CNN has ordered a documentary about the rise and fall of mobile game show HQ Trivia and has moved Eva Longoria: Searching for Mexico from its fallen streaming service CNN+ to its linear network.
The news was revealed by Chris Licht, chairman and chief executive officer of CNN Worldwide, at the Warner Bros. Discovery Upfront in New York.
The untitled documentary about the app is directed by Salima Koroma (Dreamland: The Burning of Black Wall Street) and produced by The Circus producer Left/Right. It will tell the story fo the rocket-like rise and sudden implosion of the once-ubiquitous mobile game show, which drew millions of daily users including celebrity fans including Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson and Kelly Clarkson.
The appeal of the promising phenomenon where correctly answering a series of 12 questions won the players cash prizes, quickly gave way to corporate clashes, jealousies, questionable leadership, and even a tragic death. The gameplay was simple and the concept clear, but like so many well-financed toppled tech start-ups before it, the antics behind the screens were rife with drama, destruction, and dysfunction – this is the story of the shitshow.
The doc will launch in 2023.
It is the latest version of the story, which was also told in a 2020 podcast from The Ringer. Boom/Bust: The Rise and Fall of HQ Trivia was reported and hosted by Alyssa Bereznak.
Meanwhile, Eva Longoria: Searching for Mexico, which was unveiled as one of CNN+’s first series, will be moved to the linear network after the axe of the streaming service.
The series, which is produced by Raw TV, follows the Desperate Housewives star as she explores cuisine in Mexico. From harvesting blue agave for tequila as the Aztecs once did, to slow cooking traditional mole sauce in Oaxaca, Longoria will journey across the country.
It now sits alongside projects such as Stanley Tucci: Searching for Italy, See It Loud: The History of Black Television (w/t), The 2010s from exec producer Tom Hanks, and CNN Films titles such as Gabby Giffords Won’t Back Down and Little Richard: I Am Everything (w/t).