The eight-part series, debuting tonight, pits toy inventor against toy critic with a tantalizing grand prize: Toy giant Mattel will produce the winning design. But with the toy critics ranging in age from 7-13 years of age, contestants shouldn’t expect candy-coated-critiques.
“They’re honest, yet always respectful,” Stonestreet (pictured at top) recently told me. “The kids know what’s going on. That’s why they were hired, to see if they could be honest with their feelings about whether they like something or not.
“They did take their roles very seriously,” he continued. “Having the hopes and dreams of people in their hands, I mean they’re deciding which toys are moving on [in the competition] and which aren’t. It was important for me that they knew how vital they were in the process.”