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Special Agent Oso | |
---|---|
Genre | Preschool |
Created by | Ford Riley |
Directed by | Jamie Mitchell |
Voices of | |
Theme music composer | Ford Riley and Mike Himelstein |
Composers | Mike Himelstein and Michael Turner |
Country of origin | United States |
Original languages | English Spanish |
No. of seasons | 2 |
No. of episodes | 60 (117 segments) ( list of episodes) |
Production | |
Executive producer | Ford Riley |
Animator | Sunwoo Entertainment |
Editor | Pieter Kaufman |
Running time | 24 minutes (2 12-minute segments per episode, except for episodes 35, 56, and 60) |
Production company | Disney Television Animation |
Original release | |
Network |
|
Release | April 4, 2009 May 17, 2012 | –
Special Agent Oso ( /oʊˈsoʊ/ OH-soh) is an American animated preschool children's television series created by Ford Riley for Playhouse Disney. [1] It stars Oso, a panda bear who is a special agent working for the United Network for Investigating Quite Usual Events (U.N.I.Q.U.E.), an agency dedicated to helping children with everyday tasks such as mailing a letter, riding a bike, or making a sandwich. [2] The series debuted on April 4, 2009 [3] and ended on May 17, 2012. [4] The series had a total of 60 episodes over two seasons. [5]
The series received generally positive reviews from critics, and was nominated for Outstanding Original Song at the 2010 Daytime Emmy Awards. Both Special Agent Oso and the spin-off, which aired during interstitials, Special Agent Oso: Three Healthy Steps (a show on healthy habits) are available to stream on Disney+. [6] [7]
Each episode begins with Oso beginning a training exercise one of his three instructors, Wolfie, Dottie, or Bufo, give him, which he usually fails on his first try. During the exercise, a child is confronted with a simple task related to Oso's assignment that they struggle to complete and which a Shutterbug drone notices. Paw Pilot, Oso's computerized assistant, alerts him about a special assignment. Oso is assigned to the case, and Paw Pilot, along with Mr. Dos, illustrates his client's plight and assigns him a mission to help the child complete the task. To do so, Paw Pilot provides Oso with "three special steps," a simplified step-by-step guide to completing the task, while Mr. Dos gives Oso a briefing on the child's problem. Oso is transported to the child's location and attempts to follow the steps; Paw Pilot also gives further elaborations, including a helpful trick which reveals the mistake he made during the training exercise. During the third and final step, Paw Pilot senses the time limit on the task between 3 and 19 seconds and begins counting down as the time limit approaches. Oso and the child usually complete the task as the time runs out. The completion of all three steps often involves gadgets, such as a pen that can become a grappling device and a jetpack.
After returning from the assignment, the helpful trick given during the assignment turns out to be the same trick Oso needed to complete the training exercise, which he completes and passes, earning a "digi-medal" for the training exercise and the special assignment.
Season | Segments | Episodes | Originally aired | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
First aired | Last aired | Network | ||||
1 | 48 | 24 | April 4, 2009 | April 17, 2010 | Playhouse Disney | |
2 | 30 | 36 | 16 | July 10, 2010 | January 24, 2011 | |
36 | 20 | February 14, 2011 | May 17, 2012 | Disney Junior |
The show has 60 episodes, with 24 in the first season and 36 in the second season. The episode names are usually references to the titles of Eon Productions' James Bond films, such as The World Is Not Enough and The Man with the Golden Gun. Across its run, Special Agent Oso had at least one episode title that referenced each of the then-22 Bond films, as Skyfall was still in development at the time it concluded. Other episode titles reference the Carly Simon song Nobody Does It Better, the theme song to The Spy Who Loved Me, and Jack White and Alicia Keys's song Another Way to Die, the theme song to Quantum of Solace. One episode references the non-Eon film Never Say Never Again.
Each episode has four components:
The first season of Special Agent Oso premiered in the United States and United Kingdom on April 4, 2009, [15] and aired through April 17, 2010. The second and final season premiered on July 10, 2010 and the series finale aired May 17, 2012.[ citation needed] In season 2, new characters, Professor Buffo and Special Agent Musa, were introduced. The show has a crossover with Handy Manny called "The Manny with the Golden Bear."
Hannah Johnson of Screen Rant found the character of Dotty to be a positive role model, writing, "It is evident that she has worked hard to get where she is, being the only female supervisor in an androcentric career, where all her colleagues are men. The orange cat has a fun and giggly personality, her favorite color is pink, and she likes visiting space as part of her missions. Dotty is a complex character succeeding in a man's world." [16] Emily Ashby of Common Sense Media gave Special Agent Oso a grade of four out of five stars, praised the depiction of positive messages and role models, citing resourcefulness and perseverance, and complimented the presence of educational value in the show, saying, "Age-appropriate skills like shape recognition, chronology, and spatial relationships are emphasized within the context of the plot, so kids learn while they enjoy the stories. The show's best quality is its positive message about the joy to be found in helping others." [17]
During April, Playhouse Disney UK saw its best weekly share among kids at 2.3%, a month that also had its best series launch with the preschool-targeted Special Agent Oso, which premiered on April 4 at 9:50 a.m. and attracted 377,000 viewers, including 181,000 kids aged four to 15. [18]
Year | Award | Category | Nominee(s) | Result | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
2010 | Daytime Emmy Awards | Outstanding Original Song | Mike Himelstein, Ford Riley | Nominated | [19] [20] |
2012 | Young Artist Awards | Best Performance in a Voice-Over Role - Young Actor | Jet Jurgensmeyer | Nominated | [21] |
2013 | Young Artist Awards | Best Performance in a Voice-Over Role - Television - Young Actor | Nominated | [22] |
Special Agent Oso: Three Healthy Steps is a short series that aired in the United States during the Disney Junior programming block. [23] [24] The spin-off premiered on February 14, 2011. [25] [26] It encourages children to use "three healthy steps" regarding eating, being healthy, and exercising. [27] This series combined both animated characters and real life actors. The animated characters that are featured in the short series are Special Agent Oso, Paw Pilot, Special Agent Wolfie, Special Agent Dotty, and Professor Buffo.
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