OSN signs new content agreement with Endeavor Content
Deal includes new content from HBO Max, Hulu and Peacock
Updated 21 February 2022
Arab News
DUBAI: OSN has expanded its partnership with US-based Endeavor Content, the company behind shows such as “Nine Perfect Strangers” and “Sorry for Your Loss.”
The extended agreement will have OSN adding new content to its library including the romantic comedy “Wolf Like Me,” HBO Max crime series “Tokyo Vice,” Sally Rooney’s “Conversations with Friends,” the drama series “Tell Me Your Secrets,” and the fourth and final season — as well as previous seasons — of “Killing Eve.”
“We are excited to extend our relationship with OSN with this slate of new, original and best-in-category titles that showcase dynamic storytelling with an international appeal,” said Prentiss Fraser, executive vice president of TV Distribution at Endeavor Content, in a statement.
Recently, OSN also expanded its slate of NBCUniversal television content, which will see the entertainment hub exclusively premiering more shows and films this year than ever before.
Nick Forward, managing director for streaming and chief content officer at OSN, said: “Endeavor Content has one of the most exciting slates in the business, working with some of the world’s most extraordinary creative voices. We couldn’t be more excited to expand on our partnership to bring some of 2022’s most anticipated shows exclusively to OSN subscribers in the Middle East.”
d.“In addition to an incredible line-up from Warner Bros and HBO, this deal is yet another step toward bringing the very best of TV entertainment to OSN’s customers,” he said.
LONDON: Few cultural imports have crossed borders as unexpectedly, or as powerfully, as Grendizer, the Japanese giant robot that half a century ago became a childhood hero across the Arab world, nowhere more so than in Saudi Arabia.
Created in Japan in the mid-1970s by manga artist Go Nagai, Grendizer was part of the “mecha” tradition of giant robots. The genre was shaped by Japan’s experience during the Second World War, and explored themes of invasion, resistance and loss through the medium of science fiction.
But while the series enjoyed moderate success in Japan, its true legacy was established thousands of kilometers away in the Middle East.
By the early 1980s, “Grendizer” had spread across the Middle East, inspiring fandoms in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iraq and beyond. (Supplied)
The anime “UFO Robot Grendizer” arrived on television in the region in 1979, dubbed into Arabic and initially broadcast in Lebanon during the Lebanese civil war. The story it told of the heroic Duke Fleed, a displaced prince whose planet had been destroyed by alien invaders, struck a chord with children growing up amid regional conflict and occupation by Israel.
Its themes of defending one’s homeland, standing up to aggression and protecting the innocent were painfully relevant in the region, transforming the series from mere entertainment into a kind of emotional refuge.
Much of the show’s impact came from its successful Arabization. The powerful Arabic dubbing and emotionally charged voice-acting, especially by Lebanese actor Jihad El-Atrash as Duke Fleed, lent the show a moral gravity unmatched by other cartoons of the era.
While the series enjoyed moderate success in Japan, its true legacy was established thousands of kilometers away in the Middle East. (Supplied)
The theme song for the series, performed by Sami Clark, became an anthem that the Lebanese singer continued to perform at concerts and festivals right up until his death in 2022.
By the early 1980s, “Grendizer” had spread across the Middle East, inspiring fandoms in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iraq and beyond. For many, it was not only their first exposure to anime, it also delivered lessons on values such as justice and honor.
Grendizer was so influential in the region that it became the subject of scholarly research, which in addition to recognizing the ways in which the plight of the show’s characters resonated with the audience in the Middle East, also linked the show’s popularity to generational memories of displacement, particularly the Palestinian Nakba.
By the early 1980s, “Grendizer” had spread across the Middle East, inspiring fandoms in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iraq and beyond. (Supplied)
Half a century later, “Grendizer” remains culturally alive and relevant in the region. In Saudi Arabia, which embraced the original version of the show wholeheartedly, Manga Productions is now introducing a new generation of fans to a modernized version of the character, through a video game, The Feast of The Wolves, which is available in Arabic and eight other languages on platforms including PlayStation, Xbox and Nintendo Switch, and a new Arabic-language anime series, “Grendizer U,” which was broadcast last year.
Fifty years after the debut of the show, “Grendizer” is back — although to a generation of fans of the original series, their shelves still full of merchandise and memorabilia, it never really went away.
