Bob and Margaret

Last updated

Bob and Margaret
Series logo.jpg
Genre Adult animation
Romance
Sitcom
Created by
Based on Bob's Birthday
by David Fine
Alison Snowden
Starring
ComposerPatrick Godfrey
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Canada
No. of seasons4
No. of episodes52
Production
Executive producers
Producer Tom McGillis (S3-4)
Running time22 minutes
Production companies Nelvana Limited
SilverLight Productions (season 2)
National Film Board of Canada
Channel 4
Original release
Network Global Television Network (Canada)
Channel 4 (United Kingdom)
Release3 December 1998 (1998-12-03) 
29 November 2001 (2001-11-29)
Related
Ricky Sprocket: Showbiz Boy
O Canada

Bob and Margaret is an adult animated sitcom created by David Fine and Alison Snowden and co-produced by Nelvana Limited and Channel 4 as a collaboration, both financial and artistic, between the United Kingdom and Canada. [1] The last two seasons were co-produced without Channel 4 but with continuing British involvement in the animation, cast, and screenwriting. The series was based on the Academy Award-winning short film Bob's Birthday , featuring the same main characters, which won the Best Animated Short Film Oscar in 1994. [2] In Canada, it was the highest-rated Canadian-made animated series ever when it aired in primetime on Global.

Contents

The show revolves around a married English couple named Bob and Margaret Fish. They are a middle-class professional working couple of forty-ish with no children and two dogs named William and Elizabeth, who often serve as surrogates for children and are considered to be characters with personalities in their own right. [3] Bob is a dentist and Margaret is a chiropodist.

Premise

Bob and Margaret struggle with everyday issues and mid-life crises. Stories often revolve around the mundane, but in a way that is eminently relatable, from the trials of shopping to dealing with friends who annoy them but owe them a dinner. They are often seen enjoying various takeaways – curries, various Chinese dishes, and especially pizza - as they navigate their lazy, sedentary homelives.

In the first two seasons, Bob and Margaret live in England, in the South London community of Balham. For the third and fourth seasons, they move to Toronto, Ontario, Canada, allowing the writers to explore the humour of the culture clash. The move was mandated by the realities of funding after Channel 4 backed out, with certain Canadian grants and tax benefits being dependent on stories being physically based in Canada. As such, the transition was necessary to finance the show's continued production. Fine and Snowden chose to take an executive role on these latter two seasons, reviewing scripts and consulting, but not involved in as granular detail as they were for the first two seasons. Snowden continued to provide Margaret's voice, but Brian George replaced Andy Hamilton as Bob's voice.[ citation needed ]

Characters

Main characters

Canadian-based characters

British-based characters

Series overview

SeasonEpisodesOriginally aired DVD and Blu-ray release date
Season premiere Season finale Region 1 Region 2 Region 4
113 3 December 199825 February 199916 February 2010 [4]
213 19 August 199918 November 199925 September 2005 [5] 17 July 2006 [6]
313 30 May 200122 August 2001
413 13 September 200129 November 2001

Episodes

Season 1 (1998-1999)

  • All episodes in Season 1 are directed by Jamie Whitney, Andrew Young and Jason Groh
No. in seriesTitleWritten byOriginal air date
1"A Tale of Two Dentists"David Fine3 December 1998
A new dentist opens a practice right across the road from Bob's and steals all his customers. His receptionist also defects, so Bob hires Penny. But things are not as they seem.
2"A Night In"David Fine10 December 1998
A quiet night at home...unfortunately it falls on a night when there's absolutely nothing to watch on TV.
3"Blood, Sweat, and Tears"Alison Snowden17 December 1998
Bob and Margaret decide to get fit and, after fruitless attempts at aerobics and workouts, they decide on a friendly game of badminton against Cathy and her latest boyfriend, Ken.
4"Burglary"Alison Snowden and David Fine24 December 1998
After Bob and Margaret's home is robbed, they file a police report and an insurance claim. Bob tries to get Margaret to lie on the insurance claim so they can get bigger/newer/flashier/fancier high-tech replacements. Margaret feels that this is dishonest and leads to high insurance premiums; she'd rather get comparable replacements and install a home security system. Meanwhile, the thieves watch for empty shipping boxes left for the trash collector.
5"Shopping"David Fine31 December 1998
After realizing they spend too much on take out meals and expensive local shops, Bob and Margaret decide to shop at a new discount grocery store out of town, but the expedition is anything but easy or cheap.
6"The Holiday"Alison Snowden7 January 1999
7"For Pete's Sake"Alison Snowden14 January 1999
Bob and Margaret

are stuck babysitting their niece and nephew after Bob's brother, a professional TV chef, and his producer wife are going out of the country for a new reality show.

8"Friends for Dinner"David Fine21 January 1999
Bob and Margaret are invited for what they think is dinner by another couple only to spend an uncomfortable evening drinking wine, eating peanuts, and playing a rather irritating boardgame.
9"Love's Labors Lost"Alison Snowden28 January 1999
10"The Dental Convention" Peter Baynham 4 February 1999
Bob isn't thrilled when he is asked by an old colleague to fill in as a guest speaker at the upcoming Dental Convention but Margaret talks him into it when she finds out it comes with a free stay at a luxury hotel.
11"Discomfort of Strangers"David Fine and Alison Snowden11 February 1999
Just before Bob and Margaret are about to go on a second honeymoon, their cousins from Toronto stop by for an extended visit.
12"Trick of Treat"David Fine and Alison Snowden18 February 1999
13"Neighbors"Peter Baynham25 February 1999
Bob and Margaret become acquainted with their new neighbors and invite them to a new restaurant, but the evening becomes a total disaster.

Season 2 (1999)

No. in seriesTitleDirected byWritten byOriginal air date
14"Bob Gets Wired"Doug Thoms, Karen Lessman, Jamie Whitney, and Harold HarrisJeremy Hardy19 August 1999
After Margaret is arrested for shoplifting a bag of sprinkles she mistakenly put in her pocket, Bob wears a wire to exonerate her when the police think she is connected to an arson.
15"No Trouble"Doug ThomsPeter Baynham26 August 1999
16"The Trouble with Mummy"Jamie WhitneyJamie Whitney, David Fine, and Alison Snowden2 September 1999
After his mother's best friend passes away, Bob's siblings think she needs to move to a nursing home so they can sell her house and split the proceeds.
17"The Fly on the Wall"Doug Thoms Tim Fountain 9 September 1999
Bob becomes the subject of a documentary about the dental industry being directed by an old classmate, unaware of how he is actually being portrayed.
18"Problems"Jamie WhitneyJeremy Hardy16 September 1999
19"A Patient Dies in Bob's Chair"Doug ThomsAndy Riley and Kevin Cecil23 September 1999
Bob loses his job after a patient dies of natural causes during a checkup and the media embellish the story.
20"Cuckoo in the Nest"Karen Lessmann and Jamie WhitneyTim Fountain7 October 1999
21"A New Life"Doug ThomsPeter Baynham14 October 1999
Bob becomes enchanted by the prospect of moving into a new planned community but it's Margaret who is coveted by the community.
22"Animal Behavior"Karen Lessmann and Jamie WhitneyRosie Shuster21 October 1999
23"Party Politics"Doug Thoms Sarah Smith 28 October 1999
24"Going Dutch"Karen LessmannSally Phillips4 November 1999
25"My Foot Hurts"Karen LessmannAndy Riley and Kevin Cecil11 November 1999
26"A Bob or Two"Karen LessmannTim Fountain and David Fine18 November 1999
Bob and Margaret disagree on what to do when they purchases a painting from a neighbor's rummage sale and is shocked to learn that it may be worth a fortune.

Season 3 (2001)

No. in seriesTitleDirected byWritten byOriginal air date
27"Stranded in Toronto"Julian HarrisRosalind Shuster31 May 2001
Bob and Margaret plan a vacation to New York but bad weather forces a layover in Toronto while their dogs are left in the care of Bob's assistant Penny, who promptly leaves them for an outing with her boyfriend.
28"Strangers in a Strange Land"Dan PoitrasValri Blomfield7 June 2001
Bob and Margaret become pariahs in London after they are accused of leaving their dogs unattended while they are stuck in Toronto.
29"Margaret Gets a Job"Julian HarrisRosalind Shuster and David Cole14 June 2001
Margaret, after she and Bob immigrated to Toronto to retain custody of their dogs, struggles to find work while Bob already has one.
30"'Til Death Do Us Part"Dan PoitrasHeather Conkie21 June 2001
Bob is tricked into buying a cemetery plot for him and Margaret as an anniversary present.
31"The Wedding"Julian HarrisDavid Cole28 June 2001
32"Fish at the Bat"Dan PoitrasMatthew Cope5 July 2001
33"Over-Exposed"Dan PoitrasValri Blomfield and David Cole
Story idea by: Andrew Nicholls and Darrell Vickers
12 July 2001
34"Age Before Beauty"Julian Harris Leila Basen and David Preston19 July 2001
35"Book Club"Julian HarrisHeather Conkie26 July 2001
36"On Location"Julian HarrisValri Bromfield2 August 2001
When a movie is being shot right next door, Bob and Margaret both find themselves involved with the production.
37"Cottage Country"Dan PoitrasTerry Saltsman9 August 2001
38"Driving Bob"Julian HarrisValri Bromfield16 August 2001
39"Undefined Border"Julian HarrisDavid Cole23 August 2001

Season 4 (2001)

No. in seriesTitleDirected byWritten byOriginal air date
40"New Lease on Life"David ThomasMatthew Cope and David Cole6 September 2001
41"Jury Duty"David ThomasDavid Cole13 September 2001
42"The Player"Harold HarrisChas Lawther and Gail Kerbel20 September 2001
43"The Getaway"David ThomasMatthew Cope and David ColeSeptember 27, 2001
44"Mummy's Boy"David ThomasJulie Lacey4 October 2001
45"Gone to Seed"David ThomasTerry Saltsman11 October 2001
46"The Candidate"Julian HarrisTerry Saltsman18 October 2001
47"Life Saver"Julian HarrisJennifer Cowan25 October 2001
48"I, Bob"Julian HarrisDavid Cole1 November 2001
49"Mastermind"Julian HarrisDavid Cole8 November 2001
50"Outward Bound"David ThomasDavid Fine and David Cole15 November 2001
51"Gary"David ThomasChas Lawther and Gail Kerbel22 November 2001
52"A Very Fishy Christmas"David ThomasDavid Fine29 November 2001

Telecast and home media

The programme was shown in the UK on Channel 4 and Ftn, in the US on Comedy Central, and in Germany and France on Arte. Comedy Central only showed the two "London" seasons. The third and fourth "Toronto" seasons were eventually shown (almost two years after Comedy Central showed the last second-season episode) on Showtime.

Bob and Margaret formerly aired on Locomotion, and Adult Swim Latin America. Cartoon Network Brazil aired its four seasons on the Adult Swim block. The London seasons also get shown in the United Kingdom, currently on Channel 4. It also had a brief run years later on the Canadian YTV. In December 2013, biTe started to air this series (until the rebrand to Makeful on 24 August 2015).

VHS and DVD

United Kingdom

Two VHS tapes of the series containing three Series 1 episodes each were released in 1999 by Video Collection International under their Channel 4 Video imprint.

The entirety of Series 2 was released on DVD in July 2006 by Maverick Entertainment.

US/Canada

In 1999, Season 1 was released on six VHS volumes by Paramount Home Entertainment containing two episodes each.

In Canada, the series has seen DVD releases. Series 2 was released in 2005 by Kaboom! Entertainment and Phase 4 Films, and Season 1 was released in February 2010 by Phase 4 Films/Kaboom!. Both releases are two-disc sets containing all 13 episodes of each season.

See also

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References

  1. Perlmutter, David (2018). The Encyclopedia of American Animated Television Shows. Rowman & Littlefield. pp. 85–86. ISBN   978-1538103739.
  2. Gates, Anita (21 June 1998). "TELEVISION; Unassertive, Unexciting And Loverly". New York Times. Archived from the original on 4 August 2017. Retrieved 12 August 2010.
  3. Erickson, Hal (2005). Television Cartoon Shows: An Illustrated Encyclopedia, 1949 Through 2003 (2nd ed.). McFarland & Co. p. 149. ISBN   978-1476665993.
  4. "Bob & Margaret Series 1 Amazon Link (Region 1)". Amazon UK. Archived from the original on 21 April 2024. Retrieved 30 August 2017.
  5. "Bob & Margaret Series 2 Amazon Link(Region 1)". Amazon. Archived from the original on 21 April 2024. Retrieved 30 August 2017.
  6. "Bob & Margaret Series 2 Amazon Link (Region 2)". Amazon UK. Archived from the original on 21 April 2024. Retrieved 30 August 2017.