''The Berenstain Bears'' is an animated comedy television series based on the children's book series of the same name by

Stan and Jan Berenstain Stanley Melvin Berenstain (September 29, 1923 – November 26, 2005) and Janice Marian Berenstain (née Grant; July 26, 1923 – February 24, 2012) were American writers and illustrators best known for creating the children's book seri ...

, produced by Southern Star Productions/Hanna Barbera Australia. It aired in the United States from September 14, 1985, to September 5, 1987, on

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

with 52 11-minute episodes in 26 half-hour shows produced. Each show consisted of two episodes, the first being an adaptation of one of the books, the second being an original story. The series was nominated in 1987 for a

Daytime Emmy The Daytime Emmy Awards, or Daytime Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the American television industry. Bestowed by the New York–based National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (N ...

award for Outstanding Performer in Children's Programming; it was also nominated that year for a

Humanitas Prize The Humanitas Prize is an award for film and television writing, and is given to writers whose work explores the human condition in a nuanced and meaningful way. It began in 1974 with Father Ellwood "Bud" Kieser—also the founder of Paulist P ...

in the category of Non-Prime Time Children's Animated Show. In addition to creating the original books, Stan and Jan Berenstain were producers on the show, and wrote some of the scripts. A second cartoon series aired on

PBS Kids PBS Kids is the brand for most of the children's programming aired by the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) in the United States. Some public television children's programs are not produced by PBS member stations or transmitted by PBS. Instead, ...

in 2003–2004.

Plot

The series is set in a world populated only by anthropomorphic bears and primarily centers around the Berenstain Bears. The Berenstain Bears are a family residing in the rural community of Bear Country consisting of Mama Bear, Papa Q. Bear, Brother Bear, and Sister Bear. The series teaches lessons, continues from the TV specials, and expands Bear Country as well as character development. Each episode follows the struggles of the family, mainly the cubs. Other episodes involve "The Bear Detectives and their sniffer hound Snuff", Papa Q. Bear's attempts of honey gathering, interaction with forest creatures, and attempts by villains to take over Bear Country. It states that Brother Bear is in 2nd Grade then in 3rd Grade while Sister Bear is in

kindergarten Kindergarten is a preschool educational approach based on playing, singing, practical activities such as drawing, and social interaction as part of the transition from home to school. Such institutions were originally made in the late 18th cent ...

then in 1st Grade. The characters and setting are from various books written by Stan & Jan Berenstain as well as from several television specials by Joe Cates. Other characters are Actual Factual, Big Paw, Mayor Horace J. Honeypot, Farmer Ben, and Grizzly Gramps & Gran. Characters also introduced are Officer Marguerete, Queen Nectar, and Jake. Queen Nectar and Jake are not bears but they do talk and interact with the humanoid bears. Sister Bear plays with many of the forest animals such as Frog & Butterfly. There are many other background characters that live in the nearby forest land; the bears live among the forest and nature just as they did in the television specials. The main antagonists of the series are the swindler Raffish Ralph and occasionally Weasel McGreed, seen in six episodes. To a lesser extent, Too Tall Grizzly is another antagonist, again serving as the school bully.

Episodes

Voice cast

Ruth Buzzi Ruth Ann Buzzi ( ; born July 24, 1936) is an American actress, comedian, and singer. She has appeared on stage, in films, and on television. She is best known for her performances on the comedy-variety show ''Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In'' from 1968 ...

as Mama Bear, Grizzly Gran, Scout Leader Jane, Queen Nectar, and others *

Brian Cummings Brian Douglas Cummings (born March 4, 1948) is an American voice actor, known for his work in radio and television commercials, television and motion picture promos, cartoons and as the announcer on '' The All-New Let's Make a Deal'' from 1984 to ...

as Papa Q. Bear, Actual Factual, Bigpaw, Too Tall, Horace J. Honeypot, and others *

David Mendenhall David Athen Mendenhall (born June 13, 1971) is an American actor. He is best known for his roles in the films '' Space Raiders'', ''Over the Top'', '' The Transformers: The Movie'' and ''They Still Call Me Bruce''. Early life and acting career ...

as Brother Bear * Christina Lange as Sister Bear *

Frank Welker Franklin Wendell Welker (born March 12, 1946) is an American voice actor. He began his career in the 1960s, and holds over 860 film, television, and video game credits as of 2022, making him one of the most prolific voice actors of all time. With ...

as Raffish Ralph, Weasel McGreed, Grizzly Gramps, Farmer Ben, and others * Josh Rodine as Cousin Freddy

Production

Stan & Jan Berenstain contracted with independent producer Joe Cates in 1979 to make a Christmas Special. They continued to make one holiday special each year for five years. They stopped making holiday specials after "The Berenstain Bears Play Ball" and began making a TV series based on the books and to a lesser extent, the same TV specials produced. Joe Cates and Buzz Potamkin produced this TV series as well. Elliott Lawrence continued to score music for the episodes which were based on his compositions from the five specials, but in a faster pace. While they no longer break out in song, the theme music (matching part of ''

Stars and Stripes Forever "The Stars and Stripes Forever" is a patriotic American march written and composed by John Philip Sousa in 1896. By a 1987 act of the U.S. Congress, it is the official National March of the United States of America. History In his 1928 autob ...

'') resembles the song lyrics from the specials. The program was produced by Southern Star Productions/Hanna Barbera Australia with new voice actors. The characters no longer talk in rhyme, and the TV series has the updated appearance and no longer has the rustic design of the earliest books. This TV series expanded tremendously of Bear Country which includes many characters, economy, and government. As a result, the episodes have a faster timing, and the characters seem much busier compared with the TV specials. The stories are now told without the narrator and are 11 minutes in length. The bear family had complex patterns on their clothes which were changed to solid colours for the animated specials, with the exception of Mama Bear's inside hat. The TV series omitted the spots entirely, but Mama's yellow "Go and Meet" hat was featured in a "Ghost of the Forest" adaptation. The episode "Ghost of the Forest" resembles a Halloween special, but it is a regular episode.

Broadcast and home media

Reruns aired briefly on TLC's Ready Set Learn block from September 28, 1998, to January 8, 1999, when a contract dispute forced TLC to pull the show off the schedule. During the early 2000s,

reruns A rerun or repeat is a rebroadcast of an episode of a radio or television program. There are two types of reruns – those that occur during a hiatus, and those that occur when a program is syndicated. Variations In the United Kingdom, the word ...

were later seen on

DIC Kids Network The Cookie Jar Kids Network (formerly DiC Kids Network) was a syndicated children's programming block that airs selected Cookie Jar Group shows on local Fox, The CW, MyNetworkTV, and independent stations to provide them with a source of E/I p ...

syndicated programming block which primarily aired on some stations of

FOX Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelve sp ...

, the also now-defunct

UPN The United Paramount Network (UPN) was an American broadcast television network that launched on January 16, 1995. It was originally owned by Chris-Craft Industries' United Television. Viacom (through its Paramount Television unit, which pr ...

, and

The WB The WB Television Network (for Warner Bros., or the "Frog Network", for its former mascot, Michigan J. Frog) was an American television network launched on broadcast television on January 11, 1995, as a joint venture between the Warner Bros. ...

, but the episodes were edited and time-compressed by DIC. In Australia, where Southern Star is based in, the series was aired on

Network Ten Network 10 (commonly known as Ten Network, Channel 10 or simply 10) is an Australian commercial television network owned by Ten Network Holdings, a division of the Paramount Networks UK & Australia subsidiary of Paramount Global. One of five ...

. A few episodes are available on VHS and

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...

from various home entertainment companies like Random House Home Video, Avon, Feature Films for Families and Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, albeit with slight alterations (such as a different design for the episode title cards).

References

External links

Berenstain Bears website
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Berenstain Bears (1985 TV series), The 1980s American children's television series 1980s American animated television series 1985 American television series debuts 1987 American television series endings 1985 Australian television series debuts 1987 Australian television series endings American children's animated comedy television series American television shows based on children's books Australian children's animated comedy television series Australian television shows based on children's books English-language television shows 1985 TV CBS original programming UPN original programming Fox Kids Animated television series about bears Animated television series about children Animated television series about families Animated television series about siblings Television series by Endemol Australia Television series by Hanna-Barbera