In a bid to bask in the intelligent, credible aura exuded by the non-profit
Public Broadcasting Service, Amazon.com on Thursday agreed to sponsor a
new television series set to debut in the fall, Standard Deviants TV.
The e-tailer of everything from books to gardening supplies will be one of
the show’s principal underwriters. This means its name, and perhaps a
message, will be broadcast before and after every episode of the program.
Standard Deviants TV, produced by the Cerebellum Corp., takes
complicated subjects like Shakespeare and geology, and teaches them with a
humorous fast-paced approach. Amazon.com obviously hopes that people
interested in learning will also be the bookworms that are its principal
customers. The series was inspired by the award-winning Standard Deviants
series of videos, which have sold more than 1.6 million copies
“Standard Deviants TV is a hidden gem about to be discovered for the first
time by many consumers,” said Jason Kilar, general manager of Amazon.com’s
DVD and video store.
“As long-time fans of the series, we are delighted to help further that
sense of discovery — both on PBS television stations and online within
Amazon.com.”
The show, which is hosted by a cast of young actors that call themselves
“the Standard Deviants,” takes an approach that the company says resembles
a combination of Saturday Night Live and Sesame Street.