Curious George (TV series)

Last updated
Curious George
Curious George (TV series).jpg
Genre Adventure
Comedy
Edutainment
Based on
Curious George
by
Developed byJoe Fallon
Voices of
Narrated by
Theme music composer
  • Rocco Gagliese
  • Steve D'Angelo
  • Terry Tompkins
Opening theme"Like Curious George!" performed by Dr. John
Ending theme"Like Curious George!" (instrumental)
ComposerNick Nolan
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons15
No. of episodes198 (389 segments + 3 specials) (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producers
Editor Kirk Demorest
Running time22 minutes (11 minutes per segment)
Production companies
Original release
Network
ReleaseSeptember 4, 2006 (2006-09-04) 
April 1, 2015 (2015-04-01)
ReleaseSeptember 3, 2018 (2018-09-03) 
March 17, 2022 (2022-03-17) [1]

Curious George is an American children's animated television series based on the children's book series of the same name for PBS Kids and a sequel series to the 2006 animated film Curious George . Frank Welker, who voiced George in the 2006 film, reprises the role in the series while Jeff Bennett co-stars as the voice of "The Man with the Yellow Hat" (whose name is revealed in the film to be Ted Shackelford), replacing Will Ferrell. [2] The show premiered on PBS Kids on September 4, 2006, not long after the film's release, [3] and originally ended after nine seasons on April 1, 2015 before returning in 2018. Later seasons were released on Peacock, and the series concluded on March 17, 2022 after a total of 15 seasons. This is the second animated series from Imagine Entertainment, following 1999’s The PJs.

Contents

Season 10 premiered on September 3, 2018 on Family Jr. in Canada. Seasons 10–13 debuted on NBCUniversal's streaming service Peacock in the United States when it launched in July 2020. [4] Seasons 1–9 are available to stream for Peacock Premium subscribers since September 20, 2020, which is also available to stream on Hulu. [5] Season 10 premiered on PBS on October 5 the same year. [6]

Curious George is a production of Universal 1440 Entertainment (Universal Studios Family Productions before 2013 [7] ), Imagine Entertainment, and WGBH-TV (WGBH Kids) (before season 13), [8] and animation production by Toon City in some seasons. [9] From seasons 1–9, each episode has two animated segments per half hour episode, and a short live-action segment after each. The live-action shorts illustrate and explain various STEM concepts, and shows a class with kids engaging in experiments that demonstrate a concept within the previous episode's script. After the ninth season, the STEM featurettes were phased out.

Premise

Setting

Characters

Main

Supporting

Minor

Voice cast

Episodes

The setting for most episodes is either the city, where George lives in an apartment building with the Man in the Yellow Hat, or the country, where they share a small house near a lake called Lake Wanasinklake (on rare occasions, both settings are featured). This allows George to mirror the experiences of kids who live in an urban environment and those who live on farms and in suburbs. A few episodes take place in alternate but familiar settings, like an airport or a train station.

SeasonSegmentsEpisodesOriginally aired
First airedLast airedNetwork
1 6030September 4, 2006 (2006-09-04)February 23, 2007 (2007-02-23) PBS Kids
2 4020September 3, 2007 (2007-09-03)April 22, 2008 (2008-04-22)
3 2211September 1, 2008 (2008-09-01)April 22, 2009 (2009-04-22)
4 189September 8, 2009 (2009-09-08)June 14, 2010 (2010-06-14)
5 2010September 6, 2010 (2010-09-06)May 6, 2011 (2011-05-06)
6 2010September 5, 2011 (2011-09-05)June 25, 2012 (2012-06-25)
7 126December 3, 2012 (2012-12-03)April 24, 2013 (2013-04-24)
8 126February 10, 2014 (2014-02-10)May 21, 2014 (2014-05-21)
9 126October 28, 2014 (2014-10-28)April 1, 2015 (2015-04-01)
10 2815September 3, 2018 (2018-09-03)December 10, 2018 (2018-12-10) Family Jr.
11 2915May 6, 2019 (2019-05-06)August 12, 2019 (2019-08-12)
12 2915February 3, 2020 (2020-02-03)February 21, 2020 (2020-02-21)
13 3015July 15, 2020 (2020-07-15)December 11, 2020 (2020-12-11) Peacock
14 2915October 21, 2021 (2021-10-21)
15 2815March 17, 2022 (2022-03-17)

Broadcast and release

The show premiered on PBS through PBS Kids in the United States. The series is broadcast by CBC Kids, TVOKids, Knowledge Network, and Family Jr. in Canada. Season 10 premiered on PBS and the series made its debut on the PBS Kids 24/7 channel the same day. All seasons are available on Peacock and PBS Kids with the first 9 seasons exclusive to Peacock Premium and Hulu.

Curious George: A Very Monkey Christmas, an animated television film, was released on November 25, 2009. It was distributed by PBS and produced by Imagine Entertainment and Universal Animation Studios. The film is a holiday television special featuring George, as featured in the TV series, wondering what to give The Man in The Yellow Hat who is also wondering what to give George. It is shown every Christmas season on PBS Kids.

On September 30, 2024, the series stopped airing on PBS Member Stations possibly due to licensing rights expiring. Despite this, the series still airs on the 24/7 PBS Kids network.

Awards

Emmy Award

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References

  1. "Curious George".
  2. Perlmutter, David (2018). The Encyclopedia of American Animated Television Shows. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 143. ISBN   978-1538103739.
  3. Publicity, Pbs (2005-01-15). "Curious George In Production for PBS KIDS". About PBS - Main. Retrieved 2023-10-23.
  4. "NBCUNIVERSAL UNVEILS PEACOCK, A FREE PREMIUM AD-SUPPORTED STREAMING SERVICE WITH SUBSCRIPTION TIERS". NBCUNIVERSAL MEDIA. 2020-01-16. Retrieved 2020-04-22.
  5. "Curious George New Movie, TV Series Seasons Streaming Free on Peacock". Variety. 3 September 2020. Retrieved 2020-09-04.
  6. @ItsPeebs (2020-08-20). "Beginning October 5, 2020, Season 10 of Curious George will debut on PBS! 5 "new" episodes will air that week. These episodes are already available on Peacock" (Tweet) via Twitter.
  7. "Curious George – Program Summary". PBS. Archived from the original on October 31, 2012. Retrieved September 18, 2016.
  8. "Curious George – Program Summary". PBS. Retrieved September 18, 2016.
  9. "Curious George – TV Credits". PBS. Retrieved September 18, 2016.