PBS’s Curious George: The Television Show
Parents should know that there is a new show on PBS. This show is Curious George and is based upon the children’s books, which are now classics. These were written by Margret and H.A. Rey and narrated by William H. Macy. The new, animated television show brings these books to life.
In both the books and the television show Curious George is insatiably curious and this will inevitably get him in trouble. The television show does a great job at bringing the books to life. In these television shows Frank Welker does Curious George’s voice.
Each day Curious George sets out to discover new things. He is helped and guided by The Man in the Yellow Hat who is Curious George’s best friend and mentor. Some of Curious George’s other friends include Hundley the dachshund, Chef Pisghetti, Jumpy the squirrel, Gnocchi the cat, and a teenage boy named Bill. Another one of Curious George’s friends is Professor Wiseman who is in charge of the Science Museum. With the help of these friends Curious George begins each day with one thing in mind: discovering new things.
Curious George is fascinated by everything and his friends willingly participate in these adventures with him. These adventures usually turn into misadventures that are quite humorous in nature. An example of this occurs on a day that is very windy. On this day Curious George’s curiosity about kites leads him to fly off attached to the string of the kite.
There are some times when Curious George is able to solve a mystery or a problem by being clever and systematic. For instance, in one episode Chef Pisghetti thinks that Gnocchi is scratching up the restaurant’s seats. George compares the depth and length of the scratches on the restaurant’s seats to the scratches that Gnocchi has made on the restaurant’s door. In the end Curious George is able to prove Gnocchi’s innocence. On other shows Curious George figures out how things work and learns about physics too.
Regardless of what Curious George does that day, a segment featuring children who explore a part of the story that Curious George just acted out for us then follows the episode. For instance, after Curious George flew away on a kite there was a segment in which children learned how to make and fly a kite. At other times these segments show children visiting or discovering a museum wherein they discover how things work.
This show will amuse youngsters while encouraging them to be curious about math, science and engineering. It will also encourage children to explore their surroundings, something that children this age should be doing anyway. However, parents do need to be cautious and keep an eye on their children since some of Curious George’s antics could be dangerous if done in real life. For this reason you should talk about Curious George as a family.
Some questions that you can ask your child include: What did Curious George discover? What did Curious George explore? What happened when he discovered or explored these things? Did he get into trouble? What did Curious George learn? What did you learn? What would happen if you did this in the real world?
