Peacock’s Frogger TV Series Will Be Hosted by Damon Wayans Jr.

Earlier this year, Peacock announced that Konami‘s legendary arcade game Frogger will be the basis for a competitive television show, and now the series has its host: Damon Wayans Jr.! Wayans Jr. will be joined by co-host Kyle Brandt. So far, 13 episodes have been ordered for the series, which will see contestants attempting to clear obstacle courses inspired by the game to win $100,000. The series is being produced by Eureka Productions in partnership with Konami Cross Media NY, Inc. On Instagram, Wayans Jr. said that the series is coming “soon,” but no release date has been announced as of this writing.

Wayans Jr. has appeared in a number of television shows and films throughout his career, including New Girl and Let’s Be Cops. Brandt, his co-host, should be familiar to viewers of Good Morning Football, which he also co-hosts on NFL Network. The pair’s blend of comedy and sports backgrounds should set an interesting tone for Frogger!

Frogger originally released in arcades in 1981, and has been a staple of the video game industry for the last 40 years. The show will see competitors “dodge treacherous traffic, leap over snapping gators and hop over hungry hippos,” just as players do in the original game. Given the enduring popularity of the arcade original, it makes a lot of sense to see the concept evolve this way.

Outside of the new series and the original arcade game, Frogger has a bit of a history with the television format. The game inspired a series of animated shorts as part of CBS’ Saturday Supercade series, which also featured a number of other cartoons based on arcade games. Additionally, Frogger inspired one of the most popular episodes of Seinfeld, originally aired in 1998.

It will be interesting to see whether or not audiences embrace this idea when Frogger debuts! While the series doesn’t quite have the name recognition it once did, there are still a lot of fans that grew up with the game, and those that have played more recent iterations. Hopefully, the show will provide a fun homage to the Konami series!

Are you a fan of the Frogger arcade game? What do you think of the hosts for the series? Let us know in the comments or share your thoughts directly on Twitter at @Marcdachamp to talk all things gaming!