Series synopsis
WordGirl is an American animation action & adventure kids family television series that premiered on PBS on September 7, 2007. It ended on October 8, 2015. It was created by Dorothea Gillim. It stars Jeffrey Tambor, Cree Summer, Patton Oswalt and Grey DeLisle.
Disguised as mild-mannered fifth-grader Becky Botsford, WordGirl arrived on Earth when she and her monkey sidekick Captain Huggy Face crashed their spaceship. Now they fight crime and defend the town from a plethora of madcap villains and scoundrels, while at the same time enriching viewers' vocabulary usage.
Premise
Disguised as mild-mannered fifth-grader Becky Botsford, WordGirl arrived on Earth when she and her monkey sidekick Captain Huggy Face crashed their spaceship. Now they fight crime and defend the town from a plethora of madcap villains and scoundrels, while at the same time enriching viewers' vocabulary usage.
Cast and characters
Leading cast
- Jeffrey Tambor
- Cree Summer as Granny May
- Patton Oswalt as Tobey McCalister III (voice)
- Grey DeLisle
- Carlos Alazraqui
- Mr. Lawrence
- Dannah Feinglass Phirman as Becky Botsford / WordGirl (voice)
- Fred Stoller as Chuck the Evil Sandwich Making Guy (voice)
Supporting cast
- Tom Kenny as Dr. Two Brains
- Charlie Adler
- Jill Talley
- Chris Parnell
- Larry Murphy
- H. Jon Benjamin as Jewelry Store Clerk
- Maria Bamford as Violet (voice)
- John C. McGinley
- Jack D. Ferraiolo as Granola Type #1
- Ryan Raddatz as Various
Episodes
This series spans 9 seasons with 262 episodes.
| Season | Episodes | First aired | Last aired |
|---|---|---|---|
| Season 0 | 1 | February 20, 2012 | February 20, 2012 |
| Season 1 | 52 | September 7, 2007 | January 2, 2009 |
| Season 2 | 52 | November 4, 2008 | July 20, 2010 |
| Season 3 | 26 | August 23, 2010 | July 8, 2011 |
| Season 4 | 26 | September 5, 2011 | June 11, 2012 |
| Season 5 | 27 | September 10, 2012 | June 14, 2013 |
| Season 6 | 26 | August 5, 2013 | September 26, 2014 |
| Season 7 | 26 | August 4, 2014 | October 8, 2015 |
| Season 8 | 26 | June 10, 2015 | August 7, 2015 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Rise of Miss Power | February 20, 2012 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Tobey or Consequences / High-Fat Robbery WordGirl gets into a battle of wits with Tobey, a boy genius. Then she takes on the Butcher, who is hosting a free barbecue as part of an evil plot. |
September 7, 2007 |
| 2 |
You Can’t Crush City Hall / Two-Brain Highway WordGirl has to guess a secret code word to keep Chuck the Evil Sandwich-Making Guy from crushing City Hall. Also: WordGirl pursues Dr. Two Brains after he escapes from a prison. |
September 14, 2007 |
| 3 |
Coupon Madness / When Life Gives You Potatoes WordGirl faces off against Granny May, who prints fake coupons to get things for free. Also: Dr. Two Brains escapes from prison and develops a weapon that turns gold into cheese. |
September 21, 2007 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
A Vote for Becky/Class Act It's Election Day! Mrs. Botsford is running for D.A. and Becky is running for student council president. Tobey decides to run against Becky and uses his robots to distract WordGirl. How will Becky win the election and save the city from total robot destruction? Vocab words: Elect, Candidate |
November 4, 2008 |
| 2 |
The Two Brains Boogie/Field Day Fun with Robo-Tobey Becky's excitement about the school's field-day competition turns to suspicion after Tobey wins the potato-sack race and the flexed-arm hang. WordGirl's plans to enter a "Boogie Oogie Oogie" dance contest are endangered when Dr. Two Brains threatens to turn all of the town's buildings into cheese. |
February 16, 2009 |
| 3 |
Slumber Party Pooper / Line Lessons with Lady Redundant Woman Becky's first slumber party is threatened when bratty Eileen, whom she didn't invite, shows up; it's WordGirl to the rescue when Beatrice Bixby turns into Lady Redundant Woman and acts rude. |
February 17, 2009 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Bummertime/The Homerun King In the Season 3 opener, Becky's plans for the last day of summer vacation are stymied by Tobey and his latest robot creation, Chronos. Later, TJ is anointed a superhero after his home run foils a crime during a baseball game. But when he takes the accolades too much to heart and sets out to fight real crimes, it's up to WordGirl to bail him out. |
August 23, 2010 |
| 2 |
Granny and Clyde/Too Loud Crew Granny May goes on a citywide crime spree, with Mr. Botsford as her sidekick; the Butcher and the Whammer team up. |
September 13, 2010 |
| 3 |
The Invisi-Bill Hand/Birthday Town Invisi-Bill seeks publicity for being the true villain that he is; Mr. Big's mind control devide makes parents think everyday is their child's birthday. |
September 14, 2010 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Sonny Days with a Chance of Showers / Seymour...Right After This In the Season 4 opener, Birthday Girl kidnaps meteorologist Sonny Days and demands that he announce her birthday on TV. Later, Becky suspects Seymour Smooth is up to no good when he delays announcing his new show's winning ticket numbers. |
September 5, 2011 |
| 2 |
The Fill-In / Word (Hicc) up! Dr. Two-Brains has big plans when the Butcher fills in for one of Two-Brains' henchmen; WordGirl battles the hiccups while Chuck tries to get his condiment ray fixed by Hal Hardbargain. |
October 10, 2011 |
| 3 |
Mouse Brain Take-Over / Leslie Makes it Big Mr. Big is arrested, leaving it to his assistant, Leslie, to carry out their latest evil plan: building the world's most powerful mind-control device; WordGirl learns that Dr. Two-Brains is on an all-out cheese rampage just as she's about to give a tour of her secret hideout to the winner of the WordGirl Synonym Contest. |
October 11, 2011 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Seize the Cheese / Ms. Question's Riddle Rampage! The Season 5 premiere finds Dr. Two-Brains plotting to seize cheese while picking apples with his henchmen; and Ms. Question creating a tollbooth that makes citizens answer riddles or become stuck in traffic. |
September 10, 2012 |
| 2 |
The Meaty Dimension / The Case of the Copied Mrs. Botsford The Butcher plots to trap WordGirl and Huggy in a portal where he stores meat; LRW creates copies of city officials, including Mrs. Botsford, and has them do her dirty work. |
September 11, 2012 |
| 3 |
The Good, the Bad, and the Chucky / Granny's Pet Plan Chuck's plan of selling grilled cheese sandwiches is upended by Dr. Two-Brains; Granny May appears to have given up crime in favor of knitting scarves for pets. |
September 12, 2012 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Who Wants to Get Rid of WordGirl? / The Talented Mr. Birg In the Season 6 premiere, WordGirl's biggest enemies join forces in an effort to defeat her. Later, Scoops pens an article about the many times WordGirl has been tricked and captured by villains, which causes her to try and prove him wrong. |
August 5, 2013 |
| 2 |
One Last Sandwich / Caper or Plastic? The Whammer convinces Chuck to commit one last heist with him before his retirement; Hal Hardbargain asks for WordGirl's help in retrieving his bag blaster from the mysterious Masked Bagger. |
August 6, 2013 |
| 3 |
Tell Her What She's Won! / Victoria is the Best...WordGirl? Seymour Smooth kidnaps a game-show host; Scoops thinks that Victoria Best may be WordGirl. |
August 7, 2013 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Kid Math, Parts 1&2 Kid Math, a new superhero from the planet Hexagon, doesn't understand how to be a superhero on Earth; WordGirl tries to teach Kid Math how to protect the town's citizens. |
August 4, 2014 |
| 2 |
A Few Words From WordGirl; Ears to You WordGirl makes the keynote speech on Inspiration Day; Mr. Big tricks everyone with his Squishy Bunny Ears. |
August 5, 2014 |
| 3 |
El Queso Mysterioso; Putt With Honor The Botsford family spends time together at the Magical Magicians Convention; Becky catches Eileen cheating during the minigolf tournament. |
August 6, 2014 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Patch Game/Girls Day Out Throws Chuck The city is giving away a Key to the City to whichever City Scout can earn the most skill patches in a single day. Even though WordGirl has won dozens of Keys, ordinary Becky Botsford hasn't won any. Becky wants to win the Key to show that there is more to her than just super speed and super strength. Trouble is, Tobey also wants to win the Key, mostly to impress his nemesis/heartthrob WordGirl. So badly in fact, that he uses his robots to cheat and earn skill patches for him. Mrs. Botsford treats Becky, Bob and Violet to a relaxing day at a mountaintop haven far, far away, where they enjoy a tranquil spa inside a soundproof room...a place where Becky's super hearing can't pick up any sounds from the city. Becky thinks this is great; WordGirl deserves a day off! But timing could not be worse when Chuck decides to go on a crime spree. |
June 10, 2015 |
| 2 |
A Sticky Situation/Eight Legs vs. Two-Brains Somehow a broken figurine leads to WordGirl and TJ becoming glued together, back-to-back. Though TJ can't think of anything better than spending time with his favorite superhero, WordGirl is desperate to get unstuck. Unfortunately, she doesn't have much time to figure out a solution. Granny May is on a crime spree! Unfortunately for Becky, it's her turn to take home the class pet - a hairy, scary, crawly tarantula named Shaggy. Though she is afraid of the spider, it's her responsibility to care for him, which means when Dr. Two-Brains reveals his latest cheesy crime, Shaggy comes along for the ride. |
June 12, 2015 |
| 3 |
World's Best Dad?/The Good Old, Bad Old Days! When Becky orders a gigantic book of world records, she decides it's time to help her dad break one. Unfortunately, Victoria Best finds out about their plan and decides she should be the world record holder, not Mr. Botsford. After being bested by Victoria again and again, Becky comes up with a brand new record - one that isn’t even in the record book! Becky and Scoops are ready to start working on their school project when the Butcher charges past them. After Becky finds out that he’s up to no good, WordGirl is on the case – but the Butcher has changed his usual routine, and leaves WordGirl in the dust! WordGirl discovers that the Butcher’s new moves came from a book about how to defeat super heroes. |
June 19, 2015 |
Production
Release
| Original network/platform | PBS |
|---|---|
| First aired | September 7, 2007 |
| Last aired | October 8, 2015 |
| Runtime | 12 minutes |
| Status | Ended |