FOX Entertainment’s Merchandising Efforts For “Housebroken” Hits A Snag ; “The Great North”Travels Abroad

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LfLnp-HNjEk

FOX Entertainment is continuing it’s efforts to really push a bunch of their new primetime animated sitcoms. For example, The Great North is slated for premiere tonight on Australia’s FOX8 network @ 8 pm local time, so syndicating the series for international audiences is already proving to be fortuitous for the media conglomerate. Duncanville was recently part of an AAPI Heritage Month PSA. Unfortunately, FOX’s upcoming new series Housebroken is hitting a snag in being able to produce merchandise inspired by the series.

For starters, the fact that FOX Entertainment wants to produce merchandise for Housebroken, is a good sign that the animated comedy should get a second season order sooner. But, stuff like this could hurt those chances, as PCGamesN has reported that FOX is running into trouble trying to register trademarks associated with Housebroken, more specifically the character Diablo. For those that don’t know, DIABLO (Emmy Award winner Tony Hale, “Veep,” “Arrested Development”), is an anxious, sweater-wearing terrier whose OCD causes him to hump everything twice.

Some of the merch being teased by FOX includes pet food, pet bowls, and treat jars inspired by Housebroken, but Blizzard Entertainment wants to put the kibosh on any that feature the name of “Diablo” as it could cause confusion with Blizzard’s Diablo game franchise which is a multi-billion dollar entity. Merchandise is a great way for animation producers to make additional revenues thereby helping keep a franchise on the air (see: The Simpsons). We’ll keep you updated on how this pans out.

This summer, FOX expands animation to Mondays, with the series premiere of all-new pet paws-itive comedy HOUSEBROKEN on May 31 (9:00-9:30 PM ET/PT)