''Popular Mechanics for Kids'' (sometimes abbreviated to ''PMK'') is a Canadian educational television program based on ''
Popular Mechanics
''Popular Mechanics'' (sometimes PM or PopMech) is a magazine of popular science and technology, featuring automotive, home, outdoor, electronics, science, do-it-yourself, and technology topics. Military topics, aviation and transportation o ...
'' magazine. The program aired on
Global TV
The Global Television Network (more commonly called Global, or occasionally Global TV) is a Canadian English-language terrestrial television network. It is currently Canada's second most-watched private terrestrial television network after CT ...
from 1997 to 2000. It was notable for starting the careers of
Elisha Cuthbert
Elisha Ann Cuthbert Phaneuf (; born 30 November 1982) is a Canadian actress and model. As a Child actor, child actress, she made her first televised appearance as an extra in the Canadian horror-themed series for children ''Are You Afraid of the ...
,
Jay Baruchel
Jonathan Adam Saunders Baruchel (; born April 9, 1982) is a Canadian actor, comedian, director and screenwriter. He is known for his voice role as Hiccup Haddock in the ''How to Train Your Dragon'' franchise, and for his roles in comedy movies ...
,
Tyler Kyte
Jonathan Tyler "Ty" Kyte (born July 24, 1984) is a Canadian actor and musician. He was born in Lindsay, Ontario, and began his acting career with commercials and performing in the Musical Tommy in Toronto. Kyte was made famous amongst Canadian ...
, and
Vanessa Lengies
Vanessa Lengies (born July 21, 1985) is a Canadian actress, dancer and singer. She is known for starring in the drama ''American Dreams'' as Roxanne Bojarski. She appeared as Charge Nurse Kelly Epson on the TNT medical drama ''HawthoRNe'', and ha ...
. The show's intent was to teach viewers how things work. It was awarded the Parents Choice Award in 2003, and was nominated for the
Gemini Awards
The Gemini Awards were awards given by the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television between 1986–2011 to recognize the achievements of Canada's television industry. The Gemini Awards are analogous to the Emmy Awards given in the United States a ...
.
Along with Elisha Cuthbert and Jay Baruchel, the cast included Charles Powell, nicknamed "Charlie" for the program,
Tyler Kyte
Jonathan Tyler "Ty" Kyte (born July 24, 1984) is a Canadian actor and musician. He was born in Lindsay, Ontario, and began his acting career with commercials and performing in the Musical Tommy in Toronto. Kyte was made famous amongst Canadian ...
(who joined the show in the second season), and eventually
Vanessa Lengies
Vanessa Lengies (born July 21, 1985) is a Canadian actress, dancer and singer. She is known for starring in the drama ''American Dreams'' as Roxanne Bojarski. She appeared as Charge Nurse Kelly Epson on the TNT medical drama ''HawthoRNe'', and ha ...
.
Overview
The program starts off with an overview of the episode. The hosts (Elisha, Tyler, Jay, and later Vanessa) then start their adventures on the show (amusement park, snowboarding, surfing, visiting a science museum, etc.) Throughout the adventures, short, educational segments are shown.
In the segment "Charlie's Experiment / Tip", host Charlie, and sometimes the other hosts, demonstrate an experiment. He sometimes answers frequently asked questions about related science topics. At the start of season 3, one of the hosts (usually Vanessa) would go on a third adventure. The show then comes to a close, with the co-hosts saying "See you next week!".
There have been four VHS videos called "How Do They Build?", hosted by a boy named Mike and a miniaturized man named Pop.
Segments
* Maniac Brainiac
* Cool Tool
* Charlie's Experiment/Tip
* Mechanix with Nix and Tix, later known as just Nix & Tix
* Action!
* Coming Up on PMK
* Rewind
* Fast Forward
* FACTory
* Under the Hood
* Gear Gutz
* Sparks
* System Error
* eXtreme
Episodes
Cast
*
Elisha Cuthbert
Elisha Ann Cuthbert Phaneuf (; born 30 November 1982) is a Canadian actress and model. As a Child actor, child actress, she made her first televised appearance as an extra in the Canadian horror-themed series for children ''Are You Afraid of the ...
*
Jay Baruchel
Jonathan Adam Saunders Baruchel (; born April 9, 1982) is a Canadian actor, comedian, director and screenwriter. He is known for his voice role as Hiccup Haddock in the ''How to Train Your Dragon'' franchise, and for his roles in comedy movies ...
*
Tyler Kyte
Jonathan Tyler "Ty" Kyte (born July 24, 1984) is a Canadian actor and musician. He was born in Lindsay, Ontario, and began his acting career with commercials and performing in the Musical Tommy in Toronto. Kyte was made famous amongst Canadian ...
*
Vanessa Lengies
Vanessa Lengies (born July 21, 1985) is a Canadian actress, dancer and singer. She is known for starring in the drama ''American Dreams'' as Roxanne Bojarski. She appeared as Charge Nurse Kelly Epson on the TNT medical drama ''HawthoRNe'', and ha ...
* Charles Powell
Production
The show was filmed primarily in
Montreal
Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...
,
Quebec
Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...
. The show was produced by the
Global Television Network
The Global Television Network (more commonly called Global, or occasionally Global TV) is a Canadian English-language terrestrial television network. It is currently Canada's second most-watched private terrestrial television network after ...
in Canada,
Hearst Entertainment
Hearst Communications, Inc., often referred to simply as Hearst, is an American multinational mass media and business information conglomerate based in Hearst Tower in Midtown Manhattan, New York City.
Hearst owns newspapers, magazines, televis ...
in the United States, and finally
TVA International in Canada for the final episodes in 2000.
Broadcast
The series aired in
syndication
Syndication may refer to:
* Broadcast syndication, where individual stations buy programs outside the network system
* Print syndication, where individual newspapers or magazines license news articles, columns, or comic strips
* Web syndication, ...
in the United States (including
Hearst-owned television stations), before moving to moving to
Discovery Kids
Discovery Kids (stylized as Discovery K!ds) is a brand name owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Starting as a television segment within the Discovery Channel, the brand expanded as a separate television channel. Most of its worldwide channels were ei ...
on Saturday mornings by the program's final season in 2000.
Re-runs of the show continued to air on many channels until 2008. It piloted on
BBC Kids
BBC Kids is the international children's brand of BBC Studios, and has been applied to a number of TV services. It draws from the long history of children's programming on the BBC, and is strongly related to the CBBC channel in the United Kingd ...
and
Discovery Kids
Discovery Kids (stylized as Discovery K!ds) is a brand name owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Starting as a television segment within the Discovery Channel, the brand expanded as a separate television channel. Most of its worldwide channels were ei ...
in Canada until December 31, 2009. After the closure of Discovery Kids Canada, BBC Kids stopped airing reruns in all countries except Canada. The reruns on BBC Kids in Canada ended on May 14, 2011. re-runs of the show continue to air on
Knowledge Network
Knowledge Network, also branded as British Columbia's Knowledge Network, is a Canadian publicly funded educational cable television network serving the province of British Columbia. It is owned by the Knowledge Network Corporation, a Crown corpo ...
. In the United States, the show can currently be streamed on
Tubi
Tubi is an American over-the-top content platform and ad-supported streaming service owned by Fox Corporation. The service was launched on April 1, 2014, and is based in Los Angeles, California. In January 2021, Tubi reached 33 million monthly ...
and
The Roku Channel
The Roku Channel is an American over-the-top video streaming service owned and operated by Roku, Inc., which launched in September 2017.
History
In September 2017, Roku, Inc. launched a free, ad-supported streaming channel for its digital media ...
.
Home media
A number of VHS copies (and later, DVDs) have been released by
Koch Vision
Entertainment One Ltd., trading as eOne, is an American-owned Canadian multinational entertainment company. Based in Toronto, Ontario, the company is primarily involved in the acquisition, distribution, and production of films and television se ...
and
E1 Entertainment
E1, E01, E.I or E-1 may refer to:
Transportation Aircraft
* Azcárate O-E-1, Azcárate E-1, a Mexican sesquiplane trainer
* Fokker E.I, a German fighter aircraft
* Grumman E-1 Tracer, an American airborne early warning aircraft
* Hydra Technolog ...
.
* ''Slither and Slime and Other Yucky Things''
* ''Radical Rockets and Other Cool Cruising Machines''
* ''Rip Roaring Rollercoasters and All Access to Fun''
* ''Gators, Dragons and Other Wild Beasts''
* ''Super Sea Creatures and Awesome Ocean Adventures''
* ''Lightning and Other Forces of Nature''
* ''X-Treme Rides''
* ''Roller Coasters''
* ''Firefighters and Other Lifesaving Heroes''
* ''Zoos''
* ''Garbage''
* ''Popular Mechanics For Kids: 4 DVD Box Set''
* ''Popular Mechanics For Kids: 6 DVD Box Set''
* ''Popular Mechanics For Kids: The Complete First Season''
* ''Popular Mechanics For Kids: The Complete Second Season''
* ''Popular Mechanics For Kids: The Complete Third Season''
* ''Popular Mechanics For Kids: The Complete Fourth Season''
* ''How Do They Build Bridges''
* ''How Do They Build Skyscrapers''
* ''How Do They Build Tunnels''
* ''How Do They Build Spaceships''
References
External links
*
* {{Thetvdb, 76291
1997 Canadian television series debuts
2000 Canadian television series endings
Canadian children's education television series
Television shows filmed in Montreal
First-run syndicated television programs in the United States
Television shows based on magazines
Science education television series
Global Television Network original programming
1990s Canadian children's television series
2000s Canadian children's television series
Television series about teenagers
Television series by Entertainment One
Television series by Corus Entertainment
Canadian children's reality television series
English-language television shows