Work It Out Wombats!

The logo of the series.

**Work It Out Wombats!** is an American animated children's television series that premiered on February 6, 2023. The show is produced by **GBH Kids** and **Pipeline Studios**, and is broadcast on PBS Kids.

## Setting

The series follows three anthropomorphic marsupial siblings, Malik, Zadie and Zeke, raised by their grandmother Super, along with various animals, who live on a large treehouse residence known as the Treeborhood, solving problems by using computational thinking. The show's curriculum helps young children learn to solve meaningful problems, use flexible thinking skills and how to express themselves in different ways.

## Characters

### Main characters

* Malik (voiced by Ian Ho) - a 7-year-old blue-gray wombat that is the oldest of the trio. He is very generous and meticulous, and likes to keep company with the other wombats.
* Zadie (voiced by Mia SwamiNathan) - a 6-year-old lavender wombat that is inventive and energetic. She is very creative at thinking, brainstorming new ideas for the trio to do.
* Zeke (voiced by Rain Janjua) - a 4-year-old yellow wombat that is the youngest of the trio. He usually carries a stuffed light blue wombat named Snout. He is curious, asking questions along the way and hanging out with the trio.
* Super (voiced by Yanna McIntosh) - a teal wombat who is the grandmother of the siblings and the superintendent of the Treeborhood living in her 50s. She encourages her children to make mistakes and solve them.

### Supporting characters

* Mr. E (voiced by Joseph Motiki) - an iguana that is the owner of the Everything Emporium shop. He can be grumpy at times, but helps out the wombats. He also has a crush on Ellie, which she is the only character that has an affectionate relationship towards.
* Ellie (voiced by Tymika Tafari) - a yellow Jamaican moose who is an EMT of the Treeborhood in her 30s. She is very kind-hearted and likes to bounce on a trampoline and exercise.
* Louisa (voiced by Claire Mackness) - an adopted 4-year-old pink tarsier who is curious and wants to know about anything. She is friends with Zeke.
* Duffy and Leiko (voiced by Shosanna Sperling and Ana Sani, respectively) - a pair of kangaroos who are a lesbian couple who are the mothers of Louisa the tarsier. They had formerly been together in a rock music duo. Duffy is a worker for the Eat 'N Greet cafe, while Leiko is the COO of the Creation Station.
* Sammy (voiced by Baeyen Hoffman) - a young emerald tree boa snake, who has a Puerto Rican heritage. He is best friends with Malik.
* Quique (voiced by B'atz' Recinos) - a green snake, Sammy's father. He is a teacher for the Starlight Room.
* JunJun (voiced by Roman Pesino) - a Phillipine eagle who loves to sing and play his guitar, and also speaks Tagalog words and phrases. He is friends with Zadie.
* Kaya (voiced by Gianelle Miranda) - the 16-year-old sister of JunJun. She is a social media influencer and a waitress at the Eat 'N Greet cafe.
* Amado (voiced by Mark Andrada) - the father of Kaya and JunJun. He is an arborist of the Treeborhood and cuts topiary trees often.
* Gabriela (voiced by Carolyn Fe) - The grandmother of Kaya and JunJun. She is also the mail carrier for the Treeborhood.
* Carly, CeCe and Clyde (all voiced by Julie Lemiux) - a trio of green crabs who are farmers at the Sow 'N Grow garden, and are rather timid.
* Kat and Kit (voiced by Athena Karkanis and Dan Chameroy, respectively) - the parents of Carly, CeCe and Clyde.
* Fergus and Felicia Fishman (voiced by Michael Gordin Shore and Athena Karkanis, respectively) - two fish that live in a tank on top of the Treeborhood. They are the parents of Flip, Finn and Frannie, their three babies.

## Development

The series was based on Aha! Island, another WGBH project that features monkeys who use computational thinking. Most of these elements from the show were later reused for the series. A pilot was previously pitched under the working title of *Woohoo Wombats!*, with a pitch bible for the show. In October 2020, the show was greenlit under the working title *Wombats!*. Wombats were chosen as the species for the main characters in the series, because the species is underused in media. Writers that had started their career had granted their fellowships so that they could bring diverse viewpoints and BIPOC representation to the series. During development, the production team made sure that the characters are authentic in the languages, names, and the cultures behind them while noting that animals are not a proxy for race or ethnicity.

The producers had intentionally sought out voice actors that had matched the ethnicity of the characters. Rain Janjua had originally auditioned for the role of Malik for being asked to try out Zeke's voice. To create the voice, Rain Janjua had tried to recall what his voice sounded like at five years old.

The series is animated in Toon Boom Harmony. Animators for the show animate the characters using complex rigging systems that allow them to draw things by hand, giving the characters their own motion cycles and nuances. The design of the characters and settings are rounded to give it a more friendly and welcoming feel. Techniques such as curvilinear perspective and hazing are used to make the characters and backgrounds stand out.

## Broadcast

The series first premiered in the United States nationally on the PBS KIDS 24/7 channel on February 6, 2023 at 9:30 a.m. Eastern Time, and on PBS at 10:30 a.m. the same day, with another episode premiering at 11:00 a.m. The series airs on the network on the 9:30 a.m. timeslot daily, 1:30 p.m. weekdays for repeats, and at 11:30 a.m. on the weekends. On September 4, 2023, Knowledge Network started broadcasting the series on the Knowledge Kids block, making it the first international broadcaster to air the series.

## Reception

### Audience viewership

In its first two weeks, the series had gained over 23 million streams on the PBS KIDS streaming website and apps, as well as having over 1.7 million video views on YouTube.

### Critical response

The series was praised for its positive messages, educational values and characters. Diondra Brown of Common Sense Media had gave the show a 5 out of 5 rating, writing "The show's quality matches -- actually, exceeds, the high expectations viewers have for PBS Kids programming."

### Controversy

The lesbian couple of Leiko and Duffy being presented in the series had sparked controversy among anti-LGBT audiences. In May 2023, Oklahoma governor Kevin Stitt vetoed a measure to provide state funding for the Oklahoma Educational Television Authority for three years, due to the network's broadcast of the series (and the 2019 reboot of Clifford the Big Red Dog, also featuring same-sex parents) after claiming that it "overly sexualized" kids.

## Marketing

From February 22 through February 24, 2023, an event titled Zeke's Big Boston Adventure was held in the city of Boston. The event featured a costumed Zeke going around places in Boston, including the Franklin Park Zoo, the Boston Children's Museum, and the Boston Public Library. The mayor of Boston, Michelle Wu, declared February 22 as Work It Out Wombats Day.

## References

1. ↑ Metadata Bank | PBS. PBS.
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 PBS Publicity (January 18, 2022). PBS KIDS Announces New Series, WORK IT OUT WOMBATS! Debuting Winter 2023. PBS.
3. ↑ New PBS KIDS Series, WORK IT OUT WOMBATS!, Premieres February 6, 2023. Corporation for Public Broadcasting (July 27, 2022).
4. ↑ AHA! Island. AHA! Island. Retrieved on September 11, 2023.
5. ↑ Miller, Bruce R. (February 5, 2023). Wombats help pre-schoolers think through problems in new PBS series. Culpeper Star-Exponent.
6. ↑ Work It Out Wombats! Scriptwriting Fellowship Brings Diverse Perspectives to New GBH Kids STEM Series. GBH (February 22, 2022). Retrieved on September 11, 2023.
7. ↑ Morales, Wilson (February 6, 2023). Exclusive: Creative Producer Kareem Edouard, Ph.D. talks animated series ‘Work It Out Wombats!’. BlackFilmAndTV.com. Retrieved on September 11, 2023.
8. ↑ Filipino characters featured in ‘Work It Out Wombats!’ cartoon series on PBS KIDS. *The FilAm* (February 10, 2023). Retrieved on September 11, 2023.
9. ↑ Problem Solving. *The Children's Hour*. Spotify (February 26, 2023). Retrieved on September 11, 2023.
10. ↑ Work It Out Wombats! (March 23, 2023). ANIMATION: Behind the Scenes of Work It Out Wombats! on PBS KIDS. YouTube. Retrieved on September 11, 2023.
11. ↑ Knowledge Kids (September 4, 2023). Work it Out Wombats! | Streaming on Knowledge Kids. YouTube.
12. ↑ Northrop, Daphne (March 23, 2023). It's Hard Work Being a Wombat. GBH.
13. ↑ Brown, Diondra. Work It Out Wombats! TV Review. Common Sense Media. Retrieved on September 11, 2023.
14. ↑ Forman, Carmen (April 28, 2023). Stitt vetoes OETA bill, accuses network of trying to 'indoctrinate' kids. Tulsa World.
15. ↑ Tuesday, February 21. GBH (February 21, 2023).