Bindi the Jungle Girl, Meet G.I. Joe

Discovery Kids, which does a pretty good job of disguising educational programs as entertainment, is being gobbled up by Hasbro, which apparently wants to air toy commercials masquerading as TV shows.

The toy and game maker bought 50 percent of the cable channel, and reportedly plans to develop shows based on such products as G.I. Joe, My Little Pony and Transformers.

The channel, which features nature- and science-geared fare like “Bindi the Jungle Girl,” “Adventure Camp” and  “Prehistoric Planet” aimed at the under-14 set, would maintain some educational programming, under the deal.

But it’s unclear whether there will be more G.I. Joe than Bindi in the mix. One thing is for certain: Discovery Kids will be gone. The channel is set to relaunch next year with a new, yet-to-be-decided name.

The move almost certainly means further erosion in quality programming options for children. The change is particularly disturbing because Discovery Kids is good at sneaking information into its generally fun shows, often igniting sparks of wonder, curiosity and adventure in young viewers.

Hasbro also owns the Romper Room, Scrabble and Cranium brands, which gives hope the revamped channel's new offerings all won’t be the kind of mindless cartoon adventures that already can be found in many other places.

Toy spinoffs and tie-ins from visual mass media are at least as old as Mickey Mouse, whose Disney guardians are the all-time champs of that game. The Children’s Television Workshop, the folks behind “Sesame Street,” at least try to ensure show-related merchandise is imbued with some education value.

It’s hard to see any education value, though, in Transformers – unless it’s to teach children that objects can turn into huge mechanical monsters.

Merchandising always will be linked to children’s programming and movies – there are Bindi Irwin dolls, to be sure, but at least they have environmental themes. The troubling transformation represented by the Hasbro deal comes down to this: a toy company is buying a kiddie TV channel with the apparent goal of using it as a vehicle to sell more toys.

They may call that “synergy” in the corporate boardrooms, but it amounts to just another cynical way to toy with our kids.

Hester is founding director of the award-winning, multi-media NYCity News Service at the City University of New York Graduate School of Journalism. He is the former City Editor of the New York Daily News, where he started as a reporter in 1992.

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