Arthur - Where is the Show Going?

mostlikemokey

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I've been following this discussion off and on, and I am curious; at this point, do you think it would be better if Arthur were canceled?
Personally, I like the Kate and Pal episodes, because one of the things I always liked about Arthur were the more bizarre and fantastical elements that occurred, either within their dreams or in that kind of setting. But I understand how it's not for everyone, and they can get a bit repetitive.
I agree with you that there's been an overall decline in quality-a major one-and am curious to hear your opinion on whether it's best to just let the show go.
 

D'Snowth

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ARTHUR has reached a point in time where fans WANT the show to end, which is always a pretty bad sign: it's been on too long, the show is exhausted, stories and plots are being recycled, Drop-In Characters are becoming more and more common, retcons and negative continuity is taking place, traits and such characters never had before suddenly have them... it's time for it to go.

I don't know about Marc Brown's feelings personally, but from what I've gathered, some of the people behind the scenes on the show want to keep doing it for as long as they can; so I guess unless something were to happen that would end production, ARTHUR doesn't seem to be going away anytime soon.

Similar with FAMILY GUY, only reverse: FOX won't let it end, even though Seth MacFarlane wants to put it to rest (see why you're NOT supposed to sell what you create).
 

Drtooth

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ARTHUR has reached a point in time where fans WANT the show to end, which is always a pretty bad sign: it's been on too long, the show is exhausted, stories and plots are being recycled, Drop-In Characters are becoming more and more common, retcons and negative continuity is taking place, traits and such characters never had before suddenly have them... it's time for it to go.
Let's not forget about the animation. It's not as horrible as Caillou (which I caught some of a while ago, and it looked like the budget went to 3 bucks an episode), it still does not look half as good as 9 Story's other programming like Wildkratts or Peg + Cat. And yes, it's become quite bothersome that friends of relatives or relatives of friends of Arthur get full episode storylines. Like I give 2 butts about Mei Lin... she's such an unlikable, awful character. The only good thing I can say about production season 16 (which is broadcast 16 and 17) is that we don't have disease of the week episodes. I applaud their efforts of explaining these subjects to kids, but cool it off for a while.



Similar with FAMILY GUY, only reverse: FOX won't let it end, even though Seth MacFarlane wants to put it to rest (see why you're NOT supposed to sell what you create).
It is rare to see anyone successful that doesn't. And in those cases, they were approached by someone. TMNT was owned by the original creators (until Laird gave the burden up and sold the characters to Nick), but they only got a cartoon show because they were approached by Playmates to do a toy line, and they needed a cartoon series to sell the toys. They're only famous because of that, and would just be known to die hard indie comics fans without it. But it is true that Fox has Seth on a short leash. He really liked making that Ted film and he would like nothing more than to move on with that. But Family Guy still pulls viewers in (even as it keeps sliding in quality), and Seth couldn't be freed up to do his Flintstones series.... and HEY... don't knock it. it's certainly bound to be better than the Pebbles and Bamm Bamm show. And ..ugh... Cave Kids.

Bill Watterson was a wise person to refuse to license.
I can respect him for that, but he was also a humongous butt about it. I can see the will to not sell out, but because he refused even the lowest run of quality collectibles for his fan base, we wound up with bootlegged shirts of Calvin peeing on Baseball logos. Not a nice quality t-shirt to represent your love of his work, but those cheap, ugly white t-shirts they sell in Chinatown.
 

D'Snowth

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Sheesh. The ONLY two times a GOOD episode of ARTHUR was going to be airing this week (for the first time in I forget how many months now... like five or so... ), and both times, it was pre-empted; Monday was supposed to be "What Scared Sue Ellen?/Clarissa is Cracked", but was pre-empted by an hour-long Halloween special of CURIOUS GEORGE, then today was supposed to be "Fernkenstein's Monster/D.W., Dancing Queen", but was pre-empted by BIZ KID$.

*Headdesk*
 

MikaelaMuppet

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Sheesh. The ONLY two times a GOOD episode of ARTHUR was going to be airing this week (for the first time in I forget how many months now... like five or so... ), and both times, it was pre-empted; Monday was supposed to be "What Scared Sue Ellen?/Clarissa is Cracked", but was pre-empted by an hour-long Halloween special of CURIOUS GEORGE, then today was supposed to be "Fernkenstein's Monster/D.W., Dancing Queen", but was pre-empted by BIZ KID$.

*Headdesk*

Arthur went downhill big time. Why did they change the theme song?
 

Drtooth

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Arthur went downhill big time. Why did they change the theme song?
When the heck did they do that, as it's always been the exact same theme song since the show's beginning? I've seen every episode up until the ones that don't start until 2 weeks, and the only change I've seen was the opening being reanimated to fit the widescreen picture. The Simpsons changed their opening more than this when they made the switch to HD.
 

Drtooth

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Okay... where is the show going? In circles apparently. The new episodes are, well, other than the fact they're reused concepts, they just haven't been interesting. Then again, they didn't sound interesting to begin with.

The one thing I'm really hating about these 9 Story episodes is that instead of mixing up character based episodes in a 2 segment per episode show, you get 2 segments with the same characters or group of characters. The first episode this season had 2 episodes about the "Secret Life of Babies and dogs" (heavily focused on the dogs), and the next one was both about the Compsons. The dog segments aren't that good (except for the one about the sock market... that was genius), and there are 2 of them in the first episode. At least the first segment Alan Cumming stole the show as the evil poodle. But the second one was a rehash of that episode where Brain slept over and Arthur got jealous, only with Amigo and Pal in Brain and Arthur's roles.

Then there's today's episode. It was even more dull than the ones with the dogs. First off, D.W. and Bud basically let their imaginations run mild in their backyard. I'd love to say it's a ripoff of Muppet Babies, but it was so boring and devoid of joy that it was actually a ripoff of those terrible Rugrats episodes where they ripoff Muppet Babies. And then we rehash another plot with Ladonna trying to do too many things at once and being tired. Prunella Packs it In without the creeping realism (almost satirically) of colleges wanting students to bend backwards while jumping through hoops.

And the animation is barely an improvement. The frame rate is choppy. The panning and zooming? It looks like an early 00's era flash cartoon on a slow computer. How come every other flash animated program I see has smooth pans and zooms, but this one is so jarring?
 

D'Snowth

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All that aside, we've been keeping up with the schedule throughout the year over at the Elwood City Central forum, and after going over what's been aired this past year, it only confirms everybody's suspicion that older episodes and good episodes are aired considerably less than bad episodes.

Good episodes are presented in green, bad episodes in red, and Season 16 and 17 are yellow since they're more subjective.

Also, there are a number of dates that I wasn't able to record information for, so the fact that nothing was mentioned for those specific dates indicates that bad episodes were aired those days.

1/01: N/A
1/02: N/A
1/03: N/A
1/04: N/A
1/07: N/A
1/08: N/A
1/09: N/A
1/10: N/A
1/11: N/A
1/14: N/A
1/15: N/A
1/16: N/A
1/17: N/A
1/18: N/A
1/21: N/A
1/22: N/A
1/23: N/A
1/24: N/A
1/25: N/A
1/28: N/A
1/29: N/A
1/30: N/A
1/31: N/A
2/01: N/A
2/04: N/A
2/05: N/A
2/06: N/A
2/07: N/A
2/08: N/A
2/11: N/A
2/12: N/A
2/13: N/A

2/14: “Flea to Be You and Me / Kiss and Tell”
2/15: N/A
2/18: N/A
2/19: N/A
2/20: N/A
2/21: N/A
2/22: N/A
2/25: N/A
2/26: N/A
2/27: N/A
2/28: N/A
3/01: N/A
3/04: N/A
3/05: N/A
3/06: N/A
3/07: N/A
3/08: N/A
3/11: N/A
3/12: N/A
3/13: N/A
3/14: N/A
3/15: N/A
3/18: N/A
3/19: N/A
3/20: N/A
3/21: N/A
3/22: N/A
3/25: N/A
3/26: N/A
3/27: N/A
3/28: N/A
3/29: N/A
4/01: N/A
4/02: N/A

4/03: “Francine’s Split Decision / Muffy Goes Metropolitan”
4/04: N/A
4/05: N/A

4/08: “Ants in Arthur’s Pants / Don’t Ask Muffy”
4/09: “Muffy’s Classy Classics / Best Enemies”
4/10: N/A
4/11: N/A

4/12: “Elwood City Turns 100!”
4/15: “To Tibble the Truth / Waiting to Go”
4/16: “D.W.’s Time Trouble / Buster’s Amish Mismatch”

4/17: N/A
4/18: “Pick a Car, Any Car / Jenna’s Bedtime Blues”
4/19: “The World of Tomorrow / Is There a Doctor in the House?”
4/22: "D.W. Thinks Big / Arthur Cleans Up"
4/23: "Dear Adil / Bitzi's Break-Up"

4/24: "The Wheel Deal / The Buster Report"
4/25: "Fernfern and the Secret of Moose Mountain / Thanks a Lot, Binky"
4/26: "The Agent of Change / D.W. Unties the Knot"
4/29: "All About D.W. / Blockheads"
4/30: "Nicked by a Name / The Play's the Thing"
5/01: "Get Smart / Baby Steps"
5/02: "Falafelosophy / The Great Lint Rush"
5/03: "Night of the Tibble / Read and Flumberghast"
05/13: "Fernkenstein's Monster / D.W. Dancing Queen"
05/14: "Vomitrocious / Sue Ellen Chickens Out"

05/15: "Is That Kosher? / Never Never Never"
05/16: "Desk Wars / Desperately Seeking Stanley"
05/17: "Muffy's Art Attack / Tales From the Crib"

05/20: "Flea to Be You and Me / Kiss and Tell"
05/21: "The Last Tough Customer / Brain's Chess Mess"
05/22: "Big Horns George / Bleep"
05/23: "Baseball Blues / Brain's Biggest Blunder"
05/24: "Tales of Grotesquely Grim Bunny / Pet Projects"

05/27: "Buster's Book Battle / On the Buster Scale" (16)
05/28: "Follow the Bouncing Ball / Buster Baxter and the Letter From the Sea" (14)
05/29: "Fern and the Case of the Stolen Story / Sue Ellen Vegges Out" (16)
05/30: "Around the World in 11 Minutes / Muffy and the Big Bad Blog" (14)
05/31: "Arthur Unravels / All the Rage" (14)
06/03: "The Curse of the Grebes / Arthur Changes Gears" (10)
06/04: "Castles in the Sky / Tipping the Scales" (9)
06/05: "The A Team / Emily Swallows a Horse" (9)
06/06: "Francine's Big Top Trouble / George Blows His Top" (9)
06/07: "Arthur Weighs In / The Law of the Jungle Gym" (9)
6/10: "Buster's Green Thumb / My Fair Tommy" (9)
6/11: "Lights, Camera, Opera! / All Worked Up" (9)
6/12: "Arthur Makes Waves / It Came From Beyond" (9)
6/13: "Fifteen" (15)
6/14: "Three's a Crowd / A is for Angry" (9)
6/17: "D.W. Beats All / Buster the Myth Maker" (9)
6/18: "I Wanna Hold Your Hand / Whistling in the Wind" (15)
6/19: "Binky Goes Nuts / Breezy Listening Blues" (9)
6/20: "Buster's Secret Admirer / The Last King of Lambland" (15)
6/21: "Cents-less / Buster the Lounge Lizard" (15)
6/24: "To Eat or Not to Eat / S.W.E.A.T." (15)
6/25: "Happy Anniversary" (10)
6/26: "The Squirrels / Fern and Persimmony Glitchet" (10)
6/27: "Grandpa Dave's Memory Album / Buster's Carpool Catastrophe" (15)
6/28: "Desert Island Dish / The Secret About Secrets" (10)
7/01: "Prunella the Packrat / What's in a Name?" (15)
7/02: "Feeling Flush / Family Fortune" (10)
7/03: "D.W. Aims High / Flaw and Order" (10)
7/04: "Buster's Garden of Grief / Through the Looking Glasses" (15)
7/05: "The Butler Did...What? / The Trouble With Trophies" (15)
7/08: "What's Cooking? / Buster's Special Delivery" (10)
7/09: "Unfinished / D.W., Bossy Boots" (10)
7/10: "Do You Speak George? / World Girls" (10)

7/11: "Based on a True Story" (16)
7/12: "All About D.W. / Blockheads" (16)

7/15: "Swept Away / Germophobia" (11)
7/16: "Flippity Francine / Muffy Takes the Wheel" (16)
7/17: "Get Smart
/ Baby Steps" (16)
7/18: "Arthur Sells Out / Mind Your Manners" (11)

7/19: "Night of the Tibble / Read and Flumberghast" (16)
7/22: "Buenas Noches, Vicita / Prunella Packs It In" (11-3)
7/23: "The Last Tough Customer / Brain's Chess Mess" (16-6)
7/24: "Phony Fern / Brain's Shocking Secret" (11-4)
7/25: "Baby Kate and the Imaginary Mystery / Strangers on a Train" (11-5)

7/26: "Buster's Book Battle / On the Buster Scale" (16-8)
7/29: "Baseball Blues / Brain's Biggest Blunder" (16-7)

7/30: "The 'A' Team / Emily Swallows a Horse" (9-8)
7/31: "The Curse of the Grebes / Arthur Changes Gears" (10-6)
8/01: "When Carl Met George / D.W. Swims With the Fishes" (13-6)
8/02: "The Wheel Deal / The Buster Report" (14-1)
8/05: "The Making of Arthur / Dancing Fools" (11-6)
8/06: "Is That Kosher? / Never, Never, Never" (12-1)
8/07: "Francine's Pilfered Paper / Buster Gets Real" (11-8)

8/08: "Fern and the Case of the Stolen Story / Sue Ellen Vegges Out" (16-9)
8/09: "Big Brother Binky" (11-10)
8/12: "D.W.'s Stray Netkitten / Bats in the Belfry" (12-3)

8/13: "So Funny I Forgot to Laugh / The Best Day Ever" (16-10)
8/14: "For the Birds / Ungifted" (12-4)
8/15: "The Chronicles of Buster / On This Spot" (12-5)

8/16: "The Cherry Tree / Matchmaker, Matchbreaker (12-6)
08/19: "War of the Worms / I Owe You One" (12-7)
08/20: "The Blackout
/ Mei Lin Takes a Stand" (12-8)
08/21: "Home Sweet Home / Do You Believe in Magic?" (12-9)
08/22: "The Perfect Game / D.W.'s Furry Freakout" (12-10)
08/23: "Arthur and the Big Riddle / Double Dare" (5-1)
08/26: "The Silent Treatment / Kung Fool" (13-2)
08/27: "Kids Are From Earth, Parents Are From Pluto / Nerves of Steal" (5-2)
08/28: "Arthur's Number Nightmare / Brain Gets Hooked" (13-3)
08/29: "It's a No-Brainer / The Shore Thing" (5-3)
08/30: "MacFrensky / The Good, the Bad, and the Binky" (13-4)
9/02: "The World Record / The Cave" (5.4)
9/03: "No Acting, Please / Prunella and the Disappointing Ending" (13.1)
9/04: "The Lousy Week / You Are Arthur" (5.5)
9/05: "When Carl Met George / D.W. Swims with the Fishes" (13.6)
9/06: "The Portrait of the Artist as a Young Tibble / The Secret Guardians" (13.7)
9/09: "The Election / Francine Goes to War" (5.6)
9/10: "Fernlets by Fern / Prunella and the Haunted Locker" (13.8)
9/11: "Paradise Lost / The Pride of Lakewood" (13.9)
9/12: "Sleep No More / Pet Peeved" (5.7)
9/13: "Looking for Bonnie / The Secret Origin of Supernova" (13.10)
9/16: N/A
9/17: N/A
9/18: N/A
9/19: N/A
9/20: N/A
9/23: N/A
9/24: N/A
9/25: N/A
9/26: N/A
9/27: N/A
9/30: N/A
10/01: N/A
10/02: N/A
10/03: N/A
10/04: N/A
10/07: N/A
10/08: N/A
10/09: N/A
10/10: N/A
10/11: N/A
10/14: N/A
10/15: N/A
10/16: N/A
10/17: N/A
10/18: N/A
10/21: N/A
10/22: N/A
10/23: N/A
10/24: N/A
10/25: N/A

10/28: Prempted
10/30: Prempted
10/31: “Hic or Treatment / Mr. Always Right” (11.7)
11/01: “Muffy’s Classy Classics / Best Enemies” (15.8)
11/04: “Buster’s Garden of Grief / Through the Looking Glass” (15.9)

11/05: “Cast Away / The Great Sock Mystery” (7.1)
11/06: “The Butler Did… What? / The Trouble with Trophies” (15.10)
11/07: “Francine’s Split Decision / Muffy Goes Metropolitan” (7.2)
11/08: “Ants in Arthur’s Pants / Don’t Ask Muffy” (7.3)

11/11: “Show Off / Dog’s Best Friend” (17.1)
11/12: “Adventures in Budylon / Ladonna Compson: Party Animal” (17.2)
11/13: “Molina’s Mulligan / Buster Bombs” (17.3)
11/14: “Opposites Distract / Just the Ticket” (17.4)
11/15: “All Thumbs / Kidonia” (17.5)

11/18: “To Tibble the Truth / Waiting to Go” (7.4)
11/19: “Elwood City Turns 100!” (7.5)

11/20: “The Boy Who Cried Comet / Arthur and Los Vecinos” (6.5)
11/21: “Pick a Car, Any Car / Jenna’s Bedtime Blues” (7.6)
11/22: “Based on a True Story” (16.1)
11/25: “D.W.’s Time Trouble / Buster’s Amish Mismatch” (7.7)
11/26: “Flippity Francine / Muffy Takes the Wheel” (16.2)
11/27: “The World of Tomorrow / Is There a Doctor in the House?” (7.8)
11/28: “Prunella Sees the Light / Return of the Snowball” (7.9)

11/29: “All About D.W. / Blockheads” (16.3)
12/02: “Dear Adil / Bitzi’s Breakup” (8.1)
12/03: “Get Smart / Baby Steps” (16.4)
12/04: “Night of the Tibble / Read and Flumberghast” (16.5)
12/05: “Fernfern and the Secret of Moose Mountain / Thanks a Lot, Binky!” (8.2)
12/06: “The Last Tough Customer / Brain’s Chess Mess” (16.6)
12/09: “Vomitrocious! / Sue Ellen Chickens Out” (8.5)
12/10: Prempted
12/11: “Buster’s Book Battle / On the Buster Scale” (16.7)
12/12: “Fern the Case of the Stolen Story / Sue Ellen Vegges Out” (16.9)
12/13: “So Funny I Forgot to Laugh / The Best Day Ever” (16.10)

12/16: “Desk Wars / Desperately Seeking Stanley” (8.7)
12/17: Prempted
12/18: “Muffy’s Art Attack / Tales from the Crib” (8.8)
12/19: “Big Horns George / Bleep” (8.10)

12/20: Prempted
12/23: “Arthur’s Snow Biz / Bugged” (8.3)
12/24: “Castle in the Skies / Tipping the Scale” (9.1)
12/25: Prempted
12/26: Prempted
12/27: Prempted
12/30: “Arthur’s First Sleepover / Arthur’s New Year’s Eve” (1.30)
12/31: “Arthur’s First Sleepover / Arthur’s New Year’s Eve” (1.30)


So this year, the amount of episodes that are considered good and watchable were only aired about a third or the entire year, while the rest of the year played poorer episodes.

Also, notice that this past year, we only got TWO episodes from the first season, while absolutely nothin from Seasons Two through Four was shown.
 

Drtooth

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Now that I think about it, I'd say "Adventures in Budylon" was one of the worst episodes I've ever seen. Right up there with Postcards from Buster, Buster's Secret Admirer, Around the World in 11 Minutes, and the dreaded In My (never ending crappy song about) Africa. It's just long and boring. Out of the other 4 cartoons seen this week, at least they had a couple good moments out of them. But Budylon was generic. You could take that episode out and rewrite all the characters to be any mediocre episode of a mediocre kid's show. Worse, they make this big deal about his imaginary friend in the opening, and even adding that character would have been more interesting.

Here's a synopsis...

Arthur and Ladonna are making a diorama about a mountain climber, and D.W. and Bud are annoying them. Ladonna tells them to explore the imaginary world in the back yard. Blah blah blah... they wind up camping out at night... blah blah blah Arthur has to get a toy horse from Buster leaving Ladonna to watch them, but she watches something stupid on TV instead (about as important to the plot as you might think... completely UNimportant)... Arthur comes back and decides that D.W. and Bud got into trouble somehow (beats the heck out of me how he deduced that since nothing happened that would have changed with or without their supervision) so they both decide to watch the two in the tent while they're sleeping. In other words, Arthur's parents are about as attentive as Timmy Turner's, except they aren't even in the episode. So to restate that, Mr. and Mrs. Read put 2 kids in charge of 2 younger kids camping outside, and it almost seems like they completely abandoned the house entirely overnight. So, yeah... there's THAT.

It's not even unremarkable... it's dull and repetitive. There's a raccoon that takes their sandwiches and it rains for a minute. That's the only tension in the entire episode. And they're camping like, right next to the house. Not even roughing it.. Bud runs into the bathroom indoors, removing any urgency of the sandwiches being eaten. Dull, boring... did this episode need to be made?

I'll give the animation for the second cartoon one thing. I HATE how juggling is animated. Always have. Real juggling crosses over itself and peaks. Things are thrown up in the air at an angle. In every cartoon and drawing I've ever seen, juggling is represented by things being thrown in a stable round arc with the hands outstretched to the side. I.e. completely unrealistic. If 9 Story did one thing right, they made Ladonna's juggling realistic.
 
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