TV Talk: Fred Rogers’ Production’s ‘Odd Squad’ gets 4th season and it's U.K.-based

Fred Roger’s Production’s “Odd Squad,” a rare live-action series for PBS Kids that educates children in math concepts while entertaining viewers of all ages with humorous adventures, will return for a fourth season, this time going across the pond to become “Odd Squad UK.”

In this new season a new group of agents, made up of a mostly British cast, will again use math to investigate strange occurrences. The new season will consist of 12 half-hour episodes that will debut on PBS Kids in 2024.

FRP will distribute the new season show in the U.S with Sinking Ship Entertainment and BBC Studios Kids Family Productions producing. It’s the latest evolution for a series that has seen several changes over the years including a third season set in an Odd Squad mobile unit.

“Odd Squad” debuted in 2014 and several of its young stars have gone on to promising Hollywood careers, including Anna Cathcart (Agent Olympia), who now stars in Netflix’s “XO, Kitty,” and Filip Geljo (Agent Otto), who played Aonung in “Avatar: The Way of Water.”

There are now 114 half-hour episodes of “Odd Squad” in circulation as well as a feature film, digital games, digital shorts and an “Odd Squad” podcast.

The first three seasons of “Odd Squad” filmed in Toronto but occasionally went on location, including filming scenes for a 2020 episode in Pittsburgh in August 2019.

‘Peanuts’ free streams

Apple TV+ will again make classic “Peanuts” holiday specials available for free streaming via Apple TV+ for non-Apple TV+ subscribers, including “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown” (Oct. 21-22), “A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving” (Nov. 18-19) and “A Charlie Brown Christmas” (Dec. 16-17).

R&R Hall of Fame

The annual “Rock Roll Hall of Fame Induction” telecast relocates from HBO to Disney+ (8 p.m. Nov. 3) and ABC (8-11 p.m. Jan 1) with the inductions of Kate Bush, Sheryl Crow, Missy Elliott, George Michael, Willie Nelson, Rage Against the Machine and The Spinners, along with DJ Kool Herc and Link Wray for musical influence, and Chaka Khan, Al Kooper, Bernie Taupin for musical excellence, as well as Don Cornelius for the Ahmet Ertegun Award.

Performers on the telecast will include Sheryl Crow, Missy Elliott, Chaka Khan, and Willie Nelson as well as special guests Brandi Carlile, Dave Matthews, Elton John, H.E.R., Chris Stapleton, St. Vincent and New Edition.

Channel surfing

Buddy Valastro’s first two shows for A&E debut next month with “Legends of the Fork” (9 p.m. Nov. 11) and “Buddy Valastro’s Cake Dynasty” (10 p.m. Nov. 11). … Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show” will return with new episodes at 11 p.m. Oct. 16 with rotating guest hosts continuing through at least the end of 2023.