PB&J Otter

PB&J Otter
Format	Children's television series
Created by	Jim Jinkins
Starring	Chris Phillips Corinne Orr Jackie Hoffman Jenell Brook Slack Adam Rose Gina Marie Tortorici Cody Pennes Gwen Shepherd
Composer(s)	Andy Street (score/songs: music) Judy Rothman (songs: lyrics)
No. of seasons	3
No. of episodes	130 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)	Andy Heyward Saul Cooper Pancho Kohner Robby London
Producer(s)	Stan Phillips Peter Montgomery Neil Steinberg Mark Bacino
Running time	11 minutes
Production company(s)	Walt Disney Television Animation Jumbo Pictures
Distributor	Disney-ABC Domestic Television
Broadcast
Original channel	Disney Channel
Original run	March 15, 1998 – October 15, 2000

PB&J Otter is an American animated children's series which premiered on Playhouse Disney on March 15, 1998. A total of 65 episodes were produced during the course of its three season run, with the "farewell" episode airing on September 24, 2000 (although a Halloween episode was the last aired episode, on October 15, 2000). The series centered on the otter family who lived in the rural fishing community of Lake Hoohaw. Most stories revolved around the otter kids: older brother Peanut, younger sister Jelly and diapered baby Butter (named after the peanut butter and jelly sandwich), as well as their friends and neighbors. Supporting characters included gossipy Cranes, overly hygienic raccoons, a junk-collecting mayor and some very wealthy poodles.

The show was created by Jim Jinkins (the creator of Doug) and executive-produced by David Campbell in close conjunction with Harvard University's Cognitive Skills Group, "Project Zero". The Group's job was to monitor each and make sure the material had a positive educational message. In that respect, PB&J Otter was one of the few shows of its kind on the air at that time. This show features songs with music by Andy Street and lyrics by Judy Rothman.

After the series ended, re-runs still aired in the U.S. on Playhouse Disney until June 20, 2005 and was replaced by The Doodlebops. As a result of fan backlash, reruns of the show began airing on Disney Junior in the United States on September 4, 2012, but was removed on September 3, 2013.

Characters

• Peanut Otter (voiced by Adam Rose) - He is the brother of family. Eight years old and eldest of the Otter children, Peanut is smart and can be a little funny at times, but always loyal. He would usually rather not dance, especially "The Noodle Dance" but he ends up doing it anyway, even on some occasions, he would want to dance. Often, when Jelly comes up with an idea from the Noodle Dance, she has to stop Peanut dancing by shouting "Peanut... Peanut... PEANUT!" to which he stops suddenly and replies "What? What happened, what?". Jelly's yelling at Peanut is similar to the common running gag in Alvin & The Chipmunks where Dave would yell at Alvin.
• Butter Otter (voiced by Gina Marie Tortorici) - The baby of the family. She does not talk much, but says an simple words now and then, such as "Mama. Dada. Funny." etc. She is two years old.
• Jelly Otter (voiced by Jenell Brook Slack) - Jelly is the middle child of the otter children, she often comes up with ideas that sometimes are not feasible. She is five years old.
• Opal Otter (voiced by Gwen Shepherd) - She is the wife of Ernest Otter and PB&J's mother. Opal is caring, but can be strict when necessary. She has a purple afro hair and wears thick glasses and pink slippers.
• Ernest Otter (voiced by Chris Phillips) - is PB&J's father and the husband of Opal Otter. He owns a hardware store-boat on Lake Hoohaw.
• Anna ('Aunt Nanner') Otter – Opal's sister. Has an unspecified job in show business, and travels the world. She knows many famous people and seems quite well off (but not nearly as rich as the Snooties), but always has time for her family. Married to her husband, Redolfo.
• Pinch Raccoon (voiced by Cody Pennes) A friend of PB&J. She thinks of herself as beautiful and a ballerina, and spends most of her time dancing making herself more pretty. She's quite a drama queen sometimes. She is Jelly's best friend.
  • Pennes also voices Scootch Raccoon, Pinch's little brother. He is rambunctious and a bit of a trouble-maker to his friends and parents. He does not speak very much, generally only saying "Sorry, sorry, my fault" or "Oops, my fault!" when he invariably knocks something over, but later in other episodes, he slowly becomes capable of forming new (but short) sentences. He makes a lot of mistakes by accident, but he still has a good heart and apologizes. Sometimes he feels left out due to his clumsiness, but everybody loves him, including Pinch, his sister. His age is unknown, but judging by his size, he may be 3 years old. He is Baby Butter's best friend.
• Munchy Beaver (voiced by Chris Phillips) - A beaver who has quite the appetite for wood. He is 8 years old. He often tends to chew on things made of wood when he is nervous. He gets scared easily, and is rather jittery. He tends to have a low self-esteem. He is Peanut's best friend.
• Cap'n Crane (voiced by Chris Phillips) - A 'watchbird' which he calls himself. He keeps an eye on Lake Hoohaw and its population, in order to keep everyone safe, though he tends to overdo it from time to time, often being too safe for his own good, which tends to complicate things, though his heart is in the right place. His catchphrase is 'Watchbird Alert!'. He is Connie Crane's husband.
• Connie Crane (voiced by Jackie Hoffman) - Cap'n Crane's wife. She is usually seen sleeping and is often woken by her husband for unimportant alarms. She tends to think Cap'n Crane overdoes his job a bit and generally keeps an eye on him to keep him from making mistakes. She is very sarcastic most of the time.
• Flick Duck (voiced by Eddie Korbich) - A duck who is sometimes clumsy and rude, but just like the others, he always apologizes for making mistakes. He is one of PB&J's friends, and even sometimes does the Noodle Dance with them. He enjoys reading comic books featuring a superhero called Mallard Man, he also loves and cannot resist babbleberry pie. His catchphrase is: "Cheese and quackers!". After much practice and perseverance, he learned how to fly, and used the new ability at times during the rest of the show's run.
  • Korbich also voices Ootsie and Bootsie Snootie, son and daughter of Edouard (also voiced by Korbich) and Georgina; rich, spoiled and generally bored, they nonetheless enjoy the company of the other children when they tire of playing with the newest toy or gadget their parents have bought them. Although they are mean to PB&J and their friends at times, PB&J and the others still help them when they have a problem. Ootsie and Bootsie can still be good friends and they also helped the kids many times. They are poodle dogs
• Mayor Jeff (voiced by Bruce Bayley Johnson) - The mayor of Lake Hoohaw. He is a wise, old otter who loves to help out the kids. He also is known for his collection of various treasures. He is also known to babysit the Otter children from time to time.

Minor characters

• Wanda and Walter Raccoon (Walter voiced by Chris Phillips) - Pinch and Scootch's parents. Wanda is the post raccoon for Lake Hoohaw, while Walter works as the area trash collector, requiring him to sleep most of the day as he gets up very early.
• Shirley Duck (voiced by Corinne Orr) - Flick's mother. Very softhearted, she rarely so much as raises her voice to Flick, much less punishes him. Flick takes advantage of this whenever possible. Flick's father never appeared in the series and it is unknown if he has one.
• Betty-Lou Beaver - Munchy's mother. She is proud of her son and tries to help him become more outspoken. Munchy's father has never been seen, but he has sent Munchy presents in the mail. It can be assumed he works away from home.
• Bubbles (voiced by Chris Phillips) - The Otters' pet fish.
• Mr. Bigdog - Edouard's boss. He is a bulldog, who at one point wanted to take down most of Lake Hoohaw to make room for a minimall.
• Measles - Munchy's frog.
• Edouard Snootie - Father of Ootsie and Bootsie.
• Georgina Snootie - Mother of Ootsie and Bootsie.
• Billy Duck - Flick's older cousin. Billy was once thought to be a bully by the Lake Hoohaw kids due to Flick's remembering something improperly, but he turned out to be kind. He may look scary, because he has a stern expression, nevertheless he still smiles and is kind to the ones around him. Like Flick, he likes to read Mallard Man comics.
• Ricky Raccoon - Pinch's and Scootch's cousin. He is also kind, and he may be a little older than Pinch.
• Simon Fieldmouse - A little field mouse boy who mistook Flick for the Ice Moose (The Hoohaw version of Santa Claus) Simon's greatest wish was to fly. In his episode, he taught Flick to care about others. Flick dressed himself as the Ice Moose and flew Simon to the stage where everybody, including Simon's parents, was there.
• Redolfo - Boyfriend (and now husband) of Anna Otter. Usually transports her to and from Lake Hoohaw.
• Captain Camel - Did not speak in his only appearance, which was in Opal and the New Otter. He was the character that sold his boat to Ernest so that he could open up a store boat.
• The Muskrat Family - A family including Mr. and Mrs. Muskrat (parents), Doris Muskrat (daughter), Wally Muskrat (son), and three babies (genders unknown). They may have moved in from the country, because Mr. Muskrat has an accent from Tennessee and they are very poor. They might not even live in Lake Hoohaw, they probably just visit Lake Hoohaw.

Episodes

Each episode was typically divided into two 11-minute stories. Some seasonal specials and the occasional double-length episode took up the entire program length. There were no commercials, though since episodes only lasted 22 minutes, interstitial content was presented at the end of airings before the next show. As the network Disney Junior remains free of commercial broadcasts, airings on this network follow this format as well.

Episode list

The "Lost" Direct-to-Video Movie?

Shortly after the show went out of production, it was reported that a direct-to-video PB&J Otter movie was in the works. The report was substantiated when it was discovered that a veteran Sesame Street / Muppets writer named Joey Mazzarino was attached to the project. Unfortunately, the movie, which was to have been titled "PB&J Otter and the Legend of Snaildarter" never made it past the scripting stage.

External links

• PB&J Otter at the Internet Movie Database
• PB&J Otter at the Big Cartoon DataBase
• PB&J Otter at TV.com
• Playhouse Disney Official Site