Learning lessons about life through baseball on ABC’s ‘McGee and Me!’

Go out and buy some peanuts and Crackerjacks for the premiere of McGee and Me! Take Me Out to the Ball Game, part of the “McGee and Me” video series that have been airing on ABC.

The live-action, animated program--airing as an “ABC Weekend Special”--follows the adventures of 13-year-old Nick Martin (Joseph Dammann), a young cartoonist whose animated sidekick, McGee, joins him on adventures.

In “Take Me Out to the Ball Game,” Nick, impressed with Thurman, the star of his Little League team, will do just about anything to keep the guy happy: he gives him his favorite baseball card, cleans his cleats and lets him eat half the refrigerator. But, eventually, as McGee delivers a “Casey at the Bat” kind of commentary, Nick learns about perspective.

Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Orel Hershiser plays himself in a fantasy sequence and pop singer Michael W. Smith performs an original song for the show.

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“McGee and Me! Take Me Out to the Ball Game ,” Saturday 11:30 a.m.-noon on ABC. For ages 4 and up.

MORE FAMILY SHOWS

The Inspector Gadget Marathon (Sunday 8 a.m. to noon, the Family Channel) features four hours of shows with the bionic police officer, his handy gadgets and his sidekicks: computer-whiz Penny and his dog, Brain. Gadget escapes from two mad inventors, outwits an 8-foot monster, a nightmare machine and several bank robbers. For ages 3-12.

Dragons are definitely the stuff of which mystical dreams are made, and on Sunday the Disney Channel presents six shows featuring the fire-breathing but gentle (in the world of Disney) creature: Puff the Magic Dragon (10 a.m.); Puff the Magic Dragon in the Land of Living Lies (noon); Puff the Magic Dragon and the Incredible Mr. Nobody (2:05-2:30 p.m.); Pete’s Dragon (2:30-4 p.m.); The Railway Dragon (4:30-5 p.m.), and The Reluctant Dragon (7:30-8 p.m.). For ages 3-12.

Today’s brooding big-screen Batman truly exemplifies his Dark Knight image, but from a kindler and gentler time the Family Channel presents a Batman marathon (1-10 p.m.) with 14 episodes from the series starring Adam West and Burt Ward as Batman and Robin. Included is the original two-hour “Batman” movie, where the caped crusaders fight to save the world from a dehydration machine wielded by the Joker, the Penquin, the Catwoman and the Riddler. For ages 6 and up.

Children’s Television Workshop’s “Mathnet” seeks to encourage enthusiasm for mathematics by making it entertaining. The Mathnet team of George Frankly and Pat Tuesday goes undercover and underwater to catch a thief in Mathnet: Despair in Monterey Bay (7-8 p.m. KVCR; 8-9 p.m. KCET, KPBS). The duo pose as Nick and Nora Chuck, who are keeping an eye on the Despair Diamond, owned by Lady Esther Astor-Astute (Jayne Meadows). But a debonair jewel thief gets the best of them, and it’s up to Frankly and Tuesday to recover the jewel. For ages 8-13.

A nursery school in Japan welcomes An Unexpected Student (Thursday 6:30-7 p.m. Discovery Channel)--a pink pelican. The bird’s daily visit enables the children to learn about human-animal interaction. For ages 4 and up.

Disney’s The Little Mermaid--A Whale of a Tale (Friday 8-8:30 p.m. CBS) is a prequel to the Disney movie and an introduction to the series (Saturdays 8:30 a.m.), as Ariel adopts a baby killer whale and her father demands it be returned to the open ocean. For ages 3-11.