Many of you who know me too well know I
grew up a PBS kid. Growing up cable TV was a luxury & most of
your popular network TV cartoon blocks began in the afternoons so
what occupied my 7am to 3pm time was PBS Kids. I've seen shows come &
go from small tier shows like 'Zoom' to the more popular, big wigs
like 'Mister Rogers Neighborhood'. PBS was pretty instrumental in my
upbringing, from watching stuff on PBS Kids to their more mature
live-action programming. Many of you may only recall live action
scripted dramas in the form of the BBC imports airing under the
umbrella showcase of 'Masterpiece Theater' or 'Masterpiece Mystery'
or if you're of a certain age the shot on newsroom camera production
of 'Overdrawn At The Memory Bank'. That was a PBS drama produced by
the New York PBS station. In my case there was a scripted drama
produced by KCET that has fallen down the wayside by the name of
'American Family', premiering in 2002 & it only ran for two
seasons. First ever latino drama with a full latino cast. Only KCET
could premiere that! Then there was one I recall which was like a
detective show set in a Native American reservation with a mostly
native american cast. I forget the title & sadly Google isn't
throwing me a bone right now. As I was saying PBS wasn't the joke
most of the mainstream think it was. I see episodes of 'Family Ties'
and, though not meant to be taken seriously, episodes of 'The
Simpsons' that joke about PBS like when they mocked Ken Burns
documentaries. Sit down & watch the Ken Burns documentary on the
baseball steroid trials, that shit is interesting as fuck!!! That one
Simpsons joke made people think Ken Burns sits down on a chair behind
a bland background & just talks in a monotone voice. PBS had some
gripping content, but I feel now In the advanced age of the global
community I can find out more info on something that PBS still is
clueless about. While 'NOVA' continues to make documentaries about
rocks & geological shit that (in all honesty) I'm not too psyched
about, I can go on YouTube & find a BBC documentary on Mary
Whitehouse or good god, the steroid crisis in Britain. You thought a
bunch of steroids in American sports was nuts, you ain't seen
anything yet! Then there's lighter fare like the content
'Dufunctland' puts out where not only does this guy talk about roller
coasters & the in-depth history of theme parks, but he also talks
about the history of PBS shows. I highly recommend his channel if
you're either into Disneyland or PBS kids. I don't wanna say PBS is
fallen in content because they still have good content out there, the
problem with PBS is they are kinda stuck in an era & in no way
are they planning on changing. Not saying they gotta get edgier or
become more scandalous & sensational like what happened to the
educational networks of days yonder (The Learning Channel, A&E,
History Channel), but you'd think someone in these affiliates would
want to do something new while also educational. I feel like with PBS
& even PBS Kids their scope has narrowed these past decades. Not
saying they became narrow minded or started preaching MAGA or
anything like that. I'm just saying PBS constantly continues to
promote themselves as the place to learn everything about the world &
all the sciences, yet every time I tune in it's always the same shit.
NOVA talking about rocks, some BBC import drama that's always a
period piece romance & why is every documentary on 'Independent
Lens' always some depressing misery parade? I can't fully judge PBS
Kids because, well, it's obvious I'm not a kid anymore. As if you
didn't already know that but then again I don't blame you for
assuming that, I'm childish. Going back to 'Defunctland' here &
in the episode dealing in the history of 'Fetch, With Ruffruffman' he
talks about how PBS bet on that show because they wanted to target
the slowly declining number of viewers from that 8 to 12 demographic.
Surpisingly they were never in direct competition with Kids WB or Fox
Kids or any local afternoon cartoon block, but rather they were in
competition with reality tv which easily grabbed that demo. So a
reality competition show was their way of marketing to that
viewership, then after the show's cancellation that's when we just
saw nothing but programming for toddlers, with a few exceptions. The
big reason 'Fetch' was canceled was not so much lack of viewership
for the more edgier, adult Reality TV, but rather the PBS station
that produced the show was losing money so that show had to go. Where
I'm getting at is there's been a lack of programming for that early
tween, late adolescent age & now that 'Arthur' is officially
going off the air this does mark the end of an era for not just PBS,
but PBS kids. Thus leads us to today's topic.
By the time you see this, 'Arthur' is airing its final season today. Oh they're not airing the series finale today, but instead they're going to air the whole season the same way [adult swim] aired all of 'Smiling Friends' the night it premiered. There's many factors as to why they did this, DVR's & 'On Demand' still exist in this era of streaming. Also that's another thing, they're tying up a neat bow in order to upload the episodes to their own PBS Stream service. The only thing PBS charges people is the 'Passaport' service which (compared to Disney + & HBO Max) is pretty affordable. Even then most of the content in their website is free to watch & you're not going to get adverts up the ass every six seconds just by watching the content on their website. So back to 'Arthur here, the show is officially ending after 25 years of being on the air, that also includes three event episodes & a direct to video movie. Not going to go through the whole history here, but it bears noting that there's a big reason this show went as long as it did. It was a damn good show! Though the first season was basically made up of adaptations of the original Arthur storybooks, second season is when things get interesting. The writers & animators took on a very interesting direction with the show when it was decided that the show didn't have to be strictly focused on the title character, but rather they wrote stories with other random characters & even created new characters to tell newer stories. From what I recall characters like Prunella, Sue Ellen, Alberto, Fern & one they just completely ignored by the name of Lydia Fox, were never in any of the books before they appeared on the series. The show was more human & more profound than any of the 'supposed' well written adult dramas of that time. They tackled everything & anything in a very tasteful & subtle manner which we sadly don't see today. Everything from first time jitters to even more harder subject matter like death. Looking back the show captures that imaginative, young adolescent wonder & anxiety perfectly well, especially in the sequences where characters would imagine over-exaggerated results when dealing with certain problems. As adults we can laugh at the absurdity of these imaginings, but as a kid they were less funny & more appropriate exaggerations. Then there's the fact the show didn't need to be animated. Some dreams, nightmares or day dreaming sequences could not be done with in a 1996 PBS budget but at the same time the show could easily be done with actors & actresses, just like 'King of the Hill' which would also premiere a year later. I feel in 90's animation we had something of various camps as opposed to now. We had animation for kids that was either the sloppy crap that tried to instill a message like 'Captain Planet', the more loose yet it was nothing original by stuff like the 'Wild Cats' or the 'Fantastic Four' cartoon. Then you get the more darker yet still tasteful adult stories for kids by way of 'Batman: The Animated Series' or 'Gargoyles'. Then you got stuff where it's point is to have fun & be witty about it like 'Animaniacs' & all those Steven Spielberg produced cartoons. Then on the other side you had adult animation with Simpsons, King of the Hill, which like I said didn't have to be animated but it helped. Then you get the more darker, grittier & mature side of adult animation by way of not only the Anime OVA's we were getting in the 90's, but also American produced stuff like Ralf Bakshi's 'Spicy City' or even the stuff we would get up into the 2000's with [adult swim] by way of 'Space Ghost: Coast To Coast'. I felt a project like 'Arthur' could have only worked in 1996, if not maybe early 2000's but after that I hate to think the show would be a mindless comedy or yet another generic PBS Kids show with slow speaking characters teaching shapes. Even in its time the show was a unique breed & continued to be a unique breed despite (In my opinion) dips in quality. A while back I did write about my dissatisfaction of the 'current' episodes & over the years I've kinda loosened that opinion. I won't say these newer episodes are horrible or the worst thing I ever seen, but rather my opinion between that blog entry & now has been more defined. The show has been running for a long ass time but after a while it was time for me to move on. Between 1996 & the 2010's it was clear the changing times had to be reflected in the show itself & sadly the changing democracies within the PBS structure. Remember what I said when PBS had to cash in on a reality competition show? At this point many of the PBS kids shows skewer younger because that's the kind of show they can only market at this point. It's what sells & it's kinda telling that is the only demographic that make up the Neilsen Ratings. Sad to say I don't blame them seeing as every election season while liberals talk about defunding cops & the military, the right wing always set their defunding sights towards PBS. They've struggled to the point where pledge week became pledge month & then pledge month eventually turned to pledge year. Also over the decades less & less endowments and sponsorships have be granted to many of these shows. In recent years there have been a few & when you watch these shows now you would be shocked at some of the brands who contributed to PBS. You would be watching some show about how fruits are grown & in both the begninnig & end you would hear: “This program has been brought to you by Monsanto, Martin Skrelli & Blackwater.” An exaggeration, but knowing how sleazy many of the corps have become in recent years it's both funny & sad knowing that they once gave a damn enough to fund PBS. I think the fact that PBS started filtering who they receive money is part of their money woes but at the same time you can't blame them. If they continued there would have been a great chance of seeing these corps inserting a finger into the content that they would have manipulated content to suit their needs. We would have easily gotten Elmo telling kids how cool being on ritalin is.
Of course I'm a little sad the show
is ending its run, but at the same time we have to face the fact that
the Arthur had run its course. There's plenty of shows that were
never given a fair shot & there's shows out there that have gone
on for so long they overstayed their welcome. I cannot say 'Arthur'
overstayed their welcome, but rather just like 'Sesame Street' the
show continued to be there for people who needed it. There was a
comfort knowing the show was still on the air whether you watched it
or not. While some newer episodes make me narrow my eyes or I
constantly have drawn parallels to earlier seasons, I do have to take
a step back & look at who may be watching the show today. It's
fresh for the kids who weren't alive when the pilot premiered. Many
of us older people can easily watch these new episodes & come to
the conclusion that they're now reiterating the same stories that
were done in early seasons. Despite that there's a couple of episodes
that felt fresh like season 2 episodes but tackled more modern issues
like when DW & her friends were obsessed with this online pet
game (Think something like 'Webkins' or even something like
'Neopets') & their computer gets a virus. Or my favorite episode
is where most of Mr.Ratburn's class all join in a book reading
program where they accumulate points & spend them on prizes.
Though this is an reiterated idea, Buster is once again uninterested
in reading books, despite continuity showing he just needed to read
the right books in order to be interested. This episode really did
shine a light on why these school computer reading programs are
flawed & don't motivate kids to read. Instead it makes reading a
confusing & unfair chore. I felt that was a rewrite of a season
2 script that was updated for today. That worked in my opinion! Then
there's episodes that aren't bad but some people ignore just because
they are done in flash animation. I'm not the biggest fan of flash
animation & I felt they should have stuck to that digital line
animation they they used for that 2009 season. I don't even think
that was a creative decision but more a decision based on budget &
time. There was a time where here in LA the new season of 'Arthur'
premiered every other year because the new episodes would be in
production for over a year so it would be new season, then a year of
reruns until the new season aired. When they switched to digital &
flash animation the production time shortened so it benefitted them
on that aspect. At the end of the day I have to look at the show as
an adult. The nitpicking & the critiques do come from time to
time but I must remind myself I'm no longer a child anymore so this
type of programming doesn't relate to me as much anymore. One phrase
I've say encapsulates my opinion on all children's programming is:
“It's for the kids.”
I don't get the mentality of these man
children that complain about cartoons on Twitter. Like, get a life,
especially all of you who monetized complaining disguised as reviews.
Then there's people that work in animation now that are that person
that will not create anything original so they ruin what's already
established. That's why we're getting all these reboots. At the end
of the day I just let the kids like what they like because the last
person I want to sound like are the people that complained about
children's programming as too violent or too dark. That's how these
people on Twitter sound like, the same kind of adults that complained
'Animaniacs' was childish, the same people that complained that
cartoons lacked a moral or educational message which then spawned the
stupid era of cartoons that always ended with a 'Sonic Sez' or good
god, 'Sailor Says'. Sailor Moon says prenups aren't an act of
distrust, they are a protection of investments. Admit it, a handful
of these cartoons had that message hammer to the point where even as
a kid watching these things felt like we were being talked down to.
Like I'm a moron who doesn't know that fire burns so they need to
shove aside 10 minutes of fun just so Sonic The Hedgehog can tell me
fire is bad or never to jump inside an active dish washer. Remember
what Stan Lee said: “Kids never like to be lectured at.” but if you
speak to kids in a way that they'll listen then you can push many
thoughtful messages to the kids who enjoy these stories.
Incorporating messages into stories. Just like Mister Rogers, just
like Arthur, can't believe I haven't mentioned this man but just like
Bill Nye, they all spoke to the kids that watched their program
rather than talked down to the kids. 'Arthur' broke so many barriers
that weren't noticed at the time. I mentioned they talked about
death, the episode where DW's pet bird 'Spanky' passes away is one of
the more lighter takes on the subject. The episode is DW mourning the
loss of her bird & then a frog ends up following her everywhere
she goes. Then of course I feel one of my all time favorite episodes
has to be 'April 9th' (Season 7, Episode 10) where the
school catches on fire. The episode tackles the serious issue of a
tragedy in the most human, yet light in tone, way. It's not trying to
traumatize kids or scare kids but rather telling a story that they
too can relate. Coming out a year after the September 11th
attacks, that episode covers all bases that can also be interpreted
in so many ways. A kids's cartoon that's open to interpretation &
not in a pretentious, BS sort of way? Sue Ellen losing her diary
during the fire can easily be interpreted as losing someone in the
fire. Then there's Arthur almost losing his dad which then gives him
mass anxieties. Then you got Binky who saw the flames & since
then he hasn't been the same. He constantly hides his fears behind a
tough guy exterior, though deep down he's scared. That can be
interpreted as seeing something too real & too disturbing. I have
heard stories of what fire fighters have seen so that's as light a
tone this story can take in the context of child friendly
programming. Then another viewpoint we rarely get, even in most
mature entertainment, is the side of someone who wasn't there when it
happened. You'd think Buster would consider being late to school &
missing the chaos a blessing in desguise, but he feels guilty because
early on he thought the school catching fire was a cool event he
missed out. Then there's the dick move he takes of telling stories
about an event he really knew nothing about. Arthur rightfully
schools him on how people could have gotten hurt. So buster takes it
upon himself to help out after befriending the janitor who was
injured during the fire. That episode is tastefully written, well
paced for something that is 24 minutes & it's not as depressing
as it sounds. That's something the show rarely does, it's not made to
depress but rather deal in matters as realistically, but also as
lightly as it could. Aside from that there are also fun episodes that
either sneak in a message or they're just there to entertain. The
episode where Arthur & the gang go to what his dad refers to as
'Ocean Zone'. Thinking they're going to some amazing water park, they
end up at a beach but their dad tells them there's a special place in
this beach by the name of Ocean Zone & so the kids try to look
for Ocean Zone. It's 11 minutes of kids being kids with a bunch of
humor spread out. I know I already made the joke but it bears
repeating, 'Arthur' is an anime because it has a beach episode. Then
there's the interesting (sorta) backdoor pilot episode called
'Postcards From Buster'. I don't know if it was a backdoor pilot or
if PBS greenlit the episode because they were a fan of the concept.
The whole episode is Arthur, Buster & Buster's dad roaming around
New York with a camcorder. In between bridging scenes of animation
you have actual real life footage of the city & mini-interviews
with random people & kids. It's a neat episode & you better
believe when 'Postcards From Buster' was announced I was all in!
All
in all, 'Arthur' is a comfort show for me. It's not out to offend,
it's not out to push a political agenda & it's not trying to be
anything than what it is. It's a cartoon about an Ardvarrk kid living
his life with a sister, two stable parents & a bunch of friends.
All along the way everyone learns profound lessons or they just spend
time being kids, having fun, being creative, doing homework &
being good people. Another good episode I actually felt should have
been an episode early in the series is when both Buster & Arthur
feel they should stop being friends when they find out they don't
have the same tastes as they used to. Then they come to the decision
that they can continue being friends despite differing viewpoints.
Gee, seems like that's a message adults should also learn in this day
in age rather than reading stories on a newspaper page!
Get out,
Urkel.
I could continue talking about all my favorite episodes
& go into deep detail but I just wanted to write this saying I
may am glad that a show that has been there for me since I was a
child. It was a show that clearly spoke to me at such a young age,
occupied me when days were dull & along the process taught some
valuable life lessons. Relatability doesn't start & end with
race, it continues with actions & words. Seeing as I am the
middle son with two female siblings, I did relate to both Arthur &
Buster seeing as I was onc interested in aliens & ufos. I wasn't
smart enough to be 'Brain' but I also related to Sue Ellen & it
wasn't until I was a teenager when I related to Fern & Molly. I
can't leave out bunny girl Molly who was a cool character who rarely
deserved more episodes. Still, the few we get are good enough. As for
that bullying episode I can't complain about it too much, even though
it felt like the same regurgitated crap we've seen in those schlocky
grade school assemblies. All I can say is at least the episode didn't
offer ridiculous advice like throwing candy. I've seen a VHS 'How to
deal with bullies' video which suggested throwing candies at bullies
& slapping them. Then there's the backlash of an episode where
Buster, Arthur & Mrs.Macgrady are all on a video call talking
about racism, of course in response to the George Floyd killing. I
get why people got angry or saw it as a meme because they kinda took
the “We gotta be current with this.” direction by having it all
set in a video zoom call. Here's my take, it was made for kids. Sad
to say racism has never been & sadly will never be fixed
overnight so we're at the point where we're still talking about it.
Also to complain about a 3 minute short, targeted to children, is
hilarious to me. It was a three minute short that was uploaded online
& probably aired in between episodes of PBS kids shows. For kids
it's pretty hard not to see or hear the news at that point so it had
to be addressed, right down to the 28 minute special called 'PBS Kids
Talks About Race & Racism'. I can't complain about this being
taught to kids, but I will complain when the same type of attitude of
talking down to the audience when it comes to entertainment that's
targeted to teenagers & adults. I have yet to hear about a KKK
guy talk about how 'A Time To Kill' made him less racist. Actually,
I'd love to hear a KKK guy talk about how he watched 'Beauty Shop'
and changed the error of his ways. Ain't nothing wrong with fat,
booty will solve racism but none of y'all are ready to hear that.
It is sad that a show so near &
dear to our hearts is ending its run, though at the same time I'm
glad that it lasted as long as it did (for better or worse). Now
Arthur isn't going away & never coming back after this day. There
will be reruns after a while until finally disappearing from the
airwaves. PBS loves to do that a lot, they will reruns shows for
years, if not even a decade. I'm sure a bulk of the shows on there
right now are stuff that aired when I was a tween like that 'Curious
George' series which is also one of those that used to be full of
humor that was written for the adults. One thing I hope PBS Kids does
is they greenlight a new show that is like Arthur where they
perfectly capture the modern viewpoint of children & talk to
them. Let's face it, the episodes of the season do reflect the year
they were aired. Season 1 to season 4 do feel very 90's. Then there's
the ultimate 2000's TV special 'Arthur: It's only Rock & Roll'
where The Backstreet Boys appear as themselves. Overall I just want
kids today to feel the same way me & my sisters did when we
watched 'Arthur' as it aired. I'm not trying to be negative by saying
there will never be a show like it again, I've been wrong countless
times. In a way, though this isn't PBS, I feel a show like 'The Loud
House' was like 'Arthur' but more in the way of comedy & sadly it
is a cable show so kids in poor rural areas don't have access to it.
A show that doesn't talk down to kids, that teaches valuable life
lessons & just straight up tells fun stories. That's what I hope
happens when Arthur finally is taken off the PBS kids time slot.
Another thing I hope happens is PBS or Story 9 or Cookie Jar, whoever
owns Arthur at this moment, releases a whole collection on Bluray,
There are physical media copies out there but tracking down single
volumes must be a total chore. Also pirating the episodes is very
tricky because they used to be on YouTube, now they're not & of
course YouTube wants to put them up as purchase/rentals which....has
anyone ever bought a movie off YouTube? It's especially funny when
YouTube offers the movie or TV show on sale but someone uploaded the
full thing on there. Also a PBS show is made by viewers like you.
You'd think they wouldn't care if someone uploaded episodes from a
show that hasn't aired on any PBS station since 1993.
Anyways I
do want a full complete set of the episodes, including the specials
like my all time favorite 'Arthur's Perfect Christmas' (I streamed
that on Twitch) and sadly it should also include 'Arthur's Missing
Pal' and by far the worst Arthur special called 'DW & the Beastly
Birthday' which basically says if you're a bratty snob then you
deserve everything. Despite my hate, I feel for completionists' sake
it should be on there. I would buy the box set just so I can have a
hard copy.
This is not a goodbye or a farewell or a sendoff.
This is a see you later, Arthur.
Hope you enjoy that episode & to
end this entry I do have good news. 'BlackTime E-Press' is coming
back. I'm out of my hiatus & I'm ready to get back into the
groove of things! Stay tuned next month, we're back! Keep track of my
social medias for the announcement. Even then I'll post a little
something on here so check back on here. Just make sure your internet
doesn't go down until then.
Email:
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