Mathnet

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Mathnet, a segment on the children's television show Square One, and a spoof of Dragnet, featured detectives at the Los Angeles Police Department who solved mysteries using their mathematical skills. There were two main characters: detectives Kate Monday (Beverly Leech) and George Frankly (Joe Howard). Mary Watson also had a regular role as the duo's technical analyst, Debbie Williams. Later on in the series, Kate Monday was replaced by Pat Tuesday (Toni DiBuono) after the show's setting moved to New York City in the third season. James Earl Jones played a recurring role as the chief Thad Green. He also briefly appears in season 4 and indicates he knows Pat Tuesday. When the duo was transferred to New York, Captain Joe Greco (Emilio Del Pozo) became their leader and undercover NYPD officer Benny Pill (Bari K. Willerford) became their semi-regular backup support.

Each segment of the series aired on one episode of Square One, a production of the Children's Television Workshop aimed at teaching math skills to young viewers. Five segments made up an episode (one for each weekday), with suspense building at the end of each segment. A Mathnet comic briefly appeared in 3-2-1 Contact magazine, also a CTW production, but the magazine eventually stopped featuring Square One content.

Mathnet and Square One went off the air in 1994, reappearing from 1999-2003 on the cable television network Noggin, a joint venture of Nickelodeon and CTW.

Contents

[edit] Math and science

Real principles of math and science used by the detectives to solve crimes include:

This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

[edit] Trivia

George Earnest Frankly's oft-mentioned next-door neighbor, Mr. Beasley, was the neighbor in the other direction of another Square One Television regular: the animated Dirk Niblick of the Math Brigade. This fact comes up several times in both Mathnet episodes and Dirk Niblick cartoons, usually focusing on how George borrowed things from Mr. Beasley, and is always losing them. Because he was also animated, Mr. Beasley only appeared on Dirk Niblick.

The detectives wore shoulder holsters; however, they carried calculators instead of guns. At times, the two would draw out their calculators and point them like guns. Joe Greco and Benny Pill did however, use (but never fired) guns to aprehend suspects.

Instead of the Los Angeles coat of arms and LAPD motto, the Mathnet cruisers display a parody with the stars on the American shield replaced with equals signs, the Bear Flag replaced with a compass and geometric figures, the eagle replaced with a multiplication sign, and the rook and lion replaced with division and addition signs, with the motto "to cogitate and to solve".

Yeardley Smith, better known as the voice of Lisa Simpson, was featured in a story arc where she played the young friend of a Gorilla.

Although the rest of Square One TV's sketches refer to the Michigan Wolverines, George Frankly is shown a die hard fan of all the major Los Angeles teams, especially the Dodgers. When the detectives move to New York, George still has his Los Angeles Dodgers pennant in the office as a reminder of his LA roots.

[edit] Memorable quotes

  • "The story you're about to see is a fib, but it's short. The names are made up but the problems are real."
  • "My name is Monday. I'm a mathematician."
  • "Speaking Frankly -- I mean, Frankly speaking."
  • "Mathematicians! Freeze!!"
  • "Plenty of time left." (George, said just after disarming a bomb and just before reading that there was only one second left on it.)
  • "My name is Noel Sphinx Jr. My father was The First Noel."
  • "Who? Scarlett? No, this isn't Kate. It's Frankly, Scarlett, and I don't give a--"
  • "That's easier said than done. My house has been stolen."

[edit] Notable guest stars

[edit] Credits

  • Executive Producers: Ralph Rogers, Joan Ganz Cooney, Nina Elias-Bamberger
  • Producers: Janette M. Webb, George E. Swink
  • Co-Producer: Annina Lavee
  • Directed by: Charles S. Dubin, William Screiner
  • Writers: David D. Connell, Jim Thurman
  • Directors of Photography: David Sperling, Ron Vargas
  • Music Composed by: Gerald Fried
  • Music Arranged & Conducted by: John Rodby
  • Casting by: Mark West, C.S.A. & Brown/West Casting
  • Extras Casting: Marcia Shulman & Urell Casting
  • Associate Director & Associate Producer: Scott A. Satin
  • Stage Manager: Bruce Alan Solow
  • 1st Assistant Director: Bob Hurrie
  • 2nd Assistant Director: Mary Weisgerber Meyer
  • Production Designers: Bill Bohnert, Robert P. Kracick
  • Production Sound: Walter Hoylman
  • Make-Up Artists: Angela Johnson, Pamela S. Westwore
  • Hair Stylists: Angela Johnson, Kay Cole
  • Costume Designers: Tanna Moontaro, Donna Thorburn
  • Costumer: Gala Autumn
  • Post Production Supervisor: Jon Stern
  • Production Coordinator: Phillipa Davis
  • Assistant Production Coordinator: Jacqueline Glover Raw
  • Location Manager: Maggie McCabe McMonagle
  • Set Decorator: Rowena Rowling
  • Property Master: Mark Harrington
  • Transportation Captain: Dan Goldberg
  • Music Editor: Eugene Marks
  • Auditor: Lynn Goldman
  • Sound Effects: Echo Film Service
  • Sound Mixers: Blaine Stewart, Paul Corte
  • Sound Effects Editors: Tim McCarthy, Anthony Pipitone
  • Unit Manager: Deborah Magocsi
  • Re-Recording Mixer: Rex Recker/Sync Sound
  • Production Secretary: Jacqueline Glover Raw
  • 1st Assistant Cameras: Tracey Litwin, Bob Hall
  • Gaffer: Paul R. Birk
  • Key Grip: John Dianda
  • Script Supervisors: Nancy Friedman-Gitlin, Rebecca Long
  • Production Assistants: James Douglas Williams, Brian Logan, Rudy Sheriff, Chris Jarnick, Debbie Eaton, Tracey Thielen, Rhonda Baer, Michael W. Green
  • Color and Video by: Du Art

A Turtleback Production in association with The Entertainment Group

[edit] External links

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