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Trick Shot

Good

Recommended age Unlock

Co-watching from age 2

Balanced

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Phoebe & Jay: Trick Shot | Good, co-watching from age 2

Phoebe & Jay: Trick Shot | Good, co-watching from age 2 - Slowscreen

Good · Co-watching from age 2. Phoebe and Jay spend the day at the basketball court where their dad, Pete, and Cousin Craig face off in a trick-shot game called...

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https://slowscreen.com/en/series/phoebe-jay/s1/e3-trick-shot

https://slowscreen.com/en/series/phoebe-jay/s1/e3-trick-shot

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Phoebe & Jay: Trick Shot | Good, co-watching from age 2 - Slowscreen

Good · Co-watching from age 2. Phoebe and Jay spend the day at the basketball court where their dad, Pete, and Cousin Craig face off in a trick-shot game called...

Phoebe & Jay: Trick Shot | Good, co-watching from age 2
Phoebe & Jay: Trick Shot | Good, co-watching from age 2

slowscreen.com

Phoebe & Jay: Trick Shot | Good, co-watching from age 2 - Slowscreen

Good · Co-watching from age 2. Phoebe and Jay spend the day at the basketball court where their dad, Pete, and Cousin Craig face off in a trick-shot game called...

Phoebe & Jay: Trick Shot | Good, co-watching from age 2
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Phoebe & Jay: Trick Shot | Good, co-watching from age 2 - Slowscreen

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Phoebe & Jay: Trick Shot | Good, co-watching from age 2 - Slowscreen

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Subject Phoebe & Jay: Trick Shot | Good, co-watching from age 2

Good · Co-watching from age 2. Phoebe and Jay spend the day at the basketball court where their dad, Pete, and Cousin Craig face off in a trick-shot game called...

https://slowscreen.com/en/series/phoebe-jay/s1/e3-trick-shot

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This program is stimulating. It actively demands attention and can feel intense. For the recommended age, this may be on the more intense side. The pacing is fast. Images follow each other quickly, leaving little time to pause and take in what is happening. The sound is soft and supportive. The visuals are calm and well-organized.
The episode follows a single, easy-to-track storyline: Dad and Cousin Craig compete in a trick-shot game while the children keep score. Events build in a clear order, from learning how a scoreboard works to each shot and its result, ending with the deciding basket. Cause and effect is spelled out plainly, with 'make a basket, score a point, flip to the next number; miss, and the number stays the same.' The teaching moments do stack several counting ideas together, which is the one spot where the youngest viewer may need a second pass.
Feelings here stay warm and safe. The coaching pairs cheer each other on, Grandma is patient and reassuring, and the closing 'Good game, Phoebs' models gracious winning and losing. When Craig misses or the final shot hangs in doubt, the worry is brief and turns into celebration right away. The competitive boasting, like 'better start polishing that medal,' and the steady excited cheering add a slightly louder edge, but nothing tips into real distress.
The children drive much of the thinking. Phoebe sounds out the words on Craig's trick-shot list and invents a memory trick, writing 'Dad' in red and 'cuz' in blue so she knows which score to flip. Jay dreams up a whole multi-step 'Topsy surprise' shot and talks his father through it. When Phoebe flips the wrong number she notices, says 'Oopsie, I'll fix it,' and corrects it, so trying, checking and adjusting are all visible on screen.
The language is clear and used consistently, with Grandma naming each idea ('This is a scoreboard, it helps us keep track of every point') and the children speaking in full, well-formed sentences. The scorekeeping words are repeated meaningfully rather than as filler. The dialogue is dense and packs in a lot, and the playful shot names like the 'no-look behind-the-back one-hand fan spin around jumper' are a mouthful for the youngest listeners, so some of it sits just above a three-year-old's level.
Everything sits in the real world: a family playing basketball at an outdoor court, a paper scoreboard, a marker, words to read. The core skill, keeping score by counting up, transfers straight to any game a child plays at home, and the steps are shown clearly. The social picture is just as recognizable, with a grandparent refereeing, cousins competing, and a parent and child working as a team. There is no fantasy to get in the way of putting it into practice.

More information

This score shows how inclusively the series portrays diverse people, families and cultures. Scale: Limited → Varied → Rich → Inclusive.
This episode centers an extended Black family playing a backyard basketball trick-shot game together, with children, a father and cousin, a grandmother and an older neighbor all sharing the screen. Boys and girls take equal turns leading as coaches who pick the shots, while the grandmother holds clear authority as the referee and the one teaching the children how to keep score. Feelings and responsibilities are spread fairly across everyone, without anyone left stuck in the background. The main limit is breadth: the story stays within one family and one neighborhood, so cultural and life-world variety beyond that group is not shown.
This score shows whether the series stays close to everyday reality or leans into fantasy. Scale: Fantasy → Mixed reality → Realistic.
This episode stays firmly in the real world: a family gathers at the local basketball court for a friendly trick-shot game while two children learn to read a scoreboard and count points. There is no villain, only a warm rivalry between Dad and Cousin Craig that ends with handshakes and praise on both sides. Nothing magical happens; the biggest flourish is an over-the-top trick shot that reads as exaggerated skill rather than fantasy. For a three-year-old this is an easy, recognizable world built around people, places, and everyday activities they already know.
This score shows how enjoyable the series is for parents watching along. Scale: Tedious → Tolerable → Pleasant → Enjoyable.
This one is an easy watch for the grown-up on the couch. The production is clean and the voices stay pleasant, so nothing grates, and the underdog basketball contest gives you a small story to follow rather than pure looping activity. Most of the content is pitched at the child learning to count points, with only light touches for the adult in the room, a deadpan referee Grandma and a string of silly trick-shot names. Comfortable company to sit through, without being something you would put on for yourself.

Themes

Sports

Central

The whole episode is a basketball trick-shot competition called Topsy Shotsy.

Counting

Central

Grandma teaches Phoebe and Jay to count up points and flip the scoreboard after each basket.

Competition

Central

Dad and Cousin Craig race to three trick baskets to win the game.

Behaviour

Competition

The episode centers on a contest for a medal, with one clear winner and loser each round.

Flashing lights

Brief bright flashes appear during the opening title transitions.

Phoebe and Jay spend the day at the basketball court where their dad, Pete, and Cousin Craig face off in a trick-shot game called Topsy Shotsy. Phoebe coaches Craig and Jay coaches Dad, while Grandma referees and teaches the children to keep score by counting up points on the scoreboard. After a long losing streak, Dad finally wins with Jay's invented 'Topsy surprise' shot. Everyone celebrates and the two players congratulate each other with a 'Good game.'

Season 1

12 episodes

Phoebe & Jay
S01 E01

Phoebe & Jay

The Last Box

Balanced
recommended age Unlock co-watching from 2

Phoebe and Jay live with their dad and grandmother in an apartment called Topsy Towers. After a tumble knocks over the last unpacked box from their move, they find their late mother's sparkly majorette jacket, which smells and needs cleaning. With the adults' help the children read the care label and hand wash, lay flat and sun-dry the jacket step by step, learning to be patient along the way. The jacket briefly seems lost, then comes back clean, and Phoebe finally wears it to feel close to her mom.

Phoebe & Jay
S01 E02

Phoebe & Jay

Paint on the Mail

Balanced
recommended age Unlock co-watching from 2

Siblings Phoebe and Jay live in an apartment building called Tobsy Towers with their dad and grandma. When wet paint smears the addresses on two packages, the family delivers them by reading the leftover clues, floor numbers, apartment letters, and wayfinding signs, meeting several neighbors along the way. They reach the right doors, make new friends, and learn that a kind neighbor named Mr. Gurley never gets any mail. The episode ends with the children hand-delivering him a gift that blends their two favorite games.

Phoebe & Jay
S01 E03

Phoebe & Jay

Trick Shot

Balanced
recommended age Unlock co-watching from 2

Phoebe and Jay spend the day at the basketball court where their dad, Pete, and Cousin Craig face off in a trick-shot game called Topsy Shotsy. Phoebe coaches Craig and Jay coaches Dad, while Grandma referees and teaches the children to keep score by counting up points on the scoreboard. After a long losing streak, Dad finally wins with Jay's invented 'Topsy surprise' shot. Everyone celebrates and the two players congratulate each other with a 'Good game.'

Phoebe & Jay
S01 E04

Phoebe & Jay

The Green Pepper

Balanced
recommended age Unlock co-watching from 2

Grandma trusts Phoebe and Jay to look after the community garden's first bell pepper until it ripens from green to orange. Using a moisture meter, a watering can and plenty of patience, the children keep the soil just right through sun and rain while shooing a hungry squirrel named Harold. When they realize Harold only wants the pepper because his own food got soaked, they build him a dry home for his acorns. The pepper ripens, they pick it, and share a salad with a neighbor.

Phoebe & Jay
S01 E05

Phoebe & Jay

Birthday Dance Surprise

Balanced
recommended age Unlock co-watching from 2

Phoebe, a young girl living at the Topsy Towers apartment community, hears Grandma Annie's favourite song and decides to make up a surprise dance for her grandmother's birthday. She teaches the three-part dance to her brother Jay, her friend Lupe, neighbour Mr. Gurley and her dad, finding a different way to help each one learn, from turning the steps into a song to recording a video they can slow down and drawing pictures of each move. The family keeps the dance a secret while they practise. At the party, everyone performs it together and Grandma Annie calls it the best birthday surprise ever.

Phoebe & Jay
S01 E06

Phoebe & Jay

Jay's Fit

Balanced
recommended age Unlock co-watching from 2

Siblings Phoebe and Jay are getting ready for a big family photo for their apartment building's neighbor wall. After spilled hair gel stains Dad's tie and Jay slips into a muddy puddle, the children head to the building's Pass-It-On table to put together a new outfit. Phoebe acts as Jay's stylist, and with help from neighbor Manny they learn to read the size tags on clothing to find pants, a jacket, and a shirt that fit. The family finally gathers for the photo at the end.

Phoebe & Jay
S01 E07

Phoebe & Jay

Bird Sitting

Balanced
recommended age Unlock co-watching from 2

Phoebe and Jay, two children who live in the Topsy Towers apartment building, agree to look after their neighbour Miss Jean's bird Houdini for a night. With their dad trying to nap after his building work and their grandmother helping out, they follow Houdini's three-step bedtime routine: sing Twinkle Twinkle, cover his cage to block the light, and blow him a goodnight kiss. When they miss a step the bird flaps and squawks, and after the written instructions are lost, Phoebe turns the steps into a song with pictures to remember them. They finally get Houdini to sleep, and everyone settles down to rest.

Phoebe & Jay
S01 E08

Phoebe & Jay

Fruit Juice Frenzy

Balanced
recommended age Unlock co-watching from 2

Twins Phoebe and Jay take three dollars from Grandma Annie to buy three juices at Mr. Aguilar's cart outside their apartment building, including a special pineapple, strawberry and mango blend just for Grandma. Along the way they help build the cart's menu and learn the fruit flavours, then hit one setback after another as a thirsty Dad drinks Grandma's juice, the strawberry sells out, and Cousin Craig spills the replacement. With more flavours and even the cups gone, Phoebe invents a mango-cucumber juice served inside a hollowed-out pineapple. Grandma loves the new drink, and the children name it the 'Phoebe and Jay's Special.'

Phoebe & Jay
S01 E09

Phoebe & Jay

Fire Drill

Balanced
recommended age Unlock co-watching from 2

Siblings Phoebe and Jay, with their dad, grandmother, a young friend named Lupe and Fire Inspector Josie, learn about fire safety in their apartment building, Topsy Towers. They find safety tools, learn what exit signs and the emergency exit are for, and build a family fire safety plan with three steps: stop, exit, and wait at a meeting place. When Lupe is frightened by the loud alarm, a grandmother teaches a calming breathing trick. The family practices the drill, completes all three steps, and receives Safety Squad badges.

Phoebe & Jay
S01 E10

Phoebe & Jay

Paper Rocketship

Balanced
recommended age Unlock co-watching from 2

Siblings Phoebe and Jay are set to watch a real rocket launch from their apartment building, but rain cancels it. Their neighbour Mr. Gurley shows them his record paper airplane that flew twenty feet, and teaches them to measure distance in feet. The children fold and launch their own paper rockets again and again, measuring each flight and adjusting the design. After several short attempts they finally fly one thirty-two feet, setting a new building record and earning a spot in the showcase.

Phoebe & Jay
S01 E11

Phoebe & Jay

Comic Tragedy

Balanced
recommended age Unlock co-watching from 2

Jay shows his grandmother the comic book he made about a hero named Captain Graviton, then sets off to make copies at the library. When the loose pages blow away, his sister Phoebe and a friend gather them up and use the page numbers to work out which pages are missing and what order they belong in. They keep searching until every page is found and read the finished story together. The episode ends with Jay's completed comic and a plan for the siblings to make a new one together.

Phoebe & Jay
S01 E12

Phoebe & Jay

Fort Yaber

Balanced
recommended age Unlock co-watching from 2

Phoebe and Jay are siblings who want to surprise their friend Manny by building a pillow fort while he is away doing chores. Using a diagram Manny drew, they gather blankets, pillows and couch cushions, but their first attempt collapses because they ignore the order of the steps. With encouragement from their dad, they realize the numbers on the diagram show the sequence, rebuild the fort correctly, and add their own touches to make it bigger. Manny returns to find the finished fort, and the family wraps up with a playful pretend gator chase.

Explore more

From this series Phoebe & Jay
By age 3 years
By platform PBS Kids

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