After 25 years on the air, Arthur completes its run on PBS KIDS today at the conclusion of a 5-day marathon of more than 250 episodes. “For this last episode I think there's a hunger among our audience to know what happens to them,” executive producer Carol Greenwald explained during a TCA press conference about the finale. The finale episode, titled “All Grown Up,” flashes forward to the future. “When you read a really good book, it is very satisfying to get that epilogue afterwards, where you get, here's what happens in the future. So I think that's something we wanted to give our audiences. But we also know that they love going back and watching the older episodes, and having Arthur as a third grader for a very long time is going to continue to happen.”
(WGBH Educational Foundation)
While the half-hour format for Arthur is ending its run, with the lovable aardvark having recently graduated to fourth grade, there are more stories told through a podcast, video shorts, and games. “We are looking at where kids are now and how they're consuming media now, and we want to be on those platforms,” Carol shared about the decision. “We have a very large library of episodes, the kind of materials that — these shows, the stories we have are going to continue to be relevant for kids, and we are going to have new viewers come as new kids get old enough to watch. But what we also really want to do is focus on platforms where kids are moving, and we know kids are consuming television and media differently than they were 25 years ago.”
With so many technological advancements and cultural shifts, the creative decisions being made have kept Arthur relevant for two-and-a-half decades and that’s still the goal moving forward. “We want to look to new platforms to find ways to reach kids,” Carol said. “During the pandemic we realized that a lot of parents were getting their news and their support through YouTube, so that's why we started doing shorts, to give parents support around complicated issues like wearing a mask or washing your hands. We know that actually a lot of kids are starting with podcasts. They may not watch television, but they may do podcasts. So that's why we want to do a podcast. The process of production has changed completely. When we started, we were shipping actual physical things to Korea and it was being shipped back to us and that would take six weeks each way, and now that obviously doesn't happen anymore. It is all done with just immediate computers. But it has made the production process a lot easier. It's also made it possible for us to do a lot of things and to reach a lot of kids. Right now a lot of kids watch Arthur on streaming platforms. We are still on the broadcast platform, and the PBS KIDS 24/7 channel is so important because it reaches a lot of kids who don't have access to technology, but we know that we have got a ton of kids who are accessing Arthur and its content through streaming platforms. That's why we're moving in that direction.”
Over the course of 25 seasons, the creators of Arthur have been able to touch on topics that most shows never attempt. “We have had the luxury of 25 seasons,” Carol revealed about why Arthur has been able to have such a meaningful run. “It's allowed us to get to know these characters well and understand who they are and add to our ensemble of characters. Some characters who might not fit typically into a cartoon series, like Carl, our character with autism who is a recurring character. We have a young girl from a military family who has to move away. So there's a lot of things that happen to kids on Arthur that happen to kids everywhere, and we just feel like it's really important to reflect that world back to the kids so they can see themselves.”
“That is something I am probably the most proud of,” voice actor Daniel Brochu said about the inclusivity of Arthur. Daniel has voiced Buster Baxter, Arthur’s best friend, since the first episode and shared that his favorite episode came in season 22, titled “Mr. Ratburn and the Special Someone,” which featured a same-sex marriage. “As a performer and someone who's been there from the very beginning of this whole series, the amount of courage and how brave it was to have that episode come out last year. It was true to the spirit of the whole show to begin with. Arthur was always about inclusivity and acceptance. The legacy of the show is just completely that. It always stayed true to itself and was always about acceptance and open-mindedness. So seeing years later from Episode 1 to an episode where one of the main characters gets married to another man, I was so proud. I was so proud of the show for that.”
Another voice that has remained consistent throughout the run is Jodie Resther as Francine Frensky. “My daughters go to school now with teachers who grew up on Arthur, and when they find out I did the voice of Francine, the reaction is insane,” she laughed. “It is just a beautiful thing. It is a wonderful thing to be a part of, and I thank Marc [Brown, creator] and Carol and all my wonderful costars to have an opportunity to have such an incredible project, to work on just incredible characters.”
Longtime fans and new ones can enjoy Arthur on PBS Kids.