Arthur - Where is the Show Going?

[MikaelaMuppet]

I would like to see Arthur and DW grow up.

 

[MikaelaMuppet]

Or like that episode we did of T*K*O where Kathy Greenwood was invited to D'Snowth's getting fired party, but she said she was too busy with her career to attend the party of some random fan of hers... then in the end, after D'Snowth was long gone, and the party was over... HERE SHE IS!

What's T*K*O?

 

[D'Snowth]

It's a forum sitcom that MrsPepper and I did about nine years ago about an organization of thread killers.

 

[Drtooth]

Anyone get the feeling that the writers enjoy writing for D.W. a little too much? She keeps getting more and more of the season to herself. Like you're more likely to see D,W, in the show than Arthur.

 

[D'Snowth]

Greg Bailey has shared some more insight on the upcoming Maria episode:

"You'll find out why she never spoke in season 19. I suggested the story idea at our story meeting to do a show about her never speaking. I thought it would be funny because there was so much speculation about why she never spoke. There never was a good reason for her not to speak before it was just a practical coincidence. She was just a filler kid to help fill out the seats in the classroom. We would draw her in the show at storyboard but the writers didn't even know she existed. She had a name given to her by design but it was only known in house so we could refer to her as something. She could just as easily have been called a number or something but instead she was called Maria on the model. She was around since the first show. I believe she is based on a design in one of Marc's books that existed before the series started. I know she was in our first main pack for the series season 1."

So, in a sense, yeah, this episode is pretty much being done because of the fans.

 

[Muppet Master]

I would like to see Arthur and DW grow up.

They have done that numerous times in the show, maybe a little too much, though it always is funny.

 

[Drtooth]

So, in a sense, yeah, this episode is pretty much being done because of the fans.

...friggin' fans.

Anyway, I hope that maria becomes a decent character and not a be careful what you wish for situation. If there was any character from the background I wanted to see developed, it's that green rat looking kid that kinda looks like Droop.

 

[D'Snowth]

I must confess I'm a little nervous about the Maria episode.

Greg was involved with Hubert's ARTHUR forum before it kind of died out after Hubert disappeared, so in the waning days of the forum, we all basically started acting like a bunch of goofballs and muffined around a lot, and we ended up coming up with a theory/scenario that the reason Maria never talks to anyone is because she was... let's say... touched... inappropriately. And the thing of it is, it wasn't too long after that they announced Maria was getting her own episode. Surely, though, such a subject would be waaaay too heavy for a kid's show on PBS (though they used to show us educational videos about that sort of stuff in grade school, so go figure), though I have a lingering worry that her episode will end up revealing that she was victimized in some way or form, hence why she never talks. Greg even admitted to us at one point that he has a gutter-minded side (pretty much why he was totally behind the infamous "Bleep" episode), so I can't help but wonder if we somehow set off a light bulb or something.

On another note, have we even seen that Droop kid in a while? Matter of fact, I got to thinking the other day, whatever happened to the ducks? Y'know, all the movers or laborers in Elwood City were ducks, then they pretty much just disappeared all at once. There was even that little moment from 'Arthur's Almost Boring Day" where a family of ducks were out bike riding in the rain because they thought it was beautiful weather.

 

[Drtooth]

Somehow, I see Maria's episode either being one of those special ones, like you just said, but I'd love to see it something like The Extras episode of Gumball, just not as surreal. Where she finally tells the audience to notice her. Something about how she has her own life and never bothered talking to Arthur because she has her own group of friends. Not everyone in the same classroom hangs out with everybody else. Maybe the other silent kids hang out and we never see them in episodes because their lives aren't quite as eventful.

 

[D'Snowth]

At this point in time, I'm with you, I'd kind of like to see some more episodes where, oh, I don't know... Arthur is the focus. Arthur's barely even been a minor focus of the season so far, and we've had more episodes where he's completely absent. I get that the show's been on for so long and there's so many other different characters that they can explore, and they have, but it's still Arthur's show after all, and it'd be nice to see an episode where's the focus... and not forcefully out of character like in "So Funny I Forgot to Laugh."

Aside from that, Marina is really rising in popularity lately, mostly because she's cute as a button, but also because she's the kind of character whose not overly extroverted yet not afraid to speak her mind when she has to, and certainly doesn't let her disability limit what she can do. Admittedly - and this too would be a little too for the friggin fans - I would kind of like to see an episode where a boy develops a crush on her, but when he finds out she's blind, he doesn't know how to handle the situation, though she's the one who puts a stop to anything before it starts, not because she thinks nobody would want to get involved with a blind girl, but because she's simply not interested. That, or they could do another schmaltzy anti-bullying episode where somebody at school keeps picking on her for being blind, tripping her in the hallways, or jabbing her in the back with pencils and stuff.