A Little Curious

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A Little Curious
A Little Curious Logo.jpg
The main characters of the show (front row-left to right: Mr. String, Little Cup, Mary Jane, Bob the Ball, Lacey, Pad and Pencil; back row-left to right: Mrs. Shoe, Doris the Door, Mop and Mr. Shoe; Absent: Plush)
Genre Anthology series
Musical
Comedy
Educational
Created bySteve Oakes
Written by Carin Greenberg Baker
Nicholas Hollander
Laurie Israel
Becky Mode
Alana Sanko
Frederick J. Stroppel
Directed bySteve Oakes
Voices ofCameron Bowen
Amanda Kaplan
Gary Yudman
Marilyn Pasekoff
Bob Kaliban
Gerrianne Raphael
Rafael Ferrer
Sandy Correia
Theme music composer The Manhattan Transfer
Opening theme"I'm a Little Curious" performed by The Manhattan Transfer
Ending theme"I'm a Little Curious" (instrumental) (season 1)
"I'm a Little Curious" (instrumental reorchestration) (season 2)
Composer Pat Irwin
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons2
No. of episodes43
Production
Executive producersCarole Rosen
Sheila Nevins
Susan Holden
Steve Oakes
Richard Winkler
Tom Box
ProducerJohn Hoffman
Running time24 minutes
Production company Curious Pictures
Original release
Network HBO
ReleaseFebruary 1, 1999 (1999-02-01) –
May 1, 2000 (2000-05-01)

A Little Curious is an American children's animated TV series that ran on HBO and its multiplex channel HBO Family for two seasons. The series premiered on February 1, 1999 until its last episode aired on May 1, 2000. The series, produced by cel-and-computer, Los Angeles-based animation studio Curious Pictures, was aimed mainly at preschoolers. It was one of the cornerstone programs for the relaunch of the HBO Family channel in February 1999, but removed in repeats currently. [1] [2]

Contents

Plot

The 24-minute episodes are essentially anthologies of shorts focused on a common, easily digested topic word such as "slippery" or "sticky". While each short draws from the same pool of characters, they are produced in a variety of animation techniques. [3] Animation styles include stop-motion, collage animation, clay animation, traditional 3-D and 2-D hand-drawn animation, and 3-D CGI, along with live-action segments mostly narrated by Bob the Ball. [4] Some of the shorts are designed to fit more than one topic, and are re-used in different episodes.

Characters

The pool of characters, which are inanimate everyday objects, include:

Main Characters

Gender: Male
Voiced by: Cameron Bowen
Gender: Male
Voiced by: Bob Kaliban
Gender: Male
Voiced by: Gary Yudman
Gender: Male
Voiced by: Bob Kaliban
Gender: Female
Voiced by: Amanda Kaplan
Gender: Female
Voiced by: Marilyn Pasekoff
Gender: Female (Pad), Male (Pencil)
Voiced by: Gerrianne Raphael (Pad), Rafael Ferrer (Pencil)
Gender: Male (Mr. Shoe), Female (Mrs. Shoe, Lacey and Mary Jane)
Voiced by: Gary Yudman (Mr. Shoe), Sandy Correia (Mrs. Shoe and Lacey), Amanda Kaplan (Mary Jane)

Minor Characters

Episodes

[5] [6]

Season 1 (1999)

  1. Loud, Soft, Shake (February 1, 1999)
  2. Light, Dark, Bubble (February 8, 1999)
  3. Near, Far, Swing (February 15, 1999)
  4. Slippery, Sticky, Mirror (February 22, 1999)
  5. Above, Below, Cover (March 1, 1999)
  6. Front, Back, Side (March 8, 1999)
  7. Swing, Cover, Shake (March 15, 1999)
  8. Rough, Smooth, Picture (March 22, 1999)
  9. Open, Close, Ring (March 29, 1999)
  10. Bubble, Picture, Mirror (April 5, 1999)
  11. Thick, Thin, Twist (April 12, 1999)
  12. First, Last, Step (April 19, 1999)
  13. Step, Twist, Ring (April 26, 1999)
  14. Empty, Full, Pop (May 3, 1999)
  15. Same, Different, Beat (May 10, 1999)
  16. Fast, Slow, Spin (May 17, 1999)
  17. Long, Short, Roll (May 24, 1999)
  18. Character Show – Bob the Ball (May 31, 1999)
  19. Roll, Spin, Pop (June 7, 1999)
  20. Warm, Cool, Heart (June 14, 1999)
  21. Character Show – Plush (June 21, 1999)
  22. Still, Move, Train (June 28, 1999)
  23. Spring, Fall, Turn (July 5, 1999)
  24. High, Low, Stretch (July 12, 1999)
  25. Side, Stretch, Turn (July 19, 1999)

Season 2 (2000)

  1. Top, Bottom, Jump (January 3, 2000)
  2. Over, Under, Balance (January 10, 2000)
  3. Drop, Lift, Flat (January 17, 2000)
  4. Tight, Loose, Squeeze (January 24, 2000)
  5. Hit, Miss, Bump (January 31, 2000)
  6. Work, Play, Skip (February 7, 2000)
  7. Hard, Easy, Change (February 14, 2000)
  8. New, Old, Dance (February 21, 2000)
  9. Lead, Follow, Act (February 28, 2000)
  10. Win, Lose, Tie (March 6, 2000)
  11. Push, Pull, Rock (March 13, 2000)
  12. Jump, Flat, Squeeze (March 27, 2000)
  13. Hard, Work, Bump (April 3, 2000)
  14. Character Show - Mop (April 10, 2000)
  15. Balance, Skip, Rock (April 17, 2000)
  16. Push, Over, Top (April 24, 2000)
  17. Drop, Loose, Change (May 1, 2000)

Special (2000)

  1. A Little Curious About Life (March 20, 2000)

References

  1. ↑ Richard Katz, "HBO in Family way with heavy push of new fare", Variety , September 9, 1998.
  2. ↑ Lynne Heffley, "HBO Launches Spinoff With Pair of Excellent Kids' Shows", Los Angeles Times , February 1, 1999.
  3. ↑ Scott Moore, "Multiplex Channel Has A Singular Focus: Kids" Archived 2015-09-24 at the Wayback Machine , The Washington Post , June 13, 1999.
  4. ↑ Erickson, Hal (2005). Television Cartoon Shows: An Illustrated Encyclopedia, 1949 Through 2003 (2nd ed.). McFarland & Co. p. 506. ISBN   978-1476665993.
  5. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20210518002820/https://www.homeboxoffice.com/sched/2003_02_hbo4.pdf This PDF of an official archived HBO Family schedule that month shows the correct lineup of the episodes (on page 10).
  6. ↑ https://www.homeboxoffice.com/sched/2003_03_hbo4.pdf Source of "Side, Turn, Twist" (on page 10).
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