# Peep and the Big Wide World

Peep and the Big Wide World is an animated children's television series created by Danish-Canadian animator Kaj Pindal. It revolves around the lives of Peep, Chirp, and Quack, as viewers discover, investigate, and explore the world around them.
The show was based on the 1988 short film of the same name produced by the National Film Board of Canada, which itself is based on the 1962 short film The Peep Show, also produced by the National Film Board of Canada. The series premiered on April 12, 2004, on Discovery Kids and on TLC as part of their Ready Set Learn! children's block in the United States, and on TVOKids in Canada. It was produced by WGBH Boston (through its kids division WGBH Kids) and 9 Story Media Group (formerly 9 Story Entertainment; in its debut production), in association with TVOntario and Discovery Kids and is distributed by Alliance Atlantis (through AAC Kids).
Carriage on the Discovery children's networks ended on October 10, 2010 with the discontinuation of Ready Set Learn! and the replacement of Discovery Kids with The Hub, and now, Discovery Family. The series was offered to public television stations via independent public television distributor American Public Television from April 1, 2007, through January 3, 2018. Beginning January 1, 2018, the series was distributed by PBS Kids. U.S. broadcasts ended December 26, 2021.
Throughout its run, it has been underwritten by the National Science Foundation, with Northrop Grumman underwriting season four in 2010.
Each episode consists of two 9-minute stories, which are animated segments, and two 2-minute live action segments, in which children explore and demonstrate the same topic presented in the animated segment. The show is narrated by Joan Cusack.

## Overview

Viewers follow Peep, Chirp, and Quack as they investigate and explore the world around them. Following the 9-minute animated episode, there is a 2-minute live-action segment which features children exploring and demonstrating the same topic presented in the episode. The animation consists of bright colors and simple shapes, which simulates and reflects a youthful art style.

## Episodes

| Season | Episodes | Episodes | Originally released | Originally released |
| Season | Episodes | Episodes | First released | Last released |
| 1 | 26 | 26 | April 19, 2004 (2004-4-19) | May 24, 2004 (2004-5-24) |
| 2 | 13 | 13 | November 14, 2005 (2005-11-14) | September 27, 2006 (2006-9-27) |
| 3 | 10 | 10 | April 16, 2007 (2007-4-16) | September 14, 2007 (2007-9-14) |
| 4 | 6 | 6 | February 2, 2010 (2010-2-2) | July 17, 2010 (2010-7-17) |
| 5 | 5 | 5 | October 10, 2011 (2011-10-10) | October 14, 2011 (2011-10-14) |

### Season 1 (2004)

| Episode № | Episode № | Segment names | Segment names | Original airdate | Prod code |
| Total | Season | First segment | Second segment | Original airdate | Prod code |
| 1 | 1 | Spring Thing | Springy Thingy | 19 April 2004 | 110 |
| 2 | 2 | A Duck's Tale | Quack's Tracks | 20 April 2004 | 101 |
| 3 | 3 | Quack and the Very Big Rock | Shadow Play | 21 April 2004 | 102 |
| 4 | 4 | Current Events | Quack Loses His Hat | 22 April 2004 | 103 |
| 5 | 5 | Night Light | Sounds Like... | 23 April 2004 | 104 |
| 6 | 6 | The Windy Day | Peep Feet | 26 April 2004 | 105 |
| 7 | 7 | Newton's Big Adventure | Peep Crosses the Road | 27 April 2004 | 106 |
| 8 | 8 | Stormy Weather | Peep in Rabbitland | 28 April 2004 | 107 |
| 9 | 9 | Quack's Stuck Stick | Peep's Can | 29 April 2004 | 108 |
| 10 | 10 | Under Duck | All Fall Down | 30 April 2004 | 109 |
| 11 | 11 | The Perils of Peep and Chirp | Hoop Tricks | 3 May 2004 | 111 |
| 12 | 12 | Save It For Later | The Red Ballmoon | 4 May 2004 | 112 |
| 13 | 13 | Chirp Builds a Nest | Stuck Duck | 5 May 2004 | 113 |
| 14 | 14 | The Real Decoy | Peep's Lost Leaf | 6 May 2004 | 114 |
| 15 | 15 | Birds of a Feather | The Incredible Shrinking Duck | 7 May 2004 | 115 |
| 16 | 16 | Go West Young Peep | A Delicate Balance | 10 May 2004 | 116 |
| 17 | 17 | The Fish Museum | Peep's Night Out | 11 May 2004 | 117 |
| 18 | 18 | There's No Place Like Home | Flipping Newton | 12 May 2004 | 118 |
| 19 | 19 | Chirp's Flight Program | Mirror Mirror in the Dump | 13 May 2004 | 119 |
| 20 | 20 | Bridge the Gap | Meeting Half-Way | 14 May 2004 | 120 |
| 21 | 21 | Peep Plants a Seed | The Root Problem | 17 May 2004 | 121 |
| 22 | 22 | Hide and Go Peep | A Peep of a Different Color | 18 May 2004 | 122 |
| 23 | 23 | That's a Cat | Faster than a Duck | 19 May 2004 | 123 |
| 24 | 24 | Quack Hatches an Egg | The Whatchamacallit | 20 May 2004 | 124 |
| 25 | 25 | Wandering Beaver | Peep's New Friend | 21 May 2004 | 125 |
| 26 | 26 | The Trip to Green Island | Give Me a Call | 24 May 2004 | 126 |

### Season 2 (2005-2006)

| Episode № | Episode № | Segment names | Segment names | Original airdate | Prod code |
| Total | Season | First segment | Second segment | Original airdate | Prod code |
| 27 | 1 | Finders Keepers | Quack Quiets the Universe | 14 November 2005 | 201 |
| 28 | 2 | Peep's Moon Mission | The Many Moons of Quack the Duck | 15 November 2005 | 202 |
| 29 | 3 | The Mystery of the Thing That Went and Came Back | Peep's Color Quest | 16 November 2005 | 203 |
| 30 | 4 | Reflection Affection | Peep Deep in the Big Muddy | 17 November 2005 | 204 |
| 31 | 5 | Chirp Sorts it Out (Sort Of) | Hear Here! | 19 September 2006 | 205 |
| 32 | 6 | Dry Duck | Dry Duck | 18 November 2005 | 206 |
| 33 | 7 | Snow Daze | Flower Shower | 5 December 2005 | 207 |
| 34 | 8 | Who Stole the Big Wide World? | M-U-D Spells Trouble | 20 September 2006 | 208 |
| 35 | 9 | Finding Time | Smaller than a Peep | 21 September 2006 | 209 |
| 36 | 10 | Quack Quack | One Duck Too Many | 18 September 2006 | 210 |
| 37 | 11 | Count Them Out | Peep Prints | 25 September 2006 | 212 |
| 38 | 12 | Stick With Me | Tree Feller | 26 September 2006 | 211 |
| 39 | 13 | A Daring Duck | The Trouble With Bubbles | 27 September 2006 | 213 |

### Season 3 (2007)

| Episode № | Episode № | Segment names | Segment names | Original airdate | Prod code |
| Total | Season | First segment | Second segment | Original airdate | Prod code |
| 40 | 1 | The Tooth, the Whole Tooth, and Nothing but the Tooth | The Winter of Quack's Discontent | 16 April 2007 | 302 |
| 41 | 2 | Nosing Around | The Last Straw | 17 April 2007 | 303 |
| 42 | 3 | The Disappearing Drink | Door Tour | 18 April 2007 | 304 |
| 43 | 4 | In a Bind | Star Light, Star Bright | 19 April 2007 | 305 |
| 44 | 5 | Bedtime Story | The Deep Duck Woods | 20 April 2007 | 306 |
| 45 | 6 | I Spy a Spider | Robin in the Bat Cave | 10 September 2007 | 307 |
| 46 | 7 | Marble Mover | Fair Shares | 11 September 2007 | 308 |
| 47 | 8 | The Feats of Peep | Quack Goes Nuts | 12 September 2007 | 309 |
| 48 | 9 | The Sounds of Silence | The Sounds of Silence | 13 September 2007 | 301 |
| 49 | 10 | Big Bird | Chirp Flies the Coop | 14 September 2007 | 310 |

### Season 4 (2010)

| Episode № | Episode № | Segment names | Segment names | Original airdate | Prod code |
| Total | Season | First segment | Second segment | Original airdate | Prod code |
| 50 | 1 | The Lurmies are Coming | Quack's Square Deal | 2 February 2010 | 406 |
| 51 | 2 | An Inconvenient Tooth | An Inconvenient Tooth | 1 May 2010 | 401 |
| 52 | 3 | Bringing Spring | Quack's Pond Party | 13 May 2010 | 403 |
| 53 | 4 | You Can Count on Bunnies | Falling Feathers | 14 May 2010 | 405 |
| 54 | 5 | Trading Places | House of Sand and Frog | 26 June 2010 | 402 |
| 55 | 6 | Magic Duck Dancing | Chirp Chirp Tweet Tweet Chirp | 17 July 2010 | 404 |

### Season 5 (2011)

| Episode № | Episode № | Segment names | Segment names | Original airdate | Prod code |
| Total | Season | First segment | Second segment | Original airdate | Prod code |
| 56 | 1 | Two's a Crowd | Two's a Crowd | 10 October 2011 | 501 |
| 57 | 2 | The Road Not Taken | The Road Not Taken | 11 October 2011 | 502 |
| 58 | 3 | Soap Opera | Diva Duck | 12 October 2011 | 503 |
| 59 | 4 | Quack and the Amazing Sandy Magic | Duckball | 13 October 2011 | 504 |
| 60 | 5 | Things That Go Peep in the Night | Mud Muddle | 14 October 2011 | 505 |

## Characters

Attributed to the following sources:

### Main

* Peep (voiced by Scott Beaudin in the first 3 seasons, Shawn Molko in Season 4 and Maxwell Uretsky in Season 5) is a male, yellow chicken who is very curious. He is the youngest bird of the group. The show's title is derived from his name. However, Peep is female in the original short film.
* Chirp (voiced by Amanda Soha) is a female, red robin who is also very curious, and attempts frequently to fly, with unsatisfying results, until "A Daring Duck", when she flies from the ground. In "Big Bird", she meets a real robin for the first time. She is Peep and Quack's best friend. However, Chirp is male in the original short film.
* Quack (voiced by Jamie Watson) is a male, blue-purple duckling who wears a white sailor's hat. He is older than Peep and Chirp, as they are still chicks. He frequently boasts about himself and ducks as a whole, and unwittingly makes many discoveries. Quack is purple in the original short film and is now referred to as blue, but is still quite indigo. He also seems to have a hoarding issue, as evidenced in the episode "An Inconvenient Tooth, Part 1".
* The Narrator (voiced by Joan Cusack) is an omniscient voice who narrates each episode. She usually remains separate from the action, but occasionally, the characters are shown to be able to hear her and will interact with her.

### Minor

* Ant (voiced by Robert Tinkler) is a very busy male ant who is leader of the ants.
* Bat (voiced by Ron Rubin in Season 1 and Ron Pardo in Season 2) is a very shy bat.
* Beaver Boy (voiced by Tessa Marshall in the first three seasons and Amanda Gryniewski in the last two seasons) is a young naïve male beaver who lives in an adjoining pond to Quack's pond. He appears in several episodes. His desire to please his mom and dad often results in him chewing down too many trees. He often calls Quack "Blue Sailor" Peep "Yellow Guy" and Chirp "Red Round".
* Beaver Dad (voiced by Phillip Williams) is Beaver Boy's businesslike father.
* Beaver Mom (voiced by Kathleen Laskey in Season 1 and Debra McGrath for the rest of the series) is Beaver Boy's workaholic mother.
* Blue Jays (voiced by David Huband for the male and Kathleen Laskey for the female) are very silly blue and white birds who love to cause lots of trouble when they see stuff.
* Bunnies (Season 1) (voiced by Melanie Tonello, Raquel Cadilha, and Alexander Conti respectively) are three bunnies who live in a rabbit hole and became Peep's best friends.
* Bunnies (Season 4-5) (voiced by Avigail Humphreys and Riele Downs respectively) are five bunnies who try to find their bunnysitter.
* Bunnysitter (voiced by Jake Sim) is a bunny who babysits the 5 bunnies.
* Dragonfly (voiced by Catherine Disher) is a quiet dragonfly.
* Fish (voiced by John McGrath in Season 1 and Rob Tinkler in Season 2) are cohabitations of Quack's pond.
* Fish Jr. (voiced by Phoebe McAuley in the first two seasons and Sarah Commisso in Season 3) is the youngest fish in the pond and Quack's best fish friend.
* Frog (voiced by Rob Tinkler) is a frog who lives in Quack's pond. He rarely talks.
* Groundhog (voiced by Rachel Marcus) is a young groundhog destined to find her shadow.
* Old Groundhog (voiced by Adrian Truss) is the oldest of all groundhogs.
* Hoot (voiced by Corinne Conley) is a menacing, but kind purple female owl who lives in the Deep Dark Woods.
* "Me" Tiny Ant (voiced by Erica Commisso) is the tiniest ant in the anthill. "Me" was named after a misinterpretation from Peep.
* Nellie (voiced by Marium Carvell) is a red female dog who acts as a seemingly maternal figure for the birds.
* Newton (voiced by Colin Fox) is an old, male, dark-green turtle who lives under an apple tree.
* Quack #2 (voiced by Megan Mullally) is an annoying pink female duck who has her own pond, built by Quack, Peep, Chirp, Beaver Boy and his parents.
* Rabbit (voiced by Jayne Eastwood) is an excitable and somewhat distracted rabbit.
* Raccoon (voiced by Jeff Lumby) is a gobbo, male brown & black raccoon who has lots of rubbish
* Robin (Season 1) (voiced by Kathleen Laskey) is a blue robin who flys around giving Chirp pep talks.
* Robin (voiced by Holly Hunter) is an adult robin.
* Skunk (voiced by Adrian Truss) is a rather deadpan skunk who lives near Quack's pond.
* Snail (voiced by Laura Lynn) is a pondweller in Quack's pond.
* Spider (voiced by Marium Carvell) is a smart and sneaky spider.
* Splendid Bird from Paradise (voiced by Jabella A. Urrejola-Lugo) is a green bird who was captured from the jungle, adopted by a little girl and found her way in the Big Wide World.
* Squeak (voiced by Kathleen Laskey) is an anxious pink, female mouse who lives under a brick and always worries a lot about what could go wrong.
* Squirrel (voiced by Peter Wildman) is a brown squirrel with a long tail who favors acorns.
* Tom (voiced by Alex Hood in Season 1 and Matthew Knight in Season 2) is a sly, male blue kitten with black stripes who often tries to eat Peep, Chirp, and Quack. He is the sole antagonist.

## Music composition

Music for Peep and the Big Wide World is composed by Terry Tompkins and Steve D'Angelo, from Eggplant. The opening theme is performed by famous celebrity and musician Taj Mahal.

## Broadcast
### United States

Peep and the Big Wide World was originally broadcast on TLC and Discovery Kids — the latter as part of the Ready Set Learn! preschool block — from April 12, 2004 to September 14, 2007. Reruns of the first three seasons continued to air until October 8, 2010 when Discovery Kids discontinued the block to make way for the new network to launch known as The Hub on October 10.
The last two seasons were broadcast exclusively on select local public television stations with episodes distributed by APT from January 4, 2010 to October 14, 2011, though second-runs of previous episodes began as early as April 1, 2007. APT continued distributing reruns until January 3, 2018, well after commercial networks dropped the program. A total of 60 episodes (120 segments) were broadcast.
On January 1, 2018, reruns of Peep and the Big Wide World began airing on the 24-hour PBS Kids channel, marking the first time the series aired nationally on PBS Kids. Despite being a production of PBS station WGBH, Peep and the Big Wide World was turned down by PBS in 2003 in favor of developing programming directed at "slightly older children". (The series was geared toward preschool children ages 3–5; meanwhile, PBS eventually launched the PBS Kids Go! block in 2004 which was intended for children above the preschool level.) The broadcast of the series ended on December 26, 2021, when it was replaced with reruns of Dinosaur Train to the 7:30 a.m. weekend morning timeslot.
APT and PBS Kids broadcasts of Peep and the Big Wide World were paired with a short episode from Pocoyo which aired immediately after each show from 2010 to 2021.

## Media
### Home video

WGBH Boston Video released the episodes of the first season on DVD in 2005. The 2005 DVD releases each contained six segments of the specified subject; Peep Explores, Peep Finds, Peep Floats, Peep's New Friends, Chirp Flies, and Quack Knows It All. The 2007 DVD release, Peep Figures It Out contained six segments as usual, plus two bonus segments. In 2011, PBS Kids Video released two DVDs; Seasons of Adventure, and Star Light, Star Bright, which contains episodes from seasons two and three respectively. In 2012, PBS Kids Video released two more DVDs; Finders Keepers and Bringing Spring. In 2014, PBS Kids Video released two more DVDs; Diva Duck, and Peep Discovers (which was once available as a limited release to retail stores). As of 2024, all of these DVDs are now out of print and very hard to find, but commonly found at public libraries. In Canada, Entertainment One released four DVDs in both English and French languages; Quack Quack, Peep's Moon Mission, Stick With Me, and Flower Shower.

### PBS LearningMedia shorts

In 2017, WGBH released PEEP and the Big Wide World: Weather Factors, a media gallery in PBS LearningMedia's Bringing the Universe to America's Classrooms project. Weather Factors contains 4 animated shorts: PEEP and the TOO Windy Day, PEEP and the Chilly Dam, PEEP and the Changing Sky, and PEEP and the Rainy, Snowy Day.