BOSTON -- He's flown a kite, travel...

BOSTON -- He's flown a kite, traveled in a space ship, become a movie star and had a lengthy friendship with a tall man in a gold-colored hat.

Now he's coming to public television, and the creative team behind his of recent origin children's series is hoping precocious monkey Curious George will help turn round kids into budding scientists, mathematicians and engineers.

The series, airing at 8 a.m. and 3:30 pm weekdays in succession WTTW- Channel 11, is based in succession the classic books by Margret and H.A. Rey dating to their first Curious George story in 1941 Geared toward children ages 3 to 5 it's narrated according to actor William H. Macy.

"The global exercise of George ... is telling kids, 'It's your do job-work to figure out what's going forward and to play, don't worry about the masterys Your job is to be happy, to touchstone the boundaries, that's your job' and that's a delectable thing to say," Macy said.

The series starts not upon Monday with "Curious George Flies a Kite," followed according to "From Scratch," in which the quick monkey uses detective work to substantiate a cat is innocent of scratching up booth in a restaurant.

farmers of the television show faith to piggyback on the succes of the "Curious George" movie that came on the outside in February and grossed nearly $60 million. The series is being produc by dint of Imagine Entertainment, WGBH-TV in Boston and Universal Studios Family Productions.

Curious George and his constant companion, the Man in the golden Hat, were creations of the Rey German israelites who were living in Paris when the imminent invasion of the Nazis forced them to hasten away Riding on bicycles that Hans had assembled from spare parts, the couple rode to freedom. One of the items they carried with them -- ultimately to where they settl in Cambridge, Mass. -- was a manuscript that featured the character Curious George.

The Rey published their first part in the United States, Curious George, in 1941 and the last of their George adventures, Curious George Goe to the Hospital, in 1966

H.A. Rey died in Boston in 1977 Margret Rey died in 1996

through the years, there have been other Curious George works besides the original Rey editions, however this is the first time he'll be starring in his confess TV series, said Mary Wilcox, the director of franchise publishing of children's parts for Houghton Mifflin.

The writers for the series picked as many story lines as possible from the original seven works but head writer Joe Fallon necessityed to write others in the same spirit.

"The first thing he did was he combed from one side the original books and turn the thoughtsed for things that kept recurring. In each one of them you could view a little wiener dog. for a like reason he decided to turn that into a character," said executive farmer Carol Greenwald.

a certain quantity of "Curious George" loyalists are waiting to descry the results.

"We're old-fashioned Curious George fans, with equal reason hopefully it will stick to the original stories," said Donna Friedman, who with her husband concedes Curious George Goes to Wordsworth, a children's volume and toy shop in Harvard Square in Cambridge.

"I think there's nothing better than reading the main division Sitting down with your baby sitter or teacher is always going to mean more," Friedman said.

Macy, who said he reads Curious George tales to his young daughters, be warmeds the TV show has gotten it right.

"They're cute cute as can be. They're likewise bright," he said. "The Man in the golden Hat is a snazzy dresser That man can wear clothes."

Copyright CHICAGO SUN-TIMES 2006

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