Muppet Central News - Henson's "Sid the Science Kid" coming to PBS in September

The Jim Henson Company and KCET are deep in production on "Sid the Science Kid,” an entertaining new animated children’s television series promoting exploration, discovery and science readiness among preschoolers. This landmark production of 40 half-hour episodes, which debuts September 1, 2008 on PBS Kids, continues The Jim Henson Company’s legacy of quality children’s entertainment and is the Company’s first curriculum-based series. The series is being created using the Henson Digital Puppetry Studio, a proprietary technology that allows performers to puppeteer and voice digital characters in real time creating a spontaneous and fresh result.

Funding for "Sid the Science Kid” is provided by First 5 California, PBS and The Rose Hills Foundation.

"Sid the Science Kid” uses comedy to celebrate children’s natural curiosity about science and explores their "Why?” questions in everyday life. It features the energetic and inquisitive five-year-old Sid, who tackles the ideas that preschoolers find fascinating (Why do bananas go "bad”? How does my juice box straw work? How does a bird fly without a plane?). In each episode, viewers will be introduced to Sid’s friends and family who help him find the answers to these questions.

Launching at the same time as the broadcast series is the online interactive Web site at pbskids.org/sid. Sid and his school friends will host the "Sid the Science Kid" Web site. They'll greet visitors, prompt them to explore, and make the site feel like a personal play date with Sid and friends. The Web site will feature three discovery zones: The Super Fab Lab at Sid’s school, the playground, and Sid's kitchen. Each zone will host numerous games that together encompass all of the series curricular themes.

The site also features:

A child-friendly video player that lets kids view show clips, including songs and real-world segments.
Easy-to-use mentoring tips for parents, teachers, and caregivers.

A book of printable activities that will include coloring pages, and fun offline activities found in the show.

"Sid the Science Kid” is part of a long line of successful preschool programming from The Jim Henson Company that includes "Fraggle Rock,” "Bear in the Big Blue House” and "Muppet Babies,” and joins popular PBS Kids series including ”Curious George,” "Super Why!,” and "Clifford The Big Red Dog,” among others. Sid is set to become one of the most memorable preschool characters developed by public television and The Jim Henson Company in the past 40 years.

"The company is buzzing with activity to bring Sid and all of his friends to life and it has been gratifying to get such fantastic support from PBS and its affiliates as well as the retail and licensing community,” says Lisa Henson, co-CEO of The Jim Henson Company and executive producer on the series. "Our puppeteers, artists, computer engineers, writers and staff are looking forward to introducing preschoolers to Sid’s world in September as he explores science topics in true Jim Henson Company style - with wonder, enthusiasm and a healthy dose of humor.”

"’Sid the Science Kid’ is an ideal project for KCET as we look to inspire children to become engaged with science through the numerous avenues beyond broadcast including dynamic outreach programs and extensive Web resources. We jumped at the chance to work with The Jim Henson Company and PBS Kids to create and distribute a series that encourages preschoolers to learn by developing critical thinking skills when they question, explore and come to conclusions about science that affects their daily life,” says Al Jerome, President
and CEO of KCET.

"PBS Kids has the exceptional opportunity to convey more science, discovery and exploration themes to our preschool audience through ‘Sid the Science Kid’,” said Linda Simensky, Senior Director of Children’s Programming at PBS.

"KCET and The Jim Henson Company’s commitment to providing engaging, educational content to kids is a perfect fit with PBS Kids and the innovative production technique through the Henson Digital Puppetry Studio is sure to make the show stand out among other children’s series.”

Jim Henson's Sid the Science Kid

"Sid the Science Kid” is a co-production of The Jim Henson Company and KCET/Los Angeles for PBS Kids. Brian Henson, Lisa Henson and Halle Stanford of The Jim Henson Company, along with Bradley Zweig, serve as executive producers. Joyce Campbell is executive producer for KCET. Mary Mazur is executive in charge of production for KCET. The Jim Henson Company is handling all ancillary use of the property including licensing, video and merchandising. The Web site is being produced by KCET New Media which is partnering with multimedia design studio FableVision.

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