Tags
animated, Arthur, book series, Boston, children's, D.W. Read, educational, Erie, longest running, Marc Brown, PBS, Postcards from Buster, TV, WGBH
Arthur is a Canadian–American animated anthology educational television series for children ages 4 to 8, developed by Kathy Waugh for PBS, and produced by WGBH. 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. Since its debut, the show has broadcast 246 half hour episodes.
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. 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. In June 2018, it was announced that Arthur was renewed for four additional seasons, up to Season 25. Season 25 was later announced to be the final season of the series.
Arthur Read, the series’ 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. 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.
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; 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.