Arthur/Sesame Street connections?

YellowYahooey

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I noticed something about many of the characters on "Arthur", in both the publications and TV series.

Many of the characters have names that were inspired by "Sesame Street". Here are a few examples:
  • Buster: Inspired by Forgetful Jones' horse.
  • Prunella: Inspired by a grouch who is a friend or relative of Oscar.
  • Maria (character's name and voice revealed in the 2010s): Inspired by the human character played by Sonia Manzano.
  • Herb Haney: Inspired by Herbert Birdsfoot who resembled a school teacher. Mr. Haney worked in a school, but he was the principal. He was later renamed Francis Haney - does anybody know why?
  • Francine: May have been inspired by Fran Brill, the Muppet voice actor who lent her voice to Prairie Dawn and many other characters.
  • Arthur Read: May have been inspired by Arthur in the segment "Arthur and Annie look for the letter A".
  • D.W. Read: Considering she was four years old initially, possibly inspired by some rare 1970s episodes with D, W and 4 as the featured letters and number.
  • David Read: May have been inspired by Northern Calloway's character.
  • Binky: May have been inspired by a name mentioned in the "Grover the Messenger" sketch.
Anybody know of other characters that may have been inspired by "Sesame Street"?
 

D'Snowth

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There's a difference between fan theories and actual connections between two fictional properties.

That being said, there are, at least, a couple of actual connections between the two shows, in the form of Joe Fallon and Ken Scarborough: they both used to be the key writers for ARTHUR way back in the show's first four or five seasons; now they write for SS.
 

DePingPong

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"D.W. Read: Considering she was four years old initially, possibly inspired by some rare 1970s episodes with D, W and 4 as the featured letters and number. "

Okay, sure.
 

sesamemuppetfan

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I'm not sure if this ever occurred to you but a lot of the publications existed LONG before the series. Your theory about Buster is definitely inaccurate. Buster Baxter first appeared in the 1979 book "Arthur's Eyes" while Buster the Horse first appeared in 1980.
 

fuzzygobo

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Ziggy Marley (who sang Arthur’s theme song) did appear on Sesame Street.

Binky and the curly-haired cat were dead ringers for Horace and Wimzie on “Wimzie’s House”.
 

datman24

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Many of the characters have names that were inspired by "Sesame Street". Here are a few examples:
  • Buster: Inspired by Forgetful Jones' horse.
  • Prunella: Inspired by a grouch who is a friend or relative of Oscar.
  • Maria (character's name and voice revealed in the 2010s): Inspired by the human character played by Sonia Manzano.
  • Herb Haney: Inspired by Herbert Birdsfoot who resembled a school teacher. Mr. Haney worked in a school, but he was the principal. He was later renamed Francis Haney - does anybody know why?
  • Francine: May have been inspired by Fran Brill, the Muppet voice actor who lent her voice to Prairie Dawn and many other characters.
  • Arthur Read: May have been inspired by Arthur in the segment "Arthur and Annie look for the letter A".
  • D.W. Read: Considering she was four years old initially, possibly inspired by some rare 1970s episodes with D, W and 4 as the featured letters and number.
  • David Read: May have been inspired by Northern Calloway's character.
  • Binky: May have been inspired by a name mentioned in the "Grover the Messenger" sketch.
 

YellowYahooey

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After SesameMuppetFan clarified the truth regarding Buster Baxter, I stand corrected. While there have been some "Sesame Street" connections with regards to "Arthur", basically none of my ideas were legitimate. I can see Prunella having appeared in Arthur publications before the Muppet character first appearing on "Sesame Street".
 
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