''Hey Arnold!'' is an American animated comedy television series created by

Craig Bartlett Craig Michael Bartlett (born October 18, 1956) is an American animator, best known for writing, directing, creating and producing the Nickelodeon television series ''Hey Arnold!'' and the PBS Kids television series ''Dinosaur Train'' and '' Read ...

. It originally aired on

Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (often shortened to Nick) is an American pay television channel which launched on April 1, 1979, as the first cable channel for children. It is run by Paramount Global through its networks division's Kids and Family Group. It ...

from October 7, 1996, to June 8, 2004. The show centers on fourth grader Arnold Shortman, who lives with his grandparents in an

inner-city The term ''inner city'' has been used, especially in the United States, as a euphemism for majority-minority lower-income residential districts that often refer to rundown neighborhoods, in a downtown or city centre area. Sociologists someti ...

tenement A tenement is a type of building shared by multiple dwellings, typically with flats or apartments on each floor and with shared entrance stairway access. They are common on the British Isles, particularly in Scotland. In the medieval Old Town, i ...

. Episodes center on his experiences navigating urban life while dealing with the problems he and his friends encounter. Many episodes however, focus on other characters, including major, secondary, supporting, and even minor characters. Bartlett's idea for the show is based on a minor character named Arnold whom he created while working on ''

Pee-wee's Playhouse ''Pee-wee's Playhouse'' is an American television series starring Paul Reubens as the childlike Pee-wee Herman that ran from 1986 to 1990 on Saturday mornings on CBS, and airing in reruns until July 1991. The show was developed from Reubens's po ...

''. The executives enjoyed the character, and Bartlett completed the cast and setting by drawing inspiration from people and locations he grew up with in

Seattle, Washington Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest region ...

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populous ...

, and

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

. Bartlett created the pilot episode in his living room in 1994 and official production began in 1995. The animators worked to transform Arnold from

clay animation Clay animation or claymation, sometimes plasticine animation, is one of many forms of stop-motion animation. Each animated piece, either character or background, is "deformable"—made of a malleable substance, usually plasticine clay. Tra ...

cel animation Traditional animation (or classical animation, cel animation, or hand-drawn animation) is an animation technique in which each frame is drawn by hand. The technique was the dominant form of animation in cinema until computer animation. Proc ...

, leading to the series premiere in 1996. Production on the show concluded on December 7, 2001, after 5 seasons and

100 episodes In the U.S. television industry, 100 episodes is the traditional threshold for a television series to enter syndicated reruns. One hundred episodes are advantageous for stripped syndication because it allows for 20 weeks of weekday reruns (depe ...

, and its last episode aired unannounced on June 8, 2004. A feature film based on the series, '' Hey Arnold!: The Movie'', was released in theaters on June 28, 2002. All five seasons have been released on DVD. On March 2, 2016, a

television film A television film, alternatively known as a television movie, made-for-TV film/movie or TV film/movie, is a feature-length film that is produced and originally distributed by or to a television network, in contrast to theatrical films made for ...

continuation of the series, '' Hey Arnold!: The Jungle Movie'', was greenlit. It picks up from where the series ended and resolved the unanswered plotlines of the story. The film premiered on November 24, 2017 on Nickelodeon,

Nicktoons Nicktoons is a collective name used by Nickelodeon for their original animated series. All Nicktoons are produced partly at the Nickelodeon Animation Studio and list Nickelodeon's parent company (Viacom, now known as Paramount Global) in their ...

TeenNick TeenNick is an American pay-TV channel that is operated by the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Aimed primarily at teens and tweens, its programming includes a variety of live-action series inherited from sister channel Ni ...

NickRewind NickRewind (formerly The '90s Are All That, The Splat, and NickSplat) was an American late night programming block that broadcast nightly over the channel space of TeenNick. The block showed reruns of mid-late 1980s, 1990s, and early-mid 2000 ...

and on November 24, 2018, as an international theatrical release, wrapping up the series's storyline.

Premise

Setting

''Hey Arnold!'' takes place in a rundown neighborhood in the fictional American city of Hillwood,

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

. Creator

described the city as "an amalgam of large northern cities I have loved, including

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest region o ...

(my hometown), Portland (where I went to art school) and

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

(the

bridge A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually someth ...

, the brownstones, the subway)"; the city also contains inspirations from

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

, such as a baseball field called Quigley Field (a reference to the real-life

Wrigley Field Wrigley Field is a Major League Baseball (MLB) stadium on the North Side of Chicago, Illinois. It is the home of the Chicago Cubs, one of the city's two MLB franchises. It first opened in 1914 as Weeghman Park for Charles Weeghman's Chicago ...

).'Hey Arnold!' Wasn't Set In Brooklyn In A Revelation That Will Blow Your Mind
''Bustle'' Evan Levine of the ''

Houston Chronicle The ''Houston Chronicle'' is the largest daily newspaper in Houston, Texas, United States. , it is the third-largest newspaper by Sunday circulation in the United States, behind only ''The New York Times'' and the ''Los Angeles Times''. With i ...

'' commented on the series's "backdrop of dark streets, nighttime adventures and rundown buildings, all seen from a child's point of view." At the end of the episode "Road Trip", when Helga and Miriam are returning home after having car troubles en route to

South Dakota South Dakota (; Sioux: , ) is a U.S. state in the North Central region of the United States. It is also part of the Great Plains. South Dakota is named after the Lakota and Dakota Sioux Native American tribes, who comprise a large po ...

, they pass a sign marking the

Washington State Washington (), officially the State of Washington, is a U.S. state, state in the Northwestern United States, Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. Named for George Washington—the first President of the United States, U.S. p ...

border, implying that Hillwood is in Washington.Looking for Portland in Hey, Arnold!
''Portland Monthly'' The Pig War, as re-enacted in the episode of the same title, took place on the boundary between what is now

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, for ...

and the state of Washington. A bridge that leads to downtown Hillwood resembles Portland's

Burnside Bridge The Burnside Bridge is a 1926-built bascule bridge that spans the Willamette River in Portland, Oregon, United States, carrying Burnside Street. It is the second bridge at the same site to carry that name. It was added to the National Register ...

, while Gerald's house was modeled after the Victorian houses seen in

Nob Hill Nob Hill is a neighborhood of San Francisco, California, United States that is known for its numerous luxury hotels and historic mansions. Nob Hill has historically served as a center of San Francisco's upper class. Nob Hill is among the hig ...

, Portland.

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

(with landmarks such as the

Empire State Building The Empire State Building is a 102-story Art Deco skyscraper in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The building was designed by Shreve, Lamb & Harmon and built from 1930 to 1931. Its name is derived from " Empire State", the nickname of the ...

, Twin Towers, and

Statue of Liberty The Statue of Liberty (''Liberty Enlightening the World''; French: ''La Liberté éclairant le monde'') is a colossal neoclassical sculpture on Liberty Island in New York Harbor in New York City, in the United States. The copper statue, ...

visible in the skyline) was also seen in Helga's dream in the episode "Married", presumably as a separate city from Hillwood in-universe.

Characters

''Hey Arnold!'' features nine-year-old Arnold Shortman (voiced by

Lane Toran In road transport, a lane is part of a roadway that is designated to be used by a single line of vehicles to control and guide drivers and reduce traffic conflicts. Most public roads (highways) have at least two lanes, one for traffic in each ...

;

Phillip Van Dyke Phillip Van Dyke (born June 13, 1984) is an American former actor, best known for his role as the goblin Luke in the first two installments of Disney's '' Halloweentown'' film series and Arnold Shortman in seasons two and three of Nickelodeon's ...

; Spencer Klein; and

Alex D. Linz Alexander David Linz (born January 3, 1989) is an American former child actor who starred in several late 1990s and early 2000s films and television series. His film roles include ''Home Alone 3'' (1997) and ''Max Keeble's Big Move'' (2001). He ...

) and his neighborhood friends: Gerald Johanssen (voiced by

Jamil Walker Smith Jamil Walker Smith (born August 20, 1982) is an American actor, director, producer and writer. His best known role is as the voice of Gerald, a fourth grader and Arnold's best friend in the Nickelodeon animated TV series ''Hey Arnold!''. He als ...

), a street-smart character who generally serves as the leader of the group; and Helga Pataki (

Francesca Marie Smith Francesca Marie Smith (born March 26, 1985) is an American actress and writer, best known for voicing Helga Pataki on the Nickelodeon animated television series ''Hey Arnold!''. She is also known for voicing multiple characters on Disney's '' Re ...

), a girl who bullies Arnold in order to hide the fact that she is in love with him. Bartlett drew inspiration from people he grew up with when creating the characters for the show. Arnold lives with his eccentric but loving paternal grandparents, Phil (

Dan Castellaneta Daniel Louis Castellaneta (; born October 29, 1957) is an American actor, comedian, and writer. He is best known for voicing Homer Simpson on the animated series ''The Simpsons'' (as well as other characters on the show such as Abraham "Grampa" ...

) and his wife Gertrude (

Tress MacNeille Teressa Claire MacNeille (née Payne; born June 20, 1951) is an American voice actress, whose credits include voicing Dot Warner on the animated television series '' Animaniacs'', Babs Bunny on ''Tiny Toon Adventures'', Chip and Gadget Hackwrenc ...

), proprietors of the Sunset Arms boarding house, in the fictional city of Hillwood. In each episode, he helps a schoolmate or boarding house tenant in solving a personal problem or encounters a predicament of his own. Many episodes involve

urban legend An urban legend (sometimes contemporary legend, modern legend, urban myth, or urban tale) is a genre of folklore comprising stories or fallacious claims circulated as true, especially as having happened to a "friend of a friend" or a family m ...

s (usually told by Gerald), such as

superhero A superhero or superheroine is a stock character that typically possesses ''superpowers'', abilities beyond those of ordinary people, and fits the role of the hero, typically using his or her powers to help the world become a better place, ...

es or the

Headless Horseman The Headless Horseman is a mythical figure who has appeared in folklore around the world since the Middle Ages. The figure is traditionally depicted as a rider upon horseback who is missing his head. Description Depending on the legend, the Hors ...

. Other characters include students and faculty at P.S. 118, Arnold's school, and citizens of Hillwood. Certain episodes focus on the lives of supporting characters, such as the tenants of the boarding house that Arnold's grandparents own.

Episodes

Production

, the show's creator, was born in Seattle, Washington, which he used as inspiration for the backdrop of ''Hey Arnold!''. He graduated from Anacortes High School and obtained a degree in communications from

The Evergreen State College The Evergreen State College is a public liberal arts college in Olympia, Washington. Founded in 1967, it offers a non-traditional undergraduate curriculum in which students have the option to design their own study towards a degree or follow a p ...

Olympia, Washington Olympia is the capital of the U.S. state of Washington and the county seat and largest city of Thurston County. It is southwest of the state's most populous city, Seattle, and is a cultural center of the southern Puget Sound region. Europea ...

. During high school and college, he studied painting and sculpture at the Museum Art School in Portland. Originally, Bartlett intended to become a painter "in the 19th-century sense", but he became interested in animation during a trip to Italy. His first post-graduation job was at

Will Vinton Productions William Gale Vinton (November 17, 1947 – October 4, 2018) was an American animator and filmmaker. Vinton was best known for his Claymation work, alongside creating iconic characters such as The California Raisins. He won an Oscar for his work a ...

, a

claymation Clay animation or claymation, sometimes plasticine animation, is one of many forms of stop-motion animation. Each animated piece, either character or background, is "deformable"—made of a malleable substance, usually plasticine clay. Tra ...

studio in Portland. In 1987, Bartlett relocated to Los Angeles, where he joined a team developing claymation cutaways for the television program ''

''. The short segments centered on a character named Penny and her friend Arnold. Bartlett later made three ''Arnold'' shorts: ''Arnold Escapes from Church'' (1988), ''The Arnold Waltz'' (1990), and ''Arnold Rides a Chair'' (1991), the latter aired as a filler short on ''

Sesame Street ''Sesame Street'' is an American educational children's television series that combines live-action, sketch comedy, animation and puppetry. It is produced by Sesame Workshop (known as the Children's Television Workshop until June 2000 ...

'' in 1991. The same year, ''Arnold'' comic strips also appeared in ''

Simpsons Illustrated ''Simpsons Illustrated'' was a companion magazine to the American animated television show ''The Simpsons''. It featured, among many other things, articles and interviews about the show, and comics based on the ''Simpsons'' universe. ''Simpsons I ...

'' magazine by

Matt Groening Matthew Abram Groening ( ; born February 15, 1954) is an American cartoonist, writer, producer, and animator. He is the creator of the comic strip ''Life in Hell'' (1977–2012) and the television series ''The Simpsons'' (1989–present), ''Fut ...

, the creator of ''

The Simpsons ''The Simpsons'' is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical depiction of American life, epitomized by the Simpson family, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, ...

'', who was also Craig Bartlett's brother-in-law. Bartlett later joined the staff for ''

Rugrats ''Rugrats'' is an American animated television series created by Arlene Klasky, Gábor Csupó, and Paul Germain for Nickelodeon. The show focuses on a group of toddlers; most prominently— Tommy, Chuckie, Angelica, and twins Phil and Lil, a ...

'', where he served as story editor for three years. In 1993, he teamed up with five writers from ''Rugrats'' to develop animated projects for Nickelodeon. These meetings were generally difficult and the writers became frustrated; Bartlett recalled: "Our ideas were OK, but such a large and motley group couldn't get far at pitch meetings. Network execs got

migraine Migraine (, ) is a common neurological disorder characterized by recurrent headaches. Typically, the associated headache affects one side of the head, is pulsating in nature, may be moderate to severe in intensity, and could last from a few hou ...

s just counting us coming in the door." As a last resort, Bartlett played the ''Penny'' tapes, intending to highlight the Penny character. However, the executives were more impressed by Arnold, despite his status as a minor character. After the meeting, the group began developing Arnold, creating his personality. Bartlett stated: "We did a lot of talking about who Arnold is. We came up with a reluctant hero who keeps finding himself responsible for solving something, making the right choices, doing the right thing." After creating ideas for Arnold, Bartlett began work on the supporting characters, drawing influence from his childhood: "A lot of the characters are an amalgam of people I knew when I was a kid. The girls in ''Hey Arnold!'' are girls that either liked or didn't like me when I was in school." In 1994, Bartlett began work on the pilot episode of ''Hey Arnold!''. A year later, the network decided to begin work on the series. The ten-minute pilot episode, titled ''Arnold'', was shown in theaters on July 10, 1996, before Nickelodeon's first feature-length film, its adaptation of '' Harriet the Spy''. Apart from the animation style, Nick's Arnold wears a sweater, with his plaid shirt untucked (resembling a

kilt A kilt ( gd, fèileadh ; Irish: ''féileadh'') is a garment resembling a wrap-around knee-length skirt, made of twill woven worsted wool with heavy pleats at the sides and back and traditionally a tartan pattern. Originating in the Scottish ...

). Only Arnold's cap remains unchanged from his original clay-animation wardrobe. ''Hey Arnold!'' was Nickelodeon's first animated series to feature kids voiced by actual children instead of adults. As a result of this, many of the boy characters, including Arnold himself, were recast at least once throughout the show's run, due to the child actors reaching puberty. One notable exception to this was

, the voice of Gerald. After Smith's voice changed, auditions for a new actor were held, but the crew felt none of them were suitable replacements. As a result, Smith was kept on as the voice of Gerald, whose voice subsequently changed in-universe with the episode ''Gerald's Tonsils''. This would last until ''The Jungle Movie'', which featured Benjamin Flores Jr. as the voice of Gerald instead. Production of ''Hey Arnold!'' wrapped on December 7, 2001. A dispute over a second then-planned ''Hey Arnold!'' movie, '' The Jungle Movie'', resulted in Bartlett leaving Nickelodeon. The last season's episodes were released over four years, beginning on March 4, 2000. The series aired its final episode, unannounced, on June 8, 2004. ''The Jungle Movie'' was eventually released as a television film on November 24, 2017.

Broadcast

United States

''Hey Arnold!'' originally aired on Nickelodeon in the United States from October 7, 1996, until June 8, 2004, with reruns until September 1, 2006. In 2002,

Nicktoons Network Nicktoons (formerly Nicktoons Network) is an American pay television channel owned by Paramount Media Networks. The channel is geared towards children aged 7 to 11, and broadcasts reruns of original animated series from sister network Nickelo ...

began broadcasting the show, and aired reruns of ''Hey Arnold!'' until May 30, 2007, when the show was taken off its nightly schedule. The show aired in reruns on the now-defunct ''

Nick on CBS ''Nick on CBS'' (also known as ''Nickelodeon on CBS'') was an American Saturday morning children's programming block featuring programming from Nickelodeon that ran on CBS from September 16, 2000, to September 9, 2006. It initially aired progr ...

'' programming block for two years, from September 14, 2002, to September 4, 2004.

International

''Hey Arnold!'' premiered on October 30, 1996, in the United Kingdom, originally on

CITV CITV (short for Children's ITV, also known as the CITV Channel) is a British free-to-air children's television channel owned by ITV plc. It broadcasts content from the CITV archive and acquisitions, every day from 6 am to 9 pm which ...

. ''Hey Arnold!'' aired in reruns on Canadian Nickelodeon from September 5, 2011, to August 29, 2022. In 2017, the

Kenya Film Classification Board The Kenya Film Classification Board (abbreviated as KFCB) is a state corporation that operates under the Government of Kenya whose mandate is to "regulate the creation, broadcasting, possession, distribution and exhibition of films by rating them ...

banned ''Hey Arnold!'', together with the cartoon series ''

The Loud House ''The Loud House'' is an American animated television series created by Chris Savino that premiered on Nickelodeon on May 2, 2016. The series revolves around the chaotic everyday life of a boy named Lincoln Loud, who is the middle child and only s ...

'', ''

The Legend of Korra ''The Legend of Korra'' (abbreviated as TLOK), also known as ''Avatar: The Legend of Korra'' or simply ''Korra'', is an American anime-influenced animated television series created by Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko for Nickelode ...

'', ''

Steven Universe ''Steven Universe'' is an American animated television series created by Rebecca Sugar for Cartoon Network. It tells the coming-of-age story of a young boy, Steven Universe ( Zach Callison), who lives with the Crystal Gems—magical, mineral ...

'', ''

Clarence Clarence may refer to: Places Australia * Clarence County, New South Wales, a Cadastral division * Clarence, New South Wales, a place near Lithgow * Clarence River (New South Wales) * Clarence Strait (Northern Territory) * City of Clarence, a l ...

'' and ''

Adventure Time ''Adventure Time'' is an American fantasy animated television series created by Pendleton Ward for Cartoon Network and distributed by Warner Bros. Domestic Television. The series follows the adventures of a boy named Finn (Jeremy Shada) and ...

'', from being broadcast in Kenya. According to the Board, the reason was that these series were "glorifying homosexual behavior".

Critical Reception

Retrospective

In an article for '' Vox'', Caroline Framke praised ''Hey Arnold''’s depiction of

adolescence Adolescence () is a transitional stage of physical and psychological development that generally occurs during the period from puberty to adulthood (typically corresponding to the age of majority). Adolescence is usually associated with the ...

and

urban life Urban means "related to a city". In that sense, the term may refer to: * Urban area, geographical area distinct from rural areas * Urban culture, the culture of towns and cities Urban may also refer to: General * Urban (name), a list of peop ...

, stating: "''Hey Arnold'' wove urban legends into its empathetic narrative of how hard it can be to grow up — and how rewarding the process can be when you have some friends and a whole lot of imagination." Rafael Motamayor of ''

/Film ''/Film'', also spelled ''Slashfilm'', is a blog that covers movie news, reviews, interviews, and trailers. It was founded by Peter Sciretta in August 2005. Podcasts Six podcasts have run on the site. ''The /Filmcast'', hosted by David Chen, D ...

'' echoed that sentiment, writing "Rather than show it as a scary place where every cop show in America is set, Arnold and his friends demonstrated that the city is also a place with endless possibilities, myths, and characters. Not that the show encouraged anything bad; the kids always knew where to go and where not to go. But it showed the reality of millions of kids who grew up in urban areas, and challenged the idea of the perfect American life". ''Bustle''’s Marie Grace Goris suggested the series as the "best Nickelodeon cartoon of all time" and cited sixteen reasons why, such as its diverse characters and its ability to "emotionally stir" viewers.

Home media

Nickelodeon released all five seasons on DVD in Region 1 via Amazon.com through its CreateSpace Manufacture-on-demand program in 2008 and 2009. Season 1 was released on August 21, 2008, Season 2 on August 29, 2008, Season 3 on December 8, 2009, Season 4 on November 27, 2009, and Season 5 on December 4, 2009. On May 9, 2011, it was announced that

Shout! Factory Shout! Factory is an American home video and music company founded in 2002 as Retropolis Entertainment. Its video releases include previously released feature films, classic and contemporary television series, animation, live music, and comedy ...

had acquired the rights to the series. They subsequently released Season 1 in a 4-disc set on August 9, 2011. Season 2, Part 1 was released in a 2-disc set on March 20, 2012, followed by Season 2, Part 2 in a 2-disc set on July 24, 2012. Season 3 was released in a 3-disc set on January 29, 2013, as a "Shout Select" title. On May 14, 2013, Season 4 was released in a 2-disc set as a Shout exclusive followed by Season 5 released in a 3-disc set on October 15, 2013, also as a Shout exclusive making the entire series available on DVD. On August 19, 2014, the complete series was released in a 16-disc set through Shout! Factory as a Walmart exclusive. On November 20, 2018,

Paramount Home Entertainment Paramount Home Entertainment (formerly Paramount Home Media Distribution, and originally Paramount Home Video) is the home video distribution arm of Paramount Pictures, a division of Paramount Global. The division oversees PPC's home entertainme ...

released ''Hey Arnold!: The Ultimate Collection'' DVD containing all of the previously released episodes and movies now packaged into one set. In Australia, all five seasons have been released by

Beyond Home Entertainment Beyond International Limited is an international television and film production company with operations in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia and the United States. Listed on the Australian Securities Exchange (), the company is involved in ...

under license from Nickelodeon. A 16-disc collector's edition was released on September 1, 2016, containing all five seasons. ♦ – Shout! Factory select title sold exclusively through Shout's online store.

Films

2002 feature film

In this 2002 feature film, Arnold, Helga and Gerald set out on a quest to save their old neighborhood from a greedy developer who plans on converting it into a huge shopping mall. This film was directed by Tuck Tucker, and featured guest voice talents of

Jennifer Jason Leigh Jennifer Jason Leigh (born Jennifer Leigh Morrow; February 5, 1962) is an American actress. She began her career on television during the 1970s before making her film breakthrough as Stacy Hamilton in '' Fast Times at Ridgemont High'' (1982). Sh ...

Paul Sorvino Paul Anthony Sorvino (, ; April 13, 1939 – July 25, 2022) was an American actor. He often portrayed authority figures on both the criminal and the law enforcement sides of the law. Sorvino was particularly known for his roles as Lucchese cri ...

and

Christopher Lloyd Christopher Allen Lloyd (born October 22, 1938) is an American actor. He has appeared in many theater productions, films, and on television since the 1960s. He is known for portraying Dr. Emmett "Doc" Brown in the ''Back to the Future'' tril ...

. In 1998, Nickelodeon gave Craig Bartlett the chance to develop a

feature Feature may refer to: Computing * Feature (CAD), could be a hole, pocket, or notch * Feature (computer vision), could be an edge, corner or blob * Feature (software design) is an intentional distinguishing characteristic of a software item ...

adaptation of the series. As work on the fifth season was completing, Bartlett and company engaged in the production of ''Arnold Saves the Neighborhood'', which would eventually become '' Hey Arnold!: The Movie''. The ''Neighborhood'' project was originally made for television and home video, but executives at

Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film and television production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the main namesake division of Paramount Global (formerly ViacomCBS). It is the fifth-oldes ...

decided to release it theatrically after successful test screenings. According to animation historian

Jerry Beck Jerry Beck (born February 9, 1955, in New York City) is an American animation historian, author, blogger, and video producer. Beck wrote or edited several books on classic American animation and classic characters, including '' The 50 Greates ...

(in his ''Animated Movie Guide''), the decision was buoyed by the financial success of the first two ''Rugrats'' movies, ''

The Rugrats Movie ''The Rugrats Movie'' is a 1998 American animated comedy film based on the Nickelodeon animated television series '' Rugrats''. It was directed by Igor Kovalyov and Norton Virgien and was written by David N. Weiss & J. David Stem. The film int ...

'' and '' Rugrats in Paris: The Movie''.

2017 television film

In an interview with Arun Mehta, Craig Bartlett announced that he was working with

on a ''Hey Arnold!'' revival. In September 2015, Nickelodeon president Russell Hicks announced that the company was considering revivals for a number of their older shows, including ''Hey Arnold!''. According to an announcement by ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publish ...

'', a ''Hey Arnold!'' revival is "very much on the cards". On November 23, 2015, Nickelodeon announced that a

TV movie A television film, alternatively known as a television movie, made-for-TV film/movie or TV film/movie, is a feature-length film that is produced and originally distributed by or to a television network, in contrast to theatrical films made for ...

is in the works and will pick up right where the series left off. The film will also answer unanswered questions about the fate of Arnold's parents. On March 1, 2016, it was announced that the TV film, ''The Jungle Movie'', would be divided into two parts and would air in 2017. On March 6, 2016, voice actress

Nika Futterman Nika Futterman (born October 25, 1969) is an American voice and television actress. She is known for her voices in various animated series, including Asajj Ventress in '' Star Wars: The Clone Wars'' and Adam Lyon in ''My Gym Partner's a Mon ...

confirmed on Twitter that she and her character Olga Pataki would appear in the two-hour film. In June 2016, it was confirmed that the TV film would be titled ''The Jungle Movie'', and that 19 of the original voice actors from the series would lend their voices in the film. New cast-members included Mason Vale Cotton as Arnold; Benjamin "Lil' P-Nut" Flores as Gerald; Gavin Lewis as Eugene;

Jet Jurgensmeyer Jet Jurgensmeyer (born November 27, 2004) is an American actor. He began his career as a child actor, playing the role of Spanky in the 2014 film ''The Little Rascals Save the Day'', and Bobby Anderson in the 2016 Disney Channel television film ...

as Stinky; Aiden Lewandowski as Sid; Laya Hayes as Nadine; Nicolas Cantu as Curly;

Wally Wingert Wallace Eugene Wingert (born May 6, 1961) is an American voice actor. His roles include Almighty Tallest Red in ''Invader Zim'', Renji Abarai in ''Bleach'', Kotetsu T. Kaburagi / Wild Tiger in '' Tiger & Bunny'', The Riddler in the '' Batman: ...

as Oskar;

Stephen Stanton Stephen Walter Stanton (born August 22, 1961) is an American voice actor and visual effects artist. His roles include Sasha Nein in ''Psychonauts'' and ''Psychonauts 2'', Grand Moff Tarkin in the ''Star Wars'' franchise, Admiral Raddus in ''Rogu ...

as Pigeon Man; and

Alfred Molina Alfred Molina (born Alfredo Molina; 24 May 1953) is a British-American actor known for his work on the stage and screen. He first rose to prominence in the West End, earning a nomination for the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Newcomer in a Pla ...

as the villain Lasombra. The film debuted on November 24, 2017, on Nickelodeon.

Possible reboot

Before the premiere of ''The Jungle Movie'', Nickelodeon stated that if the ratings of the film would succeed they would consider rebooting the series. Though the ratings were a success with

millennials Millennials, also known as Generation Y or Gen Y, are the Western demographic cohort following Generation X and preceding Generation Z. Researchers and popular media use the early 1980s as starting birth years and the mid-1990s to early 20 ...

, it ended up missing the mark with

Generation Z Generation Z (or more commonly Gen Z for short), colloquially known as zoomers, is the Western demographic cohort succeeding Millennials and preceding Generation Alpha. Researchers and popular media use the mid-to-late 1990s as starting birt ...

so the idea of bringing back the show on Nickelodeon was scrapped. However, in August 2018, musical composer for the show Jim Lang revealed in a Tunes/Toons podcast that while Nick will not produce the show at the studio due to the poor ratings of ''The Jungle Movie'', he had this to say: "

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a ...

Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek mythology * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon (company), an American multinational technolog ...

Apple An apple is an edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus domestica''). Apple trees are cultivated worldwide and are the most widely grown species in the genus '' Malus''. The tree originated in Central Asia, where its wild ancest ...

were all people that they were going to go out to with the idea of trying to make a season six of ''Hey Arnold!''. We haven't heard anything yet but we've got our fingers crossed." In October 2019, Craig Bartlett revealed in an interview with ''The Arun Mehta Show'' that ''Hey Arnold!'' could come back as a series with the characters aged up for season 6 if the ''Rugrats'' reboot is successful.

Soundtrack

''Hey Arnold! The Music, Volume 1'' was released on July 3, 2020 as a

vinyl record A phonograph record (also known as a gramophone record, especially in British English), or simply a record, is an analog sound storage medium in the form of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove. The groove usually starts ne ...

, marking the first-ever official release of the show's music. The soundtrack included 45 minutes of previously unreleased music that had been remastered from the original audio files by

Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...

-winning sound engineer Dave Marino in conjunction with show composer Jim Lang, as well as new original exclusive artwork done by Bartlett.

References

External links

* *
''Hey Arnold!''
at

Don Markstein's Toonopedia Don Markstein's Toonopedia (subtitled A Vast Repository of Toonological Knowledge) is an online encyclopedia of print cartoons, comic strips and animation, initiated February 13, 2001. Donald D. Markstein, the sole writer and editor of Toonopedi ...

Archived
from the original on February 5, 2016. {{Former Nickelodeon original series 1990s American animated television series 1990s American children's comedy television series 1990s American school television series 1990s American sitcoms 2000s American animated television series 2000s American children's comedy television series 2000s American school television series 2000s American sitcoms 1996 American television series debuts 2004 American television series endings 1990s Nickelodeon original programming 2000s Nickelodeon original programming American animated sitcoms American children's animated adventure television series American children's animated comedy television series English-language television shows Television series created by Craig Bartlett Television shows adapted into films Animated television series about children Television shows set in Washington (state) Nicktoons Elementary school television series