{"id":3226,"date":"2018-05-09T12:00:50","date_gmt":"2018-05-09T12:00:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thunderbird.tv\/2018\/05\/09\/new-pbs-show-molly-of-denali-to-feature-alaska-native-in-title-role\/"},"modified":"2020-10-29T22:00:38","modified_gmt":"2020-10-29T22:00:38","slug":"new-pbs-show-molly-of-denali-to-feature-alaska-native-in-title-role","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thunderbird.tv\/2018\/05\/09\/new-pbs-show-molly-of-denali-to-feature-alaska-native-in-title-role\/","title":{"rendered":"New PBS show \u2018Molly of Denali\u2019 to feature Alaska Native in title role"},"content":{"rendered":"

Adelyn Baxter\/ KTOO<\/em><\/p>\n

A new animated children\u2019s series debuting on PBS KIDS next summer will feature an Alaska Native character in the title role.<\/p>\n

\u201cMolly of Denali\u201d is the first nationally distributed children\u2019s series to feature an Alaska Native character in a leading role. PBS announced the new series Wednesday at its annual meeting.<\/p>\n

The multiplatform show features 10-year-old Molly Mabray living in a fictional village in Alaska. She helps her parents run the Denali Trading Post general store and bunkhouse and goes on adventures with her dog and friends.<\/p>\n

WGBH Boston is co-producing the series with Atomic Cartoons. Alaska Native advisers and consultants from across the state have been brought in, and the goal is to also use Alaska Native voice talent and script writers.<\/p>\n

Princess Daazhraii Johnson, a Gwich\u2019in Athabascan producer who lives in Fairbanks, is the creative producer for the series.<\/p>\n

Juneau resident and University of Alaska Southeast Professor X\u0331\u2019unei Lance Twitchell is a language adviser for the program.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo the idea is, throughout the course of these episodes there\u2019ll be several Alaska Native languages that are featured in trying to utilize that to create a teaching platform for exposure, normalization and so our kids can see it on the television,\u201d Twitchell said.<\/p>\n

The show is designed for children ages 4 to 8. It focuses on literacy education. Molly uses books, historical archives and oral histories from elders to explore her world. Some of her adventures may bring her to Southeast Alaska.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe idea is that she would travel and she has relatives and friends in various parts of Alaska and just also trying to be conscious of making sure that we\u2019ve got accurate representations,\u201d Twitchell said. \u201cA lot of times it\u2019s a very common thing to put on television, but if you\u2019re in Alaska and you see something on television, it\u2019s often not a very authentic experience.\u201d<\/p>\n

Twitchell studies and teaches Tlingit and works actively to promote indigenous languages in Alaska. He said he and other advisers for the show hope it will open doors for more Alaska Native representation on television.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know I\u2019ve shared a vision with Princess that eventually there\u2019s more and more content that\u2019s not just featuring Alaska Native languages, but the medium is Alaska Native languages and I believe that this is a step to help us move in that direction,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The series is funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the Department of Education\u2019s Ready to Learn grant and the CBC.<\/p>\n

Thirty-eight half-hour episodes and one hour-long special are currently in production. The show will air on the PBS KIDS channel and digital platforms.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Adelyn Baxter\/ KTOO A new animated children\u2019s series debuting on PBS KIDS next summer will feature an Alaska Native character in the title role. \u201cMolly of Denali\u201d is the first nationally distributed children\u2019s series to feature an Alaska Native character in a leading role. PBS announced the new series Wednesday at its annual meeting. The … Continued<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[36,53],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nNew PBS show \u2018Molly of Denali\u2019 to feature Alaska Native in title role - Thunderbird Entertainment<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/thunderbird.tv\/2018\/05\/09\/new-pbs-show-molly-of-denali-to-feature-alaska-native-in-title-role\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"New PBS show \u2018Molly of Denali\u2019 to feature Alaska Native in title role - Thunderbird Entertainment\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Adelyn Baxter\/ KTOO A new animated children\u2019s series debuting on PBS KIDS next summer will feature an Alaska Native character in the title role. \u201cMolly of Denali\u201d is the first nationally distributed children\u2019s series to feature an Alaska Native character in a leading role. 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