James Patterson's 'Kid Stew' TV Series FREE Online Event 4/18

Best-selling author James Patterson’s Emmy Award-winning Kid Stew returns to public television this weekend with new episodes celebrating imagination and encouraging children’s interest in reading, music, art, and creative expression. The series’ mostly Miami-based cast of teens -- Armando, Blake, Caroline, David, Luke, Madison, Milena, Nicholas, and Satine -- are back along with new cast members Josiah and Samantha, and their mascot dog Ozzie, to time travel through history, virtually globe trot, conduct interviews with famous creatives, host newscasts, star in comedy skits, get creative in the kitchen, and more kid-centric cool activities, all while inspiring their viewers to be themselves.

Producing station South Florida PBS, James Patterson's hometown station, will host a free online screening event with Patterson and the cast on Saturday, April 18 from 3-4 pm, including an early look at a full episode before it airs nationwide, and a question and answer with Mr. Patterson and the kids in the cast. The free online screening is accessible to viewers nationwide. For details and to register and reserve a virtual seat, visit https://ovee.itvs.org/screenings/7urpp. The series' third season will debut locally on WPBT in Miami the following morning, Sunday, April 19 at 9:30 am and nationwide on PBS stations in May (check local listings).

South Florida PBS distributes Kid Stew nationally to public television stations via American Public Television. The series has won a total of eight EMMY ® Awards between the first two seasons.*

Kid Stew series creator James Patterson is the author of bestselling children’s titles including the Max Einstein, I Funny, and Middle School: The Worst Years of My Life series (along with his hundreds of bestsellers for those kids’ parents). Over the past decade, Patterson has given away more than $75 million to support teachers, bookstores, booksellers and various literacy initiatives, and over a million books to students and the military.

“We’re really hitting our stride in season three of Kid Stew, giving kids double the episodes we’ve ever done, with exciting new educational segments like hidden history and kitchen battles,” said series creator James Patterson about the new season. “And it’s still the most fun they’ll have watching a half-hour on any screen.”

Kid Stew’s mix of ingredients keeps young viewers interested with music and jokes while exploring seriously important forms of artistic expression and individuality. Interviews with popular authors Rick Riordan, Chris Grabenstein, Dorian Cirrone, Taryn Souders, Lee Gramling, Jonathan Rosen, and Tobie Easton reveal their inspiration and offer encouragement. Subtle suggestions to visit the library to further investigate interesting topics covered in the episodes remind viewers that reading isn’t just something you have to do for school. New this season, Who Knew? segments highlight heroes in history who haven’t become household names, from the teenage girl who rode with Paul Revere to the Sherpa guide who accompanied Sir Edmund Hillary to the summit of Mount Everest, and The Kid Stew Kitchen finds Kid Stew’s resident ‘foodie’ Luke challenging new cast member Josiah (and viewers) to make healthier food choices using simple recipes. Two of the eleven new shows highlight the ‘best of’ music and comedy segments from the series’ first two seasons.

Recurring segments bring a familiar combination of ingredients to each Kid Stew episode. Humorous time travel skits find the cell phone era kids transported in a classic phone booth to visit iconic figures including Andy Warhol, Jules Verne, Mary Shelley, Mark Twain, Jackson Pollock at critical points in their personal stories (often changing the course of history in the process). The Kid Stew Ewws! newscast, “the news where the truth is always gross,” offers strange but true reports of human hygiene, odd animal behaviors and more, plus parodies of cheesy commercials straight out of these kids’ parents’ childhoods. The kids go to the Really Big Brain (or “RBB”) for a deeper dive into the science behind topics in other segments in each episode (with a bonus of bad ‘dad’ jokes). Amazing Kids spotlights young people excelling in creative and challenging fields including a teen balloon dress designer, the world’s youngest BMX champion rider, and a sibling singing and dancing duos. KS Classics introduces viewers to music pioneers Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Louis Armstrong, Leonard Bernstein, Richard Wagner, Enrico Caruso, Django Reinhardt, Ravi Shankar, Gene Krupa, and Woody Guthrie. Art by the Globeful segments virtually visit Spain, Greece, Estonia, Panama, Russia, Denmark, and Germany to explore other cultures and learn about their unique creative legacies. Kid book reviews offer recommendations for viewers to look for in their local library to read themselves or to a younger sibling. Original music videos – sometimes with a message about issues important to kids like self-esteem or inclusion, sometimes just for fun - keep the pace moving along.

Families can follow the series on Instagram (KidStewTV), Facebook, and Twitter (@stew_tv). For more about the series, visit KidStew.TV.

Kid Stew is co-produced by South Florida PBS and James Patterson and presented nationally by South Florida PBS via American Public Television. The series was made possible by support from The Cornelia T. Bailey Foundation, and Michele and Howard Kessler.

*Suncoast Regional Chapter. Kid Stew won an Emmy ® Award in the category Outstanding Children’s Program for each of the four season one episodes and three of the six nominated season two episodes. Cast member Armando Bernal IV won in the Talent category in 2018.

About South Florida PBS

South Florida PBS is Florida’s largest public media company, including Public Broadcasting stations WXEL-TV, serving the Palm Beaches and WPBT, serving Miami-Dade and Broward counties. South Florida PBS connects organizations and institutions across our region and preserves South Florida's history. Leading the way in this global society, South Florida PBS serves diverse communities from Key West to the Sebastian Inlet and from the Atlantic Ocean west to Lake Okeechobee. South Florida PBS is committed to creating and presenting unique arts, education and cultural heritage programming, and serves as a model for telling unique local stories across a variety of digital media platforms. National productions presented to public television stations by South Florida PBS include James Patterson’s Kid Stew, Battleground Everglades, Changing Seas, and Blue Chip Kids. For more information, visit http://www.southfloridapbs.org/home/.

About APT

American Public Television (APT) is the leading syndicator of high-quality, top-rated programming to the nation’s public television stations. Founded in 1961, APT distributes 250 new program titles per year and more than one-third of the top 100 highest-rated public television titles in the U.S. APT’s diverse catalog includes prominent documentaries, performance, news and current affairs programs, dramas, how-to programs, children’s series and classic movies. America’s Test Kitchen From Cook’s Illustrated, Cook’s Country, AfroPoP, Rick Steves’ Europe, Christopher Kimball’s Milk Street Television, Front and Center, Doc Martin, Midsomer Murders, Lidia’s Kitchen, James Patterson's Kid Stew, Kevin Belton’s New Orleans Kitchen, Simply Ming, The Best of the Joy of Painting with Bob Ross, and P. Allen Smith’s Garden Home are a sampling of APT’s programs, considered some of the most popular on public television. APT also licenses programs internationally through its APT Worldwide service and distributes Create®TV — featuring the best of public television's lifestyle programming — and WORLD™, public television’s premier news, science and documentary channel. To find out more about APT’s programs and services, visit APTonline.org.