50 Fun Facts About PBS Kids

What was the PBS children's block called before it became PBS Kids in 1999?

PTV launched in July 1994 on 11 stations with animated 'P-Pals' shaped like the PBS logo.

PBS Kids programming typically targets children in which age range?

A PBS Kids Go! sub-block for 6-to-8-year-olds ran from 2004 to 2013.

What were the boy and girl mascots of the 1999 PBS Kids logo called?

The bright green logo used a thought-bubble motif to suggest imagination.

What colour did the PBS Kids primary logo become in the 2022 rebrand?

Lippincott designed it; the Dash mascot was retired in favour of customisable cartoon characters.

Which cable giant co-owned PBS Kids Sprout with PBS, Sesame Workshop and HIT?

Comcast bought the whole channel through NBCUniversal in 2013; it later became Universal Kids.

In which year did PBS relaunch its 24-hour PBS Kids channel?

The original 1999 channel shut down in 2005 after DirecTV stopped funding it.

In February 2023 the daily PBS Kids block was cut from 13 hours to how many?

PBS said viewing had shifted to its digital platforms and stations wanted more afternoon shows for adults.

The 1999 PBS Kids Channel was created partly to compete with which cable network?

Noggin was co-owned by Nickelodeon and the Children's Television Workshop, so the channel could not carry Sesame Street.

Arthur Read, the star of Arthur, is what kind of animal?

Marc Brown's books began in 1976; the WGBH series ran for 25 seasons and 253 episodes.

Arthur is set in which fictional place?

The show premiered on PTV on 7 October 1996, three years before the PBS Kids name arrived.

Who performed Arthur's reggae theme song 'Believe in Yourself'?

The song was written by Judy Henderson and Jerry de Villiers Jr.

How many half-hour episodes of Arthur aired over its 25-season run?

It premiered in 1996 and was renewed in 2018 for four more seasons to reach season 25.

Buster Baxter, who got his own spin-off Postcards from Buster, is what animal?

The spin-off's backdoor pilot aired as an Arthur episode in December 2003.

Sesame Street premiered on US public television in which year?

Its first run moved to HBO in 2016 and to Netflix in November 2025, while PBS keeps airing it.

Who co-created Sesame Street with Lloyd Morrisett?

Their Children's Television Workshop was renamed Sesame Workshop in June 2000.

Which segment joined Sesame Street after its 30th anniversary, thanks to one Muppet's fame?

By its 50th anniversary the show had produced over 4,500 episodes.

In which US city was Mister Rogers' Neighborhood produced?

Public broadcaster WQED made it; Fred Rogers had joined the station in 1953.

Mister Rogers' Neighborhood made its American national debut in which year?

An earlier version, Misterogers, had debuted on Canada's CBC in 1962.

Donkey Hodie lives in which place, first mentioned on Mister Rogers' Neighborhood?

Lady Elaine Fairchilde also came from Someplace Else before running the Museum-Go-Round.

Who hosted Reading Rainbow throughout its original 1983–2006 run?

He was best known for Roots when it started; the show won 26 Emmys and a Peabody.

How many Emmy Awards did Reading Rainbow win?

Ten of them were for Outstanding Children's Series; it collected over 200 broadcast awards in all.

What kind of animal is Zoboomafoo, the Kratt brothers' 1999 co-star?

The Coquerel's sifaka was mainly played by a real lemur named Jovian and voiced by Gord Robertson.

Wild Kratts airs on PBS Kids in the US and on which Canadian channel?

Running since 2011, it is the longest-lived of the zoologist brothers' shows.

Which actor voices the villainous Hacker in Cyberchase?

Gilbert Gottfried voiced Digit the cybird for the first thirteen seasons.

Cyberchase was developed for children of which ages?

It premiered in January 2002 and uses basic maths to foil Hacker's schemes.

Who voiced Clifford in every episode of the 2000 Clifford the Big Red Dog series?

He died ten days after the spin-off Clifford's Puppy Days debuted in 2003.

Who voices Curious George in the PBS Kids series, reprising his film role?

Jeff Bennett replaced Will Ferrell as The Man with the Yellow Hat.

In Dragon Tales, which two dragons share a body as conjoined twins?

Neat-freak Zak and rambunctious Wheezie were originally conceived as 'Snarf and Bugger'.

WordGirl's secret identity is a fifth-grader with what name?

She was born on the planet Lexicon and crash-landed in Fair City as a baby.

What species is WordGirl's sidekick Captain Huggy Face?

He was a Lexicon Air Force pilot whose ship crashed when baby WordGirl startled him.

Buddy, the hero of Dinosaur Train, is what kind of dinosaur?

He is adopted by a family of Pteranodons; creator Craig Bartlett also made Hey Arnold!

Molly of Denali was the first nationally distributed US children's show with what kind of lead?

It premiered in July 2019 with a live-action segment filmed in Alaska between stories.

2024's Carl the Collector is PBS Kids' first series led by characters who are what?

Carl is a raccoon who loves making collections; his friend Lotta is an autistic fox.

Alma's Way was created by which former Sesame Street actress?

Alma Rivera is a six-year-old Puerto Rican girl living in the Bronx.

In Xavier Riddle and the Secret Museum, what is the name of the robotic companion?

The show adapts Brad Meltzer's Ordinary People Change the World books.

Ready Jet Go! was made in cooperation with which NASA facility?

Craig Bartlett created it; it aired from 2016 to 2019.

Which TV journalist voiced Benjamin Franklin in Liberty's Kids?

He earned two Daytime Emmy nominations for the role.

Wishbone, the literature-loving dog of the 1995 series, is which breed?

The show was made by the Lyrick Studios division that also produced Barney & Friends.

Which a cappella group served as house band on Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego??

The game show was partly a response to a survey in which one in four Americans couldn't find the Pacific Ocean.

Who performed the theme song of The Magic School Bus?

Lily Tomlin voiced Ms. Frizzle in the 1994–97 PBS series.

The child hosts of the 1999 Zoom revival were known by what name?

Seven kids hosted each season, 32 in total across seven seasons.

Barney & Friends star Barney is an anthropomorphic purple what?

Sheryl Leach's creation aired on PBS from April 1992 to November 2010.

Fetch! with Ruff Ruffman was hosted by an animated what?

WGBH ended it in 2010 for lack of funding; its theme won an Emmy for Best Original Song.

Which Seattle public station produced Bill Nye the Science Guy?

It ran in syndication from 1993 and concurrently on PBS from 1994 to 1999.

Ghostwriter, the 1992 PBS mystery series, was filmed in which Brooklyn neighbourhood?

The ghost could only communicate by rearranging letters and text.

Which puppeteer created and hosted Lamb Chop's Play-Along?

Her puppets Lamb Chop, Charlie Horse and Hush Puppy starred from 1992 to 1995.

Shining Time Station incorporated sequences from which British series?

Britt Allcroft co-created it for WNET; it aired from 1989 to 1993.

Sagwa, the Chinese Siamese Cat is based on a book by which novelist?

It is set in the late Qing dynasty and its theme song is sung in English and Chinese.

Martin Short voiced which Dr. Seuss character in a 2010 PBS Kids series?

It premiered in the US on 6 September 2010 after debuting on Canada's Treehouse TV.

PBS Kids was named Channel of the Year at the Kidscreen Awards in 2015 and which other year?

Critics from Forbes to Scary Mommy have praised the block; one called it 'a wonderful gift'.