Curious George (TV series)

Curious George
Curious George logo from Seasons 1 to 5
Format	Animated
Created by	Margret Rey H.A. Rey
Developed by	Joe Fallon
Directed by	Scott Hemings Frank Marino Cathy Malkasian
Starring	Frank Welker Jeff Bennett
Narrated by	William H. Macy (season 1) Rino Romano
Opening theme	"Like Curious George!" by Dr. John
Ending theme	"Like Curious George!" (instrumental)
Country of origin	United States
Original language(s)	English
No. of seasons	7
No. of episodes	96 (List of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)	Ron Howard Brian Grazer David Kirschner Jon Shapiro
Producer(s)	Imagine Entertainment Universal Animation Studios WGBH-TV
Running time	27 minutes
Broadcast
Original channel	PBS Kids
Picture format	HDTV 1080i
Original run	September 4, 2006 (2006-09-04) – present
External links
Website

Curious George is an animated television series based on the Curious George children's book series, which features Jeff Bennett as the voice of The Man with the Yellow Hat. Frank Welker, who voiced George in the 2006 feature film, returns here as the voice of Curious George. The show is currently broadcast on PBS Kids.

As of April 2013, ninety-six episodes have been aired, over a total of seven seasons. It was revealed on September 2, 2012 that a seventh season was in production, which consisted of six new episodes and aired from December 2012 through April 2013.^[1][2] An eighth season, also consisting of six episodes,^[3] will debut on February 10, 2014.^[4]

The series is a production of Universal Animation Studios (Universal Pictures released the Curious George film), Imagine Entertainment, and WGBH Boston.^[5] Each episode has two short cartoons per half-hour episode and a live-action segment after each story.

The series illustrates and explains various concepts in math and science and each live-action segment shows schoolchildren engaging in experiments that teach the math or science concept featured in the previous cartoon.

Press commentary

At the start of the second season, the Boston Globe noted that Curious George was at the top of the national ratings among children of all ages. The show is also at the top of the ratings among women with children^{[citation needed]}.

When the show was developed, educational advisors suggested using it to teach science, math, and engineering concepts. Episodes are often structured around a "try-fail" series of incidents, which proved to be a good way to show scientific inquiries. There was some controversy ^{[citation needed]} about George's eyes, which in the series have whites and pupils (except when George daydreams; his imagined characters are all without scleras); in the original books they are black dots. This gives the very humorous effect of George seeing his dreams in the original "Classic George" style, at a slightly lower resolution than the real world appears to him. This is likely a gentle poke of fun at his (mildly) limited monkey brain. The studio felt the whites and pupils design was necessary to help George express emotions since neither he, nor any of the other animal characters, talks, sings, or reads words.

Airing History

United States

• PBS Kids (2006-present)

Albania

• Albanian Screen (2013-present)

Australia

• ABC (2007-present)

United Kingdom

• CITV (2006-present)
• Disney Junior (2011-present)

Canada

• Family (2007-present)
• Playhouse Disney Tele (2010-present)

Indonesia

• Antv (2008-present)

Sweden

• SVTB (2007-present)

Iceland

• Rúv (2006-present)

Japan

• NHK Educational TV (2006-present)

Thailand

• Thai PBS (2011-present)

Latin America

• Discovery Kids (2007-present)

Brazil

• Cartoon Network

Portugal

• TVI (2009-present)
• SIC K (2012-present)

Italy

• Disney Junior (2007-present)

Poland

• MiniMini (2010-present)

Settings

• The City: George and the Man with the Yellow Hat live in a spacious apartment with a balcony at 7 "N" Avenue located in "The City". It is never directly stated what city they live in, however, it appears to be modeled after New York City. The apartment has a kitchen and large living/dining room with five other rooms. George and the Man with the Yellow Hat each have their own bedrooms. George's room is on the right side of the hall after the Man's room, while the bathroom is across from George's room on the left. The laundry room is the first door on the left side of the hall, while another door next to the kitchen was revealed in Relax! to be a storage closet. The Doorman keeps a pigeon coop on the roof and is the master of Hundley the dog. The apartment is next to a grocery store (#9 N Avenue). It is near Endless Park (which has a small pond), the museum where Professor Wiseman works, and a zoo. Chef Pisghetti's restaurant is nearby, as are a donut shop, Dulson's Toy Store, Mabel's Department Store (likely a portmanteau name referencing Macy's and its erstwhile competitor Gimbel's), a supermarket and a pet shop which are recurring locations.
• The Country: George and the Man with the Yellow Hat vacation in a small house in the country. His neighbors include Bill, who lives next door with his pet bunnies (Bill's parents have not been seen, although his mother's voice is heard once); the Renkins, and Mr. and Mrs. Quint. Many of the characters in this setting have a distinct accent, similar to natives of the state of Maine. The house is near Lake Wanasink Lake, a stream, and a river that eventually flows past the city and to the ocean. There is also a coast fairly close to the house, where George and Bill end up after being swept away in a hot air balloon. (The geography around the country house varies according each story's needs. Compare, for example, the area as shown from the hill in Ski Monkey with that shown in Curious George Flies a Kite, Up, Up, and Away, and Gutter Monkey.)

Characters and voice cast

Episodes

The setting for most episodes is either the city, where George lives in an apartment building with The Man in the Yellow Hat, or the country, where they share a small house near a lake called Lake Wanasinklake. This allows George to mirror the experiences of kids who live in an urban environment and those who live on farms and in suburbs. A few episodes take place in alternate but familiar settings, like an airport or a train station.

DVDs

Funding

• ABCmouse.com^[6]
• Stride Rite^[6]
• United States Department of Education^[6]
• Corporation for Public Broadcasting^[6]

References

External links

• Official website
• Curious George at the Internet Movie Database
• Curious George at TV.com