Amy Poehler's 'Smart Girls' Kicks Off With Mattel's Barbie on Board

Amy Poehler’s new web series Smart Girls At The Party launched today from ON Networks with Mattel’s Barbie attached as lead sponsor. The series, announced earlier this fall, had been looking for the right sponsor, one that aligned with its parents and kid-focused audience. While the official launch of the series isn’t until Monday, ON has gone ahead with a soft launch today.

Poehler stars as host along with longtime friend Meredith Walker, a former senior producer for Nickelodeon’s Nick News, and musical lead Amy Miles, recording artist and host of PBS children’s show LOMAX: Hound of Music. The 8-episode series was created for young girls and their parents and “aims to help young girls find confidence in their own aspirations and talents.” In each episode, Poehler interviews a smart young girl with a unique talent, community interest or point of view.

The first episode, “The Writer – Cameron” (above) debuted today, featuring Poehler interviewing 10 year-old Cameron King who has taken to writing paranormal and mystery stories. Questions range from “When did you first find our you love writing?” and “How do you beat writer’s block?” showing the remarkably mature and intelligent young writer knows what she’s doing.

Balancing serious moments with Poehler’s style of intelligent humor, the show breezes through the 5-10 minute episodes in a light-hearted fashion. Upcoming episodes will feature a variety of young go-getters including a young yogini named Anna chatting about the benefits of yoga, a young urban gardener tending her crops in a New York City community garden and even an all-young-girl band named “Care Bears on Fire.”

While the first season is slated for just 8 episodes, all future seasons will have 12 episodes each, according to the producers. Showing their passion for the project, ON Networks and Amy Poehler have committed to a staggering four additional seasons. Austin-based ON Networks is one of the largest independent distributors of original, episodic HD programming. Smart Girls will be distributed through the show’s main site, www.smartgirlsattheparty.tv, iTunes, Adobe Media Player and several mobile partners, including AT&T who is also an investor in ON. New episodes will be released every Monday for the next eight weeks.