With YouTube (73.4 million subscribers) pretty much already in the bag — and its ad share revenue in his bag — former NASA engineer Mark Rober is expanding his presence on that other streaming platform.
Rober will host the new student competition series Schooled! on Netflix. He’ll executive produce alongside Scott Lewers for CrunchLabs, Jimmy Kimmel and Scott Lonker for Kimmelot, and Schooled! showrunner Daniel Calin.
Schooled! will see “teams of student tinkerers compete in creative and explosive science challenges, set in a fully gamified school,” the description reads. Winners will take home a “life-changing” prize, it promises; the details were previously kept under wraps.
Rober already has his CrunchLabs series on Netflix. He also co-starred in Elmo & Mark Rober’s Merry Giftmas special and was featured on its Skyscraper Live.
“I couldn’t be more stoked to team up with Netflix and Jimmy Kimmel to bring Schooled! to life. Our series is about giving kids a stage big enough for their ideas. This will be the ultimate playground for science, creativity, and competition to come together,” Rober said in a statement. “I’m so pumped to see what these students come up with. My expectations are high. I’m ready to be blown away.”
Kimmelot produces Who Wants to Be a Millionaire and Jimmy Kimmel Live! It is also a producer on Mark Rober’s Revengineers for Discovery, so Rober and Kimmel have been lab partners before.
“Mark Rober is a master of the ‘wow’ moment, and we’ve seen firsthand how much our members love his unique brand of science-fueled spectacle. We’re taking that energy to the next level with Schooled!” John Derderian, Netflix’s vice president of animation series + kids & family TV, added. “It isn’t just a competition; it’s a celebration of creativity and engineering. It’s exactly the kind of co-viewing experience that brings families together, and we can’t wait to see what these young makers and tinkerers create in the halls of CrunchLabs Academy.”
Casting for Schooled! is now open; the show’s filming location and premiere date will be announced in the future.
