Arthur (TV Series) - Production

Production

In 1994, Marc Brown was approached by WGBH and PBS about the possibility of adapting the Arthur books into a television series. Brown was reluctant at first to become a part of a medium for which he had little respect, but soon agreed when he learned that the objective of the television series would be to use the powerful medium of television to promote children to reading books.

Although the program is primarily written and produced by WGBH of Boston, the production of the animation and voice acting are done in Montreal, Toronto, South Korea, and Hong Kong. The animation of the show was done at AKOM Production Company from season 1 to season 11, then at Animation Services (HK) Ltd from season 12 to present. The entire cast of Arthur lives in Montreal or Toronto, where Cookie Jar Entertainment's studios are located. The only segments of the show that are filmed outside Canada are the "A Word from Us Kids" interstitials, filmed at elementary schools or other educational sites in the Boston area. Beginning in Season 11, the "A Word From Us Kids" segment was replaced by a segment called "Postcards from You", where live-action videos sent in by young viewers were spotlighted per episode. The segments are omitted from all airings outside the U.S.

Marc Brown's children, Tolon, Eliza and Tucker, are referenced in the show many times, just as they are in the Arthur book series. For example, the town's moving company is called "Tolon Moving", and everyday items such as cups or pencil sharpeners have the word "Eliza" printed on them. References to Cookie Jar Entertainment and WGBH also appear often on the show. In one episode, Francine and Buster are shown playing a table hockey game in which one team's players wear shirts in the Montreal Canadiens' signature colours with Montreal-based Cinar's logo on them (Cinar was the predecessor to today's Cookie Jar Entertainment) and the other team's players wear shirts in the Boston Bruins' colors with Boston-based WGBH's sting logo on them. Subsequent episodes that involve hockey also depict players wearing these sweater designs. Also, in the episode "The Big Blow-Up" in Season 2, a racecar driver wears a jersey with "Cinar" written on it and a car with "WGBH" written on it. In the episode "Prove It" in Season 4, The Brain introduces D.W. to science while watching a non-animated episode of Nova, a science series also produced by WGBH. Brown's son Tolon, for whom Brown first invented the character of Arthur the Aardvark in a bedtime story, is the executive director of the show.

In October 1999, Cinar was investigated for tax fraud. It was revealed that the husband-and-wife chairman Micheline Charest and president Ronald Weinberg invested $122 million (US) into Bahamian bank accounts without the boardmembers' approval. Cinar had also paid American screenwriters for work while continuing to accept Canadian federal grants for content. While the province of Quebec did not file criminal charges, Cinar paid a settlement to Canadian and Quebec tax authorities and Charest and Weinberg were banned from serving in the capacity of directors or officers at any publicly traded Canadian company for five years. During and after the scandal, many of the producers of Arthur left Cinar, including Joe Fallon and Ken Scarborough, the head writers from season 1 to 4.

In season 12, the series began creating and airing episodes in 1080i HD format. In the U.S., the episodes still air in the 4:3 aspect ratio, with the left and right sides cropped out. Season 12 also marks for the switching of animation studios from AKOM to ASHK. Starting with season 16, the show is now produced by 9 Story Entertainment and airs in the 16:9 aspect ratio. Along with this change, 9 Story produced a re-mastered opening theme for the show in 16:9.