Arthur (TV series)

Arthur
Genre	Adventure Sitcom Edutainment
Created by	Marc Brown
Developed by	Kathy Waugh
Directed by	Greg Bailey
Theme music composer	Judy Henderson & Jerry de Villiers Jr.
Opening theme	"Believe in Yourself" by Ziggy Marley and the Melody Makers
Country of origin	United States Canada
Original language(s)	English
No. of seasons	21
No. of episodes	239 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)	Marc Brown (Season 10–present) Micheline Charest (Seasons 1–4) Carol Greenwald Peter Moss (Seasons 5–6) Lesley Taylor Toper Taylor Pierre Valette
Producer(s)	Ronald Weinberg (Seasons 1–4) Cassandra Schafhausen Lesley Taylor Greg Bailey Diane Dallaire Tolon Brown
Running time	24–26 minutes
Production company(s)	Cinar (seasons 1–8) Cookie Jar Entertainment (seasons 9–15) 9 Story Media Group (seasons 16–19)[1] Oasis Animation (season 20–present)[2]
Distributor	DHX Media
Release
Original network	PBS
Picture format	SDTV (480i) (seasons 1–13) HDTV (1080i) (seasons 14–present)
Audio format	Dolby Surround
Original release	October 7, 1996 (1996-10-07) – present
Chronology
Related shows	Postcards from Buster
External links
Official Website on PBSkids.org

Arthur is a Canadian/American animated educational television series for children ages 4 to 8,^[3] created by Cookie Jar Group (formerly known as Cinar) and WGBH for PBS. The show is set in the fictional American city of Elwood City, and revolves around the lives of 8-year-old Arthur Read, an anthropomorphic aardvark,^[4] his friends and family, and their daily interactions with each other.

The television series is based on the Arthur Adventure book series, written and illustrated by Marc Brown. WGBH Boston along with Cinar (now Cookie Jar Group) began production of the animated series in 1994, and aired its first episode on October 7, 1996.^[5] Since its debut, the show has broadcast 235 thirty-minute-long episodes.

A pilot for the spin-off series Postcards from Buster aired in December 2003 as a season 8 episode of Arthur. Postcards from Buster aired from October 11, 2004, to November 21, 2008, when the series faced several years of hiatus, until a brief revival in February 2012, only to be cancelled after airing three unseen episodes that had been held over from the show's third season.^[6]

Arthur often deals with important issues families face such as asthma, dyslexia, cancer, diabetes,^[7] and autism spectrum disorder. It also encourages reading and relationships with family and friends by explaining that people have different personalities and interests.

Arthur became one of the highest-rated shows on PBS Kids for several years since its debut, averaging almost 10 million viewers weekly in the U.S. It is aired in a total of 83 countries, including on: PBS in the United States; Radio-Canada, Knowledge Network, TVOntario, and CBC in Canada; several ABC channels in Australia; and BBC One/CBBC in the UK. It is the longest-running children's animated series in the U.S., and the second longest-running animated series in the U.S., behind The Simpsons.^[8] In late 2015, it was announced that the series had been renewed for a 20th and 21st season, along with two new hour-long specials.^[9]

Setting

Arthur Read, the series's titular character, is an anthropomorphic eight-year-old brown aardvark who lives in the fictional town of Elwood City. He is a third-grade student at Lakewood Elementary School. Arthur's family includes two home-working parents, his father David (a chef) and his mother Jane (an accountant), his two younger sisters, Dora Winifred (D.W.), who is in preschool, and Kate, who is still an infant, and his dog Pal. Arthur also has several friends who come from various ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds, and he also occasionally meets with members of his extended family.

Elwood City is portrayed as a largely suburban area which bears a strong resemblance to the Boston area; the TV series is partially produced by WGBH. Furthermore, Elwood City's professional baseball team, the "Elwood City Grebes", appears to be a fictional representation of the Boston Red Sox. The episode "The Curse of the Grebes" in Season 10 clearly references baseball lore such as Curse of the Bambino. The same episode also refers indirectly to the rivalry between the Red Sox and the New York Yankees, as the Grebes have a fierce rivalry with the Crown City Kings during the World Championship, the show's version of the World Series. In another episode, the Elwood City Airport is shown to have a name that represents Boston's Logan International Airport. Crown City, as featured in other episodes, is apparently a fictional representation of New York City. In one episode, it is inferred that an ice hockey team wearing the WGBH logo and the Boston Bruins' team colors on their uniforms are Elwood City's professional (possibly NHL) hockey team.

There are also firm references to Brown's hometown of Erie, Pennsylvania. Most notably, the local shopping mall in the TV series is called "Mill Creek Mall", a reference to Millcreek Mall. Brown himself stated that the series is influenced by his upbringing as a child in Erie, and specifically noted that Mr. Ratburn is based on a middle-school algebra teacher he had at Westlake Middle School.^[10]

Production

In 1994, Marc Brown was approached by WGBH and PBS about the possibility of adapting the Arthur books into a television series. Brown was reluctant at first to become a part of a medium for which he had little respect, but soon agreed when he learned that the objective of the television series would be to use the powerful medium of television to promote children to reading books.^{[citation needed]}

Although the program is primarily written and produced by WGBH of Boston, the production of the animation and voice acting are done in Montreal, Toronto, South Korea, and Hong Kong. The animation of the show was done at AKOM Production Company from season 1 to 11, then at Animation Services (HK) Ltd from season 12 to 15. The entire cast of Arthur lives in Montreal or Toronto, where Cookie Jar Entertainment's studios are located. The only segments of the show that are filmed outside Canada are the "A Word from Us Kids" interstitials, filmed at elementary schools or other educational sites in the Boston area. Beginning in Season 11, the "A Word From Us Kids" segment was replaced by a segment called "Postcards from You", where live-action videos sent in by young viewers were spotlighted per episode, and then replaced with "A Word from Us Kids" in season 12. The segments are omitted from all airings outside the U.S.

Marc Brown's children, Tolon, Eliza and Tucker, are referenced in the show many times, just as they are in the Arthur book series. For example, the town's moving company is called "Tolon Moving", and everyday items such as cups or pencil sharpeners have the word "Eliza" printed on them. References to Cookie Jar Entertainment and WGBH also appear often on the show. In one episode, Francine and Buster are shown playing a table hockey game in which one team's players wear shirts in the Montreal Canadiens' signature colours with Montreal-based Cinar's logo on them (Cinar was the predecessor to today's Cookie Jar Entertainment) and the other team's players wear shirts in the Boston Bruins' colors with Boston-based WGBH's sting logo on them. Subsequent episodes that involve hockey also depict players wearing these sweater designs.^{[citation needed]} Also, in the episode "The Big Blow-Up" in Season 2, a racecar driver wears a jersey with "Cinar" written on it and a car with "WGBH" written on it. In the episode "Prove It" in Season 4, The Brain introduces D.W. to science while watching a non-animated episode of Nova, a science series also produced by WGBH. Brown's son Tolon, for whom Brown first invented the character of Arthur the Aardvark in a bedtime story, is the executive director of the show.^[11]

In October 1999,^[12] Cinar was investigated for tax fraud. It was revealed that the husband-and-wife chairman Micheline Charest and president Ronald Weinberg invested $122 million (US) into Bahamian bank accounts without the board members' approval. Cinar had also paid American screenwriters for work while continuing to accept Canadian federal grants for content. However, Arthur itself was not involved in the scandal as it was publicly known to be co-produced with an American company. Head writers Joe Fallon and Ken Scarborough left around that time, but not because of the scandal; Fallon left about a year before the investigation began.^[13]

In season 12, the series began producing and airing episodes in 1080i HD. However, until January 2013 in the U.S., the episodes still aired in 4:3 aspect ratio, with the left and right sides cropped out. They have since begun airing in 16:9 in January 2013. Season 12 also marks the switching of animation studios from AKOM to ASHK. Starting with season 16, the series was produced by 9 Story Entertainment (now 9 Story Media Group) and airs in 16:9 aspect ratio. Along with this change, 9 Story produced a re-mastered opening theme for the series in 16:9, and animation was moved in-house using Adobe Flash (a move that was criticized by longtime viewers of the series)^{[citation needed]}. Season 19 was the last season to be produced by 9 Story, with Montreal based-Oasis Animation taking over starting in season 20.^[14]

Music

The TV series' reggae-style theme song, "Believe in Yourself", was written by Judy Henderson and Jerry de Villiers Jr. and was performed by Ziggy Marley and the Melody Makers. A remixed techno version of the song has been officially released on the third album and a shortened version has been played during the closing credits for the sixth season. The Backstreet Boys covered the song with the original instrumentals for the ending credits of television special Arthur: It's Only Rock 'n' Roll.

The original music score was produced by Ray Fabi.

In season 2, the song "Crazy Bus", written and performed by then-head writer Joe Fallon, was introduced. It served as the alternate anthem of the television series. Cellist Yo-Yo Ma and jazz composer Joshua Redman covered the song on the ending credits of the season 4 finale episode, "My Music Rules". When Joe Fallon left Arthur after season 4, the song was officially retired from the show. The show alludes to this on the television special Arthur: It's Only Rock 'n' Roll when D.W. says, "Crazy Bus is for babies; I know a million better songs."^{[citation needed]}

Guest stars

Many celebrity guest stars have appeared on the show, each providing the voice for their anthropomorphic animal counterpart, excluding Joan Rivers, who played as Francine's maternal grandmother. Lance Armstrong and Joan Rivers are the only guest stars to make more than one appearance on the series.^[15]

Cast and characters

Characters

(Clockwise from upper left): The Brain, Binky, Sue Ellen, Francine, Muffy, Buster, Prunella, George, Arthur, Baby Kate

Arthur's immediate family is the focus of the series, with most episodes involving Arthur, his younger sister D.W., their parents David and Jane, baby Kate, and their dog Pal. Arthur's closest friends include Buster, Francine, Muffy, Binky, and the Brain, with Sue Ellen, Fern, and George as frequent supporting characters. D.W. often spends more time with Arthur and his older friends than her classmates, save for run-ins with the Tibble twins and her imaginary friend, Nadine. The adults in Arthur play important roles: Mr. and Mrs. Read display a significant amount of stress from parenting, Arthur's friends' parents are shown struggling in middle-class jobs, and Mr. Ratburn endures the demands and expectations of teaching elementary school. Even in difficult, adult situations, these grown-ups maintain a cheerful attitude. Arthur, D.W., and Kate also visit their paternal grandmother, Thora Read, and maternal grandfather, Grandpa Dave.

Voice cast

Unlike most animated television series, Arthur showcases a wide range of voice actors. Arthur, D.W., Brain, and the Tibble Twins have each had several different actors throughout the seasons due to the producers employing young males for these parts. The resulting effects of voice changes have been particularly criticized by viewers.

Celebrity guests

• Jack Prelutsky – As himself on the episode "I'm a Poet".
• Fred Rogers – Mr. Rogers appears as himself in a surprise visit to Elwood City in the episode "Arthur Meets Mr. Rogers."
• Art Garfunkel – Garfunkel appears as "the singing moose" in the episode "The Ballad of Buster Baxter."
• Yo-Yo Ma – Ma appears as Redman's rival in "My Music Rules."
• Joshua Redman – Redman appears as himself as Francine's uncle in "My Music rules."
• Alex Trebek – Trebek appears as "Alex Lebek," a game show host, in "Arthur and the Big Riddle."
• Michelle Kwan – Kwan appears as herself, teaching Francine how to skate in "The Good Sport."
• Backstreet Boys – As themselves in the hour-long special, "Arthur - It's Only Rock 'N' Roll".
• Larry King – Although King does not appear on the show itself, he interviews the Arthur characters during the interstitial on PBS's telecasts.
• Tom and Ray Magliozzi – Both appear in the episode "Pick a Car, Any Car" as Click and Clack from the 'Car Talk' radio show.
• Arthur Ganson – Appears as himself in the episode "Muffy's Art Attack".
• Koko Taylor – As herself in "Big Horns George."
• Taj Mahal – As himself who helps George write music in "Big Horns George."
• Frank Gehry – Gehry appears as an architect who helps the gang build the new treehouse in "Castles in the Sky."
• Rodney Gilfry – Appears in the episode "Lights, Camera... Opera!"
• Johnny Damon – Damon appears as a player for the Elwood City Grebes.
• Édgar Rentería – Also appears in "The Curse of the Grebes" as a player.
• Mike Timlin – Also appears in "The Curse of the Grebes" as a player.
• Ming Tsai – Tsai is shown as the judge for a cooking contest at the Lakewood Elementary school in "What's Cooking?"
• Matt Damon – Damon appears as himself in "The Making of Arthur."
• Lance Armstrong – Appears to support a campaign for bike lanes. He appears again to help Francine deal with cancer on "The Great MacGrady."
• Joan Rivers – Rivers was the voice of Francine's Grandmother, on season 12's "Is That Kosher?" and season 15's "Grandpa Dave's Memory Album."
• Philip Seymour Hoffman – Appears in "No Acting Please" as Will Toffman.
• Neil Gaiman – Appeared in "Falafelosophy" as himself.^[16]
• Michael Fincke – Appears in "Buster Spaces Out" as himself, credited as Mike Fincke.
• Alan Cumming – As the voice of Sebastian Winkleplotz in "Show Off."
• Idina Menzel – Menzel appears as Dr. Paula in "Shelter from the Storm."
• B.J. Novak – Novak appears as Mike "MC" Cramp in "The Last Day."
• John Lewis -- Appeared in "Arthur Takes a Stand" as himself.

Episodes

Each episode of Arthur runs for half an hour. Episodes usually consist of two completely self-contained 11-minute stories. The episodes usually start off with one of the characters (usually Arthur) speaking towards the audience about a situation within the story followed by the title card. The episodes are separated by a one-to-two-minute live-action interstitial called "And Now a Word from Us Kids" (or, in some cases, a permutation of that title more specific to its contents). The live-action segments almost always feature children from elementary schools (generally in the Boston area) presenting subjects they are currently learning about or projects they have been working on in their classes (the subjects covered here relate to the first cartoon segment in the half-hour). This segment is seen exclusively on PBS telecasts of the show, filling space otherwise used for commercials, which are generally forbidden on PBS. There is also a segment that sometimes appears at the end of the second 11-minute episode called "And Now a Word from Marc Brown" where he shows the viewers how to draw various main characters from the show. In 2007, the show began encouraging viewers to send in "video postcards" (similar to those used in the spin-off show Postcards from Buster), which were shown in the interstitials of episodes until the middle of Season 12. Beginning with Episode 151, the show reverted "And Now a Word from Us Kids".

Set in a realistic environment (as opposed to the more fantastical settings prominently featured in children's programming), certain stories (often in second half of the episode) may not necessarily focus on the titular protagonist's point of view and may instead detail the experiences and viewpoints of surrounding characters, usually Arthur's schoolmates. Often such episodes will depict those characters handling situations often faced by children in actuality as a means of guiding audiences through those situations, including bed-wetting, asthma or dyslexia, and Arthur's character sometimes may see a reduced role (in some episodes, Arthur himself does not appear in the story at all). Stories in later seasons dealt with more serious issues or subjects, such as cancer or autism spectrum disorder, albeit numerous episodes may simply address topics including childhood fears, trends or fantasies. Occasionally a couple of episodes might offer very little educational value at all. In spite of the realistically designed environment, the series may showcase the fantasies or daydreams of a few characters on a number of occasions, and a few episodes feature supernatural elements such as ghosts or secret situations unknown to other characters such as Kate and Pal's friendship.

Franchise

Television

In addition to the television series, the Arthur franchise has spawned three hour-long movies, which are often run on PBS during pledge drives. The latest, Arthur's Missing Pal, was produced by Mainframe Entertainment and is the first animated Arthur project to make use of three-dimensional computer-generated imagery. [1]. Arthur's success has also led to the spin-off series, Postcards From Buster. Postcards from Buster premiered on October 11, 2004 with several returning characters, and aired its final three episodes in 2012.

Website

The program's official website has been given a rating of 5/5 stars at website Common Sense Media, and has been advised for viewers 5 and up. The site described the show as being "one of the Internet's best offerings for kids". It also advised that "there are links to PBS sponsors ... but other than that, there is no commercial marketing to kids." The review added, "The games are actually teaching your kids something ... [for example] The Music Box ... combines music and learning, so much so that kids won't even realize that they're figuring out space relations, hand–eye coordination, and mousing skills as they jam along to upbeat tunes."^[17]

Music albums

Arthur has released three music albums. The first album, Arthur and Friends: The First Almost Real Not Live CD, contained songs that were played throughout the TV series and original songs for the album. The second album, Arthur's Perfect Christmas, contained songs that were played during the television movie of the same title. The third album, Arthur's Really Rockin' Music Mix, contained only original songs, including a remix of the theme song which was played on the credits of season 6 as a promotion for the album.

ActiMates

In 1998, both Arthur and D.W. were made into Microsoft ActiMates, sophisticated toy dolls who could interact with children, with each other, with certain computer software and the Arthur website, and also with the Arthur television show and videos.

Microsoft discontinued the ActiMates line shortly before season 5 aired, most possibly due to a lawsuit pertaining to patent infringement^[18] and the fact that sales were dropping. It has been noted^{[according to whom?]} that post-season 4 episodes of Arthur have not included any ActiMates code. Newer videos and DVD releases of the show does not carry ActiMates code either. The enhancements on the website were removed when the site was redesigned in 2002 and thus the ActiMates would no longer interact with the website. Likewise, re-releases of the ActiMates software by Creative Wonders do not interact with the ActiMates because the library that controls the PC Pack has been replaced with a dummy library file.

Video games

Home media releases

Selected episodes were distributed on VHS and DVD by Random House. Each tape had two or three episodes dealing with similar subjects. WGBH Home Video also released two Region 1 Arthur season sets; they released Season 10 on March 25, 2008 and Season 11 was released on September 2, 2008.^[19] Seasons 10–19 are available to download on the iTunes Store and Amazon.com. The first three seasons were released over four collections (the second season was split into two volumes) on DVD in Europe only.

Reception

Awards

The series has been acknowledged with the George Foster Peabody Award and four Daytime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Children's Animated Program.^[20] In 2002, TV Guide ranked Arthur Read No. 26 on its list of the "50 Greatest Cartoon Characters of All Time."^[21] The show has also won a BAFTA and was nominated for 17 Daytime Emmys.^[22]

Critical response

A review at MommyPR concluded by saying "My boys were able to preview "The Wheel Deal", "The Buster Report", "Falafelosophy" and "The Great Lint Rush". As soon as my boys were finished with these episodses (sic) they begged to watch them again!"^[23]

Dad of Divas' Reviews explained that Executive Producer Jacqui Deegan said of the 14th season:

This season, we're hoping to empower our young viewers to go after their goals and dreams. Whether that means becoming a wheelchair basketball champion, or expressing yourself through writing, drawing, and making movies, Arthur and his friends show kids that determination and hard work really pay off...Both Lydia and Neil serve as great role models, and we're excited to have them to reinforce these important lessons for our audiences.^[22]

About.com gave the show a rating of 4.5 stars. The series described Arthur's assets:

The Arthur series has won several awards including the George Foster Peabody, and for good reason. Arthur presents issues and situations kids can relate to, and teaches positive behaviors and responses to these issues in a genuine and comical way. The series is fun and engaging to the target age group. Kids will relate to the storylines and characters, and will therefore give thought to the responses the characters demonstrate and outcome of those responses. Because "Arthur" presents real childhood issues, the show contains some imitative behavior such as name calling or bickering, much like children experience in their own lives. Kids might hear words like "sissy" or "stupid" and see Arthur and D.W. argue. Should children mimic some of these phrases or tactics, the show provides a good springboard for parents to talk about the issues with their children and point out the importance of considering others' feelings.

The review continued by citing many ways in which children could extract more from the series, for example by encouraging kids to write stories based on their own families (in much the same way Arthur was first realised) or by Kim Brown, Marc Brown's sister, teaching kids to draw Arthur while on tour.^[24]

In popular culture

The Brain, Francine and Arthur animated in the style of South Park, from the episode "The Contest"

Arthur regularly incorporates parodies of and references to pop culture, including, but not limited to, South Park, Jeopardy!, The Waltons, The Sopranos, Beavis and Butt-head, the Indiana Jones adventures films, the James Bond series of films, The Adventures of Tintin, Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist, The Jerry Springer Show, Oprah, Law & Order, Charlie Rose, Antiques Roadshow, Mystery!, The Twilight Zone, Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds, Macbeth, Planet of the Apes, The Matrix, Star Wars, Titanic, The Wizard of Oz, Jaws, That '70s Show, Harry Potter, Keeping Up with the Kardashians, This Old House, The Happy Hollisters, Percy Jackson & the Olympians, and a popular superhero called Bionic Bunny that Arthur and Buster are a fan of.^[25][16]

In July 2014, Chance the Rapper released his interpretation of the theme song of the series called "Wonderful Everyday: Arthur" with Wyclef Jean and Jessie Ware.^[26]

In and leading up to July 2016, Arthur regained attention from users of Black Twitter, where stills from the series have become explicit and comedic internet memes, often using an image of Arthur's clenched fist from the episode Arthur's Big Hit.^{[25][27][28][29]} WGBH said, "We appreciate the memes that have been created and shared in good fun, we are, however, disappointed by the few that are outside of good taste."^[30]

Discography

Albums

• "The First Almost Real Not Live CD (or Tape)" (1998)
• "Arthur's Perfect Christmas" (2000)
• "Arthur's Really Rockin' Music Mix" (2001)

Singles

• "Boogie Woogie Christmas" (2000)

References

External links

Wikiquote has quotations related to: Arthur

• PBS Kids: Official Site
• WGBH Arthur Pressroom – News and Pictures, Series Fact Sheet
• Official UK CBBC site
• Arthur on IMDb
• Arthur at TV.com