| Guess with Jess | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Children's Television |
| Directed by | Mike Shiell |
| Creative director(s) | Donald Anderson |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom Canada |
| Language(s) | English |
| No. of seasons | 2 |
| No. of episodes | 52 |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | Ceri Barnes, Mary Robertson |
| Producer(s) | Jillian Wallace |
| Editor(s) | Alan Simpson |
| Running time | 10 minutes and 56 seconds |
| Production company(s) | Classic Media Storyboards and Animation - Nelvana Assets and Layout - Absolute Digital Pictures |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | CBeebies RTÉ Two Treehouse TV |
| Picture format | CGI |
| Original airing | 9 November 2009 |
| Chronology | |
| Related shows | Postman Pat |
| External links | |
| Website | |
| Production website | |
Guess with Jess is a British and Canadian television series featuring Jess the Cat. It follows Jess's adventures with his friends on Greendale Farm, and how they always try to solve each other's problems with a Big Question, which is answered by "asking, testing, find a way". The series is a enquiry-based learning show aimed at two to four year olds. Jess and his friends search for the answers to science and nature-led questions, allowing children to learn about the world around them.
Contents |
In each episode, Jess comes along a question ("big question") at the beginning of the episode, and with the help of the audience and his friends (through "asking, testing, find a way"), the characters find out the answer. This enables youngsters to learn more about the world around them.
A very well made and devised CGI animation. A lot of thought has gone into the entertaining and positive message the program aims to deliver, in a creative and educational way. The program begins right from the start with a positive theme - the opening song beginning 'Wake Up, the Sun is shining, and it's time to start the day...' midst a gloriously picturesque image of the farm bathed in golden rays of sunshine, amongst the fields of sunflowers where Jess is able to run freely and without care or worry, and who's only aim is to provide an answer to the things he discovers on life's way. The program is never allowed to close without a successful outcome to the 'Big Question', and is never beyond the potential experiences of most of it's young audience. The educational content is both gentle and entertaining, with the audience invited to interact by answering questions in the form of multiple choice questions through the use of flash cards - the correct answer always being very clear and definite. The children will warm quickly to all the characters, with each displaying a different quality to their nature, and again, characterisation is without any ambiguity, to suit a young audience. Adults watching as well will have no trouble in being entertained as much as the children - small details going on in the background which can be quite amusing, but which might well pass over a young viewer.
To date, the series isn't entirely available on DVD to purchase in the UK and Europe, but a Five DVD Set is available elsewhere which covers all 52 episodes, or 'Big Questions'. This is a similar situation to another very successful environment based animation 'Dirtgirlworld', which carries a full license in the country of origin Australia, to produce a full set of DVDs, but cannot be sold in the UK or Europe, only one DVD being licensed to date.