Sight unseen, I’m thinking the live action, math class equivalent of Word Girl. Well, that’s what I’m HOPING for anyway with PBS KIDS new series ODD SQUAD that was announced this week. We don’t do a ton of TV ’round these parts but there’s always room for a lil’ Tickety Toc, Peg + Cat, Wild Kratts, and of course Becky Botsford and her pet monkey, the esteemed Capt. Huggy Face.
Get all the details straight from PBS KIDS’ horse’s mouth. Huh?
[press release stuff from here on]
PBS KIDS announced the production of its newest series: ODD SQUAD, a live-action media property designed to help kids ages 5-8 learn math. The show focuses on two young agents, Olive and Otto, who are part of the Odd Squad, an agency whose mission is to save the day whenever something unusual happens in their town. A math concept is embedded in each of their cases, as Olive and Otto work together to problem-solve and correct the oddity du jour in each episode.
Coming soon to PBS KIDS on-air, online and on mobile, ODD SQUAD is created by Tim McKeon (Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends, Adventure Time, The Electric Company) and Adam Peltzman (The Electric Company, The Backyardigans, Wallykazam!) and produced by Sinking Ship Entertainment and The Fred Rogers Company. ODD SQUAD is funded in part by the U.S. Department of Education through the Ready To Learn Initiative, a program that supports the development of innovative educational television and digital media targeted to preschool and early elementary school children and their families, and by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB).
Each episode of ODD SQUAD includes two 11-minute cases in which the agents investigate weird and unusual phenomena around them and use math to put things right. From recapturing a gallon-sized blob that has separated into smaller pieces, to dealing with a slew of unicorns, dinosaurs and wizards that have escaped from books, there is no occurrence that is too strange for the Odd Squad as they face off against various villains that wreak havoc around town.
From time to time, Olive and Otto are overwhelmed with information and need to work out a problem, at which point they teleport to the futuristic “Mathroom,” where they have all the tools they need to work toward a solution. In each adventure, the Odd Squad agents navigate a complicated underground system of giant tubes that allow them to travel to and from headquarters in just seconds. Each case is followed by an interstitial, such as an agent training video, a guide to the Odd Squad headquarters or demonstrations of how to use the Odd Squad’s odd gadgets – from the “Pudding-Inator” to “The Make-Anything-Within-Reason-
ODD SQUAD is part of PBS KIDS’ ongoing commitment to use the power of media to help open up worlds of possibilities for children. PBS KIDS serves young audiences wherever they live, learn and play — through educational apps, on TV, online and in the classroom.
