Arthur (TV series)

***Arthur*** is a Canadian/American animated television, created by Cookie Jar Group (formerly known as Cinar) and WGBH for PBS. It started in 1996 and ended in 2022.

## Plot

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, his friends and family, and their daily interactions with each other.

## Why It Is A Wonderful Kind Of Day

1. One of the longest-running kids shows in history, running from 1996 through 2022 (despite a hiatus between 1998 and 2000).
2. Nicely-done animation for the first 15 seasons, and the last four seasons and okay animation for Seasons 16-21.
3. The Pre-Cookie Jar era is amazing, with so many good episodes. Unfortunately, it also has some worst episodes of the series.
4. Awesome and memorable theme song.
5. Stays 100% faithful to the book series.
6. It is one of those kids shows that are not "dumbed down" for children, but respects the intelligence of the viewers.
7. Smart, witty and mature humor.
8. Every character has realistic flaws, a distinct personality and comes from diverse backgrounds.
9. Has so many great and memorable episodes, such as:
	* "Arthur's Eyes" (which started Season 1 and the series on a high note)
	* "Arthur and the Real Mr. Ratburn"
	* "Arthur's Family Vacation"
	* "Bully for Binky"
	* "Arthur's Tooth" (depending on your view)
	* "Arthur Meets Mister Rogers" (which started Season 2 on a high note)
	* "The Short, Quick Summer"
	* "Arthur's Faraway Friend"
	* "Grandma Thora Appreciation Day"
	* "Sue Ellen's Little Sister" (which ended Season 2 on a high note)
	* "Buster's Back" (which started Season 3 on a high note)
	* "And Now Let's Talk to Some Kids"
	* "Arthur's Almost Live Not Real Music Festival" (best episode of the series)
	* "D.W.'s Library Card" (which started Season 4 on a high note)
	* "Buster's Breathless"
	* "The Contest"
	* "The Blizzard"
	* "Prunella's Prediction"
	* "That's a Baby Show!" (which ended Season 4 on a high note)
	* "The Shore Thing"
	* "You Are Arthur"
	* "Bitzi's Beau"
	* "The Big Dig"
	* "The Secret Life of Dogs and Babies"
	* "Arthur and Los Vecinos"
	* "The Boy with His Head in the Clouds"
	* "Elwood City Turns 100!"
	* "D.W.'s Time Trouble"
	* "April 9th" (which ended Season 7 on a high note)
	* "Dear Adil" (which started Season 8 on a high note)
	* "Bitzi's Break Up"
	* "Fernfern and the Secret of Moose Mountain"
	* "Postcards from Buster"
	* "Big Horns George"
	* "Buster's Green Thumb"
	* "My Fair Tommy"
	* "D.W. Beats All"
	* "Binky Goes Nuts"
	* "Happy Anniversary" (which started Season 10 on a high note)
	* "Binky vs. Binky"
	* "Operation: D.W.!"
	* "Brain's Shocking Secret"
	* "The Making of Arthur"
	* "Big Brother Binky" (which ended Season 11 on a high note)
	* "The Blackout"
	* "Mei Lin Takes a Stand" (depending on your view)
	* "Kung Fool"
	* "The Great MacGrady"
	* "When Carl Met George"
	* "A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Tibble"
	* "The Wheel Deal" (which started Season 14 on a high note)
	* "In My Africa"
	* "Buster Spaces Out"
	* "The Long Road Home" (which ended Season 14 on a high note)
	* "I Wanna Hold Your Hand" (depending on your view)
	* "Whistling in the Wind" (depending on your view)
	* "To Eat or Not to Eat" (depending on your view)
	* "Grandpa Dave's Memory Album"
	* "Get Smart"
	* "Baby Steps"
	* "Night of the Tibble"
	* "The Last Tough Customer"
	* "The Best Day Ever" (which ended Season 16 on a high note)
	* "Speak Up, Francine!"
	* "Binky's Music Madness"
	* "Brain Freeze" (which ended Season 17 on a high note)
	* "The Substitute Arthur"
	* "Whip. Mix. Blend."
	* "Shelter from the Storm" (which ended Season 18 on a high note)
	* "Wish You Were Here"
	* "Maria Speaks" (depending on your view)
	* "Postcards from Binky"
	* "Carl's Concerto"
	* "Mr. Ratburn's Secret Identity"
	* "The Last Day" (which ended Season 19 on a high note)
	* "Buster's Second Chance" (which started Season 20 on a high note)
	* "Lend Me Your Ear"
	* "The Butler Did It"
	* "Binky's 'A' Game" (which started Season 21 on a high note)
	* "Arthur Takes a Stand"
	* "Slink's Special Talent"
	* "When Rivals Came to Roost"
	* "Binky Can't Always Get What He Wants" (depending on your view)
	* "Fright Night" (which started Season 23 on a high note)
	* "Citizen Cheikh"
	* "When Duty Calls" (which ended Season 23 on a high note)
	* "The Great MacGrady" (remake)
	* "D.W.'s New Best Friend"
	* "George Scraps His Sculpture"
	* "Binky Wrestles With a Story"
	* "Making Conversation"
	* "A Cloudy Day"
	* "Arthur's New Old Vacation"
	* "All Grown Up" (which ended the series on a high note, despite ending on a cliffhanger)
10. Some episodes don't focus on Arthur alone, they also focus on some of the supporting characters.
11. Both Buster Baxter and Muffy Crosswire are the most popular characters on the show.
	* While Buster received his own show, Muffy had yet to receive her very own show.
12. Arthur goes through numerous relatable childhood situations, such as getting too much homework, learning about himself, growing up, being the last kid to lose a baby tooth, accepting people as they are and dealing with a tragedy.
13. Teaches great messages to children and adults, such as to have fun while you still have to chance, handle your responsibilities carefully and to not forget about your friends no matter how old you become.
14. Made hilarious pop culture references and parodies, including Titanic, Star Wars, Beavis and Butthead and even South Park.
15. Even though the show switched to Flash animation, the episodes are still decent.
16. Guest stars.
17. It spawned video games, including a PC CD-ROM-exclusive, *Arthur's Pet Chase.*
18. Final episode (All Grown Up) aired on February 21, 2022 with characters as adults.
	* Arthur works as a writer.
	* George now works as the owner of the Sugar Bowl
	* Francine does fashion, and makes sneakers
	* Muffy is now running for the mayor
	* Buster Baxter is a schoolteacher
	* Binky Barnes is the weather forecaster for Elwood City Witness News.
	* D.W. Read is now working as a cop for the Elwood City Police.

## Bad Qualities

1. D.W. and Arthur complaining about each other can get annoying, and D.W. herself can be annoying and despicably unlikable at times.
2. Being an unbelievably long-running show, while impressive on paper, isn't always a good thing, because it's easy to run out of ideas for episodes, and as a result, some episode ideas are reused. The show also somewhat went downhill, due to the aforementioned reuse of ideas and lazier animation (as said below).
3. The animation is not perfect and does have a few hiccups:
	* Season 1's animation (while still good) has lots of errors, and many characters appear off-model. Though it is understandable given that animation used more traditional methods.
	* The flash animation in Seasons 16-19, while still a decent effort, is a mediocre downgrade from the first fifteen seasons, as the movements look more robotic, and at times can be uncanny. However, it improved slightly during Seasons 17-19.
4. Seasons 1, 5 and 16, while still good, are the weakest seasons of the series.
	* Season 1 has weaker animation compared to the other seasons (see BQ #9).
	* Season 5 has more bad episodes compared to the first four seasons.
	* Season 16 is arguably the weakest season of the series as the animation switched to Flash and it has "So Funny, I Forgot to Laugh", one of the worst episodes of the series.
5. Kate's crying (which is actually a sound effect by Sound Ideas) can be irritating.
6. It can be mean-spirited towards Arthur, as he's getting tortured by his sister D.W., sometimes gets mistreated by his friends, always getting into trouble, go through the pain of listening "Crazy Bus", and other bad stuff happening to him for no reason.
7. There are a handful of bad/mediocre episodes, such as:
	* "D.W. All Wet" (the first bad episode of the series)
	* "Arthur Accused!"
	* "D.W., the Picky Eater"
	* "Go to Your Room, D.W."
	* "Play it Again, D.W."
	* "Arthur the Loser"
	* "Arthur vs. the Very Mean Crossing Guard"
	* "D.W.'s Very Bad Mood" (the worst episode of the PTV era)
	* "Arthur's Big Hit" (the most infamous episode of the series and the worst Pre-Cookie Jar era episode)
	* "The Rat Who Came to Dinner"
	* "Double Dare"
	* "Nerves of Steal"
	* "Sleep No More"
	* "The Last of Mary Moo Cow"
	* "Muffy Gets Mature"
	* "Brother, Can You Spare a Clarinet?"
	* "Citizen Frensky"
	* "More!"
	* "For Whom the Bell Tolls" (depending on your view)
	* "Cast Away" (the worst)
	* "Vomitrocious"
	* "Bleep" (which ended Season 8 on a sour note)
	* "Germophobia"
	* "MacFrensky"
	* "The Secret Origin of Supernova" (which ended Season 13 on a sour note)
	* "So Funny I Forgot to Laugh"
	* "The Longest Eleven Minutes"
	* "D.W. and Dr. Whosit"
	* "Arthur's Big Meltdown" (which ended Season 24 on a sour note)
	* "Blabbermouth"
8. Some of the later voice actors don't do the best job voicing the characters.
	* While Michael Yarmush does an amazing job voicing Arthur, his voice deepened by Season 5, which made him sound like a 14-year-old than an 8-year-old.
	* Justin Bradley does a pretty bad job voicing Arthur in the original dubs of Season 6 as he sounds like he didn't want to be there and similar to Michael Yarmush in Season 5, sounds too old to be a convincing eight-year-old. Thankfully, Mark Rendall redubbed his lines for Season 6, as he does a much better job than the former.
	* Cameron Ansell is very annoying to listen to as he sounds like a girl.
	* Same with Dallas Jokic, Oliver Grainger and Robert Naylor
	* Lyle Lettau also makes Brain sound like a girl.
9. The continuity sometimes contradicts itself, like with Sue Ellen in Sue Ellen Moves In.
10. Two episodes that featured Lance Armstrong rarely air due to the doping scandal. Thankfully, The Great MacGrady was remade as a 24th season episode without Armstrong's involvement, thus solving the plot hole about the titular character getting cancer.
11. Speaking of Video Games, two of them were made and they are pretty awful. One for the Game Boy Color and One for the PlayStation 1.
12. The 2006 movie Arthur's Missing Pal was bad.

## Reception

* The series has been acknowledged with the George Foster Peabody Award and four Daytime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Children's Animated Program.
* It was rated 7.4 out of 10 on IMDb and 8.5 out of 10 on TV.com.
* While the series is very popular in Israel, the popularity of the character, Muffy Crosswire, in the United States was great.