Fall TV Preview: PBS Kids

This computer-animated show from Jim Henson Production debuted last year. It follows curious kindergartner Sid, who asks so many questions that he wants to know "everything about everything!"

Sid wakes up in the morning with a question on his mind, like "why did my banana turn mushy?" Then he heads off to school, where his teacher, Suzie, somehow ends up addressing that very same topic. In this TV show, Suzie has the children do some sort of science related activity to discover the answer for themselves.

Sid learns in the classroom and by playing with his three classmates: sunny Gabriella, energetic Gerald, and thoughtful May. Sid also enjoys a close relationship with his multi-cultural family.

He has breakfast with his baby brother, cooked up by his stay-at-home dad, which is great to actually see on TV. Mom takes him to work, and Grandma drives him home while telling a story about the old days.

At the end of a day of learning, Sid finishes the day with a "Super Duper Ooper Schmooper Big Idea" for a crazy invention. He ends each show by encouraging kids to ask "lots and lots of questions."

Sid is a great, entertaining show that covers science in a way that even small kids can understand.

There won't be new episodes this season, but that's because Sid began on Sept. 1, 2008 with a two-year deal and a double helping of 40 episodes.

Martha Speaks

Martha Speaks is a cartoon about a talking dog. Martha the dog can talk after the alphabet soup she ate went to her brain, rather than her stomach.

Based on the 1992 book by Susan Meddaugh, Martha Speaks is a vocabulary-building show. It introduces kids to new words and then reviews them at the end of the show.

Martha's adventures are kind of blah, like we've seen on shows like Arthur and Clifford the Big Red Dog.

Fortunately, PBS has much more entertaining TV show that teaches kids new words, and that preview is called...

Word Girl

Word Girl tells the Superman-like story of Becky Botsford, an adopted 10-year-old who is actually a refugee from the planet Lexicon. She fights crime alongside Captain Huggyface, the monkey who piloted her to Earth from her home planet.

While navigating her middle-school world, Becky is often interrupted by the need to battle the villains that constantly threaten the city. This hilarious gang of ne'er-do-wells includes:

- Doctor Two-Brains: Mad scientist whose second brain is a mouse's, so all of his plans involve stealing cheese or turning items into cheese

- Mr. Big: Bad businessman who uses mind control make himself rich

- Eileen the Birthday Girl: Overbearing, baby talking classmate who grows into a green, tantrum-throwing giant when she doesn't get her way as she hollers "Mine, Mine, MINE!"

- Lady Redundant Woman: She can make copies of herself, and she also can duplicate herself. She talks like that, too.

- Tobey: Another classmate of Becky's, he is always building robots to destroy the city.

- Chuck the Evil Sandwich Making Guy: Do I have to explain?

In this preview of Word Girl, this fall TV show focuses on two words per episode, so the kids really learn the vocabulary. In one episode, Becky's parents tell her little brother, "T.J., don't be a nuisance" five times.

Word Girl does two shows with a game show in between; "May I have a Word", also building on vocabulary.

Fetch! with Ruff Ruffman

This is a game show featuring six real children, hosted by an animated dog named Ruff Ruffman.

The kids go out into the world with challenges that teach them new skills, often testing their problem-solving skills.

In one challenge, the kids went to beach and had to build a giant letter "N" out on sand, making sure that it wouldn't collapse.

Other challenges take the kids out of their comfort zone. They will assign a kid who has a fear against bees to be a bee keeper, or a kid who is trepidatious about public speaking to recite slam poetry in front of the audience.

The kids who don't go on challenges answer questions from Ruff during the Half-Time Quiz Show. Everyone earns points. Everyone becomes a winner in this PBS TV show. A kid with the most points at the end of each episode gets to choose between 2 mystery prizes, but be careful because one can be a dud prize. Then the one with the overall most points at the end of the season becomes a grand prize winner.

The best part of the show is Ruff, who is always having a hard time putting on the show without some disaster befalling him. The kids' challenges are designed to help him out of situations like being sprayed by a skunk, dealing with his evil twin Scruff, and getting depressed after accidentally painting his house gray.

FETCH! will feature new episodes with a new batch of kids in Season 4 starting in September 2009.

The (new) Electric Company

This is a definitely a different PBS TV show than the one we grew up with in the '70s, but that's not a bad thing, as long as you don't mind a LOT of hip-hop music.

In addition to skits and cartoons to teach phonics, the Electric Company tells the story of four neighborhood kids with word-related superpowers. Hector, Lisa, Jessica, and Keith can throw magic balls to create words on any surface. They are called "The Electric Company."

However, there is also a super-charged group of baddies called the Pranksters: Francine, Manny, Danny Rebus, and Annie Scrambler.

They are constantly interfering in the Electric Company's plans, whether it be Manny building a robot that tries to convince Jessica to cheat in a contest or Annie Scrambler jumbling the letters in a message to the Electric Company.

Again, this fall TV show is very heavy with hip-hop music, but the phonics lessons come through just fine, and the plots make an interesting show to follow. For those of you missing your nostalgic 1970's Electric Company, don't fear, sit down with your child and you'll see some similarities that will take you back to a groovier time.

Electric Company debuted at the beginning of 2009 as a weekly show, but starting in the fall, it will be on every weekday.

As usual with PBS, these shows are on at different times depending on the town you live in, so as they say, check your local listings!