A Message from Jeff Shell, CEO of NBCUniversal

Today’s media landscape is changing faster and more drastically than ever before. Increasingly, Americans prefer to watch television on their smartphones, tablets, and other internet-enabled devices. As the CEO of NBCUniversal, I feel it’s urgent we adapt and continue to provide our viewers with a superior viewing experience. That’s why, today, I’m happy to announce we’re rebooting the beloved children’s series, Captain Kangaroo.

This summer, NBCUniversal acquired the rights to Captain Kangaroo from CBS for an undisclosed amount. I immediately ordered a production run of 24 episodes to air this fall and winter in a primetime slot. I will be helming the production myself and serve as executive producer, writer, and director. Such is the faith I have in Captain Kangaroo.

During its historic run, Captain Kangaroo aired for 29 seasons and over 6,000 episodes. The Captain, played by Bob Keeshan, entered millions of American homes every day, entertaining and educating the beautiful children of this country. Unfortunately, Bob is deceased and won’t be able to reprise his titular role. We’ve hired a veteran actor to take his place. We’ll announce that decision in a future press release.

Enthusiasm from our advertisers is at an all-time high. Yuban Coffee has already signed on to be a major sponsor, and we’re in talks with Huggies, Prilosec OTC, and Orville Redenbacher as well. Because entire households are expected to tune in to Captain Kangaroo, the sky’s the limit in terms of what products we can advertise during commercial breaks. Coca-Cola, unfortunately, passed.

Each week, the Captain will be conducting an on-air interview with a notable and newsworthy guest. This segment, known as “The Kaptain’s Korner,” will surely drive ratings and provide our viewers with material to talk about at the water cooler (post-Covid). We’ve already got our first eight guests lined up. They are:

Episode 1: Eric Trump, son of American President Donald Trump
Episode 2: Kerri Strug, retired Olympic gold medalist
Episode 3: Raj Chetty, William A. Ackman Professor of Public Economics at Harvard University
Episode 4: Bart Simpson (we’re still figuring this one out)
Episode 5: LeAnn Rimes, Grammy Award-winning recording artist
Episode 6: Jonathan Franzen, author of The Corrections
Episode 7: Jonathan Franzen again
Episode 8: Xzibit, musician and television personality

I’m also happy to report that the launch of our streaming service, Peacock, was a great success. We now have some subscribers, and I reckon there’ll be more. Captain Kangaroo–and maybe this goes without saying–will hit Peacock three days after its initial airing on NBC.

I’m not terribly involved in the day-to-day operations at Universal, so I can’t say whether they’re doing well or badly over there. I do know the theme parks are closed. Or did they reopen recently? I’ll have to look into it. I think Disney said they were going to reopen their parks, but maybe they were talking about Disney World? They’ve got Disneyland (in California) and Disney World (in Florida). Who knows, man. I try to stay out of it.

I do know that Disney+ is mopping the floor with Peacock, but I have faith that Captain Kangaroo will turn things around. Or maybe it won’t. I’ve got to admit that success in this business feels sort of arbitrary, like one bad review or one snarky tweet will sink Captain Kangaroo and all the hard work we put into it. What have we become? As a nation, I mean, as a people. To let a beloved institution like Captain Kangaroo flop belly-first into the deep end of the pool, man, Bob Keeshan must be rolling over in his grave.

Please watch Captain Kangaroo.