Melville, NY, October 18, 2023 -- New TV Celeb Toy Talk Show under development at Drake Media Studios. Donna Drake, the host of The Donna Drake Show a weekly, 60-minute television and digital talk series, and President of Drake Media Network, Inc. today announced the creation of a new talk show, “Toys of Our Lives” co-created and hosted by toy industry executive, inventor and designer, Matt Nuccio. The show will be filmed in studio as well as include shopping field trips to iconic toy stores. 

 

Drake Media Studios, a full-service production studio is the former CBS/WLNY TV 10/55 studio space located at 270 South Service Road in Melville.

 

Drake chose Nuccio to embark on this new show when she realized he was the toy designer co-credited with designing Creepy Crawlers, Tickle Me Elmo, Nintendo Power Glove, P.O.G's, Laser Challenge and Barbie Sparkle Kingdom among other iconic beloved toys. "I grew up in a candy distribution family and candy and toys both bring about wonderful nostalgic memories for me. The opportunity to work with Matt Nuccio elated me. Matt’s warm and charismatic energy and intrinsic knowledge of the toy industry will make this show fun to produce and watch. Seeing and hearing about magical moments with toys and how “play” may have contributed to a celeb’s success has not been revealed in this same way before,” said, Drake. 

 

Now in its 17th year, The Donna Drake Show airs weekly in New York on CBS’s WLNY every Saturday at 6:00 am and is also available on nationally and internationally on YouTube and several OTT and streaming platforms including BINGEnetworks, iheart, Spotify and more. These same platforms for distribution is where “Toys of Our Lives” will initially air as other distribution outlets onboard. 

 

Drake is the winner of two Telly Awards, and honored by the United Nations for Global Citizenship, The Donna Drake Show airs across the US and in 25 countries, with a focus on topics of hope, motivation and resilience through empowering conversations with celebs, business owners and everyday heroes. All episodes are filled exclusively with positive, uplifting news. “Toys of Our Lives” will provide a similar experience for viewers. 

 

“I am absolutely thrilled to work with Donna and her team”, says Matt Nuccio. “I grew up in the toy business. It’s been my life. Over the years we’ve worked with many celebrities and it’s always blown my mind how their faces light up once we start sharing our personal experiences about our beloved toys that we all played with growing up. As children, how we play, and what we play with, helps to shape who we become as adults... and I look forward to finding out who played with what. It will be a thrill to discuss toy memories with the familiar faces we all know and love.”

 

Nuccio co-chaired the Toy Association (TA) associate panel representing designers and inventors in the toy industry. He currently sits on the Board of Directors of the United Inventors Association of America (UIA), People of Play (POP) advisory board and the education committee of the Toy Association (TA). He writes a column in Toy & Family Entertainment magazine focusing on the industry and he has lectured several times at New York Toy Fair, ASTRA, ChiTAG, Hong Kong Toy Fair and inventor organizations. In 2018, the National Security Agency (NSA) honored Nuccio as an American Innovator and in 2019 Matt was selected to represent the United States at the Emerging Innovation Summit in Melbourne, Australia. As of 2023, Nuccio has been recognized by MOJO NATION as one of the 100 Most Influential People working in the toy industry today for five years consecutively. In 2023, Matt was chosen by the United Nations to represent the US inventor community as an elected board member of the International Federation of Inventors’ Associations (IFIA).  Nuccio has been nominated for, or won, many of the toys industry's most important awards, such as the TOTY (Toy of The Year), the TAGie (Toy and Game award) Games 100, Mensa Select, Origin, and Family Fun award.

 

 

 

 

Ken Bogardt, Edgewater Pictures will direct. Bogardts credits include Plant-Based by Nafsika on A & E. Nautica Mile Boating Yacht Show on Network Speed Channel and Living to Inspire with Heather Mills on Lifetime. Upcoming shows include Ghosted, MD Netflix Series, Home for Christmas Movie on the Hallmark Network and Glory Days on Fox Sports. 

 

FOR MORE INFORMATION

Contact: Donna Drake at 631 432 0372