8.6 /10 1 Votes
5/5 Amazon Country of origin Canada No. of seasons 4 First episode date 7 September 1997 | 8.5/10 IMDb 7.4/10 TV Original language(s) English No. of episodes 72 Final episode date 12 February 2001 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Directed by Jean-Louis Cote, Serge Marcil, Zsolt Luka, Sid Goldberg, Starring Elisha CuthbertJay BaruchelTyler KyteVanessa LengiesCharles Powell Cast | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Popular Mechanics for Kids (sometimes abbreviated to PMK) is an educational Canadian television series based on Popular Mechanics magazine. It was notable for starting the careers of Elisha Cuthbert, Jay Baruchel and Tyler Kyte. The show's intent is to teach viewers how things work. It was awarded the Parents Choice Award in 2003, and was nominated for the Gemini Awards.
Contents
The series aired on Global TV from 1997 to 2001, and re-runs of the show continued to air on many channels until 2008. It piloted on BBC Kids and Discovery Kids 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. As of 2013 re-runs of the show continue to air on Knowledge Network. Along with Cuthbert and Baruchel, the cast included Charles Powell nicknamed "Charlie" for the series, Tyler Kyte (who joined the show with Jay in the second series), and eventually Vanessa Lengies.
The show was filmed primarily in Montreal, Quebec, and is currently distributed on VHS / DVD by Koch Vision.
Episode Overview
The show 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.
Another segment is shown, with host Charlie (called Charlie's Experiment / Tip. It is show with him (and sometimes the other hosts) demonstrating an experiment. He sometimes answers frequently asked questions about related science topics. At the start of season 3, one of the hosts (mostly Vanessa) would go on a third adventure. The show then comes to a close, with the co-hosts saying "See you next week!".
Cast
Segments
DVDs
A number of VHS copies (and later, DVD's) have been released by Koch Vision and E1 Entertainment.