The Puzzle Place

Infobox television
show_name = The Puzzle Place


caption =
format = Children's television series
runtime = 30 minutes
creator =
starring = Julie Woo, Kiki Flores, Ben Olafson, Sonny MacNeal (aka Leon), Cuchi Nakaiye (aka Skye), Jody Silver, Sizzle and Nuzzle, The Piece Police, Kyle O'Connor
country = USA
network = PBS
first_aired = January 16, 1995
last_aired = December 4, 1998

num_episodes = 75

"The Puzzle Works" is a children's television show produced by KCET in Los Angeles, California and Lancit Media in New York City, New York. It premiered on the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) on January 16, 1995, (although production was dated starting 1994) and ran for about four years, ending in 1999. The show followed a multi-ethnic group of kids (puppets) from a different parts of the United States who hung out at "the Puzzle Place". In each episode the characters were confronted with an everyday conflict usually encountered in childhood, such as making moral decisions, sharing, racism, etc.

Characters

;Julie Woo: A Chinese-American girl from San Francisco, California. She is very sensitive and caring of her personal possessions and she sometimes tries a little too hard. She is performed by Alice Dinnean.;Kiki Flores: A Mexican-American girl from San Antonio, Texas. She is very outgoing and has a temper. She once pretended to be a homeless alien after being teased about her "accent". She also is a great chili cook and has a Spanish-speaking cousin who helped everyone to learn about acceptance. She is performed by Carmen Osbahr.;Ben Olafson: A boy of German and Norwegian descent from a farm near Renner, South Dakota. He is good at difficult puzzles and is a talented dancer. He is performed by Jim Martin.;Sonny MacNeal (aka Leon): An African-American boy from New York City. He enjoys putting macaroni up his nose. He wears dreadlocks and gets jealous easily and sometimes does not think before he acts. Leon is a fan of hip-hop music (as in Gotta Dance) and loves basketball. He is performed by the same puppeteer of Bear from "Breakfast with Bear" and "Bear in the Big Blue House", Noel MacNeal (in fact, the puppet's first name is the puppeteer's first name spelled backwards, and the last name is the same).;Cuchi Nakaiye (aka Skye): An Apache boy from an Indian reservation in Arizona who always wears a bandana, a raincoat, and a feather necklace. He's very curious and always sticks to his values and his culture. He is performed by Peter Linz.;Jody Silver: A Lithuanian-Jewish girl from Cincinnati, Ohio. She does not like to be called names and is very gullible but is very enthusiastic. She is performed by Alison Mork.;Sizzle and Nuzzle: The anthropomorphic pet dog and cat at the Puzzle Place. They are seen mostly in the basement, talking to each other and act as animals around the Puzzle Place kids. They are usually involved in a subplot. Fun Fact: Sizzle and Nuzzle were played the same puppeteers as the ones who played Julie and Skye (Alice Dinnean and Peter Linz);The Piece Police: Multicolored inhabitants of the puzzle place. The piece police don't speak, communicating amongst themselves using grumbling noises, although they understand the English language. It has been hinted in some episodes that they all know what both Sizzle and Nuzzle are saying.;Kyle O'Connor: An Irish-American boy with a disability from Savannah, Georgia. He loves to play basketball and loves to listen to rock and roll music. Kyle was added sometime after the series was created.

Puppeteers

*Alice Dinnean as Julie Woo and Sizzle
*Carmen Osbahr as Kiki Flores
*Jim Martin as Ben Olafson
*Noel MacNeal as Leon MacNeil
*Peter Linz as Skye Nakaiye and Nuzzle
*Alison Mork as Jody Silver

Reception

In the weeks after its debut, The Puzzle Place won a great deal of acclaim, and "enjoyed an average audience-per-viewing second only to 'Barney and Friends' among shows in the popular PBS daily children's block." [cite web |url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0EIN/is_1995_April_4/ai_16769498 |title=Lancit Media sees domestic "Puzzle Place" licensing guarantees approaching $12 million; CEO reports "highly promising" early ratings for Lancit/KCET Series at Alex. Brown Media/Communications seminar in NYC |accessdate=2008-06-25 |last= |first= |coauthors= |date=1995-04-04 |work=BNET |publisher=CNET Networks, Inc. ] It received a citation of excellence from UNIMA-USA for its use of puppetry. [cite web |url=http://unima-usa.org/citations/96recorded.html |title=Citations of Excellence Recipients (1996) RECORDED MEDIA CATEGORY |accessdate=2008-06-25 |last= |first= |coauthors= |date= |work= |publisher=UNIMA-USA ]

Funding

*Corporation for Public Broadcasting (1994-1998)
*Viewers Like You (1994-1995-1998)
*Edison International (1994-1998)
*Sears Roebuck & Co. (1995-1997)
*IBM (1995-1998)
*Chef Boyardee (1997-1998)

And here's a sample of the funding announcementsfrom The Puzzle Place...

1994-1995: "The Puzzle Place is made possible by a major grant from The Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Major corporate underwritingis provided by SCE Corp. Creative energy gives us the power toachieve just about anything. At SCE Corp and our sub-city areas,Southern California Edison, Mission Energy, and Mission FirstFinancial, we believe that working together, we can make a worlda difference."

1995-1996: "The Puzzle Place is made possible by a major grant fromThe Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and by annual financialsupport from Viewers Like You. Creative energy gives us the power toachieve just about anything. At SCE Corp and our sub-city areas,Southern California Edison, Mission Energy, and Mission FirstFinancial, we believe that working together, we can make a world adifference. Sears, supporting The Puzzle Place is just one on themany size of Sears. The Puzzle Place is supported by IBM."

1996-1997: "The Puzzle Place is made possible by a major grant fromThe Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and by annual financialsupport from Viewers Like You. By using our creative energy inworking together, we can all make the world a little brighter.Edison International, and the Edison International family ofcompanies. Sears, supporting The Puzzle Place is just one on themany size of Sears. The Puzzle Place is supported by IBM."

1997-1998: "The Puzzle Place is made possible by a major grant fromThe Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and by annual financialsupport from Viewers Like You.By working together, we canall make the world a little brighter at Edison International. ThePuzzle Place is supported by IBM. Chef Jr., from the makers of ChefBoyardee, proudly supports educational programming on PBS."

Episode Guide

eason One

# Tippy Woo (1/16/1995)
# Train Drivin' Kids (1/17/1995)
# Rip Van Wrinkle (1/18/1995)
# Accentuate the Positive (1/19/1995)
# Gotta Dance (1/20/1995)
# Birthdays (1/23/1995)
# Butterfingers (1/24/1995)
# Rock Dreams (1/25/1995)
# Babies (1/26/1995)
# Spud Buds (1/27/1995)
# Different Drummer (1/30/1995)
# I Love Kiki (1/31/1995)
# Shape of a Puzzle (2/1/1995)
# Cute Is as Cute Does (2/2/1995)
# Leon's Pizza (2/3/1995)
# Real Horses (2/6/1995)
# Going by the Book (2/7/1995)
# Mad Music Magic (2/8/1995)
# Party of One (2/9/1995)
# Hats (2/10/1995)
# Picture Perfect (2/13/1995)
# Maiden Voyages (2/14/1995)
# Summer Cooler (2/15/1995)
# Bully for Jody (2/16/1995)
# Ben's Bad Hair Day (2/17/1995)
# All Weather Friends (2/20/1995)
# Bread and Matzoh (2/21/1995)
# Owning It (2/22/1995)
# Baffled Ben (2/23/1995)
# Practice Makes Perfect (2/24/1995)
# Finders Keepers (2/27/1997) (This Episode can be seen on the Kids for Character with Tom Selleck VHS)
# Dance Fever (2/28/1997)
# At the End of Our Rope (3/1/1995)
# Just Kidding (3/2/1995)
# Everything in Its Place (3/3/1995)
# Big Boys Don't Cry (3/6/1995)
# Here's to the Winners (3/7/1995)
# A World of Difference (3/8/1995)
# Willing and Able (3/9/1995)
# It's Magic (3/10/1995)
# Telephones (3/11/1995)
# Beyond your Wildest Dreams (3/16/1995)

eason Two

# Deck the Halls (1/15/1996)
# Dressing Up is Hard to Do (1/16/1996)
# One Way (1/17/1996)
# Oldies But Goodies (1/18/1996)
# Helping Hands (1/19/1996)
# Yellow Belt (1/22/1996)
# The Mystery of the Fabulous Hat (1/23/1996)
# How Much is That Doggie in the Window? (1/24/1996)
# The New Adventures of Julie Woo (1/25/1996)
# We Three Kings (1/26/1996)
# Hello, Maggie (1/29/1996)
# Off the Track (1/30/1996)
# Beautiful Doll (1/31/1996)
# Tattle Tales (2/1/1996)
# Those Ears, Those Eyes (2/2/1996)
# That's Weird (2/5/1996)
# The Ballad of Davy Cricket (2/6/1996)
# Little Leon, Big Ben (2/7/1996)
# I Scream, You Scream (2/8/1996)
# Skye's Coat (2/9/1996)
# It's Mine (2/12/1996)
# One Big, Happy Family (2/13/1996)
# Leon Grows Up (2/14/1996)
# Cowpokes (2/15/1996)
# Hurricane Julie (2/16/1996)

eason Three

# Family Fun (10/19/1998)
# Anything She Can Do (10/20/1998)
# You Don't Match (10/21/1998)
# To Have and Have Not (10/26/1998)
# Fiesta Follies (10/27/1998)
# Between You and Me (10/28/1998)
# A Star is Burned (10/29/1998)
# Spooky (10/30/1998)
# Up! (12/3/1998)
# I'm Talking to You (12/4/1998)

References

External links

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