''Weird but True!'' is an American

educational Education is a purposeful activity directed at achieving certain aims, such as transmitting knowledge or fostering skills and character traits. These aims may include the development of understanding, rationality, kindness, and honesty. Vari ...

children's television series Children's television series (or children's television shows) are television show, television programs designed for children, normally scheduled for broadcast during the morning and afternoon when children are awake. They can sometimes run during ...

created by and starring Charlie Engelman. It originally aired on

National Geographic Kids ''National Geographic Kids'' (often nicknamed to ''Nat Geo Kids'') is a children's magazine published by the National Geographic Society. Its first issue was printed in September 1975 under the original title ''National Geographic World'' (whic ...

for two seasons, and moved to

Disney+ Disney+ is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service owned and operated by the Media and Entertainment Distribution division of The Walt Disney Company. The service primarily distributes films and television se ...

for its third and final season. 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''.

Format

Using crafting with paper products, 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 The Everglades is a natural region of tropical wetlands in the southern portion of the U.S. state of Florida, comprising the southern half of a large drainage basin within the Neotropical realm. The system begins near Orlando with the Kissim ...

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 (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

. For season three, the budget was increased and the basement scenes were filmed at a studio in

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

. The third season was filmed prior to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

. 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 mitigation spread and 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.

Episodes

Season 1 (2016–17)

All episodes were written by Charlie Engelman.

Season 2 (2017–18)

All episodes were written by Charlie Engelman.

Season 3 (2020)

Reception

Critical response

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'' 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." Surbhi Gupta of ''

The Indian Express ''The Indian Express'' is an English-language Indian daily newspaper founded in 1932. It is published in Mumbai by the Indian Express Group. In 1999, eight years after the group's founder Ramnath Goenka's death in 1991, the group was split be ...

'' 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." Melissa Camacho of ''

Common Sense Media Common Sense Media (CSM) is an organization that reviews and provides ratings for media and technology with the goal of providing information on their suitability for children.

'' 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."

Accolades

References

External links

* * {{Disney+ original series 2010s American children's television series 2016 American television series debuts 2020s American children's television series 2020 American television series endings American children's education television series Disney+ original programming Emmy Award-winning programs English-language television shows Science education television series