Between the Lions will produce two new seasons

[Princess Melora]

Here's the official press release about the new seasons and partner for the PBS series, "Between the Lions."

PBS KIDS' Between the Lions(R) Roars into The Magnolia State with New Episodes and a New Production Partner

Mississippi Public Broadcasting Joins WGBH, Sirius Thinking, Ltd. to
Produce

New Episodes of PBS KIDS Flagship Ready To Learn Series

BOSTON, July 28 /PRNewswire/ -- WGBH Boston, Sirius Thinking, Ltd. and Mississippi Public Broadcasting (MPB) announced today a collaboration to produce new seasons of the six-time Emmy(R) Award-winning PBS KIDS series, Between the Lions. Production will begin in Jackson, Mississippi this fall, with new episodes anticipated to begin airing in spring, 2005. Major funding for new episodes of seasons five and six is provided by PBS Ready To Learn, with additional funding towards season six to be raised by MPB.

The new production partner, Mississippi Public Broadcasting, serves all 82 counties of Mississippi. MPB has consistently produced award-winning, quality early childhood education programs, and is well positioned to provide solid support to this strong, educational series.

"The collaboration with MPB dates back to 2001 when we launched a unique literacy and research initiative based on the series in two Mississippi communities," said Brigid Sullivan, Vice President for WGBH Children's, Educational, and Interactive Programming and Media Access. "This work not only proved the value of Between the Lions among low-literate populations and in rural communities, but helped forge a strong working relationship with MPB. They share our vision and commitment to producing excellent instructional programming, and we know that their professional production values will ensure a high level of quality as we go forward."

Marie Antoon, MPB executive director, added, "This is a win-win for everyone. A signature PBS KIDS program brings its production to Mississippi, MPB continues its history of quality educational programming production, and children in Mississippi -- indeed the country -- will have one of the best curriculums to help master reading."

Between the Lions, which launched in 2000 on PBS KIDS to critical acclaim and the delight of young viewers, parents and educators, has proven that it is successful in its mission to help children learn how to read.* The series showcases the power and pleasure of reading and includes segments that foster language development and early literacy skills. Each episode addresses the five key areas of reading instruction: phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and text comprehension.

Judith Stoia, executive producer of Between the Lions said, "We are excited to be working on new production and expanding the educational value and content of the series. The new seasons will build on the foundational layer of the series for preschool viewers, while also expanding coverage of the kindergarten and first grade curriculum content. Reflecting feedback from educators, parents and children, seasons five and six will feature more animation, stories, live-action films, and music. The beloved Lions -- Theo and Cleo and their cubs Lionel and Leona -- will still be featured prominently and remain central to the program."

In addition, the Between the Lions team has begun research into adapting episodes for the fast-growing audience of English Language Learners. Chris Cerf, co-creator and creative producer of Between the Lions and president of Sirius Thinking, Ltd., said, "Early research on a version of a modified version of the program to help Spanish-speaking children and their families develop proficiency in English language literacy is showing great promise. We're thrilled at the prospect of reaching new audiences, both with our Spanish-modified programs, and with the new regionally-produced Between the Lions segments we'll be shooting in Mississippi."

Developed in consultation with the nation's top reading and literacy experts, Between the Lions offers a comprehensive, evidence-based approach to reading instruction. The program is the centerpiece of a multimedia literacy initiative that includes a Web site (http://pbskids.org/lions), books, videos, parent workshops, teachers' guides, and other outreach materials. Between the Lions is a co-production of WGBH and Sirius Thinking, Ltd. in association with Mississippi Public Broadcasting Executive producer for the series is Judith Stoia. Chris Cerf and Norman Stiles are executive producers for Sirius Thinking.

Between the Lions is funded in part by a Ready To Learn Television Cooperative Agreement from the U.S. Department of Education through the Public Broadcasting Service. National corporate sponsorship is provided by Chick-fil- A. Additional funding is provided by the Krueger Charitable Foundation. Between the Lions can be found online at http://pbskids.org/lions. The Between the Lions team is committed to making quality television available to all children. Each episode is accessible to blind and visually impaired viewers through WGBH Boston's innovative, Emmy Award-winning Descriptive Video Service (DVS). The series also is closed captioned by the Caption Center at WGBH for viewers who are deaf or hard of-hearing.

 

[JaniceFerSure]

Great news.A very educational show,I must say.A modern-day Electric Company.I watch it,whenever I see it's on,lol.

 

[McFraggle]

I like it too!

 

[mikebennidict]

i've seen it quite a bit. though i still think TEC was better. what i often wonder is why does this show target a younger audience than the audience TEC targeted witch was kids from 7-10? and why didn't TEC aim at a younger audience in the 1st place?

 

[Buck-Beaver]

I think the educational goals of BTL and TEC are vastly different and thus they targeted different age groups.

 

[mikebennidict]

uh i realize they target different age groups.

 

[Buck-Beaver]

Yes, but what I meant was that the educational goals of each series were different. Also, since TEC went off the air the age of the target audience for most educational shows has dropped (e.g. Sesame Street targets slightly younger children now than it did in the 70s). That's I think part of the reason Between the Lions targets a younger audience than TEC did.

 

[Drtooth]

WOW! And all this time, I thought they dropped it and just reran the same 10 episodes over and over. This is indeed good news, as this is one of the best shows on the mixed bag of PBS children's programming.

 

[Hays]

Phew!

My son is just learning about phonics and that show is great! I think it's some of the best educational writing on TV today, bar none. Thank goodness it's staying on the air!

Did anybody see the "Monkeys in Black" episode? Classic!