With a network that now spans more than 30 online series, PBS Digital Studios announced at its first NewFronts presentation yesterday that four new series will be joining its lineup of popular originals, and among them is the children’s series Pancake Mountain.

Pancake Mountain, a reboot of the cult-favorite musical variety show for kids created by filmmaker Scott Stuckey, will launch this summer. The TV version of the show featured bands like Arcade Fire back in 2005, before Yo Gabba Gabba! started doing the same to target the Gen-Y parental cohort. A new episode will be released weekly, featuring characters from the original series, plus some new faces.

Meanwhile, Pemberley Digital, the creators of successful transmedia series Lizzie Bennet Diaries and Emma Approved, is producing PBS Digital Studios’ first scripted show: Frankenstein, M.D., a re-imagining of novelist Mary Shelley’s cult classic that will launch later this year.

Two other new series made in collaboration with Magnet Media debuted Monday on the PBS Digital Studios YouTube channel. They are Bongo Bongo, in which host/writer Ethan Fixell explores the root of English words like “rant,” and Food Buzz, in which host Chris Hauselt offers viewers a look at the food blogosphere and the “history, science and psychology” (so many disciplines!) behind food memes.

Both series will release a new episode each week.

Since its launch in 2012, PBS Digital Studios has grown to more than one million subscribers. More than 30 PBS Digital Studios series, including local productions in partnership with PBS member stations, are available on YouTube, Roku, Xbox, Apple TV and PBS.org, and average more than 5 million streams each month.

From StreamDaily