Mathnet facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Mathnet
Genre	Children’s Crime-Drama
Created by	David D. Connell Jim Thurman
Developed by	Janette Webb George E. Swink
Written by	David D. Connell Jim Thurman
Directed by	Charles S. Dubin James F. Golway Karl Epstein Jesus Salvador Treviño Bill Schreiner
Starring	Beverly Leech (1987–1990; 19 episodes) Joe Howard (1987–1992; entire series) Toni DiBuono (1991–1992; 11 episodes) James Earl Jones (1987–1988, 1991; 5 episodes) Emilo Del Pozo (1990–1992; 16 episodes) Mary Watson (1987–1990; 13 episodes) Bari K. Willerford (1990–1992; 16 episodes)
Opening theme	"Danger Ahead"
Composer(s)	Gerald Fried John Rodby (Conducted and arranged by)
Country of origin	United States
No. of seasons	5
No. of episodes	30
Production
Production location(s)	Los Angeles (1987–1990) New York City (1990–1992)
Editor(s)	Ed Brennan
Camera setup	Film (Principal Photography) Videotape (Post-Production) Single-camera setup
Running time	Varies
Production company(s)	Children's Television Workshop The Webb Organization Turtleback Productions
Release
Original network	PBS
Picture format	480i (SDTV)
Audio format	Mono (1987–1990) Stereo (1991–1992)
Original release	January 26, 1987 (1987-01-26) – October 23, 1992 (1992-10-23)

Kate Monday (Beverly Leech) and George Frankly (Joe Howard)

Mathnet was a fun part of the children's TV show Square One Television. It followed two police officers who were also amazing at math. They used their math skills to solve tricky crimes. The show was a funny take on the classic police drama Dragnet.

Solving Mysteries with Math

Mathnet was a parody (a funny imitation) of the old TV show Dragnet. In Mathnet, the main characters were mathematicians. They used their awesome math skills to figure out different crimes and mysteries. These often involved thefts, scams, or even kidnappings.

Each Mathnet story was split into five parts. One part aired each weekday on Square One. This show was made by the Children's Television Workshop (CTW). Its main goal was to help young viewers learn math in a fun way. Each segment ended with a cliffhanger, making you want to watch the next day!

Meet the Detectives

Here are the main characters who solved crimes using math:

• Kate Monday (played by Beverly Leech) - Kate was a lot like Joe Friday from Dragnet. She was calm and logical, rarely showing much emotion. She appeared in the first three seasons of the show.
• George Frankly (played by Joe Howard) - George was Kate's first partner, and later Pat Tuesday's. He took his job seriously. But he often got into funny situations or reacted in silly ways. George was in all five seasons. He often talked about his wife, Martha, but she was never seen.
• Pat Tuesday (played by Toni DiBuono) - Pat became George's partner in Seasons 4 and 5. This happened when the show moved its setting to New York City. Like Kate, Pat was very serious and no-nonsense, just like Joe Friday.

Los Angeles Team

When Mathnet was set in Los Angeles, these characters helped out:

• Thad Green (James Earl Jones) - He was the Chief of the Los Angeles Police Department. He also appeared briefly in Season 4.
• Debbie Williams (Mary Watson) - Debbie was a technical expert at the LAPD. She often helped Kate and George by processing important data for their investigations.

New York City Team

After the show moved to New York City, these new characters joined the team:

• Joe Greco (Emilio Del Pozo) - Captain Greco was the boss in the New York City police station. George, Kate, and later Pat, reported to him.
• Benny Pill (Bari K. Willerford) - Benny was an undercover NYPD officer. He often helped the Mathnet team when they needed backup.

Special Guest Stars

Many well-known actors appeared as guests on Mathnet. Here are some of them:

Also, real LAPD officers Sam Salazar and Steve Fellman appeared as themselves. The show's main writers, David D. Connell and Jim Thurman, also played different characters.

Math Concepts in Action

Mathnet showed how real math and science could solve problems. The detectives used these ideas and tools to crack their cases:

• Alphanumerics (using letters and numbers together) in "The Case of the Unnatural".
• Fibonacci sequence (a pattern of numbers) and modular arithmetic (math with remainders) in "The Case of the Willing Parrot".
• Kinematics (the study of motion) in "The Problem of the Missing Baseball".
• Chromatic scale (a musical scale) in "The Problem of the Passing Parade".
• Displacement of fluids (how much water an object moves) in "The Problem of the Trojan Hamburger".
• Hamiltonian path (a special path in a graph) in "The Case of the Smart Dummy".
• Process of elimination (ruling out possibilities) in "The Case of the Great Car Robbery" and "The View from the Rear Terrace".
• Number patterns in "The Case of the Missing Air".
• Bar charts and line charts (ways to show data) in "The Case of the Purloined Policies" and "The Case of the Great Car Robbery".

The Mathnet Logo and Motto

The Mathnet logo and motto

The Los Angeles city seal, which the Mathnet logo copies

The Mathnet logo was a funny copy of the official Los Angeles city seal. The city's symbols were changed to math symbols. The date on the logo was when the very first episode was filmed.

The Mathnet motto was "to cogitate and to solve." This was a playful take on the LAPD's real motto, "to protect and to serve." "Cogitate" means to think deeply.

At the end of each episode, a screen showed the Mathnet logo and motto. This was against a blue background. The logo and motto were also on the police cars in the Los Angeles episodes. This made them look like real LAPD cars. Even after the show moved to New York City, they kept using the same logo and motto.

Watching Mathnet Again

In 1991, some episodes were released on VHS tapes. These included "The Problem of the Missing Baseball" and "The Trial of George Frankly."

Later, some PBS stations combined parts of episodes to air them in primetime. These longer versions were almost an hour long. They even included other parts from Square One TV as if they were commercials!

Mathnet and Square One stopped airing new episodes in 1992. But reruns continued until 1994. Then, from 1999 to 2003, they reappeared on the cable TV channel Noggin. This channel was a partnership between Nickelodeon and CTW. Only 65 episodes were shown on Noggin. Mathnet segments also appeared on another Noggin show called Phred on Your Head Show.

Other Adventures

A Mathnet comic strip also appeared for a short time in 3-2-1 Contact magazine.

Episode Guide

Mathnet had 30 episodes over 5 seasons. Each story was told in five parts, one for each day of the week.

Season 1 (1987)

Season 2 (1988)

Season 3 (1990)

Season 4 (1991)

Season 5 (1992)