face value your assertion that Apple passed on the friends reunion because they want to do original series. I think I can explain the difference here. The Friends "reunion" is just that: a TV special that is a reunion of the cast of the show, reminiscing about the show. It's not a scripted reunion of the characters doing funny things together all these years later, it's an insanely well-remunerated taping of what is, in effect, a Comic-Con panel. That's not an original series by any stretch of the imagination.

edited April 2020

applezulu

Beats said:

mjtomlin said:

Beats said:

Ummm Apple said they passed on the Friends reunion because they wanted TV+ to be all original series'. Fraggle Rock is a reboot.

(I'm not a Friends fan just pointing out the innaccuracies)

And to beat a dead horse iPhone AGAIN proves to be a versatile and cheap tool. Same with iPad. Nowadays you can film an entire series on iPhone and edit on iPad. Both only $2000ish and can potentially return millions.

Technically a “reboot” is a retelling of an original story line and characters. This could hardly be considered that. Nor could it be considered a reunion or even a sequel. These are just familiar characters doing random things.

But certainly not any more original than a Friends reunion.

Now that I think of it Snoopy and Sesame Street characters weren't original either. I guess I'm just upset that Apple missed an opportunity to bring in millions of new subscribers with Friends and their excuse was hypocritical.

Again, not a Friends fan but I'm not gonna deny the popularity and the missed opportunity.

Also, as the Friends reunion is a one-off single episode unscripted panel, it's not really a good way to bring in millions of new subscribers. It could bring in millions of people to start a free trial, watch the show, and then cancel, but that's not terribly useful.

jcs2305

AppleZulu said:

Beats said:

mjtomlin said:

Beats said:

Ummm Apple said they passed on the Friends reunion because they wanted TV+ to be all original series'. Fraggle Rock is a reboot.

(I'm not a Friends fan just pointing out the innaccuracies)

And to beat a dead horse iPhone AGAIN proves to be a versatile and cheap tool. Same with iPad. Nowadays you can film an entire series on iPhone and edit on iPad. Both only $2000ish and can potentially return millions.

Technically a “reboot” is a retelling of an original story line and characters. This could hardly be considered that. Nor could it be considered a reunion or even a sequel. These are just familiar characters doing random things.

But certainly not any more original than a Friends reunion.

Now that I think of it Snoopy and Sesame Street characters weren't original either. I guess I'm just upset that Apple missed an opportunity to bring in millions of new subscribers with Friends and their excuse was hypocritical.

Again, not a Friends fan but I'm not gonna deny the popularity and the missed opportunity.

Because I don't want to check on it, I'll take at face value your assertion that Apple passed on the friends reunion because they want to do original series. I think I can explain the difference here. The Friends "reunion" is just that: a TV special that is a reunion of the cast of the show, reminiscing about the show. It's not a scripted reunion of the characters doing funny things together all these years later, it's an insanely well-remunerated taping of what is, in effect, a Comic-Con panel. That's not an original series by any stretch of the imagination.

I looked quickly.. It looks like they passed on buying the original series and not doing a friends reunion?  Maybe the OP saw something different?

CUPERTINO, Calif. — 

Apple TV+ never wanted “Friends.”

At least that’s what Chief Executive Tim Cook conveyed to shareholders Wednesday after one investor asked why the iPhone giant didn’t buy the streaming rights to popular TV series “Friends” and its reunion special.

“We love ‘Friends’ but it’s not what Apple TV+ is about,” Cook said at the company’s annual shareholder meeting in Cupertino. “Apple TV+ is about original programming. It doesn’t feel right for Apple to just go out and take a rerun.”

https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/business/story/2020-02-26/why-apple-tv-is-not-interested-in-friends

This Fraggle Rock show is an original collection of mini episodes using the already established characters. I do agree though a flashback live reunion show is certainly not an original series at all. I also don't think skipping that is a missed opportunity at all.

https://ew.com/tv/apple-new-series-fraggle-rock-rock-on/

applezulu

jcs2305 said:

AppleZulu said:

Beats said:

mjtomlin said:

Beats said:

Ummm Apple said they passed on the Friends reunion because they wanted TV+ to be all original series'. Fraggle Rock is a reboot.

(I'm not a Friends fan just pointing out the innaccuracies)

And to beat a dead horse iPhone AGAIN proves to be a versatile and cheap tool. Same with iPad. Nowadays you can film an entire series on iPhone and edit on iPad. Both only $2000ish and can potentially return millions.

Technically a “reboot” is a retelling of an original story line and characters. This could hardly be considered that. Nor could it be considered a reunion or even a sequel. These are just familiar characters doing random things.

But certainly not any more original than a Friends reunion.

Now that I think of it Snoopy and Sesame Street characters weren't original either. I guess I'm just upset that Apple missed an opportunity to bring in millions of new subscribers with Friends and their excuse was hypocritical.

Again, not a Friends fan but I'm not gonna deny the popularity and the missed opportunity.

Because I don't want to check on it, I'll take at face value your assertion that Apple passed on the friends reunion because they want to do original series. I think I can explain the difference here. The Friends "reunion" is just that: a TV special that is a reunion of the cast of the show, reminiscing about the show. It's not a scripted reunion of the characters doing funny things together all these years later, it's an insanely well-remunerated taping of what is, in effect, a Comic-Con panel. That's not an original series by any stretch of the imagination.

I looked quickly.. It looks like they passed on buying the original series and not doing a friends reunion?  Maybe the OP saw something different?

CUPERTINO, Calif. — 

Apple TV+ never wanted “Friends.”

At least that’s what Chief Executive Tim Cook conveyed to shareholders Wednesday after one investor asked why the iPhone giant didn’t buy the streaming rights to popular TV series “Friends” and its reunion special.

“We love ‘Friends’ but it’s not what Apple TV+ is about,” Cook said at the company’s annual shareholder meeting in Cupertino. “Apple TV+ is about original programming. It doesn’t feel right for Apple to just go out and take a rerun.”

https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/business/story/2020-02-26/why-apple-tv-is-not-interested-in-friends

This Fraggle Rock show is an original collection of mini episodes using the already established characters. I do agree though a flashback live reunion show is certainly not an original series at all. I also don't think skipping that is a missed opportunity at all.

https://ew.com/tv/apple-new-series-fraggle-rock-rock-on/

Right. I didn't even think about the reruns. No, ATV+ isn't competing with Netflix and the others to see who can gather the best collection of reruns. 

beats

AppleZulu said:

Beats said:

mjtomlin said:

Beats said:

Ummm Apple said they passed on the Friends reunion because they wanted TV+ to be all original series'. Fraggle Rock is a reboot.

(I'm not a Friends fan just pointing out the innaccuracies)

And to beat a dead horse iPhone AGAIN proves to be a versatile and cheap tool. Same with iPad. Nowadays you can film an entire series on iPhone and edit on iPad. Both only $2000ish and can potentially return millions.

Technically a “reboot” is a retelling of an original story line and characters. This could hardly be considered that. Nor could it be considered a reunion or even a sequel. These are just familiar characters doing random things.

But certainly not any more original than a Friends reunion.

Now that I think of it Snoopy and Sesame Street characters weren't original either. I guess I'm just upset that Apple missed an opportunity to bring in millions of new subscribers with Friends and their excuse was hypocritical.

Again, not a Friends fan but I'm not gonna deny the popularity and the missed opportunity.

Also, as the Friends reunion is a one-off single episode unscripted panel, it's not really a good way to bring in millions of new subscribers. It could bring in millions of people to start a free trial, watch the show, and then cancel, but that's not terribly useful.

Ah ok, thought it was a series.

jcs2305 said:

AppleZulu said:

Beats said:

mjtomlin said:

Beats said:

Ummm Apple said they passed on the Friends reunion because they wanted TV+ to be all original series'. Fraggle Rock is a reboot.

(I'm not a Friends fan just pointing out the innaccuracies)

And to beat a dead horse iPhone AGAIN proves to be a versatile and cheap tool. Same with iPad. Nowadays you can film an entire series on iPhone and edit on iPad. Both only $2000ish and can potentially return millions.

Technically a “reboot” is a retelling of an original story line and characters. This could hardly be considered that. Nor could it be considered a reunion or even a sequel. These are just familiar characters doing random things.

But certainly not any more original than a Friends reunion.

Now that I think of it Snoopy and Sesame Street characters weren't original either. I guess I'm just upset that Apple missed an opportunity to bring in millions of new subscribers with Friends and their excuse was hypocritical.

Again, not a Friends fan but I'm not gonna deny the popularity and the missed opportunity.

Because I don't want to check on it, I'll take at face value your assertion that Apple passed on the friends reunion because they want to do original series. I think I can explain the difference here. The Friends "reunion" is just that: a TV special that is a reunion of the cast of the show, reminiscing about the show. It's not a scripted reunion of the characters doing funny things together all these years later, it's an insanely well-remunerated taping of what is, in effect, a Comic-Con panel. That's not an original series by any stretch of the imagination.

I looked quickly.. It looks like they passed on buying the original series and not doing a friends reunion?  Maybe the OP saw something different?

CUPERTINO, Calif. — 

Apple TV+ never wanted “Friends.”

At least that’s what Chief Executive Tim Cook conveyed to shareholders Wednesday after one investor asked why the iPhone giant didn’t buy the streaming rights to popular TV series “Friends” and its reunion special.

“We love ‘Friends’ but it’s not what Apple TV+ is about,” Cook said at the company’s annual shareholder meeting in Cupertino. “Apple TV+ is about original programming. It doesn’t feel right for Apple to just go out and take a rerun.”

https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/business/story/2020-02-26/why-apple-tv-is-not-interested-in-friends

This Fraggle Rock show is an original collection of mini episodes using the already established characters. I do agree though a flashback live reunion show is certainly not an original series at all. I also don't think skipping that is a missed opportunity at all.

https://ew.com/tv/apple-new-series-fraggle-rock-rock-on/

Yes I did read that but remembered it as a new series. My fault.

This makes more sense. Though I still think it's a missed opportunity and could have gained subscribers, I agree with Tim. It's still a good discussion considering Apple is firm on passing on fan favorites. Is this a good idea in the long run? I'm not sure, I mean Friends was one of the biggest shows ever.

With that being said, your post does clear Apples stance for me. Apple is focused on original CONTENT but not original "stories". So a Friends reunion is still possible on Apple TV but no reruns.

edited April 2020

applezulu

On the other only tangentially related hand, it would be sort of cool if Apple could leverage their considerable Apple Music clout to rescue some music-reliant classic TV series from purgatory. Think WKRP in Cincinnati. That was a great show, set at a radio station, with the whole premise based on the program manager's decision to buck the owner and play rock and roll tunes. As they made the series, all those great tunes were licensed for use in new episodes, network reruns, and then maybe in syndicated reruns. DVDs and online streaming were never even imagined when those deals were struck. You can get that series on DVD, and they managed to secure rights for a lot of the tunes, but not all of them. As a result, some scenes are either cut or the tunes replaced and any concurrent dialog awkwardly overdubbed. It's not too bad, but you can tell. Another example is Northern Exposure. In that case, they ended up recording royalty-free music, and since they still had the original multi-track audio, they could insert new music into the mix without having to overdub dialog. That's less jarring, but still not as good as having the real music originally used in the show. It would be cool if Apple could restore those shows to their original form, even if only for purchasing digital downloads.

edited April 2020

beats

AppleZulu said:

On the other only tangentially related hand, it would be sort of cool if Apple could leverage their considerable Apple Music clout to rescue some music-reliant classic TV series from purgatory. Think WKRP in Cincinnati. That was a great show, set at a radio station, with the whole premise based on the program manager's decision to buck the owner and play rock and roll tunes. As they made the series, all those great tunes were licensed for use in new episodes, network reruns, and then maybe in syndicated reruns. DVDs and online streaming were never even imagined when those deals were struck. You can get that series on DVD, and they managed to secure rights for a lot of the tunes, but not all of them. As a result, some scenes are either cut or the tunes replaced and any concurrent dialog awkwardly overdubbed. It's not too bad, but you can tell. Another example is Northern Exposure. In that case, they ended up recording royalty-free music, and since they still had the original multi-track audio, they could insert new music into the mix without having to overdub dialog. That's less jarring, but still not as good as having the real music originally used in the show. It would be cool if Apple could restore those shows to their original form, even if only for purchasing digital downloads.

Sounds like a good idea and something more in line with Apple Music's video series'.

davgreg

I would love to see the numbers on Apple TV+ because the numbers I saw today on Bloomberg would indicate it is not doing that great, especially considering they are giving away the service if you have bought any number of Apple devices.

https://assets.bwbx.io/images/users/iqjWHBFdfxIU/iMElk1ASMffQ/v1/pidjEfPlU1QWZop3vfGKsrX.ke8XuWirGYh1PKgEw44kE/-1x-1.png

Just 7% of Netflix users, 8% of Amazon Prime users, 9% of Hulu users, and 13% of Disney+ users do Apple TV+