Jim Henson Company to Produce Original Animated Series for PBSKIDSGO.org

PBS has tapped The Jim Henson Company to produce an educational animated series that will be offered exclusively on its PBSKIDSGO.org Web site (designed for early elementary school children) this fall. Entitled "Wilson & Ditch: Digging America," the new show, which is targeted at 6- to 10-year-olds, follows two comical gopher brothers, Wilson and Ditch, on a cross-country road trip in a "green-powered van," during which they learn about American culture, history and geography while exploring various famous destinations, including cities and national parks. In addition to broadband video, the project, which was funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, will include a dedicated site with interactive games, comics, and blogs and podcasts supposedly posted by the show's two lead characters.

According to PBS, its PBS KIDS Web site receives 9 million unique visitors per month and its PBS KIDS GO! video player delivers an average of 1.3 million streams each week. The pubcaster says that "Wilson & Ditch" is part of an initiative that will see it capitalizing on the popularity of its PBS KIDS Web site and its sub-sites by developing more original broadband video content: "We've seen tremendous growth on the Web this past year--so much so that PBS KIDS regularly finishes in the top three of all US kids' sites and PBS.org last year surpassed all commercial television network sites in visits," explained Jason Seiken, SVP of PBS Interactive. "Much of this growth has been driven by new features such as our video hub (PBS.org/video) and our kids' video hub (PBSKIDSGO.org/video). The next phase of our growth strategy involves aggressive plans for original Web content, including high-quality series such as 'Wilson & Ditch: Digging America." Added Halle Stanford, EVP of children's entertainment for The Jim Henson Company: "We know kids will enjoy exploring the amazing places featured on the site and we hope they'll get inspired to visit and discover these destinations with their own families. The Internet--and specifically PBSKIDSGO.org--has become a destination for millions of kids to play and learn about the world. As they travel the country with Wilson and Ditch, our audience will gain a greater understanding of their national citizenship that extends beyond their own community."

According to The Jim Henson Company, the new series is animated using its Emmy-winning Henson Digital Puppetry Studio, a proprietary technology that allows performers to puppeteer and voice digitally animated characters in real time. The series was created by Joe Purdy (story editor of "Dinosaur Train" and "Sid the Science Kid") and Craig Bartlett (creator of "Dinosaur Train" and "Hey Arnold!"). Its Web site will be written by Purdy and its animated segments directed by Bartlett, who will also create the site's original comics.