AGS, American Guidance Service, a 40-year-old educational publisher located in Circle Pines, Minnesota, is branching out into kids production via its AGS Media arm. The first project is Pazoo’s Place, a 30-minute, live-action series for kids ages two to six that’s currently in development. Budgeted at roughly US$75,000 per episode, the show teaches kids about their natural environment as the fuzzy green alien star learns about life on earth. The AGS extraterrestrial puppet character named Pazoo, since launching in 1976, has visited over 50 million children in U.S. preschools and kindergartens via AGS learning kits. Pazoo’s Place features Duzo, a three-minute toon segment animated under the auspices of Wayne and Terry Smith, that has stand-alone segment sales potential.

AGS has its own production facilities and a stable of 20 characters that have already been kid-tested in the ECE kits. The company is also looking for original material for distribution, with possible cross-pollination back to its publishing side, and plans future expansion into the children’s video industry. After making a debut at MIPCOM, AGS VP/GM Michael Nabicht is heading to MIP Asia next month.