American educational television series
Weird but True!
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Genre
| Educational
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Created by
| Charlie Engelman
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Directed by
| Brandon Gulish
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Presented by
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- Charlie Engelman
- Kirby Engelman
- Carly Ciarrocchi
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Country of origin
| United States
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Original language
| English
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No.
of seasons
| 3
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No.
of episodes
| 43
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Executive producers
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Producers
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- Charlie Engelman
- Stephanie Burns
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Running time
| 23?26 minutes
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Production companies
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Network
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Release
| September 10, 2016
(
2016-09-10
)
?
November 6, 2020
(
2020-11-06
)
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Weird but True!
is an American
educational
children's television series
created by and starring Charlie Engelman. It originally aired on
National Geographic Kids
for two seasons, and moved to
Disney+
for its third and final season.
[1]
Inspired by the
National Geographic
book series of the same name, much of its style and heavy use of paper models created by the Engelmans are continued from their earlier National Geographic short video series
Nature Boom Time
.
[2]
[3]
Format
[
edit
]
Using crafting with paper products,
[3]
the Engelman siblings explore "weird but true" things about a broad-range of subjects, mostly focusing on science. They interview experts and travel to locations such as crime labs, amusement parks, and the
Everglades
to find answers to their questions and discover weird but true facts, often having their experts share their favorite one. Their other sister Casey appears as a guest star.
Originally, the basement and other scenes set at their house were filmed at Charlie and Kirby's parents' house and basement, in a suburb north of
Chicago
. For season three, the budget was increased and the basement scenes were filmed at a studio in
New Jersey
.
[2]
The third season was filmed prior to the
COVID-19 pandemic
. However, several episodes happened to have connections to the experiences children had due to COVID-19, such as the science of germs and how to mitigate the spread of infections, as well as experiencing extreme isolation (although in the context of potentially living on Mars). For the third season, Charlie Engelman said that the art production team was "30 to 40 artists", in addition to their research and television production crew.
[4]
Episodes
[
edit
]
Season 1 (2016?17)
[
edit
]
All episodes were written by Charlie Engelman.
Season 2 (2017?18)
[
edit
]
All episodes were written by Charlie Engelman.
Season 3 (2020)
[
edit
]
Reception
[
edit
]
Critical response
[
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]
The Washington Post
praised the humor of the series and described it as a fun and learning experience, saying the show manages to be innovative and informative for its audience, writing, "This humorous and informative tween-oriented show looks at a wide range of topics from a variety of science perspectives. The Emmy-winning series is upbeat and fun, and there's a lot to be learned from it. It's a great pick for tweens and grade school-age kids."
[5]
Surbhi Gupta of
The Indian Express
said the series has an "engaging mix of art and craft, unbelievable facts, and real-life explorations" and that the show "has grown with each season in terms of scale."
[4]
Melissa Camacho of
Common Sense Media
rated the series 4 out of 5 stars, praised its educational value, saying the series invites its audience to deconstruct familiar topics in order to think about them from a different point of view, and complimented the presence of positive messages and role models, stating the series promotes science and innovative thinking through humor, writing, "It's upbeat and fun, and there's a lot to be learned from it, making it a great pick for tweens and up."
[6]
Accolades
[
edit
]
Year
|
Award
|
Category
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Recipient(s)
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Result
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Ref.
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2017
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Daytime Emmy Award
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Outstanding Writing in a Children's, Pre-School Children's or Family Viewing Program
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Charlie Engelman
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Nominated
|
[7]
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Outstanding Single Camera Editing
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Mike Varga (senior editor), Arthur 'Art' Citron (editor), Michael Novak (editor), Jocelyn Rose Tarquini (editor)
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Nominated
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2018
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Outstanding Sound Editing - Live Action
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Mike Varga (supervising sound editor)
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Nominated
|
[8]
|
Outstanding Special Class Short Format Daytime
|
James Introcaso (executive producer), Nathan Moore (executive producer). "Weird But True! Shorts".
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Nominated
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2019
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Outstanding Educational or Informational Series
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National Geographic Kids
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Won
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[9]
[10]
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Outstanding Directing for a Single Camera Lifestyle, Culinary, Travel or Educational and Informational Program
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Brandon Gulish (director),
National Geographic Kids
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Nominated
|
[11]
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2021
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Outstanding Daytime Program Host
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Carly Ciarrocchi
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Nominated
|
[12]
[13]
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Charlie Engelman
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Nominated
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Outstanding Art Direction/Set Decoration/Scenic Design
|
National Geographic Kids
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Nominated
|
[14]
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References
[
edit
]
- ^
Andreeva, Nellie (July 15, 2020).
"Nat Geo's 'Weird But True!' Moves To Disney+ For Season 3"
.
- ^
a
b
Swartz, Tracy (August 11, 2020).
"Northfield resident, Northwestern graduate co-host kids science show coming to Disney Plus"
.
chicagotribune.com
.
- ^
a
b
"Nature Boom Time"
.
Jackson Wild: Nature. Media. Impact
.
- ^
a
b
Surbhi Gupta (August 25, 2020).
"Children easily identify when someone is telling the truth and when they are not: Weird But True host Charlie Engleman"
.
The Indian Express
. Retrieved
June 15,
2022
.
- ^
"What to watch with your kids: 'Weird But True!,' 'The Grizzlies' and more"
– via www.washingtonpost.com.
- ^
"Weird but True TV Review | Common Sense Media"
.
www.commonsensemedia.org
. Retrieved
July 6,
2022
.
- ^
Montgomery, Daniel (April 29, 2017).
"2017 Daytime Emmy winners: Full list of Creative Arts winners"
.
GoldDerby
. Retrieved
April 5,
2023
.
- ^
"Daytime Emmy Awards 2018 Winners: The Complete List"
.
E! Online
. April 30, 2018
. Retrieved
April 5,
2023
.
- ^
"Nominees (Program ? Non-Drama) ? 2019 Daytime Emmy® Awards ? The Emmys"
.
theemmys.tv
. Archived from
the original
on March 2, 2021
. Retrieved
September 26,
2020
.
- ^
Hill, Libby (May 6, 2019).
"Complete List of Daytime Emmy and Daytime Emmy Creative Arts Awards Winners"
.
IndieWire
. Retrieved
April 5,
2023
.
- ^
"Nominees (Craft ? Non-Drama) ? 2019 Daytime Emmy® Awards ? The Emmys"
.
theemmys.tv
. Archived from
the original
on November 27, 2020
. Retrieved
September 26,
2020
.
- ^
"2021 Daytime Nominees (Performer ? Non-Drama) ? The Emmys"
.
theemmys.tv
. May 25, 2021
. Retrieved
June 15,
2022
.
- ^
Nordyke, Sharareh Drury,Lexy Perez,Kimberly; Drury, Sharareh; Perez, Lexy; Nordyke, Kimberly (July 18, 2021).
"Daytime Emmys: Zac Efron, 'Jeopardy!: The Greatest of All Time' Among Winners"
.
The Hollywood Reporter
. Retrieved
April 5,
2023
.
{{
cite web
}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (
link
)
- ^
"2021 Daytime Nominees (Craft ? Non-Drama) ? The Emmys"
.
theemmys.tv
. May 25, 2021
. Retrieved
June 15,
2022
.
External links
[
edit
]
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Entertainment Children's Series
(1974?1984)
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Children's Instructional Programming
(1976?1979)
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Informational Children's Series
(1976?1979)
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Children's Informational/Instructional Series
(1980?1984)
| |
---|
Children's Series
(1985?2016)
| |
---|
Pre-School Children's Series
(1995?2021)
| |
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Children's or Family Viewing Series
(2017?2020)
| |
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Preschool, Children's or Family Viewing Program
(2021)
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Education or Informational Series
(2018?2021)
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Current
| Original
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Continuations
| |
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International content
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(season 13, 2023, Italy)
|
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|
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Upcoming
| Original
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International content
| |
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Ended
| Original
| |
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Continuations
| |
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International content
|
- Arnoldo's Ristorantino
(2021, Argentina)
- Delicacies Destiny
(2021, China)
- @Gina Yei: #WithAllMyHeartAndMore
(2023, Puerto Rico)
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(2023, Brazil)
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(2022, South Korea)
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(2020, Italy)
- The Low Tone Club
(2023, Colombia)
- Matildas: The World at Our Feet
(2023, Australia)
- Parallels
(2022, France)
- Snowdrop
(2022, South Korea)
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