PBS renewed its live-action children’s series “Odd Squad,” from Pittsburgh-based Fred Rogers Productions, for a 20-episode third season that includes a creative reboot and new characters.
“Odd Squad,” which premiered in 2014, is a rare live-action children’s show – most are animated, especially on PBS – that uses a math-based curriculum as it depicts pint-sized agents who use math skills as well as deductive and logical thinking to solve odd problems.
In season three, rather than being based at Odd Squad headquarters as in the first two seasons, the agents will travel around the world via a mobile unit as they encounter more odd problems in episodes featuring both 11- and 22-minute stories.
In addition to math, the third season will incorporate science, technology and engineering concepts in the show’s curriculum and storytelling.
Each of the first two seasons, aimed at children ages 5 to 8, featured different pairs of lead agents, all with names beginning with the letter O. Season three will include new agents, per PBS, but it’s unclear which cast members from previous seasons will return. Through the first two seasons, the show’s Odd Squad boss, Ms. O (Millie Davis), was the most prominent character.
The multi-Emmy Award-winning “Odd Squad,” which recently received another seven Daytime Emmy nominations including for outstanding children’s or family viewing series, has also been nominated by the Television Critics Association for achievement in youth programming.
Season three of “Odd Squad” is now in production in Toronto for an early 2020 premiere.
TV writer Rob Owen: rowen@post-gazette.com or 412-263-2582. Read the Tuned In Journal blog at post-gazette.com/tv. Follow RobOwenTV on Twitter or Facebook.
First Published: March 26, 2019, 2:00 p.m.
