Ten one-minute shorts will roll out across CBS, The CW, Paramount+ during the 2026 PBR Teams season
PBR is officially moving into scripted animation. The Professional Bull Riders organization will launch BS: Bull Stories, an animated comedy series built around its bucking bulls, at the PBR Teams Oklahoma Wildcatters running this week (July 29-Aug. 2) at the Paycom Center in Oklahoma City.
Ten one-minute animated interstitials will air throughout the 2026 PBR Teams season, July through November. The shorts will appear across CBS and The CW broadcasts, stream on Paramount+ event coverage, and be distributed on social platforms, PBR digital channels, and videoboards inside arenas.
Longtime PBR voice Craig Hummer (center), here with Cord McCoy (left) and Kate Harrison, came up with the concept of BS: Bull Stories.The standalone shorts are being used as proof of concept for what PBR hopes will ultimately become an animated series. It's a model reminiscent of The Simpsons, which began as animated shorts on The Tracey Ullman Show before FOX expanded it into a half-hour series.
You could say we're borrowing a page from Hollywood's animation playbook, says Craig Hummer. The longtime voice of PBR on CBS, Paramount+, and The CW conceived the series after two decades covering the sport. [We are] using short-form storytelling to build characters, expand a fanbase, and potentially launch a much larger franchise.
Co-creators with Hummer are Glenn Lucas, who serves as lead producer and head of creative, and Alan Cohen, an Emmy Award-winning writer and executive producer whose credits include The Freak Brothers.
Bull Stories gives the animal-athletes fun personalities, voices, and storylines while highlighting something many casual viewers don't realize: these elite bucking bulls are extraordinary athletes who are exceptionally well cared for and, in many ways, are the sport's true rock stars. Animation is a way to make its bulls - and, by extension, the sport itself - accessible to those who haven't attended an event or even considered checking out PBR.
I've always felt animation is a fantastic medium, says Hummer. It's creatively exciting that PBR is letting us give the bulls, who are half the athletic equation, a voice' while allowing fans to visit their world.
PBR had spent several years looking for a way to incorporate animated bull content into its ecosystem. The concept of 10 short interstitials tied to the 2026 PBR Teams schedule emerged as the right proof of concept, and Hummer's pitch of a road-trip premise gave the idea a vehicle. Aligning each episode with a different homestand allows the series to track alongside the Teams season while delivering a fresh segment to debut at every stop.
Almost every other sport - except perhaps horse racing and dog shows - has athletes who can be interviewed and interacted with 24/7, adds Hummer. Animation provides the PBR a way to create the narrative for its bovine stars.
Inside the Story
The inaugural 10-episode arc follows retired legend I'm Legit Too and the son he unexpectedly discovers, LJ (Legit Jr.), as they travel to 10 PBR events on a cross-country Road to Vegas. Every stop becomes another parenting disaster, travel catastrophe, and opportunity to introduce viewers to a different PBR Teams market.
According to promotional materials, the setup evokes Clark Griswold meets a 2,000-lb. narcissist who can't stop watching his own highlight reel on a tablet duct-taped to the dashboard. Legit plays the reluctant, responsible dad in public while privately losing it in the front seat of his truck.
The series of animated interstitials is intended to introduce fans to PBR's bulls, the rock stars of the sport.Tonally, the series lands somewhere between King of the Hill and BoJack Horseman, with a comedic tribute to Yellowstone told from the perspective of the bulls. The reference point PBR keeps returning to is Pixar's Cars, which is credited with introducing a generation of children to stock-car racing and reportedly generated roughly $10 billion in merchandise sales.
Current PBR World Champion John Crimber appears as himself, and other top riders have also signed on to appear and lend their voices.
Integrated Sponsorships
Sponsorship opportunities are being integrated directly into the series, allowing brands and local-team partners to become part of the storytelling instead of being merely adjacent to it. The 10 PBR teams drive those integrations at the market level.
Product placement isn't exactly new, notes Hummer, but it's easier to do - and to be more creative in how you do it - with animation. I'm not sure Bull Stories becomes the template for PBR moving forward, but it is fertile ground for advertisers, especially brands that see the potential in hooking various target audiences in a new, unique way. Look at the ROI in merchandising alone with some of the greatest animated movies and TV shows.
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Ten one-minute shorts will roll out across CBS, The CW, Paramount+ during the 2026 PBR Teams season
