Goodbye, Arthur

I had to take some time to process this. I have a lot to say and I don't think this one blog post will cover it all.

I'm surprised that I didn't plan on writing a blog post about this until later. I guess I didn't want to acknowledge it as true, you know? ☹

After 25 incredible seasons, the PBS Kids "Arthur" series has finally concluded. The final episodes aired for the first time on February 21, 2022. The show premiered on October 7, 1996. This is a huge deal and not treated like the ending of other shows.

Oof. This is a hard one, you guys. I'm heartbroken. I cried. This TV show has lasted from my childhood to adulthood. It's very rare that a TV show, let alone a kid's show, does that. This is truly the end of a era. I'm in my 30s already, but it feels like with "Arthur" ending, my childhood is officially over now.

I remember seeing rumors about this, but I didn’t believe it nor want to because it seemed farfetched. Preposterous. Can't be real. "Arthur" was never going to end. It's up there with "Sesame Street" as a show that always remains current.

The crazy thing is that this show was on the air BEFORE I was in the third grade. And now all of a sudden in the final season Arthur and his friends are all in the fourth grade after 25 years of being third graders and Arthur and Buster AREN'T in the same homeroom??? It's so bizarre! 

It's true! In the "Arthur's First Day" special, Buster and Sue Ellen AREN'T in Ratburn's homeroom for the fourth grade!!! What nonsense is this??? Even BINKY has him as his homeroom teacher for the third year in a row! I don't care how "realistic" this is or how this is an opportunity for Arthur and Buster to make new friends and give other mute characters a voice for once. I want all of the original kids in one place, darn it!

But wait! I'm thinking that they're only in the fourth grade for that special now, because in the first episode of Season 25, "Binky Wrestles with a Story," Binky and Buster are in the same homeroom and everyone is in their regular clothes as opposed to their new attire for the special.

But...I digress. 

The show has always been so unique in its own right. It stars an aardvark. An AARDVARK. Where else would you see this happen? Francine is a monkey, but guess what? So is Curious George. And there are countless other shows that have cats, dogs, and rabbits as main characters. But Arthur is the only aardvark.

You also have a kid walking around being referred to with uncommon initials and nobody questioned it until the Secret Service guy did in a hilarious scene from the episode "D.W. Goes To Washington" where D.W. meets President Bill Clinton's likeness. That's how you know how long this show has been on the air. BILL CLINTON was President. 

To commemorate the show coming to an end, PBS Kids aired a SIX DAY 24 HOUR BACK TO BACK MEGA MARATHON of practically every "Arthur" episode from February 16 through February 21. Bless them, they also aired the livestream on YouTube. (I don't have access to the channel on TV, so this was a godsent.) The hashtag #Arthur25 also trended on Twitter.

This marathon brought me so much comfort and nostalgia, reacquainting me with old favorites, episodes I have forgotten, some that I did recall but whose outcome I failed to remember, and some that I may not have seen before. 

It also brought to mind how infused "Arthur" is into our culture, and at least my life. Yes, the show has provided material for memes, but throughout my life I have often thought back to various "Arthur" lines and scenes depending on certain circumstances. For example, I could wonder if I am too heavy to lift up when thinking about my body image, and I would be reminded of Francine retorting, "I am not too heavy!" when Arthur tries to lift her through a window to sneak her into school when the kids plan on playing hooky in the "Double Dare" episode. Or I could randomly remember Buster crying out "Oh, the humanity!" when he loses a game of marbles and therefore a chance to win an ice cream prize in "Arthur Loses His Marbles" and maybe even apply it to my own situation. It's quotes like these that have stayed with me for a lifetime and they tend to show up just out of the blue and it's normal for me because they are so ingrained in my mind. lol

I haven't really watched much of the more recent seasons with the flash animation and characters like Ladonna and Bud taking over the narrative mainly because I haven't gotten the chance to nor was I really jumping at the opportunity. I guess I just always felt that it was there so I would always have the chance and maybe I just always preferred the older episodes anyway.

But that's the thing. "Arthur" will always be there even though it is ending. I can imagine that PBS Kids will be airing episodes in syndication and there are also other areas where we can watch the show, like YouTube. I'm also seeing that Arthur's story isn't fully over, for there might be other plans in the works. What I would absolutely LOVE is a collection of them all in one place where we can watch from now on for free, such as a playlist or a DVD collection. 

I would also like plushies of both Fern and Sue Ellen, please and thank you. When I was a kid I had Arthur and D.W. plushies and my parents always remember me burying my Arthur doll in the sand down the shore one day. lol I think they only made Arthur, D.W., Buster, and Francine though. 

Sometimes when I watch TV shows from my childhood, I realize how childishly they are written. I never feel this way about "Arthur" and in fact appreciate some of the writing more as an adult that I may not have noticed when I was a kid. The comedy has its own vibe of sarcasm and meta-humor that I now feel has contributed to my personality. lol

Like let's talk about D.W. for a sec. D.W., who was always voiced by a boy, by the way, but yet they always managed to capture a little girl perfectly well, is a 4-year-old kid who talks as if she is 40 (though she has turned 5 a couple of times in the series). If you watch "Bob's Burgers," she's a lot like Louise Belcher. Yes, she is still an irritating little sister who mispronounces words occasionally due to her age, but yet she is also so well spoken and to this day has some of the most memorable lines and delivery in the entire series. 

My favorite? "A stick from the park where you PROMISED TO TAKE ME TODAY!"

Here's a visual. lol

Other 4-year-old characters are dumbed down and it's "supposed to be" cute because they're four and apparently their levels of maturity can only go so high.

....

Parents, you know who I'm talking about. That little whiny bald punk Caillou. 

Looks at these headlines I came across awhile back.

Isn't it sad how people rejoiced over the cancellation of "Caillou" but yet are in mourning over the ending of "Arthur" all in one year? It's funny how these headlines are so similar yet so contradictory at the same time. LOL

D.W. is still a little girl, but kids can be smarter than we give them credit for and her character reflects that.

As a result of how these characters were written, anybody can watch "Arthur" without feeling bored or like their intelligence is being insulted. The show was full of imagination, creativity, personality, and originality and has taught me so much, such as introducing me to people that I didn't know existed prior, like Art Garfunkel and Yo-Yo Ma. Speaking of cameos, "Arthur Meets Mister Rogers" is like the origin of crossover episodes and Backstreet Boys were featured in a whole special! You can't get more 90s than that!

The only thing I notice is that maybe the stories are told at a quicker pace than I remember. I chalked this up to that shows made for kids are always told at a quicker pace. For example, when watching "Muffy Gets Mature" again, I thought that Muffy and Francine started fighting way too soon in the episode, but this also makes sense in terms of storytelling considering that each episode is like only 15 minutes long each anyway. But this is something minor and nothing to really notice. Normally "Arthur" is paced perfectly well and it doesn't affect my overall enjoyment.

There are plenty of children's shows that appeal to adults. "As Told By Ginger" and "Gravity Falls" come to mind. But those shows were around for only a certain amount of time. Doing the math, "Arthur" has been around for about 81% of my life and never got old. Maybe there were times when I wasn't in the mood to watch it, but there was never an instance where I saw it and was repelled by it as a baby show that I didn't care to watch anymore. If I ever turned it on, I was usually like "Everybody shut up! ARTHUR'S ON!" and dropped everything and got comfortable on the couch. 

The cable channel equivalent to "Arthur" is "Spongebob Squarepants." Another long running animated program for kids from the 90s, I have friends who relate that one to nostalgia as well and it's also one that appeals to both children and adults. But while I've heard that the writing for "Spongebob Squarepants" has somewhat dwindled over the years and has maybe overstayed its welcome, the writing for "Arthur" never has. The only complaint I've seen from other viewers is that they didn't like the new flash animation, which was an obvious change in comparison to the original hand drawn traditional animation. 

We can always say that it's a good thing "Arthur" ended before it got stale or ran out of ideas or started repeating stories, but it has been around for for 26 years! There is no reason to say that because to last for 25 seasons and still be expected to last even longer with no issues means that this was never a problem for them. I've noticed that even if they did a few episodes on the same topic, it's not the same story but rather a fresh take on the subject. For instance, the episodes "The Secret of Secrets" and "Blabbermouth" are both about keeping secrets. But while one is about D.W., the other is about Buster in a totally different situation. 

We really need to thank Marc Brown for all of this. He published the first ever Arthur book Arthur's Nose in 1976, and then exactly 20 years later the show premiered. And now 25 years later than that, the TV show ended. So looking at that perspective, Arthur Read has been around for a LONG, LONG TIME and has so much history. "Arthur" has touched so many people during these decades, especially those my age who grew up with it.

I love that Brown voiced himself in the series finale "All Grown Up." That really brings things full circle and was a proper send off for the show. I'm working on a separate blog post to dedicate to "All Grown Up," so I'll talk about that episode more in depth another time. 

There's just something very calming about Brown's voice and he always came across so down to earth anytime I saw him doing interviews or any other segments. The show was in good hands with him as executive producer as well. It's always good when the original author is involved with adaptations of their work. Look at Louis Sachar and Holes (2003).

Thank you, Marc Brown, for creating such a timeless and beloved character and story that can relate and appeal to children (and adults) of all ages for all of these years and for years to come.

Because of "Arthur's" success, I usually believe that Marc Brown is full of bright ideas...BUT perhaps a possible live action adaptation starring John Legend isn't one of them lol. I say let's let Arthur and his friends have a much deserved rest...for now.

It's dawning on me more with every passing week since the finale aired that it's all over now and it's going to stay over. The highs of the marathon and articles about the show ending have long wrapped up and never again will another brand new "Arthur" episode air. They're done. That is so crazy to me and so hard to wrap my mind around.