New Digital Series Combines Video Gameplay With Expert Insight in 'Won't You Be My Gamer?' Now Available to Stream on PBS SoCal's YouTube
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Chelsea Grosbeck
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Los Angeles, Calif. – July 11, 2024 – PBS SoCal Southern California’s flagship PBS organization, announced their foray into video game entertainment in the new PBS SoCal YouTube series, WON’T YOU BE MY GAMER?. Starting today, co-hosts video game writer Elyse Willems and game developer Nikole Zivalich will be joined by a featured expert and play video games related to their expertise. In each 20-minute video, viewers will learn about a variety of diverse topics in an interactive gameplay experience. The first episode is available to stream starting today, July 11 on the PBS SoCal YouTube channel.
The PBS SoCal produced digital series kicks off with a video game adaptation of the famous Agatha Christie mystery novel, “Murder on the Orient Express.” Kemper Donovan, author and host of the “All About Agatha Podcast,” joins to share interesting facts behind Christie and her beloved literary character Hercule Poirot. The trio solve puzzles and offer playful commentary, all while viewers gain valuable insights into the work of detective fiction.
In upcoming episodes, Elyse and Nikole will team up with chef Uyên Lê, owner and founder of the Los Angeles Vietnamese restaurant Bé Ù, to play popular cooking-themed video games “Overcooked! 2” and “PlateUp!” Uyên, whose restaurant was featured in season two of PBS SoCal’s Emmy® and James Beard Award®-winning series BROKEN BREAD, will review how these cooking simulation games can at times mirror a real-life kitchen experience. In the game, players manage various tasks such as chopping ingredients, cooking and serving dishes in a limited amount of time. Uyên compares how the multiplayer games challenge players to solve chaotic kitchen scenarios and emphasizes the teamwork required to run a successful restaurant. Additional episodes and hosts will be announced at a later date.
Elyse Willems has over a decade of experience as a writer, producer and performer across the entertainment landscape, getting her start at GameTrailers. For almost nine years she was a member of the comedy gaming YouTube channel “Funhaus,” developing and performing in thousands of hours of videos and live content, earning the channel over 1.6 billion overall views. She has co-written two video games, “Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed” (2022) and “Arcadegeddon” (2021). She is the creator, co-host and writer of the “30 Morbid Minutes” podcast and was the co-host of Warner Bros. Entertainment's “Popcorn & Shield” (2020) podcast. She served as showrunner and cast member of “Arizona Circle” (2019), a 22-minute, 8-episode sketch series. In 2020, she published her first children’s novel, “A Night in Halloween House,” which reached #1 in Amazon Children’s Horror and Halloween books. Elyse can also be seen across the Internet, on channels and properties including Smosh, Dropout, RocketJump, Kinda Funny and Drawfee.
Nikole Zivalich is a TV writer from Los Angeles with nearly 20 years of experience as a journalist and producer. In the video game industry, she has developed and produced digital content that has included game series like “King's Quest” and “Tetris,” and has written for outlets such as G4 and GamePro. As a producer, Nikole has also worked on the “Talking Dead” series, including “Talking Preacher” and “Talking Saul.” She has received several accolades for her work on the television comedy series “Bite Size” including being honored as a semifinalist at the Stage 32 Sci-Fi/Fantasy Screenwriting Contest 2022, second place at the Launch Pad Pilot Competition’s 9th Annual event and quarterfinalist at the 2022 ScreenCraft TV Pilot Script Competition.
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About PBS SoCal
PBS SoCal uses the power of public media for good, strengthening the civic fabric of Southern California and providing our community with an essential connection to a wider world. As a local, donor/member-supported non-profit organization, PBS SoCal is available to stream on the PBS app and the PBS Kids App and reaches nearly 19M viewers across 7 Broadcast channels — including 2 primary channels, PBS SoCal and PBS SoCal Plus and 5 digital subchannels. With a commitment to make content available anytime and anywhere for free, PBS SoCal offers programming that reflects the diversity of Southern California and showcases the full schedule of beloved and trusted PBS content spanning Education, News, Environment and Arts & Culture. PBS SoCal also sparks the sharing of ideas at in-person cultural events and community conversations as well as prepares children for kindergarten and beyond by bringing bilingual, hands-on learning experiences to the community for free.