‘Arthur’ marks 25 years as a PBS staple

More than 250 episodes of the PBS series will be airing on PBS Kids and there will be video shorts, games and a podcast to keep him thriving.

In the final season, Arthur moved up to fourth grade and D.W., his sister, started kindergarten.

The change came about, according to Carol Greenwald, the show’s executive producer, because fans wanted to know what happened to the characters. “When you read a really good book, it’s very satisfying to get that epilogue afterwards,” she says. “So that’s something we wanted to give our audiences.”

Daniel Brochu, who voices Buster Baxter, Arthur’s best friend, says it’s an obvious desire: “You want to wrap it up and put a period on the sentence.” As someone who’s been with the series throughout its run, “it’s a natural progression.”

Based on a book series by Marc Brown, “Arthur” looked at family issues other shows didn’t. It discussed cancer and diabetes, it encouraged reading and relationships and it referenced other PBS series in the course of telling its story.

To give the characters new situations, producers listened to everyone connected to the show – actors, producers, writers – and outsiders.

“I was on the phone with a guy from our international distribution and he said, ‘I have to hang up because my son got on the wrong bus today and they can’t find him,’” Greenwald recalls. “We hung up and I was like, ‘I have to wait until he finds his son, but then it’s going in Arthur’s story.’”

Brochu says it was common to see lines blurred. Like Buster, he has asthma, loves sci-fi and comes from a single-parent family. “It’s kind of this eerie balance.”

Jodie Resther, who voices Francine Frensky, says personal quirks often found their way into the characters. “We knew we were on the right path if we just continued to be authentic and pushed those limits.”

When Mr. Ratburn, an elementary school teacher, got married, it emphasized what “Arthur” has always been about, Brochu says: inclusivity and acceptance. The same-sex marriage was courageous but in keeping with the spirit of the show.

“The material was so good it was easy to keep it fresh because you wanted to do it justice,” Brochu says.

Then, too, “Arthur” had an extensive guest list – from the Backstreet Boys to Lance Armstrong and Joan Rivers.

While voice actors often didn’t record together, Brochu happened to be at the studio when Fred Rogers was slated to appear.

“I remember the door opened in the elevator, I stepped out and there was Fred Rogers – Mister Rogers – just sitting there. He was changing his cardigan and putting on his work shoes. I’m like, ‘This is crazy.’”

Working with recognizable talents was surreal, Resther says. “You grew up with all these incredible talents and there you are,” she says. “It moves you. It inspires you and you just can’t help but bring your A game.”

When “Arthur” started, it would take six weeks to get episodes back from artists in Korea. Now, Greenwald says, “it’s all done with immediate computers.”

During the pandemic, producers realized the value of new platforms to reach children.

“A lot of parents were getting their news and support through YouTube,” Greenwald says. “So that’s why we started doing shorts – to give parents support around complicated issues like wearing a mask or washing your hands.”

Podcasts have extended the show’s reach as well. And streaming platforms? They’re accommodating newcomers who haven’t seen the 25 years of content.

“When we started, we were excited to be on PBS,” Greenwald says. “We wanted to see whether kids would react to it and they really did. As long as people were interested in watching it, we were thrilled to continue to make new shows.”