Arthur - Where is the Show Going?

It depends on what masters these companies get. Lionsgate ALWAYS had access to crappy masters (look at any TMNT set but the first), at least ONE episode looks like it was taped off a bad tape... like a bootleg. And official bootleg. I remember reading on series had to have the syndication cuts due to some idiotic rights hiccup, but I guess part of the others are access to certain masters that's the problem.

BUT Mill Creak's re-release of sitcoms (Roseanne, That 70's Show, and Third Rock) are uncut. They even boast that on the packaging... and for less money. It sounds like a commercial, but I'm pretty shocked.

Though 3rd Rock's the only one I'd actually get.

Okay, so Season 15 started this week... now, ocrrect me if I'm wrong, but didn't I read like a couple of years ago or so that Season 15 would be the last?

Either way, I'm reading the synopsises for the new episodes, and once again, I find myself saying to myself, "Those writers have so run out of ideas..." take the details of today's new episode for example...

Rully?

Aparently not... there's gonna be at least 2 more seasons... they're in production right now.

I gotta admit... YES! YES YES YES! But I am looking forward to some of the other episodes. I dunno if we have to wait until April, but I am desperately looking forward to the broadcast premier of "Muffy's Book Club." That was one of the funniest ones I've seen in a while.

I will say that Whistling episode does have some insight as to why Grandma Tibble never really disciplines the Twins that hard.... you have to see it to see what I mean.

Well shoot, I mean that's something we lerned in Grade 3... grandparents simply never say no... they just don;'t... kids ask their parents for something or whatnot, they say no, but kids know they can ask their grandparents for that same something, and they say yes. Arthur had figured that our waaaaay back during Season One, when he figured since hisparents wouldn';t get him Moon Boots, or let him have the money for the Moon Boots, he'll just as Grandma Thora, because SHE wouldn't say know... unfortunately, she already was made aware of Arthur's desires, and HAD to say no to him that time.

She seems very reluctant to put forth any discipline, yet she is trying very hard to conceal the fact she doesn't actually like their behavior/she's finally seeing what everyone else sees them as.

Of course, the episode where they try to learn manners so they can go to the same Restaurant D.W. had to learn to like Spinach for, you could tell that also.

It's like she wants to do something but then she doesn't.

Ohhh... end it... just end it now, please... between the lack of decent kid voice actors for Arthur and D.W. and others, and the writers obviously being out of ideas and such... just end the show and out it out of its misery.

It's like how I feel about the Simpsons.

When they recently had that actor pay decrease threat, the show was about to face cancellation no matter if the actors accepted or not (if they accepted, there would only have been one more year). Now, I'm one of those guys who wants the show to end because it hasn't been great for years.. sure, there would be the occasional great episode followed up with a meh one. Then again, I can't really face a future without the show. So I want it to end, but I don't want it to end too soon.


Same with Arthur... some of the new episodes are strange... friends of friends of Arthur or his sister get the show... you can go an entire episode without even seeing Arthur say more than a line (to quote Stretch from Casper of why the show's called Casper if he's barely in it "MOICHANDISIN'!)... but I don't want to see the show end quite yet. There have been some funny episodes in season 14/15. Mostly Muffy based ones (the book club one is too funny for words)... and there are some well written episodes... but then you get "In My Africa" (blehhh!)

I too have found myself comparing Arthur to Simpsonsfor similar reasons like that...

And I had heard something about that pay decrease thing, but I hadn't gotten all the details, I remember thinking, "Am I aimagining things? The Simpsons finally coming to an end?"

Iused to worry about the idea of a Simpsons finale beating the record of the M*A*S*H finale being the most-watched TV program of all-time... but sadly, the last three Super Bowls have dethroned that record already.

I've been saying the Simpsons should have ended years ago. The Simpsons and Arthur are suffering from staleness and "We've done it all, so what do we do now?" syndrome.

While I was upset King of the Hill was cancelled, it probably was better to go out while the show was still decent than wait for it to implode on itself.

King of the Hill was a very good show, but I really don't think it could have sustained itself past when it ended. Simpsons and Family Guy make money... KOTH didn't even sell enough DVD's to keep the entire series on there... the merchandising didn't materialize (the action figures sucked. You had to wait until series 2 for Boomhauer, Hank didn't come with Propane OR propane accessories). Plus, the show was repeating itself pretty bad the last couple seasons... something happens Hank doesn't like, either Bobby, Peggy or Bill get sucked in... Hank's right about the whole thing. Over and over like that. Plus, Fox shoved them in the 7:30 deathslot, and they could only show half a season per season because it got preempted for Football (same thing that killed Futurama the first time).

Simpsons and Family Guy, as meh as the writing for both has gotten still manage to pull in good ratings and good toy/DVD/t-Shirt sales. I'm going nuts collecting the BK Simpsons Treehouse of Horror toys (Only need Kang and Bart). I'd buy the new Playmates FG toys if they weren't 10 bucks each and would just find a loophole to get Cleveland Jr. and Rallo in there (Roger and Stan Smith would be a stretch). I still manage to tune in every week and get a couple chuckles out of each, even though they're both past their prime. Yet, as much as I'd like them to end, I wouldn't want to see them go.

As for Arthur, I'm actually surprised they're seeking 2 new seasons... my channel, the PBS station that's the production company mind you, pretty much dumped it off in the early hours while it's focus group is still in school. And I never see any merchandise anymore. It's still on the air and all...

Yeah, I'm trying to get the BK toys (been stalking our local BK) I still need 4 of them (I have Bart, Kang, Marge, and Scratchy) I kinda wish Bart was raven Bart instead of Fly Bart...buuuuuuut...yeah

Has Arthur even had any merchandise?

Actually, it should have been Stretch Dude Bart to go with Clobber Girl Lisa and Comic Book Guy Collector. I RULLY hope they weren't the first ones released. found out about it when it was Maggie and Homer. I've been to one every week since.

Early on for a few years when the show was starting up. Off the top of my head, Eden toy Plush of Arthur, D.W. and Buster, Playskool "action figures" (I distinctly remember my sister having both color variants of the mother... I never got any of them except "Camp Arthur"), an interactive talking doll that was used with an internet site or something (the referenced the toy's stilted robotic speech multiple times on the show) Wooden puppets from Schilling (I have the Arthur) and gumball capsule finger puppets (I got Binky and never saw any of the rest of them).

Just... nothing now.

Okay... alright... we now have even more evidence that the writers are OUT OF IDEAS...

Buster has a secret admirer. Buster has a secret admirer? BUSTER?! Are you kidding me? I mean, unless she's a new student at Lakewood and hasn't even gotten to know him, what self-respecting girl would admire Buster? He's too weird, strange, eccentric for his own good... believe me, I'M weird, strange, and eccentric, and no girl in all my school daze ever admired me... the only time I was even remotely the object of interest of any girl was at a party I went to, and this girl I never knew or even met before came out of the blue and asked me to dance with her... three times...

Spoiler... it's his mother.

Helicopter parent, much? Doesn't Fern's mother already fit the bill?

Nah, apparently is another one of their made up holidays (like Baxter Day), and Buster forgot and thought it was someone else. He then gives gifts to every girl in school and embarrasses himself... honestly, yeah... they ran out of ideas. Pretty stupid episode, actually.

And the second episode was all about D.W.'s friend James. Like I care that he has his own episode.

, you know what kills me as far as fanfics go? A lot of fanfic authors put the kids in high school (seems logical), and in spite of that very fact, who ends up being one their teachers? Mr. Ratbite? Mr. Ratburp? No, Mr. Ratburn! WHYYYYYY? Because apparently, he always manages to prove himself so tough and strict a teacher, that years later, he was transfered to high school, and just so happened to end up with a lot of his old students from Lakewood Elementary.

Something that's just come to my mind that's inconsistent with the characters' histories...

We all know that Banana Boy (Binky) was held back and had to repeat third grade, right? That makes him at least one year older than Arthur and the rest of the gang, right? Yet, in flashbacks, Binky's always there in their preschool class... unless the preschool basically saw preschoolers of all ages, but I would think usually they would at least split the kids into age groups, wouldn't they? I mean, I don't know, I asn't enrolled in pre-school.

But then again, it's also kind of like in one episode, we see Muffy being transfered to Lakewood in Grade 2, yet again, occasionally in flashbacks, she's in the same preschool class as the others (specifically in one flashback where she mentions spilling juice on herself, and George giving her his before running away).

They always manage to screw up their continuity, even when they're trying to reference past episodes. Like what was Arthur doing with Buster's costume from the Edison play in that one where he had to clean up his room? And why does Binky say he likes Macaroni and Cheese in one episode, yet he hates it when they go to the museum sleep over?

But then again, which is the REAL Simpsons wedding? They call back to all of them anyway.

You know what's fun? Surely, you know of that "CHOCOLATES!?! I'm alerrrrgic to CHOColates! EVEN the woooord CHOColates gives me a RASH!" guy I always use in my stuff? Finding him in every episode... even color swapped to be a different character.

Right. When you've got a show on the air for 15+ years, and the setting of the show is stuck in a specific timeframe, I suppose inconsistencies are a hazzard.

Another one can think of is "April 9th": the episode basically establishes as Buster and Mr. Morris meeting each other for the first time, even Arthur tells Buster had it not been for that fire, he and Mr. Morris would've never met... but surely, Buster at least knew Mr. Morris before then... after all, when he (and Fern) investigated the Binky graffitti incident, Mr. Morris was one of the witnesses he questioned... I THINK perhaps he also questioned Mr. Morris in the missing quarters incident as well (I forget that episode title, I hven't seen it in ages)... so they were at least acquainted well before "April 9th".