Oswald (TV series)

For the cartoon character introduced in 1927, see Oswald the Lucky Rabbit.

Not to be confused with Oswaldo (TV series).

Oswald
Genre	Animation Preschool education Children's animation
Created by	Dan Yaccarino
Developed by	Lisa Eve Huberman Dan Yaccarino
Directed by	Debbie Bonzon Henry Lenardin-Madden
Voices of	Fred Savage Debi Derryberry David Lander Crystal Scales Laraine Newman Daran Norris J. Grant Albrecht Mel Winkler Dan Yaccarino
Country of origin	United States United Kingdom
Original language	English
No. of seasons	1 [1] [2] [3]
No. of episodes	26 (52 segments) [3]
Production
Producer	Dan Yaccarino
Running time	22–24 minutes
Production companies	HIT Entertainment Nickelodeon Animation Studio (credited as Nick Jr. Productions)
Original release
Network	Nickelodeon
Release	20 August 2001 (2001-08-20) – 19 September 2003 (2003-09-19)

Oswald is a preschool educational children's animated television series created by Dan Yaccarino and developed by Lisa Eve Huberman. The show was co-produced by HIT Entertainment and Nickelodeon. ^{[4] [5]} The main character is a thoughtful blue octopus named Oswald who lives in an apartment complex.

Overall 26 episodes were produced. In the United States, the series premiered on Nickelodeon (as part of its Nick Jr. block) on 20 August 2001. ^[6] Reruns were also broadcast on CBS (during the Nick Jr. on CBS block) and on Noggin. ^[7] When the Noggin brand was relaunched as a streaming service in 2015, all 26 episodes of Oswald were made available for streaming. ^[8]

Prior to release, Brown Johnson, senior vice president of Nick Jr. had this to say, "Dan Yaccarino has created an octopus who could be a pre-schooler's best friend". ^[4]

Plot

The series is set in Big City, a colorful world populated by anthropomorphic animals, mythological creatures and humanoid beings. Each episode follows the daily experiences of an anthropomorphic blue octopus named Oswald (voiced by Fred Savage), accompanied by his beloved hot dog-shaped dog, Weenie, and their life in the cheerful and whimsically-designed community of Big City. Commonly, the program concentrates on Oswald's experiences with friends, acquaintances and neighbors, including Henry, a penguin, and Daisy, a flower, among others and his patient methods of coping with or tolerating different situations and dilemmas, along with his thoroughly optimistic outlook on life.

Characters

Main

Title character Oswald

• Oswald (voiced by Fred Savage in the US and Richard Pearce in the UK) is the main character (four arms, four legs) who lives in an apartment complex with Henry and several other animals including a turtle named Buster. A very gentle, polite and bighearted anthropomorphic blue octopus, Oswald is always willing to go out of his way to help his friends. His hobbies are playing the piano and singing.
• Weenie (voiced by Debi Derryberry) is Oswald's dachshund. She bears a strong resemblance to a hot dog and only communicates in "bark-speak". She accompanies Oswald everywhere he goes, and her favorite food is vanilla dog biscuits.
• Henry (voiced by David Lander in the US and David Holt in the UK) is Oswald's downstairs penguin neighbor and best friend. Henry is a creature of habit in every way and usually shuns the idea of trying different things, though he can sometimes be persuaded otherwise. He tries his best to maintain a rigid schedule. As such, he takes care of his extensive spoon collection, watches "Penguin Patrol" every evening, and does the Penguin Polka before bedtime. Most of Henry's favorite foods are fish-flavored, and is a proven expert on snow. Additionally, he has an identical cousin from the frozen north named Louie, and on occasion speaks of an Aunt Arctica. His motto is "Slow and steady!" He always takes two (used to be three) marshmallows in his hot cocoa, saying "No more, no less." He also hates getting wet.
• Daisy (voiced by Crystal Scales in the US and Moir Leslie in the UK) is a tall orange/yellow/green flower. Free-spirited and energetic yet clumsy, Daisy participates in sports and other activities. She is a close friend of both Oswald and Henry, the three of them often go on adventures together. Daisy loves sunflower sundaes, riding her unicycle, has a large leaf collection and loves peppermint tea. Daisy is very excitable and often has to be shushed by Oswald when she speaks too loudly.

Recurring

• Johnny Snowman (voiced by Mel Winkler in the US and Colin McFarlane in the UK) is a laid-back snowman who operates an ice cream shop and also has an ice cream truck. He has a deep voice. He also has a brother in the frozen north named Phil.
• Egbert (voiced by Daran Norris in the US and Gary Martin in the UK) and Leo (voiced by J. Grant Albrecht in the US and David Holt in the UK) are eggs who are also twin brothers. Leo always responds in conversations with an enthusiastic "Yes, yes!" while Egbert refers to everyone as "old boy".
• Catrina (voiced by Debi Derryberry) is a baby caterpillar that is just learning how to speak. She is the only child of Madame Butterfly. Like other babies, Catrina is highly curious about everything around her, but is always attended by her mom or others to keep her curiosity in check.
• Madame Butterfly (voiced by Laraine Newman in the US and Moir Leslie in the UK) is the mother of Catrina and the proprietor of the local diner, a favorite lunch stop for Oswald and his friends. Her name is a pun on the opera Madama Butterfly .

Minor

• Pongo (voiced by Richard Kind in the US and Gary Martin in the UK) is a large yellow and red dragon with a long thin green mustache and is quite similar to the dragons in Chinese culture and folklore. He lives in a Chinese-style home in Big City. In sharp contrast to his otherwise intimidating size, Pongo is very shy and soft-spoken, and known for his occasional clumsiness.
• Buster is a very slow moving turtle living in the same apartment building as Oswald. He appears in several episodes.
• Cactus Polly (voiced by Laraine Newman in the US and Jo Wyatt in the UK) is a helpful cactus lady who carries a lasso and talks like a cowgirl from the wild west. She plays a guitar and banjo. She has a Southern accent. She also plays the Mandolin and piano, unlike Woody and Jessie from Toy Story.
• Gingerbread People are anthropomorphic gingerbread men who reside in Big City and are often seen in the backgrounds of episodes.
• Sammy Starfish (voiced by Tony Orlando) is Oswald's musical idol and a jazz singer. Oswald's dream is to play the piano for Sammy Starfish, which becomes a reality when Sammy's show comes to Big City and the tickets are all sold out.
• Steve Tree (voiced by Fred Stoller in the US and Gary Martin in the UK) is a tree that comes to life. Sometimes his pet Woodrow pecks on him, usually on his head.
• Andy Pumpkin (voiced by Eddie Deezen in the US and David Holt in the UK) is Steve's loopy best friend. He is a happy-go-lucky pumpkin person and works at a candy shop. He tends to speak in hyper tones when working in the candy shop.
• Bingette Bunny (voiced by Kathy Najimy) is a ditsy rabbit who runs the gardening store where Oswald buys his tomato plants. She is usually very unhelpful but usually says "Just doing my job!" when Oswald leaves the store.
• Roderick Robot is a mechanical man with a mechanical cat, Tinsel. Oswald cat-sits for Roderick, and it turns out Tinsel is a very naughty cat.
• Bingo (voiced by Mac Davis) is Big City's barber, a rabbit who also runs a newspaper store from which Henry buys his newspaper. He only talks in the episodes "Henry Needs a Haircut" and "The Naughty Cat".
• Louie (voiced by Michael McKean) is Henry's cousin from the arctic.
• Flippy is a fish who Oswald bought at the pet store but had to give to the Big City Aquarium as the fish grew too large.
• The Paper People are silent humans made of paper who appear in several episodes as cameo characters.
• Woodrow is Steve's pet woodpecker.
• Tinsel is Roderick's pet mechanical cat.
• The Fish are fish who appear in the episode "Going Fishing".
• Maestro Bingo runs a store of various musical instruments and appears in the episodes "Daisy Plays an Instrument" and "Fixing the Piano".

Episodes

No.	Title	Directed by	Written by	Storyboard by	Original air date  [3]
1	"Chasing the Ice-Cream Truck" "The Camping Trip"	Nelson Recinos Henry Lenardin-Madden	Annie Evans Suzanne Collins	Jim Schumann Kelly James	20 August 2001 (2001-08-20)
Oswald and Weenie chase after an ice cream truck. / Oswald, Weenie, Henry and Daisy go camping in the park but it begins to rain, so they rush back to Oswald's apartment and camp there instead.
2	"The Polka Dot Umbrella" "One More Marshmallow"	Nelson Recinos George Chialtas and Henry Madden	Gary Apple	Diane Kredensor Mike J. Smith	21 August 2001 (2001-08-21)
Oswald finds a polka dot umbrella and though he tries many times to get rid of it, it keeps finding him. But in the end, it really comes in handy. / Oswald hosts a tea party for Henry and Daisy but when Weenie eats one of the marshmallows for Henry's hot cocoa, Oswald goes to the candy store and encounters many adventures in trying to make his way back to the tea party.
3	"Daisy Plays an Instrument" "The Ball of Yarn"	George Chialtas Henry Lenardin-Madden	Annie Evans J-P Chanda	Jim Schumann Mike Smith	22 August 2001 (2001-08-22)
After listening to Oswald play his piano, Daisy wishes she could play an instrument, so Oswald takes her to the music store where she tries out different instruments. / A ball of red yarn is Weenie's favorite toy. When it begins to bounce, Oswald accidentally grabs a string of the yarn, making it unravel out of his apartment all the way out through the city. Oswald and Weenie chase after it as it entangles several of their friends along the way.
4	"Down in the Dump" "The Birdhouse"	Henry Lenardin-Madden Christine Kolosov	Gary Apple Suzanne Collins	Kelly James Jim Schumann	23 August 2001 (2001-08-23)
Oswald cleans his apartment, but it did not turn out good. So Oswald decided to put the things he no longer needs in a wagon to take to the dump, but several Big City citizens find uses for them. / Oswald builds a birdhouse, added some color, and some flowers. But a rain advisory washed away the color, flowers, and bells making the birdhouse look plain, in which the birds like.
5	"Henry Needs a Haircut" "Flippy the Fish"	Henry Lenardin-Madden Nelson Recinos and Ken Kessel	Fred Stroppel Annie Evans	Mike Smith Karen Heathwood	24 August 2001 (2001-08-24)
Henry has a feather sticking out on top of his head, but his feather will not stay down and is scared to go to the barber because he keeps thinking the barber is too scary. / Oswald buys a pet fish that he names Flippy because of the flip that she does, jumping out of her bowl and splashing back in it. Unfortunately, Flippy keeps overeating and growing bigger and bigger. So Oswald and Weenie take her to the Big City public aquarium, where she becomes a big star at the seal show.
6	"Rollerskating" "I Guess You Never Know"	Henry Madden	Frederick Stroppel Gary Apple	Kelly James Mike Smith	27 August 2001 (2001-08-27)
Oswald learns to roller skate. / It is Henry's birthday, and Oswald tries to teach Henry to try new things on this special day.
7	"Sleepover" "Big Banana"	Henry Madden Nelson Recinos	Jeff Kindley Dan Yaccarino	Diane Kredensor	28 August 2001 (2001-08-28)
Oswald and Weenie have a sleepover at Henry's apartment, and it's Weenie's very first sleepover ever. / Oswald plants a banana seed, and the next morning, finds that it has grown into a colossal banana overnight. It is so big that he decides to have a Big Banana Day and share it with everyone, resulting in a new holiday with a festival in the park.
8	"Leaky Faucet" "Catrina's Birthday Cake"	George Chialtas Nelson Recinos	Rick Groel Annie Evans	Jim Schumann Diane Kredensor	29 August 2001 (2001-08-29)
Oswald's kitchen sink has sprung a leak causing Big City to flood and he and Weenie to get separated. / Oswald bakes a huge birthday cake for Catrina's birthday party.
9	"Cloud Collecting" "Pongo the Friendly Dragon"	George Chialtas Henry Lenardin-Madden	Dan Yaccarino Fredrick Stroppel	Diane Kredensor Jim Schumann	10 September 2001 (2001-09-10)
Daisy collects leaves and Henry collects spoons, so Oswald wants to collect something too, so he tries to collect clouds. / Oswald meets a friendly dragon named Pongo, who wants to help, but only makes things worse.
10	"A Nice Quiet Picnic" "The Big Parade"	Ken Kessel	Suzanne Collins Kate Long	Kelly James Mike Smith	17 September 2001 (2001-09-17)
Oswald, Henry, and Weenie set out to have a picnic and are soon joined by many of their friends. / Oswald hears parade music and thinks that a big parade is headed his way, so he convinces Henry and Daisy to go with him to watch the parade.
11	"The Go-Kart Race" "Autumn Leaves"	Henry Lenardin-Madden Ken Kessel	Annie Evans Frederick Stroppel	Karen Heathwood Diane Kredensor	24 September 2001 (2001-09-24)
Oswald and his friends compete in a go-kart race. / Henry tries to rake the leaves, but Oswald and Weenie keeps jumping on them which made him frustrated.
12	"A Day at the Beach" "The Sand Sculpture Contest"	Henry Lenardin-Madden	Frederick Stroppel Geoff Stevenson	Karen Heathwood Kelly James	15 February 2002 (2002-02-15)
Oswald and the gang go to the beach, but Henry does not like swimming, but when Daisy gets stranded on an island, it's Henry to the rescue! / Oswald is the judge of the Annual Big City Beach Sand Sculpture Contest.
13	"Fixing the Piano" "Henry Wants to Fly"	Ken Kessel Henry Lenardin-Madden	Justin Chanda Fredrick Stroppel	Jim Schumann Kelly James	8 March 2002 (2002-03-08)
Oswald's piano is broken, and he takes it to Maestro Bingo to get it fixed. / Henry believes that he can fly.
14	"Daisy and the Duckling" "The Double Date"	Henry Lenardin-Madden Ken Kessel	Alana Burgi Sanko Susan Kim	Mike Smith Karen Heathwood	15 March 2002 (2002-03-15)
Oswald and Daisy find a duckling who has lost her mother. / Oswald schedules two events at the same time.
15	"The Sniffles" "The Broken Vase"	Henry Lenardin-Madden Ken Kessel	Justin Chanda Suzanne Collins	Diane Kredensor Kelly James	21 March 2002 (2002-03-21)
Oswald goes out into Big City to get some cocoa and a newspaper for Henry, who has a bad case of the Arctic Sniffles. But a rain cloud chases Oswald and Weenie until a rainstorm makes Oswald catch a cold. / Daisy accidentally breaks Henry's special vase. Oswald, Weenie and Daisy try to fix it in time before Henry gets back from his fly catching trip.
16	"The Big Balloon Rescue" "Snow to Go"	Robert Shellhorn Christine Kolosov	Susan Kim	Mike Smith Jim Schumann	22 July 2002 (2002-07-22)
Catrina flies away on a balloon and Oswald must save the day. / During a heat wave, Oswald, Weenie, Henry and Daisy go on a trip to find the sweetest snow.
17	"Odd One Out" "Goodbye Best Friend"	Henry Lenardin-Madden	Dan Yaccarino	Mike Smith Jim Schumann	16 September 2002 (2002-09-16)
Oswald is excited to meet Henry's cousin, Louie. But the two penguins have a great time all by themselves. Oswald feels left out, but once Henry and Louie catch up on old times, they seek Oswald out. / After Henry decides to move back to the frozen north with his cousin, the others prepare a going away party for him. In the end, Henry decides to stay in Big City after saving them from being blown away.
18	"The Tomato Garden" "Bird Watching"	Ken Kessel and Robert Shellhorn Henry Lenardin-Madden	Alana Burghi Sanko Kate Long	Karen Heathwood Kelly James	17 September 2002 (2002-09-17)
Oswald eats his last tomato for breakfast, he decides to get more by planting tomatoes in the garden, Oswald was surprised and upset when he saw one of the tomatoes have been half eaten, he discovered the tomatoes were eaten by an entire group of snails but ends up making a restaurant for the snails. / Oswald finds a giant bird.
19	"Friends Indeed" "Perfect Match"	Henry Lenardin-Madden Robert Shellhorn	Suzanne Collins Dan Yaccarino	Mike Smith Jim Schumann	23 September 2002 (2002-09-23)
Oswald finds himself stuck in the middle of a feud between Henry and Daisy. / Pongo wants to become friends with Laverne the elephant.
20	"The Pet Show" "Going Fishing"	Robert Shellhorn Henry Lenardin-Madden	Annie Evans	Diane Kredensor Mike Smith	24 September 2002 (2002-09-24)
It's the grand pet show, but Weenie is behaving peculiarly of Steve's woodpecker Woodrow pecking down the tent. / Oswald, Weenie, Henry and Daisy go fishing but Henry whom is not catching a fish.
21	"The Naughty Cat" "The Giant Egg"	Robert Shellhorn Debbie Bonzon	Suzanne Collins Geoff Stevenson	Karen Heathwood Diane Kredensor	25 September 2002 (2002-09-25)
Oswald pet-sits for Roderick Robot's pet cat, Tinsel but Tinsel runs away and make things worse and makes Oswald frustrated. / Oswald tries to find an egg's owner.
22	"A Sticky Situation" "Tutti-Frutti Pie"	Robert Shellhorn Henry Lenardin-Madden	Susan Kim Suzanne Collins	Kelly James Jim Schumann	26 September 2002 (2002-09-26)
Oswald and Daisy make honey buns, but Daisy adds too much sticky honey, and they get stuck to each other, along with other friends and eventually it starts to rain and the friends got unstuck. / Oswald takes Catrina to pluck some tutti frutti berries, but only causing problems.
23	"Job for a Day" "Sammy Starfish Live"	Robert Shellhorn Debbie Bonzon	Alana Burghi Sanko Frederick Stroppel	Mike Smith Diane Kredensor	27 September 2002 (2002-09-27)
Johnny is sick, so Oswald and Weenie go to make a special ice cream delivery. / Tickets are sold out for Sammy Starfish's concert and Oswald must find a way to see the show.
24	"Catrina's First Snow" "The Snow Festival"	Nelson Recinos Christine Kolosov	JP Chanda Susan Kim	Diane Kredensor Karen Heathwood	17 September 2003 (2003-09-17)
Oswald babysits Catrina on a snowy day. / Oswald hopes for snow to fall on the day of Big City's snow festival.
25	"The Biggest Wish" "The Stopped Clock"	Henry Lenardin-Madden	S : Jason Edward, T : Frederick Stroppel Frederick Stroppel	Diane Kredensor Karen Heathwood	18 September 2003 (2003-09-18)
Oswald finds a firefly. / The clock in the Big City's bells somehow was not working and Big City was still asleep, it was up to Oswald, Weenie, Henry and Daisy to figure out what was causing this stroking catastrophe to make the clock work again to wake up Big City.
26	"Weenie Needs a Bath" "Hide and Seek"	Henry Lenardin-Madden Robert Shellhorn	Suzanne Collins Alana Burghi Sanko	Diane Kredensor Kelly James	19 September 2003 (2003-09-19)
Weenie gets dirty before having her picture taken. / Weenie disappears during a game of hide and seek.

Release

Broadcast history

In the United States, Oswald first aired on the Nick Jr. television block on Nickelodeon on 20 August 2001. ^[3] It was removed from the lineup on 24 May 2005. On 7 April 2003, Oswald started airing on Noggin ^[9] during its daytime preschool block. Reruns also aired on the 24-hour Nick Jr. Channel upon its launch in 2009, but they were removed on 11 December 2014. ^[10] The show aired briefly on Nick on CBS for one year from 15 September 2001, to 7 September 2002. ^[11]

When the Noggin brand was relaunched as a streaming service in 2015, all 26 episodes of Oswald were made available for streaming. ^[8] The series was added to Paramount+ (at the time CBS All Access) in January 2021. ^[12]

Home media

Paramount Home Entertainment is the VHS and DVD distributor for the series in the United States while HIT Entertainment is the VHS and DVD distributor for the series in Canada.^{[ citation needed ]}

Main releases

Release Date	Name	Number of Episodes	Episode Titles
2 September 2003 [13]	Best Buddies	4	"Odd One Out" / "Goodbye Best Friend" "Job for a Day" / "Sammy Starfish Live"
	Outdoors with Oswald	4	"A Day at the Beach" / "The Sand Sculpture Contest" "The Tomato Garden" / "Bird Watching"
	Welcome to Big City!	8	"Odd One Out" / "Goodbye Best Friend" "Job for a Day" / "Sammy Starfish Live" "A Day at the Beach" / "The Sand Sculpture Contest" "The Tomato Garden" / "Bird Watching"
27 January 2004	On-the-Go Oswald	8	"Daisy and the Duckling" / "The Double Date" "Chasing the Ice-Cream Truck" / "The Camping Trip" "Henry Needs a Haircut" / "Flippy the Fish" "A Sticky Situation" / "Tuffi-Frutti Pie"

Episodes on Nick Jr. compilation DVDs (US only)

Release Date	Name	Number of Episodes	Episode Titles
24 May 2005	Nick Jr. Favorites Vol. 1	2	"A Day at the Beach" / "The Sand Sculpture Contest"
26 September 2006	Nick Jr. Favorites Holiday	2	"Catrina's First Snow" / "The Snow Festival"

Reception

The series received four out of five stars on Common Sense Media. ^[14]

References

1. Nickelodeon (5 September 2000). "Nickelodeon and Hit Entertainment Join Forces for the Creation of New Animated Series Oswald" . Retrieved 28 May 2016.
2. "Oswald, Season 1 on iTunes". iTunes. Retrieved 28 May 2016.
3. "Amazon.com List of Oswald Episodes". Amazon. Retrieved 30 December 2015.
4. "Oswald the Octopus Debuts On Nick Jr. In August". Animation World Network .
5. Perlmutter, David (2018). The Encyclopedia of American Animated Television Shows. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 438. ISBN   978-1538103739.
6. Services, Tribune Media (2 September 2001). "In terms of television, kids never had…". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 3 February 2024.
7. Erickson, Hal (2005). Television Cartoon Shows: An Illustrated Encyclopedia, 1949 Through 2003 (2nd ed.). McFarland & Co. pp. 597–598. ISBN   978-1476665993.
8. "NOGGIN Streaming Service". Noggin LLC . 2018. Archived from the original on 30 September 2018.
9. "What's on Noggin? - Nick Jr. on Noggin". 7 April 2003. Archived from the original on 8 April 2003.
10. "Nick Jr TV Listings, TV Shows and Schedule - Zap2it". tvlistings.zap2it.com. Archived from the original on 19 February 2013. Retrieved 11 January 2022.
11. MCN Staff (17 September 2001). "Nick Jr. Back on CBS Saturday Morning". Multichannel News. Retrieved 2 February 2024.
12. "Oswald". Paramount+ . Retrieved 4 March 2021.
13. "Screencapture of Oswald: Outdoors with Oswald and Best Buddies (VHS)/Welcome to Big City! (DVD) available September 2". Imgur.com (original document published by ARIA). Retrieved 21 January 2020.
14. "Oswald". Common Sense Media. 19 December 2007. Retrieved 28 May 2016.

External links

• Oswald at IMDb