The Aardvark that kept a generation kind

The year is 1997, I am brand new to kindergarten. After a half-day in a scary new school, I would race with my cousin to his home for a snack and some great action-figure imagination play. His family's townhome share a wall with the neighbors house. The stairway was the center piece of the home that just smelled like the 90s - you know the smell. On the floor of his second story bedroom would be a caucophony of barely moveable toys from ninja turtles to street shraks - this was a boys room. Only one sound could break the flow of our play and it broke the flow of our play virtually every day at the same time. From his bedroom, we could hear the flow of reggae work its way up the stairs and into our ears. It was time for our new favorite show, Arthur.

As two five year old boys, my cousin and I were enraptured with the world created by Marc Brown and brought to live by Greg Bailey and his team of creatives. We loved the way the show made us feel and it became a staple of my childhood.

When I say that I was raised by a single mother, a father that lived three hours away, the nature of Montana, and a television set, Arthur was my fourth parent. I was not the only one.

30 years before the world of Arthur made its way into our teleision sets, Marc Brown began creating the characters and their world on the pages of the book series. For years, he was approached by television studios that wanted to bring his story to life. One after another, he turned them down for fear of over commercialization.

That all changed when a writer with PBS brought her kids to one of Marc Brown's famous book readings in the local public library. She saw the way her kids responded to the stories and went to PBS to convince them to take a chance on Arthur Read.

After a lenghty back and forth, Marc saw the opportunity as the perfect chance to bring the world to literally millions of children around the world. He would pass the story off to PBS with one condition: the television show focus on getting kids into libraries and reading more. With both PBS and Marc on board, production began in 1995 and the world of children's television would never be the same again.

From iconic and controversial epsiodes to memes that race around the world, the show is full of iconic imagery. However, the icon of all Arthur icons is without a doubt, the soothing and rhythmic voice of Ziggy Marley in one of the greatest theme songs of all time. During production, the song's writers were given the task to come up with a theme song that would differentiate the show from it's biggest competitor on television: Barney and Friends. Judity Henderson and Jerry De Vichers Jr. stepped up to the plate in a big way and hit a grand slam with the song they wrote for Ziggy. In fact, the intro segment that accompanies Marley's melodies was never changed from the premiere episode. Over 25 years, studio changes, voice actor replacements, and a complete pivot to digital animation, the opening sequence was so good that it was never once changed.

Today, the theme song "Believe in Yourself" lives rent free in the minds of an entire generation. Still a cultural phenomenon, Jon Patiste, Chance the Rapper, and Ziggy Marley covered the song with Stehen Colbert on The Late Show. The song is only a piece of Ziggy Marley's celebration of children. A true believer in childhood, Ziggy would go on to write and produce several albums of kids music including More Family Time released in 2020 as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The show was directed by Greg Bailey who came to Arthur from his past work on The Busy World of Richard Scarry and season 1 of Caillou (which to my complete surprise debuted within a year of Arthur). Peter K Hirsch worked as a writer on the show from start to finish. A rookie to children's television, Arthur was his introduction to the industry. As a result, the veteran writers on the production would often give him the less desirable or icky episodes to write - think head lice. Most recently, Peter has worked on Molly of Denalli and Hop.

Tackling race in children's animation was a nearly impossible feet. Standing on the shoulders of the earliest, and problematic, animated programs of the 20th century, most programs of the era completely avoided conversations about race. It was the safe path forward. One of the most common strategies was to avoid people completely. These is the path Arthur took with a cast completely made of animals. When casting the show and it's voice actors, the creators didnt attach a race or religion to any of the cast. They were simply animals. However, over time the public started to develop conceptions about characters and the creative team realized they couldn't avoid the issue.

Their fist steps into race were a bit clumsy, the voice actor for Francine was cast as a black woman. The character was first revealed to be Polish before revealing her Jewish identity in the christmas special. Brain was not introduced as a black character, however the creative team made the decision to attach his family to their black identity during the same episode - a tactic to introduce viewers to Kwanzaa. Buster is really the only character that remains without religion or race for the duration of the show. Director Greg Baily has said in the past "there is no reason Arthur had to be a white kid".

During this era of kid's television, the goal of the day was to get kids to watch shows alongside their parents. Research demonstrates that this kind of co-viewing amplifies learning outcomes and provides and environment for kids to further chat about some of the challenging topics the shows explored.

How do you get adults to watch a 2D animated half-hour program with their kids? Matt Damon and the Backstreet boys turned out to be a good start. The show became known for its animated guest stars from John Lewis to Joan Rivers, Alex Trebek to Michelle Kwan. Guest stars were always invited to select the animal they wanted to appear as in the world of Arthur. For some unknown reason, the majority of guest stars chose bears and rabbits.

An early heavy hitting guest star appeared in the premier of season two: Arthur Meets Mister Rogers. In the story, Arthur is having big emotions but chooses to hide them. Mister Rogers did for Arthur what he did for our entire generation, on a swing set in Elewood City, Mister Rogers sat alongside our favorite Aardvark and talked through his emotions.

Arthur and Mister Rogers make perfect sense as costars. Both shows cared deeply about children and had immense respect for childhood. They both knew that childhood was a big deal and kids were just doing their absolute best every single day. Both Arthur and Mister Rogers Neihborhood were not only known for big feelings, but also deep imaginations. While the Trolley would take us from one imagined world to the next in Mister Rogers Neighborhood, the writers of Arthur would invite us into the biggest and scariest emotions of each of their characters.

In 1999, Marc Brown and Arthur took a special trip to visit Mister Rogers and his friends in their neighborhood. As a followup to one of kids tv's greatest crossovers, the two powerhouse creators got to look behind the curtain as they learned what it takes to make an episode of Arthur. They even got to chat with Arthur's first (and final) voice actor - Michael Yarmush.

While Arthur Meets Mister Rogers was an episode that captivated a country, there was one episode that the country was completely enraptured with and it would premier 22 years later.

Mr. Ratburn's Special Someone aired in Arthur's 22nd season. In the episode, Arthur and his friends find out that their teacher Mr. Ratburn is getting married and they are concerned that he is going to marry someone who isnt right for him. For the majority of the episode, the kids try to sabotage Ratburn's marraige to a cruel woman who will only make Mr. Ratburn even more strict. Imagine the suprise on their face when they learn that the person they had been working to keep out of Ratburn's life was in fact his sister! She was in town to officiate Mr. Ratburn's wedding to the town choclatier. While the kids of Elwood City powerfully and accurately reflected the nation's general sentiments toward same-sex marriage, adults across the country were less than thrilled.

In Alabama, networks refused to air the episode because they felt that their audience lacked basic knowledge on the subjects of the episode and airing it would ruptre the trust viewers had in public television. A reminder, this episode debuted in 2019 - after the complete blockbuster run of Glee, the cult fame of Schitt's Creek, and long after the phenomena of Will & Grace. Even more, the episode premiered four years after the Supreme Court's move to legalize same-sex nation across the country.

In the show's 22 minute run-time, only 21 seconds show the same-sex couple.

Nowhere is the show's staying power more evident than in it's seemingly never ending ability to generate dank memes. Most notably: that fist. Yes, you know the fist. Everyone knows the fist. In fact, people who don't know Arthur, know the fist. The close up of Arthur's fist clenched in front of his blue jeans at the end of his trademark yellow sweater took the world by storm. In the episode that birthed the meme, Arthur is irate at his younger sister DW for breaking his plane. He loses control and hits his little sister. A very real situation. Many of us remember that episode and that could be the reason that meme snuck up on us as a generation. The image evoked nostalgic emotion.

The clenched fist was circulated by people from every walk of life including Lebron James and John Legend who famously bears a resemblance to the main character of the show.

The memes didn't stop with the fist. The repertoire also includes classics such as DW standing at the fence with shades, Arthur wearing headphones on his cheeks, DW with bags under her eyes, and "That sign can't stop me because I can't read."

The meme generator became so big that PBS came out to issue a statement about the memes. Stating their general support for the memes but standing up against the memes that were made in "poor taste".

Today, we look back at Arthur as a true unprecedented giant in the industry. They werent breaking glass cielings - there was no cieling in their world. They were truly in a league of their own. It wasn't always smooth sailing.

After the acclaim of season one, the much loved show fell short of budget targets by nearly $2 million - no small number in a kids production. As a result, they had to carefully dip their toes into the world of merchandising to make up the short fall.

In 2012, the show made a tumultuous studio shift from Oasis to 9 Story - all work on Arthur to date was destroyed and 9 Story had to start from scratch with character models and backgrounds. This is the moment the show departed its traditional hand drawn 2D animation in favor of digital animation. While effecient, many creatives hate this moment in the show's past. The show eventually found its way back to Oasis where it finished the rest of its life on air.

After 25 years of production ups and downs, culturally impactful topics, and damn good storytelling, Arthur came to a close on February 21st, 2022 with the return of the original Arthur voice actor in a flash forward episode that reveals where the cast ends up as adults.

Arthur was a show that cared about childhood and respected it. The creative team knew that childhood was challenging and reflected it in their episodes. The show was relatable and slow paced. It dealt with real emotions and went to bat for children on a public stage. In our fast paced 21st century world, I can't help but think today is a wonderful kind of day, to learn to laugh and play, and get along with each other.

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Morgan Alexander is a Television writer and adventurer who wakes up every morning inspired to think differently about the world. With Ivy League degrees, a James Beard nominated restaurant, and a beloved roadside motel in his toolbox, he brings together a love for music, innovation, adventure and wilderness to write television that brings children closer to the wilds of our planet.