KCEd Television Series
I really want to thank all of you for coming today. I can't say that ever in my entire years of production have I had so many educated and wonderful people willing to help me develop a television show. And of course we'’re here today to create something that's very special. KCET has a long history of children's development and accompanying Ready-to-Learn, education and Outreach programs, but I don't think we've ever tackled anything with the scope and the potential of KCEd.

Expanding early childhood development is something that we've all identified as crucial, not only to our community, but to society as a whole. And as both a production company and a broadcaster, I think KCET is uniquely poised to contribute in a very meaningful way.

Before we begin, I'd like to go over how we've planned the production schedule. We're looking at KCEd in three phases. Phase one is R&D, research and development. Good discussion has been generated by the White Paper and task force meetings, which have built to today's convening. Utilizing information that comes from today, we will begin to develop the program, hire an executive producer and put the first pieces of KCEd into place. During phase two, we'll produce a pilot or a presentation of the series. We'll work with focus groups, refine the content and really begin to develop what the series should look like. Phase three will push us into our production. We will begin pre-production in the winter for hopefully a late spring broadcast launch.

Now, to complete this project and to make it really effective, we need all of your help. From both the education and the television standpoint, the primary goal is to engage with both the children as well as the caregivers. The many aspects of how we're going to accomplish that will be the topics today. I think Ann did an incredible job with the White Paper. That is the springboard for our discussions. We're all really looking forward to your insights.

To start the dialogue, I thought you might find it helpful to hear some of the questions that have percolated up as we've been talking about production. Initially, one of the questions was program length. We're dealing with two separate audiences – the preschoolers and the adults. We want to service the needs of both audiences in the most effective and entertaining way possible. “Sesame Street” proves daily that it's possible to entertain an adult audience while speaking to children. And my instinct is that it's much better to blend lessons for caregivers with a program that's geared for children. My suspicion is that creating a program that's geared specifically for caregivers, even if we knock it out of the park, will still be a challenge in terms of getting viewers. I think that whether someone is at home with their own children or whether they're working as a caregiver, there will always be something in a really busy day that will distract them from a program that's geared specifically to education and adult information. If, however, we can get the kids to watch, I think, with their caregivers, we'll have a better opportunity of expanding our reach.

In addition to the format question, I have a list of a few other issues that I hope we can discuss today. They all revolve around what we should expect to accomplish with this kind of television.

What should the children and caregivers be able to do after they've watched the show for a while? What are our priorities? What do we need to accomplish in terms of impact on the community and how do we evaluate that success? To do this, we need your help in understanding the development capacities of children who are two to five years old. How general or specific do we need to be to ensure the full range of those who are watching are able to enjoy the show as well as benefit from it?

And of course that kind of leads us into curriculum. What types of skills do the children need? How do they learn and develop? How can caregivers evaluate the progress that they're making with the children they're working with? What are the ideal segment lengths? In terms of repeats, how much is too much? And if that's not a large enough assignment, I'd also like to add one more component.

We have a significant population that is going to be speaking Spanish. Do you think it is better that we include Spanish in the program or should we rely more heavily on the second audio program? How we handle a second language may affect the after-market life of the program, if we're taking it into communities that don't have a large Latino population. These are all issues that we're really looking at.

As we work through these questions, my hope is that, as educators, you see the real benefits of using television. I'd like you to think about what we can bring to your work and how we can help you. As a producer, I've always relished the idea that there's an opportunity to bring a viewer some place that they might not regularly experience. That can be some place tangible and geographic, or it can be emotional and intellectual. What is the value of a field trip? Is it something that we should really focus on? Going some place? Or is it more of an intellectual field trip? That kind of content and how it plays out for preschool is something that we're just really curious about. Is our environment a home or a preschool? Is it calm and soothing or is it really exciting and engaging in more loud ways?

I'm certain we won't be able to fully resolve these issues in today's meeting, but they are just some of the questions that have come up as we've discussed production. And I'm also certain that there are plenty of questions that we haven't asked.

In our early task force meetings, the idea of repetition came up. Obviously repeating for the benefit of children is self-evident. I even got that. But in television, repeating is a bad thing. But in engaging with children, it's good. When repetition was brought up in this context, it completely altered how we began to think about this program. Repeating segments became an asset not only to the series but a huge savings to the budget. So my point in telling you this is that just because we haven't asked the question, doesn't mean we don't need to know it.

When my kids were a little bit smaller, I volunteered to read aloud in their classrooms. At that time, KCET had a show called “Story Time,” and it was a series that demonstrated the value of reading aloud to children. I used to watch an episode, use the same book, mimic the performance, and go into their classroom. Now I don't want to say I was the most popular mom, but I did get a really terrific reaction. I think a lot of it had to do with the fact that I was copying the stars, who used their talents for inflection and accent and storytelling.

I do believe that modeling behavior, whether it's subconscious or intentional, and whether it's by an adult or a child, could be a very important goal of this series. How we create elements that are easy to copy is going to be another question. How we get there and what it looks like is still very much in flux.

Developing a TV show is a lot like cooking. If you do it with joy and love and enthusiasm, it just ends up tasting better. I have absolutely no doubt that there's plenty of passion and commitment in this room. When we launch the show, I'm certain we will all have been proud to be part of its beginnings. So let me thank you in advance for your time and your good work.