WordGirl

WordGirl (stylized as W✪RD GIRL) is an American animated superhero children's television series produced by the Soup2Nuts animation unit of Scholastic Entertainment for PBS Kids. The series began as a series of shorts entitled The Amazing Colossal Adventures of WordGirl that premiered on PBS Kids Go! on November 10, 2006, usually shown at the end of Maya & Miguel; the segment was then spun off into a new thirty-minute episodic series that premiered on September 3, 2007 to August 7, 2015 on most PBS member stations. The series of shorts consisted of thirty episodes, with 128 episodes in the full half-hour series and a film. WordGirl creator Dorothea Gillim felt that most children's animation "underestimated [children's] sense of humor" and hoped to create a more intellectual show for young audiences.

WordGirl
Title card
Also known as	The Amazing Colossal Adventures of WordGirl
Genre	Adventure Comedy Science fiction Educational Superhero Satire
Created by	Dorothea Gillim
Developed by	Dorothea Gillim Jack D. Ferraiolo
Directed by	David SanAngelo Steve Young
Voices of	Dannah Feinglass-Phirman Tom Kenny Maria Bamford Cree Summer Patton Oswalt Fred Stoller H. Jon Benjamin Larry Murphy James Adomian Grey DeLisle Jeffrey Tambor John C. McGinley
Narrated by	Chris Parnell Rodger Parsons (interstitials)
Theme music composer	Steve D'Angelo Terry Tompkins
Opening theme	"Word Up, It's WordGirl!"
Ending theme	"Word Up, It's WordGirl!" (instrumental)
Composer	Eggplant Productions Inc.
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of seasons	8
No. of episodes	128 (248 segments) 1 film (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producers	Dorothea Gillim (2007–09/seasons 1–2) Deborah Forte (2009–15/seasons 2–8)
Producers	Will Shepard (2007–09/season 1) Danielle Gillis (2009–15/seasons 2–8)
Running time	30 minutes
Production companies	Soup2Nuts Scholastic Entertainment
Original release
Network	PBS Kids Go! (2007–13) PBS Kids (2013–15)
Release	November 10, 2006 (2006-11-10) – October 10, 2007 (2007-10-10)
Release	September 3, 2007 (2007-09-03) – August 7, 2015 (2015-08-07)

By June 2014, many PBS stations had stopped airing WordGirl, opting to air more popular series throughout the summer. However, new episodes continued to air on select stations, with streaming options on the PBS Kids website and video app. The series ended with the two-part episode "Rhyme and Reason", which was released on August 7, 2015.

The show was created for children ages 4–9. By 2022, the show had gained a cult following through social media.

Premise

The series follows WordGirl, a 10-year-old girl with superpowers whose secret identity is Becky Botsford, a student. WordGirl is born on the fictional planet Lexicon (also a term referring to the vocabulary of a language or to a dictionary) but was sent away after sneaking onto a spaceship and sleeping there. Becky's pet chimpanzee and sidekick, Captain Huggy Face, who was a pilot in the Lexicon Air Force, piloted the ship, but lost control when WordGirl awoke, and crash-landed on Earth (more specifically in Fair City), a planet that affords WordGirl her superpowers, including flight and super strength. WordGirl utilizes these powers to save her adoptive home, using her downed spacecraft as a secret base of operations.

WordGirl is adopted and provided an alter ego by father Tim and mother Sally Botsford, who gave her the name Becky. While in her alter ego, she has a younger brother, TJ Botsford, obsessed with WordGirl, but still unknowingly a typical sibling rival to Becky. The family keeps Captain Huggy Face as a pet (a.k.a Bob). Becky attends Woodview Elementary School, where she is close friends with Violet Heaslip and the school newspaper reporter Todd "Scoops" Ming.

WordGirl tries to balance her superhero activities with her "normal" life. She battles against an assortment of villains that include but are not limited to The Butcher, Chuck the Evil Sandwich Making Guy, Dr. Two-Brains, Granny May, Mr. Big, Theodore "Tobey" McCalister III, Amazing Rope Guy and The Whammer. The villains are all prone to malapropisms. At the same time, she must worry about maintaining her second life as Becky, keeping people from discovering the truth and living normal family situations.

Series overview

Main article: List of WordGirl episodes

Season	Segments	Episodes		Originally aired
				First aired	Last aired	Network
Shorts
Shorts	30	30		November 10, 2006 (2006-11-10)	October 10, 2007 (2007-10-10)	PBS Kids Go!
Episodes
1	52	26		September 3, 2007 (2007-09-03)	January 2, 2009 (2009-01-02)	PBS Kids Go!
2	50	26		November 4, 2008 (2008-11-04)	July 20, 2010 (2010-07-20)
3	25	13		September 7, 2010 (2010-09-07)	July 8, 2011 (2011-07-08)
4		13		September 6, 2011 (2011-09-06)	June 11, 2012 (2012-06-11)
5		13		September 10, 2012 (2012-09-10)	June 14, 2013 (2013-06-14)
6	21	11		August 5, 2013 (2013-08-05)	June 6, 2014 (2014-06-06)	PBS Kids Go! PBS Kids
7	25	13		August 4, 2014 (2014-08-04)	February 20, 2015 (2015-02-20)	PBS Kids
8		13		June 10, 2015 (2015-06-10)	August 7, 2015 (2015-08-07)
Films	4	1		February 20, 2012 (2012-02-20)	February 20, 2012 (2012-02-20)	PBS Kids Go!

Characters

Main characters

• WordGirl (voiced by Dannah Phirman) – She is a 10-year-old superhero from the planet Lexicon who uses the alias of Becky Botsford when adopted by the Botsford family. She possesses super-strength, super-speed, super-hearning, and the knowledge of different word meanings. While WordGirl works to keep her true identity secret, the ones who do keep her identity secret upon finding out are Captain Huggy Face, Bampy Botsford, Todd Ming, and the Narrator.
• Captain Huggy Face (vocal effects provided by James Adomian at script readings) – He is a monkey from the planet Lexicon who is WordGirl's animal sidekick. He has been called a lot of other animals on occasion. Captain Huggy Face masquerades as a normal monkey when not fighting crime and also appears in the "May I Have a Word?" segment.
• The Narrator (voiced by Chris Parnell) – He is an unseen character who narrates each episode and tends to interact with the characters.
• Tim Botsford (voiced by Ryan Raddatz) – He is the indecisive adoptive father of Becky Botsford and the patriarch of his family.
• Sally Botsford (voiced by Maria Bamford) – She is the optimistic adoptive mother of Becky Botsford and the matriarch of the family who works as a district attorney.
• TJ Botsford (voiced by Tom Kenny) – He is the adoptive brother of Becky Botsford who is a fan of WordGirl.

Supporting characters

• Todd "Scoops" Ming (voiced by Ryan Raddatz) – He is a reporter for Woodview Elementary School's newspaper called the Daily Rag. He learns of WordGirl's true identity in "Invasion of the Bunny Lovers".
• Violet Heaslip (voiced by Maria Bamford) – She is the best friend of Becky Botsford.
• The Exposition Guy (voiced by Chris Parnell) – He is an unnamed man who is usually calling for help and mentioning what kind of crime is being committed.
• Reginald (voiced by H. Jon Benjamin) – He is the pompous owner of Ye Old Fancy Schmancy Jewelry Store which is often targeted by Fair City's villain community.
• Bill (voiced by Mike O'Connell) – He is the manager of the grocery store in Fair City. The episode "Caper of Plastic" revealed that he used to operate as a supervillain called the Masked Bagger who get annoyed when things like eggs are not placed on top of the groceries.

Villains

• Butcher (voiced by Jack D. Ferraiolo) – He is a butcher-themed villain who can summon meats for different attacks. He has a tendency to mix up words
  • Kid Potato (voiced by Ed Asner) – He is an elderly supervillain and the father of Butcher who does potato-based attacks.
• Dr. Two-Brains (voiced by Tom Kenny) – He is a mad scientist. Steven Boxleitner started out as a kind and distracted scientist until an accident fused him and an evil mouse together with the mouse's brain sticking out of Steven's head as he also sported pink eyes, whiskers, and white hair. Most of his plots revolved around cheese.
  • Dr. Two-Brains' Henchmen are two humans that consist of a large shaved-head man named Charlie and an unnamed man (voiced by Chris Parnell) – Who speaks for Charlie while acting as Charlie's best friend.
• Mr. Big (voiced by Jeffrey Tambor) – He is the CEO of Mr. Big Industries who wears a purple mask. Born Shelly Smalls, most of his plots involved the use of mind-control devices to get what he wants. Despite his various arrests, Mr. Big Industries still continues to run.
  • Leslie (voiced by Maria Bamford) – She is Mr. Big's personal assistant who carries out most of her boss' plans. She is usually the one who fights Captain Huggy Face.
  • Tiny Big (voiced by James C. Mathis III) – He is Mr. Big Industries' custom made pop music star. Fair City became a fan of his music. When WordGirl exposed that Tiny Big doesn't have an actual singing voice, Tiny Big fled with Mr. Big, Leslie, and Mr. Big's bodyguards. Tiny Big has made cameos since then.
  • Mr. Big's Bodyguards are two unnamed bald-headed men in sunglasses that are often seen with Mr. Big. The episode "Mr. Big's Dinner and a Scam" was the only time when they were arrested alongside their boss.
• Granny May (voiced by Cree Summer) – She is an elderly supervillain who fools people by pretending to be innocent in order to commit heists. She wears retractable armor when committing crimes and fighting Word Girl.
• Chuck the Evil Sandwich Making Guy (voiced by Fred Stoller) – He is a sandwich-headed supervillain with a sandwich motive that lives in his mother's basement. He does not have a way with words and uses different condiments as his weapons.
• Theodore "Tobey" McCallister III (voiced by Patton Oswalt) – He is a 10-year-old boy at Woodview Elementary School who is often shown using his giant robots to cause trouble in Fair City to win the affection of WordGirl.
• Eileen the Birthday Girl (voiced by Pamela Adlon) – She is a 10-year-old girl who thinks everyday is her birthday. When she gets angry, she grows to giant size and her skin turns green. Only by getting Eileen what she wants is what causes Eileen to return to normal size.
• Amazing Rope Guy (voiced by Larry Murphy) – He is a rope-themed villain who uses ropes in his minor crimes and is constantly being thwarted by WordGirl.
• Lady Redundant Woman (voiced by Amanda Plummer in the first appearance, Grey DeLisle in later appearances) – She was once a copy shop employee named Beatrice Bixby who pressed a button on a copy machine that fused them together. This turned Beatrice into Lady Redundant Woman who can make clones of herself and other items by touching her nose. In addition, she also mentions words that mean the same thing hence her name.
• Maria the Energy Monster (speaking voice provided by Maria Bamford in "Dinner or Consequences") – She is an electrical monster that was created when a ball of electricity was exposed to an experiment gone wrong.
• Whammer (voiced by John C. McGinley) – He is a supervillain who sends out sonic waves upon "whamming". While operating on his own, he has worked as henchmen to other villains.
• Coach (voiced by Ned Bellamy) – He is a motivation coach who turned to crime the day he met Whammer and tricked him to committing crimes for him. Both of them were defeated by WordGirl. Coach later started a villain school and had once again made use of Whammer to help his students improve themselves. The episode "Plain Old Mischief Makers" reveals that the Villain Society uses him to keep an eye on any villain that fails to prove themselves and to demote them to the mischief maker level of the Villain Society tier should they fail.
  • Big Left Hand Guy (voiced by Mike O'Connell) – He is a student of Coach who has a big left hand which comes in handy when hailing taxi cabs.
  • Invisi-Bill (voiced by H. Jon Benjamin) – He is a student of Coach who can turn invisible.
  • Timmy Tim-Bo (voiced by James Adomian) – He is a student of Coach whose self-described powers is that he naps a lot.
  • Ms. Question (voiced by Grey DeLisle) – She is a student of Coach who mostly asks questions. She later gained the ability to shoot question marks and give people amnesia.
• Hal Hardbargain (voiced by James Adomian) – He is a gadget supplier with an electrical eye patch and a mechanical arm who is the proprietor of Hal's Villain Supply Shop. He has sold equipment to any villains that come wanting to purchase them. Hal has allegedly had villain customers like Wally Walnuts, Tommy Two-Necks, Little Kahuna, and Rotten Pete. The only times he's ever been apprehended by WordGirl are "Rat Trap" and "Caper or Plastic"
• Seymour Orlando Smooth (voiced by Daran Norris) – He is a game show host and con artist who uses his different games shows as covers to steal people's money.
  • Harry Kemple and Chip Von Dumor (both voiced by James Adomian) – Their are Seymour's brothers who helps in some of his plots.
• Raul Demiglass (voiced by James Adomian) – He is a TV chef whose beef stew recipe comes from a can. In "Plain Old Mischief Makers", Raul is shown on the mischief maker part of the Villain Society tier and has befriended Glen Flurbaum.
• Glen Flurbaum (voiced by Brian Posehn) – He is the number-one fan of Dr. Two-Brains who temporarily worked as his henchman when Dr. Two-Brains' henchmen were on vacation. In "Dr. Three-Brains", Glen became Dr. Three-Brains by tying two fake brains to the side of his head and operated on his own. In "Plain Old Mischief Makers", Glen is shown on the mischief maker part of the Villain Society tier and has befriended Raul Demiglass.
• Nocan the Contrarian (voiced by Daran Norris) – He is a barbarian from Contraria who does the opposite of what he is told to do.
• Victoria Best (voiced by Kristen Schaal) – She is a child prodigy and student at Woodview Elementary School who is always trying to be the best at everything even when pressured by her parents.
  • General Smoochington is a western lowland gorilla who is Victoria Best's pet and sidekick.
• Captain Tangent (voiced by John Henson in his self-titled episode, Brian Stack in "The Penny, the Pony, and the Pirate") – He is a teenage pirate and former waiter at the pirate-themed restaurant Blackbeard's Buffet who was fired by his manager for telling tangents. He found a hook with magnetic properties that he used to become a supervillain.
  • Oscar is a scarlet macaw who is Captain Tangent's pet and sidekick.
• Learnerer (voiced by "Weird Al" Yankovic) – He is a supervillain in an adaptive super-suit who often adds suffixes to the words he uses.

Other characters

• The Mayor of Fair City (voiced by Ron Lynch) – He is an unnamed African-American man who is often seen making speeches.
• The Principal (voiced by Larry Murphy in "A Few Words from WordGirl") – He is the unnamed principal of Woodview Elementary School. While the principal first seen was a female, the principal from "A Few Words from WordGirl" was a male.
• Jade Davis (voiced by Amy Sedaris) – She is a teacher at Woodview Elementary School.
• Mrs. Ripley (voiced by Grey DeLisle) – She is an African-American woman who is the hyperactive gym teacher at Woodview Elementary School.
• Claire McCallister (voiced by Dannah Phirman) – She is the mother of Tobey McCallister III who works at the same district attorney's office as Sally Botsford. She is often annoyed that Tobey uses his robots to fulfill his purposes and tends to punish him when WordGirl thwarts him.
• Edith von Housenhous (voiced by Dannah Phirman) – She is a rich lady who would have items that would be targeted by supervillains.
• Warden Chalmers (voiced by Tom Kenny) – He is the prison warden of the Fair City Prison who wears a cowboy hat.
• Brent the Everybody-Loves-Him Sandwich Making Guy (voiced by Tom Kenny) – He is Chuck's more popular and successful brother with a similar sandwich motive.
• Police Commissioner Watson (voiced by A.D. Miles in "Swap Meat", Wayne Knight in "The Wrong Side of the Law") – He is the police commissioner of the Fair City Police Department who is known for jumping to conclusions when examining crime scenes.

Voice cast

Cast
Dannah Phirman	Becky Botsford / WordGirl, Claire McCallister, Chuck the Evil Sandwich Making Guy's Mother, Edith Von Hoosinghaus, Pretty Princess, Female Police Officers
Chris Parnell	The Narrator, Unnamed Dr. Two-Brains Henchman, Exposition Guy, Sergeant Henderson, Museum Guard
Tom Kenny	Steven Boxleitner / Dr. Two-Brains, TJ Botsford, Warden Chalmers, Brent the Handsome Successful Everyone-Love-Him Sandwich Making Guy, Steve McClean, Razzmatazzm, Beau Handsome (in "Tell Her What She's Won")
Cree Summer	Grandolyn May / Granny May
Patton Oswalt	Tobey McCalister III, Robots
Fred Stoller	Chuck the Evil Sandwich Making Guy
Jack D. Ferraiolo	The Butcher, The General
Pamela Adlon	Eileen / The Birthday Girl
Maria Bamford	Violet, Sally Botsford, Leslie, Johnson, Mrs. Best, Energy Monster (in "Dinner or Consequences")
Ryan Raddatz	Tim Botsford, Scoops, Oscar, Handy Man Todd, Scott Wild, Gold Store Clerk (in "Chuck!")
James Adomian	Captain Huggy Face / Bob, Timmy Tim-Bo, Harry Kempel, Chip Von Dumor, Hal Hardbargain, The Candlestick Maker, David Driscoll, Raul Demiglasse, Hunter Throbheart
Grey DeLisle	Beatrice Bixby / Lady Redundant Woman (2nd Time), Ms. Question, Mrs. Ripley
Daran Norris	Seymour Orlando Smooth, Nocan the Contrarian
Kristen Schaal	Victoria Best
Jeffrey Tambor	Shelly Smalls / Mr. Big, Mr. Birg
John C. McGinley	Whammer
H. Jon Benjamin	Reginald the Jewelry Store Clerk, InvisiBill, Museum Curator
Mike O'Connell	Bill the Grocery Store Manager, Big Left Hand Guy, El Mysterioso, Ed the Used Car Salesman (season 1)
Larry Murphy	Amazing Rope Guy, Mr. Best, Stu Brisket, Dave, Anthony, Officer Jim, Zookeeper, Principal (in "A Few Words from Wordgirl"), Ed the Used Car Salesman (season 2-8)
Stephen Root	Professor Robert Tubing
Ron Lynch	Mayor of Fair City
Amy Sedaris	Miss Jade Davis, Rhyme
John Henson	Captain Tangent
Ed Asner	Kid Potato
Ned Bellamy	The Coach
Jack McBrayer	Kid Math
Amanda Plummer	Beatrice Bixby / Lady Redundant Woman (1st Time)
Jim Gaffigan	Mr. Dudley
Brian Posehn	Glen Furlblam / Dr. Three-Brains
"Weird Al" Yankovic	Learnerer

Development

WordGirl began in 2006 as a series of shorts airing immediately after Maya & Miguel, becoming an independent show in September 2007.

The show's creator, Dorothea Gillim, believes that children's shows often underestimate children's intelligence:

Part of my mission is to make kids' television smart and funny. I feel as though we’ve lost some ground there, in an effort to make it more accessible. WordGirl's focus is on great stories, characters, and animation. If all those elements are working, then you can hook a child who may come looking for laughs but leave a little smarter.

Gillim says she created the show, in part, with the idea that parents would watch the show with their children to support their learning.

Each eleven-minute segment in each episode (except for the first three episodes) begins with verbal instructions to listen for two words that will be used throughout the plot of that episode. The words (examples include “diversion,” “cumbersome,” and “idolize”) are chosen according to academic guidelines. The reasoning is that children can understand words like “cumbersome” when told that it means “big and heavy and awkward”.

PBS NewsHour anchor Jim Lehrer agreed to do a mock interview with WordGirl. Jack D. Ferraiolo, who developed the series with Gillim and served as the series' head writer in season one, received an Emmy for his work on WordGirl.

Rather than hiring writers experienced with children's television, the show's original writers' previous credits included The Onion and Family Guy. Narrator Chris Parnell had previously worked on Saturday Night Live.

Format

Often, short animated segments are shown in between and at the end of episodes. "What's Your Favorite Word?", ostensibly hosted by Todd "Scoops" Ming, is a short jingle and a series of vox populi interviews asking random children what their favorite words are and why. A short game show segment called "May I Have a Word?" (stylized as MAYIHAVEAWORD in the text bubble on Beau Handsome's wall) airs following each eleven-minute segment. This segment features the game show host, Beau Handsome, asking three contestants the definition of a particular word. The segment was created by Kelly Miyahara, Barry Sonnenfeld, and Ryan Raddatz.

Yet another segment features the interstitials announcer (Rodger Parsons) asking Captain Huggy Face for a visual demonstration of a certain word (such as "strenuous" or "flummoxed"). When Captain Huggy Face correctly demonstrates the meaning of the word, a definition is given, followed by a victory dance by the chimpanzee sidekick.

During the four-part episode, "The Rise of Miss Power", a four-segment "Pretty Princess Power Hour" sketch is shown between acts, filling in for the average two-segment "May I Have a Word?" sketch, presumably to fill the double-length (52 minutes) time slot.

Website

The companion site to WordGirl lives on PBS Kids, and was built by interactive firm Big Bad Tomato. It contains vocabulary-building games, a section where children can submit their favorite word, a video page with clips from the show (only available in the US for legal reasons), a "Heroes and Villains" section with character biographies and activities, and a PBS Parents section with episode guides, lessons, a site map, and more activities to play at home. As of May 5, 2024, the website is still active.

Comics

A series of WordGirl comics were also released by Boom! Studios' new KaBOOM! line. The names of the volumes and the stories within them are:

• Coalition of Malice
  1. Coalition of Malice -
  2. Super Fans -
• Incredible Shrinking Allowance
  1. The Incredible Shrinking Allowance -
  2. Fondue, Fondon't -
• Word Up!
  1. The Ham Van Makes the Man -
  2. Think Big -
• Fashion Disaster
  1. Fashion Disaster -
  2. Fort Wham-Ground -

Awards

The show has received seven Daytime Emmy nominations, winning four for "Outstanding Writing in Animation" in 2008, 2012–2013 and Outstanding Writing in an Animated Program in 2015.

2008:

• 2008 Television Critics Association Award for Outstanding Achievement in Youth Programming, awarded July 19
• 2008 Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Writing in Animation

2009:

• Learning Magazine 2009 Teacher's Choice Award for Families
• 2009 iParenting Media Award
• Featured at the KIDS FIRST! Film Festival 2009
• NY Festivals' 2009 TV Programming and Promotions award

2012:

• 2012 Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Writing in Animation

2013:

• 2013 Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Writing in Animation

2015:

• 2015: Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Writing in an Animated Program

Reception

The series was positively received. Emily Ashby of Common Sense Media described the series as having a "brainy heroine [who] uses vocab to outwit bad guys." She also called it an "entertaining animated series" with some cartoon violence and said that it is an "excellent...choice for young grade-schoolers."

In 2022, Collider attested that the "non-white, little girl superhero" protagonist of WordGirl began a television trend on social media. The article claims that the generation who grew up watching WordGirl later demanded new and diverse heroes, such as Captain Marvel.

External links

• Official website
• WordGirl at Super3
• WordGirl at IMDb