CTW Romps Onto Cable With 'Encyclopedia'
By ALISON LEIGH COWAN
Published: September 18, 1988
SO, YOU THINK YOU'RE WELL-informed? A new weekly television series making its debut tomorrow evening at 7:30 on Home Box Office may test that conviction.
Though designed for children, the program is chock-full of tidbits that would stump many adults. For instance, did you know which creatures existed before the dinosaurs? (Cockroaches.) Do pigs perspire? (No.) How did Attila the Hun die? (From overeating.) Officially, the newest brainchild of the Children's Television Workshop is called ''Encyclopedia.'' But inside HBO, people have dubbed it ''Saturday Morning Live.'' The moniker could not be more appropriate. The series was conceived for 6- to ll-year-olds but is being written and performed, by and large, by people whose metier until now has been more mature late-night entertainment. The mismatch makes sense. Many educators agree that children get a lot more from programs they watch with their parents. So, if the variety-show format and early-evening time slot invite family viewing, all the better. ''Encyclopedia'' is a departure for the predominantly nonprofit CTW, best known as the creator of ''Sesame Street'' and other educational children's programming shown on public television. The collaboration with HBO, the pay-television cable service available to only 16 million subscribers, raises the question of reconciling CTW's continuing search for funds with its long-stated mission to give all younger viewers, particularly the disadvantaged, equal access to quality programming.
Mixing animation with live actors, plus other special effects and songs with contemporary rhythms, each episode of the new series focuses on a different volume of an encyclopedia. Thus, the ''A'' chapter includes a breathlessly delivered monologue on the importance of air. The ''C'' segment, in order to explain what a census is, has a census-taker boarding Noah's ark. In the ''F'' installment, Goldilocks hollers, ''You've got the wrong blonde,'' while the Three Bears demonstrate how fingerprints are used to solve crimes. And the ''M'' entry illustrates the concept of memory by using two pirates struggling to remember where they buried the treasure.
The initial budget for ''Encyclopedia'' is fairly modest; typically, producers will deliver a new show at near cost in the hope that it turns into a hit. HBO is paying CTW a fee of $4.6 million to present 23 installments - $205,000 per half-hour episode.
That amount is comparable to what CTW charges for its ''Square One TV'' math series and ''3-2-1 Contact'' science series. This is notwithstanding the fact that ''Encyclopedia'' is being produced by Distinguished Productions, a for-profit subsidiary of CTW, and that it will pay tax on any profits it earns on the licensing fees.
The series' creators think that possible spinoffs are virtually endless. ''I have my midnight fantasies about 'Encyclopedia,' '' said Sheila Nevins, HBO's head of family and documentary programming, quickly correcting herself. ''It's a kid's show; I guess I should say noon fantasies.''
By public-television standards, the production time from pilot to program was mercilessly brief. Casting began in February 1987, with the producers looking deliberately for writing and acting talent that would be unlikely to condescend to a young audience. They ultimately plucked three of the six writers from NBC's ''Saturday Night Live,'' one of whom is Patricia Marx, the author of the not-for-children, self-help humor book ''How to Regain Your Virginity.''
Raiding comedy clubs and late-night TV show staffs was also part necessity. ''There's not a huge fraternity of writers making a lot of dollars writing children's stuff,'' said David V.B. Britt, CTW's president.
The ensemble's inexperience with children's programming caused some artistic clashes that Franklin Getchell, the series' executive producer, had to referee. ''My job a lot of the time was just saying no,'' he said. For instance, a song parody about Joan of Arc was abandoned when the lyrics (''Not just good/ Not just sweet/ Joan was a Saint/ Died of the heat.'') were deemed too tasteless for young viewers.
By last summer, a pilot was ready for the ''A'' show, and shortly thereafter, work was started on the other 22 scripts (''U'' and ''V'' are done jointly, as are ''X,'' ''Y'' and ''Z''). To get ideas, the producers and a part-time research staff rummaged through various encyclopedias, and their lists of suggestions were actively bartered by the writers. Steve Adams was happy to foist ''Dark Ages'' on Ms. Marx, and she was grateful to give Brian McConnachie ''entymology,'' though she unhappily got that one back.
All told, 202 vignettes were taped, enough for the series' creators to pick up a few morsels of learning along the way. Ms. Marx, for instance, impressed her friends with her mastery of quarks, gleaned from the ''Q'' show. That is, until they asked her where she learned her stuff. ''It was embarrassing to have to say, 'Britannica Junior.' ''
In their desire to lace the series with information, the writers admit that they sometimes belabor certain dramatic devices. For instance, many of the skits rely on carping. There's Cara the Caribou complaining about having to migrate in the ''M'' show [ see box ] . There's the overworked ant whose thorax aches from having to carry 50 times her weight. There's Beatrice the Bee sighing that she would rather flee than ''be a bee.''
''There is a lot of kvetching,'' said Ms. Nevins. ''It's an excuse to let the information out.''