Both Holly Robinson Peete and Dete Meserve held deep ties to PBS prior to joining the PBS KIDS series Weather Hunters.

For Robinson Peete, who lends her voice to weathercast producer and Hunter family matriarch Dot Hunter in the new animated STEM program, the network’s logo was “embedded in [her] brain at a very young age,” for her father, Matt Robinson, was the original Gordon on Sesame Street.

“So the full-circle-ness of all of it, plus the cuteness and adorableness of this show made it a no-brainer,” Peete said of joining the show.

Plus Peete, a friend of series creator Al Roker, noted how “happy” she is to work on such a “dream project” for the TODAY mainstay.

Meanwhile Meserve, who previously worked with the children’s network on another STEM series Ready Jet Go!, cited the importance of teaching children that by pursuing their curiosity, they are “already scientists.”

“If you’re asking questions, if you have are curious about the world, if you are looking into it and investigating, you’re a scientist,” she reminded me. “A scientist is not some guy in a white lab coat. A scientist is you.”

The new series centers on the Hunter family, particularly eight-year-old weather detective Lily Hunter (Tandi Fomukong), who with the help of her older sister Corky (Kapri Ladd), younger brother Benny (Lorenzo Ross), and her parents, learns more about the weather and the environment around them. Others you will hear throughout the series are Sheryl Lee Ralph, LeVar Burton, and Yvette Nicole Brown, who’s the voice behind the Weather Hunters theme song.

This kid at heart enjoyed an enlightening and refreshing conversation with Peete and Meserve about Weather Hunters, the key elements of successful educational kids’ programming, and the power and importance of PBS in the wake of federal funding cuts.

DECIDER: This series Weather Hunters has been in the works for quite some time. Can you guys tell me about how you caught word of the project, how you both got involved? 

HOLLY ROBINSON PEETE: You start, Dete.

DETE MESERVE: Okay, so I came into the show a little more than a year and a half ago as the showrunner/EP, and the show had already been greenlit by PBS and Al Roker. The head of his company, Al Roker Entertainment, had reached out to me to ask me to come aboard. I was like,  STEM show? Al Roker? PBS? Uh, yes! And then I started looking further into it and the amazing cast that had already been assembled, and some of the early scripts that were there, and just that really clear mission of the show to help kids see the wonder of nature, the wonder of weather, and really unpack it and understand it. I had done 67 half-hours of Ready Jet Go! for PBS before, so I already knew firsthand the impact that this kind of a show can have, and particularly on young kids who can see themselves in the characters and say, you know, I want to be a scientist, or I am a scientist because I ask questions. So that’s how I got involved. But I think Holly’s story is also equally fun. 

HOLLY: Yes. I mean, it’s pretty simple. My friend Al called me. And, you know, I have great friends. I mean, now Al is one of my favorite friends and he has been for years, but he is a friend with some very interesting benefits of he constantly throws me a job every now and then. So I’m extremely really happy to be able to to work on Weather Hunters because it’s such a dream project of his. He’s had this idea for years and yeah, so it literally was one phone call. “Hey kiddo, I have this project and would you like to play my wife, Dot Hunter?” And I was like, “Would I? Yes.” So the other part for me was it was a full-circle moment because PBS was something that I grew up with. When I was six, my dad got the job as the original Gordon on Sesame Street, and that PBS logo was embedded in my brain at a very young age. So the full-circle-ness of all of it, plus the cuteness and adorableness of this show made it a no-brainer.

This series has a stacked cast, as you guys kind of mentioned too. But due to the nature of voiceover work, did you guys get to record together at all or collaborate at all in person? Or was most of the work pretty individual? 

HOLLY: It was individual for me. I didn’t really meet any of the other cast members, obviously other than Al for, I mean, probably very, very deep into the project. A couple of times I would come out of my session and I would see some of the other young actors and I would say hi and introduce myself. But we didn’t get to really spend much time together until we started to ramp up for the promotion.

Something that I think is so cool about this series is its employment of educational consultants and advisors for the STEM content. How hands on were they in the process, and did you guys have any interaction with them?

DETE: All the time. So the way that that works is that they’re looking at everything from the very start. So like that first premise, you have a story idea and like, “Hey, we want to do a Halloween episode and it’s going to be about fog.” They’re going to look at that and give their comments and advice, from that premise all the way through scripting. And then they’re also going to look at the early animatics, which are the stage before animation, where you’re sort of drawing out how the story is going to play to make sure the words are right and that they’re age-appropriate, that we got the science right. Then once we get into animation, they’re looking alongside with us. “Hey, is the density of that cloud accurate for what’s happening here?” To the point where Sarah Sweetman—she’s one of the curriculum consultants—we were doing a hot air balloon episode and there’s an altimeter because we’re teaching altitude, and there’s also a temperature of what the temperature is in the hot air balloon. And she had to come up with, with us, what that temperature would be at various heights.

So all of that to be scientifically accurate down to what, the color of something would look like, what the density of that fog might look like, how fast a cloud is moving. All of that was vetted not just by her, but we also had a meteorologist on staff with us. There were all kinds of other consultants brought in for various things. We have an episode, for example, on birds migrating… what kind of bird is that? And what sounds does the bird make? And down to this, Alex. Down to they have one sound, according to the bird expert, when they’re just in your backyard, but a different sound when they’re actually flying and migrating.

Down to even what does weather sound like? Working with consultants to make sure this amount of rain should sound like this, and what would the thunder sound like with this kind of a storm this far away? It’s one of the things that makes the show so fun to work on, because now I can go to a cocktail party and be like, “I know the sound of a Baltimore Oriole when it’s migrating. “

Wow, that’s so interesting. I was just going to ask, although this is elementary content—its geared towards children—did you guys both find yourselves learning new things throughout this process? 

HOLLY: Yeah. I did really well in college at a course that I took on Earth Science and a lot of it all came back to me. So I actually was really thrilled to learn things. My character is very much a go-getter. She’s someone who gets her hands dirty. Dhe’s not just at home cooking meals. She is out in these streets, as they say. She’s a producer of the family’s weather cast. And she has this intrepid, can-do energy, this curiosity. So along the way, I would stop while I’m in the middle of the recording and and say, “Oh, wow, I didn’t know that.” Or, “Was that true?” So yes, I learned so much. I think it reignited my interest that I had when I was in college for Earth Science. I really was intrigued by that. So I learned a lot, I had fun. Every episode was so well-written and and such an adventure that it was just a just an absolute dream to voice Dot Hunter and just to be part of this. 

DETE: I was in a sound mix working with the team that works with me on all the soundscape. The mixes were in that final session and a couple of people who had worked on it, they were like, I never really understood that the color of the leaves is hidden by the chlorophyll that what we see in the fall leaves those colors of purple and orange and red. That’s the tree’s real color. And the chlorophyll in summer covers that. And they were like, all amazed. Every week, you know, you get to work with these different adults and they’re saying the same thing. So we knew we’re on to something, because if adults are like, I didn’t know that, and in a way that’s really accessible, then kids are just going to be like, wow, I had no idea that’s how things work.

Exactly. And it also that way parents can also be interested if while watching with their kids, which is awesome. I was curious, with both of you as parents approaching this project that’s geared toward kids, did your own children or your experience with children kind of influence any way you approach the project or like what you had in mind for the audience?

HOLLY: My kids are all adults now. So for me, it was my love of animation, my love of cartoons. Growing up in Philadelphia and just sort of loving all of these different shows. And again, that connection to PBS as a young girl and watching all those shows. Sesame Street, of course, included, and children’s programing and children’s television. From my Sesame Street background, I have people telling me all the time, “Your dad taught me English, and it was the first English that I learned, and this is how I learned how to count.” And, “I was raised in the Philippines and I watched it.” So I think my connection is with the education piece, which I really love, and the learning. So, you know, watching cartoons as a young girl, I may not have learned a lot watching Scooby-Doo and Josie and the Pussycats, but I really had a cultural connection to the genre. For me, I think it’s really more about connecting with the education piece and loving the fact that so many of our kids learn so much from these [programs]. Maybe one day I’ll have grandchildren—I’m pulling for that—to watch this with, but I would love to watch this with younger kids. That’s like a dream of mine.

DETE: I was very much involved from day one in how does this family interact together? How are we going to show them on screen? So when you’re working very closely with the directors of like, we want to see them together, right? We don’t want to see, for example, just a bunch of one shots of people talking at each other. But how do we really make them feel and look like a family? So if you watch the show, you’ll see a lot of thought went into how does the family engage, like eyeline and the way that they’re paying attention or somebody nods at something that someone saying or reacting to it. And also the dad humor that al Hunter has, how that gets played. We go to reaction shots. We show the family kind of delighting in that, each in the character’s way, which is how a family would interact. Or when the parents are talking to the kids, naturally, adults are bigger than kids in any animated cartoon and for that matter, in real life. So how do we do that? So it makes it feel personal. You’ll see sometimes Al is on a knee or Holly playing Dot. She is like she’s the best at squats. She never gets tired of being in a squat position to talk to her kids and speak to them eye to eye, in a way that’s very much like how a family engages together.

But also, coming from my own experience of I’m a mom of three, mine are all grown up too. So my thing was very much about making sure that people love this family and want to be in this family, that this is a family that not only has things that they have questions about, but other people are engaging with them. They’re just as interested in them as as the person asking the question. But they’re engaging from their own character way. And that’s really, really important. Saying very different than, say, in an animated series for adults, where sometimes you see it’s the very much the opposite. Where mom’s looking over here and dad’s distracted over here. We really wanted a model of family that respects and loves each other, engages and really includes each other in their thought processes, but also has a ton of fun, right?

I love hearing how much thought is going into everything, whether it be the animation or the educational scripting part of it. Dete, with your previous experience working with PBS as well as you, Holly, with your history with PBS, what do you think is the recipe for a successful children’s show? Because like with Sesame Street, it’s obviously cemented itself as a classic for so many years and continuing forward. What do you think are kind of the key elements for a show, like Weather Hunters to be successful and to resonate with kids and with families?

HOLLY: I would just say that, I know Dete is way more in the weeds with putting the show together and, as she just said, making sure that people love this family. But I would say just the family togetherness and this model of a really supportive, loving family is something that I think is very much needed right now. I think when you see that loving, beautiful brown family that is embracing each other and lifting each other and learning from each other. I absolutely think that those are things that will resonate and make people love this family and want to spend time with them. One thing about Dot is that they call her the calm eye in the Hunter hurricane. So she’s a calming force. But each character brings something really special and different and engaging to this project, and I think that is what probably will make this—I mean, so far so good. The feedback has been great—but I think will probably keep this show on the air because people want to have this energy. They want to have this really special, loving family energy. 

DETE: Having made a show for PBS, there’s just so many values that are across the board that are throughout many of the PBS shows, like you will never see anyone ever being disrespectful to someone else in this show or in any PBS show. But you’ll also see people engaging in curiosity and a sense of wonder across all PBS shows. May be different depending on the characters, but that’s what we’re really always saying over and over is take a look at the world around you… That’s our job as producers is to find that sort of sense of thing that will ignite the curiosity, that will spark questions, and we’ll give them some answers, and we’ll help them follow a story and follow this family and follow those relationships. But at the end of that episode, we know we’ve sparked something in that viewer or those viewers that will help them as they feed their natural curiosity.

But I would also say, especially making two STEM shows. It’s to encourage kids that they’re already scientists. If you’re asking questions, if you have are curious about the world, if you are looking into it and investigating, you’re a scientist. A scientist is not some guy in a white lab coat. A scientist is you. And you can do these things whether you’re 5 or 55. And we never stop being curious and learning. And that’s where I think the Hunter family really exemplifies. They’re curious about the world and they want to learn more about it. And that’s what makes PBS so special and so important.

There are currently 10 episodes of the show out now on PBS KIDS. Have there been any talks of making more episodes, or are you hoping to make more episodes?

We are making 40, Alex! I hope I’m not going to get in trouble for saying it. They’re going to roll out over the next months and years, and we are just about finished. By the end of the year, we will have delivered all of those episodes to PBS. We have delivered five digital shorts. They are so cute. They’re ways to actually show real weather because of course, we’re always doing animated weather. We have real life kids from all around the country who ask a question about the weather wherever they live, and then we talk about the weather with our characters from the show and demonstrating like real lightning storms or rain or snow and things like that.

We have mobile games. One is out called “Weather Reporter.” So if you want to be the next Al Roker, you can put together your own weather report on the free game, and some other games that are rolling out as well. So there’s just so much good stuff coming down the pipeline that we’re really, really excited about. I think today was the episode that’s one of my favorite of the first ten, Alex, which is the fog episode. It is so gorgeous. And I will just say, as somebody who’s been in this industry for a long time, I don’t think that I’ve ever seen fog treated so beautifully as any other episode. It’s that gorgeous. And we spent hours being of spending a lot of time, so much time and care on getting that fog right. Like it’s not just there for mood and for feeling, which is most of the time. Weather is its own character.

You both have kind of touched on this, but I wanted to ask with this frame of reference in mind. PBS has been in the news in the midst of federal funding cuts. Can you guys speak to the importance of the network and make your case for its existence and its continuation of teaching kids and people and families for years to come?

HOLLY: Again, it’s so personal to me. I cannot imagine the federal funding being cut for PBS. Back in 1969, 1970, when I was a little girl and my dad was on Sesame Street, I mean, just thinking about a world without that show and without PBS and children’s programing, it scares me. I’ve seen people just come up to me and tell me what it meant to see a Black man being the head of this show where children’s programing at that time, you just didn’t even really see people that looked like me in 1969 and ’70 when lot of crazy things were going on. PBS was a safe place, and there were stations that wouldn’t carry it. So there’s a lot of real social justice history when it comes to PBS and the work they’ve done around the diversity of children’s programing, how important that is, how important it was for us to be represented back then. So it was very disheartening to me personally to see the funding being pulled. I thought it was just so shortsighted. I took it very personally. So again, the full circle-ness of being able to do this awesome show and continue this legacy of of children’s entertainment and edu-tainment, if you will, and education felt great. It felt like a little consolation prize in the middle of what I thought was a really very shortsighted and terrible decision.

DETE: This is a legacy for me. I watched PBS growing up. I watched Mister Rogers and Zoom. This is what my kids watched. But as a producer now that has produced over 100 half-hours of content by the end of this year of PBS shows, I see firsthand the impact that it has that maybe most people don’t know and are getting to see now and really understanding better just beyond their own family or their friends. This has a big impact because PBS meet kids where they are. Want to watch it on PBS? Great. On YouTube? We’ll meet you there. Go. We got a free app. Go ahead and play. Watch on the free app. Play the games on the free app. Everything is free. And so if you’re not affording Netflix or you’re not affording Disney or any of the other streamers, you have this access all the time for free. It’s in your classroom for free. Your teachers getting materials that we worked on that show clips from the episode, as well as activities that you can do and printables that you can take home, and things that you can do with your family to learn more ,and all of that is given to any American for free. I don’t know why everybody doesn’t think that is the most and powerful resource.

It’s in addition to whatever education, this informal learning that makes kids spark to things that maybe in the classroom they don’t, or maybe they get like obsessed with Weather Hunters and they’re watching it and binge watching it, because that’s the thing that really gets them excited. PBS’ secret superpower is that it can ignite that curiosity in every kid, no matter where they’re watching. It’s all free. And there’s nothing, no barriers. You don’t have to worry if you’re on the PBS app that suddenly you’re going to see something inappropriate. Every bit of every second of every frame has been vetted and looked at by so many knowledgeable curriculum consultants, educational consultants. Everything has been thought out to the 100,000,000th degree to make this show the very best that it can be. And that’s the magic of PBS. We need that as Americans. We need that as parents. We need that as kids. Like Holly, I want that for my grandkids whenever I get them. I don’t have them yet, but I certainly want that. I think it’s a legacy that has made a difference in the lives of millions and millions of people for decades, and it’s something we all deserve.

This interview was edited and condensed for clarity.