Mathnet

In 6th grade in 1997, on Fridays we would watch Mathnet. It was always fun but plenty educational! As a student math was always the easiest when it was made fun, and that is exactly what this movie did for us. Quite frankly, the Mathnet series actually inspired my class to do our homework, because we weren't allowed to watch it unless the whole class did their homework. It was always a treat when we got to watch these movies. There aren't many good math movies (as I know now because I am studying mathematics)so it is amazing that Mathnet is so interesting. When the teacher who used them retired, he took the tapes with him and now Indiana is Mathnetless which it a pity!

This was a great kids show, even for kids who didn't like math. James Earl Jones was awesome as usual. Truly a unique way to capture the imagination of children.

Mathnet had about the best production values I have ever seen on a kids' show. Nearly everything was shot on location rather than on cheap-looking sets, and they used as much natural light as possible. (It made the rest of Square One TV, the kids' math show where Mathnet first appeared, look really, really cheesy in comparison.) Also, and I'm not 100% sure on this, but it looked like they shot it on film stock, rather than videotape. And, of course, unlike a lot of kids' shows that do location shoots, this was actually filmed in Los Angeles and, later, New York (rather than Toronto or Vancouver) and they show a lot of the famous landmarks, like the Hollywood sign.

Simpsons fans will also recognize Yeardley Smith, the voice of Lisa Simpson (who really does speak like Lisa in real life), in one of the earliest Mathnet stories.

Lord I miss "Mathnet". I first saw it on PBS as part of "Square One TV". Probably the reason I got into computer science and cop shows. The show was (unlike some of the crap on afternoon TV today) genuinely funny, entertaining, and educational.

Of course I didn't get all the in-jokes until I was much older- the whole play on "Dragnet", the criminal brothers Karamazov, George and Martha, and the CAR-RT SORT company...

I only wish today's kids TV has something like "Mathnet". Alas...

I came upon Square One TV when I was already out of college, and had a degree in video production. Mathnet was just the kind of show I would have loved to have worked on, with its great production values, great writing, and a fabulously talented cast who could deliver the lines deadpan.

I still remember two episodes in particular. In one, George was planning a vacation in Michigan on an island named Nomanissan, yes, that's Nomanissan Island (say it out loud if you need to). The other episode introduced me to the Fibonacci Sequence (begin with 1, then add it to the previous number (0), then continue to add the last 2 numbers together to get the next): 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13... It's amazing how many times that has come up in the last 30 years, and I only understood it because I watched Mathnet.

SUCH a good program! If they offered the whole series for download, I would buy it.