Image: ODD SQUAD, Filip Geljo as Agent Otto and Dalila Bela as Agent Olive (credit: courtesy of ODD SQUAD (C) 2014 The Fred Rogers Company)
Starting Monday, May 25, ODD SQUAD’s mysterious arch-nemesis is revealed in a week of all-new adventures; new digital content to debut as well
Arlington, VA, April 29, 2015 – PBS KIDS’ live-action math series, ODD SQUAD, is set to premiere five new episodes during May 25-29 (check local listings). In this special week, the intrepid squad will face a mysterious arch-nemesis, along with other dastardly villains. A recurring question has popped up throughout the season: What happened to Agent Olive’s former partner? The puzzle will finally be solved during the mystery-filled week of new episodes.
Clips and the first full-length episode will also be available starting May 25 on pbskids.org/video, the PBS KIDS Video App, and on PBS KIDS on Roku, Apple TV, Chromecast, Android TV and Amazon Fire TV. The remainder of the new episodes airing that week will be available on these digital platforms every subsequent Friday.
And the mayhem doesn’t stop there. On May 25, the series website (pbskids.org/oddsquad) will require the helping hands of young fans to fix some digital villainous havoc, and a new online game, Pienado, will debut. In addition, the first soundtrack release from ODD SQUAD, featuring the musical score from the show as well as soundtrack hits from the agents’ favorite boy band Soundcheck, will be available May 26 on iTunes, Amazon, Google Play and Spotify.
“PBS KIDS is excited to premiere new episodes of ODD SQUAD, a series that is clearly resonating with our audience both online and on air,” said Linda Simensky, Vice President, Children’s Programming, PBS. “Since its premiere last fall, ODD SQUAD has become a family favorite, ranking in the top five shows for kids ages two-to-eight* and streaming more than 38 million streams per month**.”
The live-action series, which premiered on PBS KIDS in November 2014, is designed to help kids ages five-to-eight build math and collaboration skills. In each episode, agents Olive and Otto investigate unusual cases of odd activity, solving problems and saving the day. ODD SQUAD has garnered numerous accolades, including a 2015 Parents’ Choice Award and two Daytime Emmy Awards.
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 by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) and the U.S. Department of Education through the CPB-PBS 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, especially those from low-income communities.
New Episodes of ODD SQUAD Premiering May 25-29, 2015 (check local listings):
“Training Day” – premieres Monday, May 25
In this half-hour episode, Olive reveals the story of what happened to her former partner. (Educational objectives: Algebraic thinking; deductive reasoning with number operations)
“Trading Places/Bad Lemonade” – premieres Tuesday, May 26
A villain uses one of Oscar’s gadgets to cause destruction around town, eventually leading to Olive getting kicked off the squad. (Curriculum: Numbers and counting; understanding place value) / Olive and Otto are called in to help when Polly Graph mysteriously quits her lemonade stand. (Educational objectives: Data collection and analysis; creating and interpreting bar graphs and pictographs)
“Robert Plant/Game Time” – premieres Wednesday, May 27
Olive and Otto must find a way to stop Obfusco’s plant from taking over headquarters. (Curriculum: Geometry and spatial sense; understanding that maps provide information about direction and distance) / When Otto is trapped inside a video game, it’s up to Olive to rescue him. (Educational objectives: Measurement; identifying value of coins and combinations to make a dollar)
“O Games” – premieres Thursday, May 28
In this half-hour episode, Odd Squad agents compete in Olympic-style games to determine who gets to be Ms. O for the day. (Educational objectives: Algebraic thinking; skip counting by 2s, 5s and 10s)
“Captain Fun/Switch Your Partner Round and Round” – premieres Friday, May 29
In the middle of summer, Olive and Otto investigate why parts of town are turning snowy and cold. (Curriculum: Data collection and analysis; using tally marks to record data) / Olive and Otto discover what life would have been like if Ms. O had assigned them different partners. (Educational objectives: Measurement; using standard measurements to compare capacity)
* Source: Nielsen NPOWER Live+7 Kids 2-8 AA%, February 2015
** Source: Google Analytics (October 2014 - February 2015)
About PBS KIDS
PBS KIDS, the number one educational media brand for kids, offers all children the opportunity to explore new ideas and new worlds through television, digital platforms and community-based programs. Kidscreen- and Webby-award winning pbskids.org provides engaging interactive content, including digital games and streaming video. PBS KIDS also offers mobile apps to help support young children’s learning. The PBS KIDS Video App is available on a variety of mobile devices and on platforms such as Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, Android TV and Chromecast. For more information on specific PBS KIDS content supporting literacy, science, math and more, visit pbs.org/pressroom, or follow PBS KIDS on Twitter and Facebook.
About Sinking Ship Entertainment
Sinking Ship Entertainment is an award-winning production and interactive company that creates and produces groundbreaking kids TV and transmedia content. Since its founding in 2004, Sinking Ship has created and produced numerous children’s TV series and has been on the forefront of TV production and interactive media for kids. From being selected as one of the first partners of Amazon Studios with the upcoming series “Annedroids” to achieving Nick Jr.’s highest debut of all time with the action-packed series “Dino Dan,” Sinking Ship Entertainment brings dynamic content to audiences around the world with shows broadcast in more than 130 countries. Other series highlights include the award-winning “This Is Daniel Cook,” “This Is Emily Yeung” and “Are We There Yet?: World Adventure.” Find out more at www.sinkingship.ca.
About The Fred Rogers Company
The company was founded by Fred Rogers in 1971 as the non-profit producer of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood for PBS. In the years that followed, it not only created hundreds of episodes of this much-loved program, but also extended Fred’s values and approach to other efforts in promoting children’s social, emotional and behavioral health and supporting parents, caregivers, teachers and other professionals in their work with children. The Fred Rogers Company continues to build on Fred’s legacy in innovative ways through a wide variety of media, and engaging new generations of children and families with his timeless wisdom. The company’s highly-rated, award-winning children’s series include Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood and Peg + Cat. For more information, visit www.fredrogers.org.
About CPB
The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), a private, nonprofit corporation created by Congress in 1967, is the steward of the federal government’s investment in public broadcasting. It helps support the operations of more than 1,400 locally-owned and -operated public television and radio stations nationwide, and is the largest single source of funding for research, technology and program development for public radio, television and related online services. For more information, visit www.cpb.org.
About The Ready To Learn Initiative
The Ready To Learn Initiative is a cooperative agreement funded and managed by the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Innovation and Improvement. It supports the development of innovative educational television and digital media targeted to preschool and early elementary school children and their families. Its general goal is to promote early learning and school readiness, with a particular interest in reaching low-income children. In addition to creating television and other media products, the program supports activities intended to promote national distribution of the programming, effective educational uses of the programming, community-based outreach and research on educational effectiveness.
Contacts:
Maria Vera, PBS; 703.739.3225; mvera@pbs.org
Meredith Gandy, 360PR; 415.610.4067; mgandy@360pr.com
The contents of this release were developed under a grant from the Department of Education. However, those contents do not necessarily represent the policy of the Department of Education, and you should not assume endorsement by the Federal Government. [PR/Award No. U295A100025, CFDA No. 84.295A]
