Postcards from Buster
Postcards from Buster is a live-action/animated children's television series that originally aired on PBS. It is a spin-off of the "Arthur" TV series. The show stars Arthur's best friend, 8-year-old anthropomorphic rabbit Buster Baxter. Based by a backdoor pilot episode of "Arthur" entitled "Postcards from Buster", the television series was created by Cookie Jar Group (now known as WildBrain), WGBH Boston and Marc Brown Studios. The pilot was aired on December 22, 2003 as an episode of Arthur. The official series aired from October 11, 2004 to February 20, 2012 , on PBS Kids and PBS Kids Go!. Buster's interests include eating anything, reading comic books, and playing video games. Buster's personality is that of a fairly intelligent and curious child. He also believes that extraterrestrials are real. Buster's parents are divorced; in this series, Buster is seen with his father, Bo Baxter. Arthur Read and many other characters from the PBS Kids animated television series "Arthur" make cameo appearances in this series, and most episodes have an "Arthur" character playing a minor role. The series went on hiatus between November 2008 and February 2012. Overview. "Postcards from  Buster" centred on Buster travelling to different places around North America and worldwide, usually in the United States but also in the Caribbean, Canada and other places, with his father, who is a pilot for a band of musicians. In each episode, Buster meets children in the location, who show him views of their real-life families and global culture. The sequences with Buster are animated, while the portions featuring the children are live-action (viewed from the viewpoint of Buster's video camcorder). After each location, Buster sends to Arthur a "video postcard" video tape summarising what he's  done and who he's met in each location. The children and their families that appeared on the series are meant to be multicultural and diverse, and range from a Mormon family in Utah to a Mestizo family in Texas. Home media releases. A series of "Postcards from Buster" DVDs and VHS releases of a certain topic have been released by PBS Distribution through Paramount Home Entertainment. This includes "Buster's Outdoor Journeys" (featuring episodes "Sugartime", "Meet Me at the Fair", "The Giant Pumpkins" and "Bayou by Me"), "Buster's Got the Beat" (featuring episodes "Beats by the Bay", "Buster  and Beatrice", "The Music Mystery" and "Buster's Sweet Song"), "Buster's Buddies" (featuring episodes "Buster's League of Champions", "Best Friends", "A Sense of Direction" and "Sleepy in Seattle") and "Buster's World of Sports" (featuring episodes "Winter Gold", "Swimming in the Desert", "Rock and Roll" and "Rodeo Cowgirl"). VHS releases, however, only include the first two episodes from the DVDs. On October 12, 2010, Mill Creek Entertainment released the complete first season on DVD in Region 1. For some unknown reason, the cover art for the DVD falsely states that this is 'The complete series', when in fact  it is not as there are 16 more episodes. It also includes bonus episodes of "Busytown Mysteries", "The New Adventures of Nanoboy", "Mona the Vampire" and "Wimzie's House". Controversy. In January 2005, Margaret Spellings, United States Secretary of Education, revealed that the show had explored same-sex marriage. Episode #33, "Sugartime!", which features Buster visiting Hinesburg, Vermont, to learn about the production of maple sugar, includes Buster meeting several children who have lesbian parents. Vermont was one of the first states to legalize civil unions for same-sex couples. In the episode, the word "lesbian" or "homosexual" is never  said, and the episode — like all "Postcards" episodes — has no sexual content. Buster meets the children and comments, "Boy, that's a lot of moms!"; one girl mentions her "mom and stepmom," adding that she loves her stepmother very much, and no other comments are made about the couple. PBS vice president of media relations Lea Sloan said at the time, "The fact that there is a family structure that is objectionable to the Department of Education is not at all the focus of the show, nor is it addressed in the show." Spellings demanded that PBS return all federal  funding that had been used in the production of the episode, claiming that "many parents would not want their young children exposed to the lifestyles portrayed in this episode." PBS decided not to air this episode, but some member stations across the country chose to air the episode, including WNET in New York, KCET in Los Angeles, and KERA in Dallas–Fort Worth, which are flagship stations; and the show's co-producer, WGBH in Boston (which distributed the episode directly to public television stations after PBS's decision). It was, however, included in both the VHS and DVD version  of the collection "Buster's Outdoor Journeys" which was distributed by Paramount Home Entertainment. Some of these stations opted to air this episode in prime-time, with some following the episode with a local discussion on the controversy. Shortly after the controversy, PBS's CEO announced she would step down when her contract expired in 2006. Cusi Cram, a writer for "Arthur", later wrote a play titled "Dusty and the Big Bad World", based on this controversy.