Being a parent and director of educational programs at the James Randi Educational Foundation, I pay close attention to both skeptical and credulous themes in children’s television programming. While I spend a lot of time talking about shows that fail to present skeptical messages and situations (and no, I don't think all shows should), I also like to mention those shows that get it right.

A perfect example of this would be Martha Speaks from PBS Kids. PBS, a network known for high quality science programming like NOVA, also has its share of missteps. Their providing a venue for new-age woo peddler Deepak Chopra comes to mind. They have also missed the mark with kids programs. An episode of the National Science Foundation funded PBS series Curious George had students visiting a naturopath and learning about naturopathy as an effective alternative to traditional medicine, a position completely at odds with the scientific evidence.

Martha Speaks, an animated series for 4-7 year-olds featuring likable characters, a talking dog, and a focus on teaching vocabulary to young learners, has offered several episodes with skeptical perspectives where the characters effectively use reason to solve problems. T.D.'s Magic is an episode that uses magic to teach words like: rational, illusion, dubious, appear, and explanation. The episode Martha Gets Spooked takes a more sophisticated look at haunting claims than any ghost-hunter show on the infotainment networks and tackles vocabulary like explain, gullible, logical, impossible, creepy, ghost, haunted, and unlikely. My personal favorite is Martha Changes Her Luck which examines superstition with words like coincidence, luck, chance, accident, fluke and even explores the often misleading relationship between correlation and causation.

Let’s hope that Martha Speaks serves as an example that leads to more children’s programs that use children (and dogs) reasoning through problems to create fun and compelling stories while enhancing young viewers’ intellectual tool kits.

Michael Blanford is Director of Educational Programs for the James Randi Educational Foundation.