Trivia / Xavier Riddle and the Secret Museum

• Acting for Two:
  • Sebastian Bernhardt-Walther as Johann Sebastian Bach and Albert Einstein.
  • Afrodite Drossos as Mary Shelley, Florence Nightingale, and Mary Leakey.
  • Gavin McIver-Wright as Alexander Graham Bell and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
  • Christian Campbell as George Washington Carver, Frederick Douglass and Jesse Owens.
  • Markeda McKay as Amelia Earhart, Nellie Bly, and Wilma Rudolph.
  • Maryanne Gilbert as Catherine the Great and Eleanor Roosevelt.
  • Maxim Lutterotti as George Washington and Orville Wright.
  • Beatrice Schneider as Julia Child, Kate Warne, Billie Jean King, and Carol Burnett.
  • Eamon Hansen as Neil Armstrong and Theodore Roosevelt.
  • Jazz Stewart as Jackie Robinson and Arthur Ashe.
  • Roman Pesino as Lou Gehrig and Jonas Salk.
  • Emma Ho as Junko Tabei and Dolores Huerta.
  • Callum Shoniker as Nikola Tesla and Abraham Lincoln.
  • Sage Arrindell as Maya Angelou and Mary Anning.
  • Ian Ho as Cesar Chavez, Confucius, Charlie Chaplin, and, as of season 2, Xavier Riddle himself.
  • Isabella Beaver as Sacagawea and Jigonhsaseh.
• Actor-Shared Background: Isabella Beaver is indigenous, much like Sacagawea.
• Adored by the Network: Back in 2019, PBS Kids gave this show a lot of good treatment. It got consistent advertising, had its first 13 episodes released on the app, and got 2 daily time slots on the main PBS network. Now it only has one.
• Backed by the Pentagon: Some interviews mention that the estates of certain historical figures help out with the show.
• Banned Episode: "I Am Jackie Robinson / I Am Anna Pavlova" was taken out of circulation after August 2020, because viewers complained about the Jackie Robinson episode watering down history and systemic racism, with the Anna Pavlova episode being taken along with it. It's still available on digital platforms.
• Blooper: In "I Am Alexander Graham Bell", when Xavier says that maybe the Museum will help Brad get a pirate voice and does a pirate impression, his right arm disappears for several seconds. This is fixed on the "Meet Xavier!" DVD.
• Children Voicing Children: This is the case with all three of the main child characters, and all of the historical figures when they were kids.
• Content Leak: On October 29, 2021, "I Am Jigonsaseh" was accidentally leaked on the PBS Kids video app; 3 days before its intended airdate. It was removed a day later, but it was too late as everyone already saw it. It was put back on November 1.
• Cowboy BeBop at His Computer:
  • Wikipedia says the show was created by Todd Grimes, but he doesn't even work on this show. Brad Meltzer and Chris Eliopoulos actually created it. Cue many confused parents asking Todd Grimes Xavier Riddle-related questions.
  • Several publications claim that Jackie Joyner-Kersee voices herself in "I Am Madam President". As with all of the historical figures, Jackie Joyner-Kersee was played by a child actress (Alexa Campbell).
• Creator's Favorite: Brad Meltzer's favorite character is Brad, obviously.
• Disabled Character, Disabled Actor: In "I Am Alexander Graham Bell", Bell's mother is voiced by Amanda Richer, who is deaf just like her character.
• Early-Bird Release: "I Am Mary Shelley" aired as a sneak peek during PBS Kids Family Night on October 25, 2019. On November 11, 2019, all the episodes of the show dropped on the PBS Kids video app before they could air on television.
• Fake Brit: Afrodite Drossos as Mary Shelley and Florence Nightingale; Lucas Kalechstein as Charles Dickens.
• Fake Nationality: Japanese Junko Tabei and Mexican Dolores Huerta are both voiced by Emma Ho, who is of Chinese and Costa Rican descent.
• He Also Did:
  • Cory Bobiak, the director, also worked on Peg + Cat.
  • Story editor Meghan Read also worked on Dot. and Dino Dan.
  • Christian Corrao, voice of Jules Léotard, also voices Marshall from PAW Patrol.
    • On a similar note: Ian Ho voices Cesar Chavez, Confucious, Charlie Chaplin and Xavier Riddle (now as of season 2) also voices Moby.
• Invisible Advertising: Weeks of new episodes never get advertised on TV, so the only way people know about the premieres is by checking the local schedules or official social media posts. However, season 2 is getting advertised.
• Meaningful Release Date:
  • "I Am Madam President" aired in March for for Women's History Month.
  • Likely unintentional, but "I Am Billie Jean King" aired on October 8 — International Lesbian Day. Billie Jean King happens to be a lesbian.
  • "I Am Jigonsaseh" aired on November 1, 2021 for Native American Heritage Month.
  • "I Am Temple Grandin" aired on April 5, 2021 for Autism Acceptance Month.
  • "I Am Jesse Owens/I Am Ella Fitzgerald" aired on February 2, 2021 for Black History Month.
• The Merch: Aside from the typical water bottles and T-shirts that PBS KIDS shows have, there are also plushies and an Xavier figure for the Toniebox.
• Missing Episode:
  • Only 30 episodes of the first season were dubbed in Finnish.
  • "I Am Jigonsaseh" isn't paired with a new episode. Singapore in particular lists the show as having 73 individual episodes instead of the proper 74. The episode's credits list Sacagawea and Lewis and Clark as part of the voice cast, even though Sacagawea is already paired with Confucius. It's unknown why this happened.
• Newbie Boom: Gained tons of fans after "I Am Madam President" aired because the movie was very high-stakes and established a mystery.
• No Budget: If IMDB is to be believed, the show has a budget of only $3,000. This is roughly the same budget that Bob Clampett had to work with on his Black & White Looney Tunes shorts, and when adjusted for inflation, it's still more. The average budget of a half-hour preschool show? $350,000 at most The show's low budget truly shows, as many assets are reused, such as character models. However, the animation itself is quite polished.
• Only So Many Canadian Actors: Aside from the typical child actors used in Canadian preschool shows, there have also been minor roles play by Toronto talent pool regulars. Deven Mack played a few characters in the Zora Neale Hurston episode, for instance.
• The Other Darrin: For the online shorts, Xavier is voiced by someone who is obviously not Aidan Vissers. There have also been casting calls for season 2 that ask for a Hispanic voice actor to play Xavier. As of now, the new voice has not been identified. He got recast again in season 2 of the main show, where he is voiced by Ian Ho.
• Out of Order: This is how the episodes air. Episode 9, "I Am George Washington/I Am Susan B. Anthony", was aired as the third episode when it's not.
• Pop-Culture Urban Legends: The fandom is already notorious for making up false information. Often, little kids will go onto the wiki and add themselves as characters, and other times, people will make pages about historical figures who haven't been confirmed for the show. And some people tried to predict future premiere dates.
• Real-Life Relative:
  • Maxim and Roman Lutterotti are brothers, much like Orville and Wilbur Wright.
  • Siena and Scarlett Bidfell are sisters, much like Charlotte and Emily Bronte. Anne is voiced by Teagan Sellers, who isn't related to them.
• Recursive Adaptation: The show was based on a book series, then got its own books.
• Recycled Script: Sacagawea was originally paired with Confucius, but is now also going to be paired with Jigonsaseh just because they're both indigenous. This goes against the boy-girl episode pairings and it's unknown why Jigonsaseh was paired with a rerun instead of a new historical figure.
• Schedule Slip: Thanks to the long hiatuses, it has taken 2 years and 2 months to finish Season 1; premiered in November 2019 and ended in January 2022.
• Screwed by the Network: Whenever a week of new episodes premieres, they don't really get any advertising. The exceptions were the series premiere and "I Am Madam President." There were also pretty long hiatuses.
• Series Hiatus:
  • Not counting "I Am Madam President" in March, there was an seven-month hiatus in-between "I Am Marie Owens" in January 2020, and "I Am Nikola Tesla" in August.
  • After "I Am Edmund Hillary/I Am Celia Cruz" aired in April 2021, the show went on another seven-month hiatus, this time with no interruptions. The final episodes of Season 1 have aired in other countries. Meanwhile, radio silence from PBS until they aired "I Am Jigonsaseh", "I am Ibn Battuta", and "I Am Beulah Louise Henry" in November 2021.
  • Season 1 ended in January 2022, and Season 2 premiered around two years later.
• Short Run in Peru:
  • The August 2020 bomb of premieres aired in Canada in July before making it to the US in August.
  • In Singapore, "I Am Wilma Rudolph / I Am Jonas Salk", episode 24 in production order, aired in November 2020, while it aired in the US on February 1, 2021.
  • In December 2020, Sky in Italy took to airing the later episodes of season 1, including ones that haven't aired on American or Canadian television, like James Naismith, Temple Grandin, Albert Einstein, Carol Burnett, Abraham Lincoln, Jane Jacobs, Edmund Hillary, and Celia Cruz.
  • In January 2021, "I Am James Naismith" aired in Canada along with the Temple Grandin, Albert Einstein, Carol Burnett, Abraham Lincoln, Jane Jacobs, Edmund Hillary, and Celia Cruz episodes. They aired in April 2021.
  • In February 2021, the final batch of Season 1 episodes (Rukmini Devi, Bob Ross, Ibn Battuta, Beulah Louise Henry, Jigonsaesh, and Fred Rogers [half-hour season finale]) were released in Singapore. Ibn Battuta, Beulah Louise Henry, and Jigonsaseh aired in the US in November 2021. The Mister Rogers episode also aired in Canada in October of 2021.
• Typecasting: Due to the show's habit of recycling actors, it has cultivated its own typecasting. For example, Beatrice Schneider tends to voice Little Miss Snarker type characters, while Eamon Hansen is frequently cast as jerkasses (such as the skater kid who shoved Rosa Parks).
• What Could Have Been: An episode compilation was supposed to be shown at Alamo Drafthouse in March of 2020, but the event got cancelled when theaters closed down due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It was never rescheduled, and the PBS Kids at the Alamo series was put on hiatus as a result.
• Write Who You Know: According to Brad Meltzer, Xavier and Yadina are based on his kids.

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