Bobby's World

Bobby's World

Genre	Comedy Fantasy
Created by	Howie Mandel
Starring	Howie Mandel Gail Matthius Edie McClurg Charity James Tino Insana Kevin Smets Rob Paulsen Gary Owens Frank Welker Debi Derryberry
Theme music composer	John Tesh
Composer(s)	John Tesh (1990–1993) Mark Koval (1993–1998)
Country of origin	United States
No. of seasons	8
No. of episodes	81 (list of episodes)
Production
Producer(s)	Phil Roman Howie Mandel Lee Mendelson
Production company(s)	Film Roman Alevy Productions
Distributor	20th Television (1990–1997) Saban International (1997–2001) Buena Vista Television (2001-2007) Taffy Entertainment (2007–present)
Broadcast
Original channel	FOX Kids
Audio format	Mono (Season 1–2) Stereo (Season 3–5) Dolby Surround (Season 6–8)
Original run	September 8, 1990 – February 23, 1998
External links
Website

Bobby's World (originally known as The World According to Bobby, to parody The World According to Garp) is an American animated television series, which ran from 1990 to 1998, on FOX Kids. It was about the daily life of Bobby Generic (/ˈdʒɛnərɪk/ GEN-er-ic) and his very overactive imagination on how he sees the world. The show was created by Canadian actor-comedian Howie Mandel. Mandel also provided the voice of both Bobby and his father Howard Generic, who looks like a cartoon version of Mandel himself. It was produced by Film Roman for Alevy Productions and FOX Kids Productions. The theme song for Bobby's World was composed by John Tesh, along with Michael Hanna.

History

Howie Mandel said that he accidentally created the voice that would be later used to voice Bobby when he was choking on a piece of cake at age 11. Two of Mandel's friends Jim Fisher and Jim Staahl signed an agreement with the Fox Corporation's then newly created television division in 1989. Fisher and Staahl asked Mandel to join them in creating a show based on Mandel's Bobby character and voice. Mandel said that he believed Fox did not think his stand-up routines were "family entertainment." He, Fisher, and Staahl (co-producers) recalled stories from their childhoods as they discussed the formation of the show. Mandel stated "that was the seed of Bobby's World." Later stories from the childhoods of writers Dianne and Peter Tilden along with Mitch Schauer were used as the basis of many of the stories. The other characters on the show were mixes of characteristics of the creators' parents' friends and relatives. Specifically, Uncle Ted was based on Fisher and Staahl's former comedy partner in a comedy trio formed by the three after leaving Chicago's Second City, called The Graduates. Amazingly, that partner Tino Insana read for and won the part of Uncle Ted.^[1]^[2]

During his standup routines, Mandel would commonly go into character with the same voice as Bobby, often conversing with an unseen "parent".

The voices of Kelly Generic (Bobby's sister) and Martha Generic (Bobby's mother) are based on two recurring characters Gail Matthius played when she was a cast member on Saturday Night Live in 1980. Martha is based on the character Roweena, a chain smoking hair stylist with an Upper Midwestern accent who gets into arguments with her best customer Nadine (Denny Dillon), while Kelly Generic is based on the character Vicky, a valley girl who annoys others with her shallow questions and rambling stories and often is seen with her friend Debbie (also Dillon).

Mitch Schauer drew the designs for the main characters.^[3] Bobby's character design was based on Schauer's then four-year-old son.^[4]

In the United States, starting in 1996, the show was open-captioned; this was intended as an aid to help younger children learn to read.

In an April 2006 online interview, Mandel expressed his desire for a possible re-launch of the series.^[5] Episodes can occasionally be seen in syndication, on a variety of websites, on Netflix or on Comcast's On Demand service.

According to a stand up video posted on YouTube,^[6] Mandel mentions that they are working on new episodes.

On February 12, 2007, the character Bobby made a surprise appearance on an episode of Deal or No Deal.^[7]

Show format

Episodes often consist of a short live-action segment either before or after the main story (and sometimes both before and after). The segment would include Mandel describing some aspect of the story and often relating it back to his personal childhood. Sometimes during these segments, the character of Bobby would appear in animated form and converse with Mandel. Other times, a live action child would appear and exchange words with Mandel. Endings of the show also featured Mandel breaking the "fourth wall" by talking to viewers about the preceding episode. In some part of the episode, Bobby will break the fourth wall by telling the audience his perspective on life.

Characters

Bobby Generic

Robert Adelvice "Bobby" Generic (voiced by Howie Mandel using the same voice he used for Skeeter in Muppet Babies) is the main character of the series, a 4-year old little boy with a big imagination. An imaginative Bobby claims however that he came from a magical place called "Bobbyland" where he ruled everything. Scenes with Bobby most often involve elaborate literal interpretations of the popular or colloquial sayings uttered by other characters during the show (i.e. a "traffic jam" becomes Traffic Jam, as Bobby imagines spreading tiny cars and trucks on a piece of bread and taking a bite). When he enters contests, he tends to end up losing because Bobby ends up being himself instead of using his common sense.

Bobby has spiky black hair. In Bobbyland, he wears a white sailor-like hat with a black tassels, white shirt with short sleeves, blue navy sailor collar with white stripes, blue shorts with two white buttons, white socks and black Mary Jane shoes. On earth, He wears a white shirt with red short sleeves, red shorts and blue sneakers.

Generic family members

The Generic family's surname is pronounced "JEN-a-rick" to make it sound like the word "general", but uttered as "gin-AIR-ic!" (as in the prescription classification) by other characters.

Howard Generic – Bobby's father. (modeled upon and also voiced by Howie Mandel using his regular voice)
Martha Generic – Bobby's mother, who has red hair and is often seen wearing a sky-blue track suit. She speaks with a heavy North Central American English / Scandinavian accent, in stereotypical Minnesotan/Great Lakes style, and often punctuates her speech with phrases like "Fer corn sakes", "Fer cryin' in the mud", "gee golly", "gosh darn" and "don't 'cha know". (voiced by Gail Matthius and based on her Saturday Night Live character, Roweena, a chain-smoking hair dresser)
Kelly Generic – Bobby's 15-year-old tomboyish bully sister, the eldest Generic sibling, sporting a shag haircut, purple eye shadow, striped tights, and a valley girl accent/demeanor and often uses her catch phrase "Get real!" (also voiced by Gail Matthius and based on another character Matthius played on SNL: "Vicky the Valley Girl").
Derek Generic – Bobby's 10-year-old brother, also something of a bully, with a rat-tail hairdo, slashed jeans, and a sarcastic manner. He always teases and insults Bobby and tends to call him a "dork." Bobby has a bad habit of listening to him. (voiced by Kevin Smets seasons 1–6 and Pamela Segall season 7–8)
The Generic Twins (Jake & Al) – Identical twins who were introduced in Season 4 but mentioned in Seasons 2 and 3 as Martha was pregnant with them. Bobby's infant brothers.
Aunt Ruth – Bobby's aunt and Martha's sister (voice of Edie McClurg) She is a blonde, amply contoured lady with a sweet, pretty face, hair in a bun, and kindly ways. She is loving and affectionate toward her small nephew and particularly likes to pinch his cheeks, which Bobby really doesn't go for. Part of her signature attire is knee-high stockings rolled into a ring at the top.
Uncle Ted (Ted "Teddy" Sven) – Bobby's uncle and Martha's brother. He is a blond, large-bodied gentleman with a deep rough voice and his signature garment is a yellow shirt printed with red hearts. Uncle Ted is a fun-loving fellow who loves to give noogies to Bobby and is a collector of various things, one of which is a novelty item called Socks in a Can. His last name is revealed to be Sven. He is also affectionate toward his little nephew and often calls him by the nickname "Bob-O." Bobby likes hanging out with Uncle Ted because he thinks of all kinds of fun stuff to do. (voice of Tino Insana)
Roger – the Generic family dog (voiced by Frank Welker)

Recurring Characters

George - Boyfriend of Kelly Generic. (voiced by Pauly Shore)
Jackie – Bobby's cute girlfriend / next door neighbor / classmate with the floor-length pigtails who has a crush on Bobby and always kisses him, which Bobby hates. She hugs him, which Bobby loves. She speaks with a monotonic voice. (voiced by Debi Derryberry)
Charlotte – Rambunctious and sassy, Charlotte was the fun-loving adventurous girl who was famous for her dislike of chocolate and her ability to tease Bobby incessantly over small things he does.

Animation Directors

Pete Michels
Ron Myrick
Bob Nesler
Klay Hall
Mark Glamack
Mike Wolf
Berny Wolf
Gary Conrad
Allen Wilzbach
Norm McCabe
Tom Ray
Jeff Hall
Bob Treat
Swinton O.Scott III
Tom Tataranowicz
Vincent Davis
Bill Hutten
Chuck Sheets
Fred Miller
Gordon Kent
Allen Foster
Dave Brain
Brian Hogan
Robert Shellhorn
Marlene May Robinson
Milton Gray
Bob Matz
Warren Batchelder
Brad Case
Margaret Nichols
Bob Richardson
John Freeman
Ken Hultgren
Glen Kennedy
Robert Alvarez
Richard Collado
Ken Kessel
James T. Walker
Hank Smith
Bill Littlejohn
Carole Beers
Larry Leichliter
Rick Leon
Oliver Callahan
Steven Gordon
Leslie Gorin
Mike Sanger
Jay Sarbry
Bob Bachman
Sam Jaimes
Max Becraft
Don Lusk
Bob Bemiller
Karen Peterson
Mike Stribling

Production Companies

Additional Voices

Episodes

Main article: List of Bobby's World episodes

Home video releases

From 1994 to 1998, Fox Kids Video released VHS titles of the series.

Volume 1 – Uncle Ted's Excellent Adventure / The Visit To Aunt Ruth's
Volume 2 – Bobby's Big Move / Bobby's Big Broadcast
Volume 3 – Swim By Me / Jets, Choo Choos & Cars
Fish Tales / Generics Under Construction
Me & Roger

In 2004, Anchor Bay Entertainment released two best-of compilations- Classic Scratch 'n' Sniff Episodes and The Signature Episodes on DVD in Region 1. These releases have been discontinued and are now out of print.

On December 15, 2011, it was announced that MoonScoop Group had acquired the rights to the series and planned to release all eight seasons of Bobby's World on DVD in Region 1 via Amazon.com's CreateSpace program in early 2012.^[8] These will be manufacture-on-demand releases, available exclusively through Amazon.com. All seasons were made available for purchase on March 13, 2012.^[9]

Video game

A video game based on Bobby's World was made for the Super NES in 1994. It was developed by Riedel Software Productions and published by Hi Tech Entertainment. In the game, Bobby's mother tells him to clean his room. As he is cleaning his room, Bobby starts daydreaming about a toy. After beating a level, Bobby has another daydream about another toy that he puts away.^[10]

Broadcast history

During its original run, Bobby's World was seen on Fox Kids. After it was cancelled in 1998, reruns began airing on Fox Family (now ABC Family) until 2002.

The series was available in its entirety on Netflix instant streaming and Kabillion as well.