CPB, PBS and new shows

The new mixed live-action and CGI animated series Mia and me (26x24) debuted last week at MipJunior, becoming the top screened show.

Featuring a look based on the art of painter Gustav Klimt, Mia and me is a co-production of Lucky Punch (a joint venture between m4e and Gerhard Hahn), Rainbow and March Entertainment. Also serving as co-producers on the series are m4e, Hahn Film, ZDF (Germany) and Rai Fiction (Italy).

Telescreen, a unit of m4e, and Rainbow, expect to announce TV, home entertainment and product licensing deals, as well as a toy deal, soon for Mia and Me. Mia and me is expected to premiere at the end of 2011 on ZDF and Rai.

Entertainment industry veterans Pam Slavin, Toni Stevens and Bill Fox have set up the new family entertainment company, Wizard Hat Productions.

Based in Toronto Canada, Wizard Hat Productions plans to create and produce live action and animated series for kids and family audiences.

The partners each have solid entertainment backgrounds: Slavin has written and produced on a range of kid-targeted series including Little Bear, Johnny Test, Rolie Polie Olie and Berenstain Bears; Stevens has produced kids show including Caillou, Arthur, Gerald McBoing Boing, Storytime with Thomas the Tank engine and Will & Dewitt; and Fox served as EVP/Communications and Corporate Development, BCE, and prior to that as SVP/Public Affairs, Bombardier.

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) and PBS have been awarded a Ready To Learn grant of close to $72 million by the US Department of Education's Office of Innovation and Improvement to fund multiplatform content efforts to improve math and literacy skills of K2-8.

The grant, which is part of $15 million in funds that will be handed out to organizations between 2010-2015, enables CPB and PBS to further their multiplatform math and literacy educational efforts with a range of partners, including local PBS stations, and existing and new PBS Kids producers, including Sesame Workshop, WGBH, Universal, The Jim Henson Company, Out of the Blue, TPT National Productions, Kratt Brothers, Cloud Kid, Portfolio Entertainment Inc., and Random House Children's Entertainment.

Other partners include the School of Education at Boston University, the Chicago Public Schools' Virtual Pre-K and Virtual K programs, the National Summer Learning Association, Creative Commons and the Collaborative for Building After-School Systems.

Education Development Center, SRI International and WestEd will conduct research and evaluations to help support the CPB and PBS initiative. This is the CPB and PBS' fourth Ready To Learn grant since 1995.