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Vanessa Etienne for People.com Wrote:After 25 years, PBS Kids is saying goodbye to its iconic children's series Arthur.

Screenwriter Kathy Waugh shared the news during a recent interview on the Finding DW podcast, saying the animated, educational show will end with season 25, airing in the winter of 2022. The program comes to a close after being renewed for four seasons in 2018.

"Arthur is no longer in production. We had our wrap party two years ago," Waugh told host Jason Szwimer. "I think [PBS] made a mistake, and I think Arthur should come back and I know I'm not alone in thinking they made a mistake. I don't know if it was a ratings issue or if it felt like it needed to be retired. To me, it felt evergreen, like it was never going to end but it did end, we finished the last episode, season 25, two years ago."

https://people.com/tv/arthur-to-end-at-p...-season-25

Interesting how they finished in 2019 but have only recently announced it, presumably due to the pandemic? I noticed recently CBBC no longer air the show and it has now moved to CBeebies. A shame nonetheless.

I think I speak for us all when I say that of all the aardvark-based cartoon series with a reggae theme tune, Arthur was by far the best.

My favourite part of this programme was trying to work out what the animals were meant to be. What, for example, the devil was Binky Barnes meant to be?! :lol:

I do like the fact they made Mr Ratburn gay and had an episode where he got married to a man (well, some form of male animal, technically, but you get the point...) though. Anything like that which normalises seeing couples outside of the traditional M/F pairing for kids is a good thing by me so good on them for that.

Not a wonderful kind of day today...

DavidWhitfield post_id=31308 time= user_id=1016 Wrote:What, for example, the DEVIL was Binky Barnes meant to be?!

A bulldog apparently (makes sense when you consider he is the bully). Never seen a yellow bulldog before.

Josh post_id=31310 time= user_id=955 Wrote:

DavidWhitfield post_id=31308 time= user_id=1016 Wrote:What, for example, the DEVIL was Binky Barnes meant to be?!

A bulldog apparently (makes sense when you consider he is the bully). Never seen a yellow bulldog before.

No way did you know that without having to Google it... :lol:

I always thought Arthur was on the wrong channel really, it didn't seem to "fit" CBBC.

PBS Kids stuff seems to run forever though, most obvious example being Sesame Street. which has been on the air in America since 1969 Not sure if the viewers are just really easily pleased or the network thinks they're doing everybody a favour by just recommissioning stuff endlessly.

Neil Jones post_id=31313 time= user_id=961 Wrote:I always thought Arthur was on the wrong channel really, it didn't seem to "fit" CBBC.

I think it's recently moved over to CBeebies...

Rob post_id=31314 time= user_id=2 Wrote:

Neil Jones post_id=31313 time= user_id=961 Wrote:I always thought Arthur was on the wrong channel really, it didn't seem to "fit" CBBC.

I think it's recently moved over to CBeebies...

Yes. It had a 7am slot on CBBC but that's recently changed. Programme Index shows that episodes are still going to air on CBBC, the most recently being this morning at 9:50.

Did anybody really like this cartoon. It seemed really obviously "educational" and boring compared to the other imports on CBBC. I mean, I remember there was a whole episode dedicated to the wonders of owning a library card.

VMPhil post_id=31316 time= user_id=1043 Wrote:Did anybody really like this cartoon. It seemed really obviously "educational" and boring compared to the other imports on CBBC. I mean, I remember there was a whole episode dedicated to the wonders of owning a library card.

It's PBS, it was always going to be educational to some degree.

VMPhil post_id=31316 time= user_id=1043 Wrote:I mean, I remember there was a whole episode dedicated to the wonders of owning a library card.

And don't forget the Dewey decimal system is your friend!

Neil Jones post_id=31319 time= user_id=961 Wrote:

VMPhil post_id=31316 time= user_id=1043 Wrote:Did anybody really like this cartoon. It seemed really obviously "educational" and boring compared to the other imports on CBBC. I mean, I remember there was a whole episode dedicated to the wonders of owning a library card.

It's PBS, it was always going to be educational to some degree.

Well when you're a kid you don't know the differences between the American production companies!

Josh post_id=31321 time= user_id=955 Wrote:

VMPhil post_id=31316 time= user_id=1043 Wrote:I mean, I remember there was a whole episode dedicated to the wonders of owning a library card.

And don't forget the Dewey decimal system is your friend!

Except where library staff feel no customer has even the faintest idea about the damn system, they're just random numbers stuck on the spines of books.

Still in this age of "let's rip everything apart to do with past wrongs", it probably won't be long before somebody researches Melvil Dewey (which said system is named after) and decides no we're not having that and calls for it to be replaced...

Neil Jones post_id=31313 time= user_id=961 Wrote:PBS Kids stuff seems to run forever though, most obvious example being Sesame Street. which has been on the air in America since 1969

Although Sesame Street became an HBO commission in 2015 having been effectively cancelled by PBS. Under the deal HBO had first run episodes which would air on PBS nine months later. Last year HBO moved it to HBO Max.

Whataday post_id=31348 time= user_id=1029 Wrote:Although Sesame Street became an HBO commission in 2015 having been effectively cancelled by PBS. Under the deal HBO had first run episodes which would air on PBS nine months later. Last year HBO moved it to HBO Max.

Sesame Street wasn't cancelled by PBS, they couldn't afford to keep the show on an exclusive basis so Sesame Workshop did a deal with HBO which gave them first run episodes.