''The Berenstain Bears'' is a children's

animated Animation is a method by which still figures are manipulated to appear as moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Today, most ani ...

television comedy Television comedy is a category of broadcasting that has been present since the early days of entertainment media. While there are several genres of comedy, some of the first ones aired were variety shows. One of the first United States 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 ...

. Acting as a remake of the 1985–1987 cartoon series of the same name, the series follows the lives of a family of anthropomorphic bears who learn a moral or

safety Safety is the state of being "safe", the condition of being protected from harm or other danger. Safety can also refer to the control of recognized hazards in order to achieve an acceptable level of risk. Meanings There are two slightly dif ...

-related lesson during the course of each episode. The series premiered on PBS Kids on January 6, 2003. A total of 40 episodes were produced, with the series airing until September 10, 2004.

Synopsis

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. Although a numerous episodes are based on the books and promote the same morals as encouraged in the picture books from which their plots originated, the program's faithfulness to the original series is slightly mixed on account of a number of later episodes following original storylines. Nonetheless, they mostly portray the same environment depicted in the original ''Berenstain Bears'' storybooks quite accurately and concentrate on the messages and lessons learned by the family through their different experiences, such as generosity and responsibility, as well as the daily lives of the bears.

Episodes

Voice cast

Main

Michael Cera Michael Austin Cera (; ; born June 7, 1988) is a Canadian actor and musician. He started his career as a child actor, voicing the character of Brother Bear on the children's television show ''The Berenstain Bears'' and portraying a young Chuck B ...

(seasons 1–2) and Michael D'Ascenzo (season 3) as Brother * Tajja Isen as Sister *

Benedict Campbell Benedict Campbell (born June 12, 1957) is a Canadian actor whose work has consisted primarily of providing voices for television cartoons, video games and acting on stage, particularly at Canada's Stratford Festival between 1965 and 2000. Early i ...

as Papa * Camilla Scott as Mama

Recurring

Family

* Leslie Carlson as Grizzly Gramps *

Corinne Conley Corinne Alexandra Conley (born May 23, 1929) is an American actress who spent the majority of her career in Canada, notable for having won the Canadian Council of Authors and Artists' Best Actress Award. Conley is known for her voiceover work i ...

as Grizzly Gran * Marc McMulkin as Cousin Fred

Friends

* Amanda Soha as Lizzy Bruin * Nikki Marshall as Queenie *

Mark Rendall Mark Rendall (born October 21, 1988) is a Canadian film, television and voice actor whose roles include the lead in the 2004 film, ''Childstar'' and Mick in season 1 of the Canadian television drama series ''ReGenesis''. He played Bastian Bux i ...

as Ferdy Factual * Gage Knox as Too-Tall * Patrick Salvagna as Skuzz * James Eckhouse as Smirk *

Maryke Hendrikse Marÿke Hendrikse ( ; born February 23, 1979) is a Bahamian–born Canadian voice actress who works primarily for Ocean Studios in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. She has played several roles in anime, most notably Revy in '' Black Lagoon'' ...

as Hillary

Citizens

Chris Wiggins Christopher John Wiggins (January 13, 1931 – February 19, 2017) was an English-born Canadian actor. Career He started out as a banker in his home country before he began his acting career in Canada, where he moved in 1952. Wiggins is probably ...

as Squire Grizzly * Ellen-Ray Hennessy as Miss Grizzle * Philip Williams as Farmer Ben

Production

The show was produced by the Canada-based animation studio Nelvana for PBS Kids in the United States and

Treehouse TV Treehouse TV is a Canadian English-language specialty channel for preschoolers aged 2 to 5 that was launched in 1997. Its name comes from YTV's former preschool block, " The Treehouse". The channel is owned by YTV Canada, Inc., a subsidiary of ...

in Canada. 80 15-minute episodes were produced, adapted from the books and also a few new stories as well, similar to the 1985 production. However, due to Canadian laws requiring Nelvana to employ Canadian writers and artists, the Berenstains' involvement in the program was limited; they sought to exert their influence on some details, according to Stan: "Our bears don't wear shoes, and Papa wouldn't wear his hat in the house...And we try to keep complete, total banality out of the stories". Common practicalities of animation did force some minor costume changes from the books, such as eliminating polka dots and plaids (this issue also occurred in the previous animated series and specials and only a limited amount of polka dots was allowed in the five specials). The series is supposed to supplement the 1985 series because new books were released since then, even though the two series have a radically different production style as well as a change of in-universe elements. Another issue is the two series are not seen together.

Music

Country music singer-songwriter

Lee Ann Womack Lee Ann Womack Liddell (; born August 19, 1966) is an American country music singer, songwriter, and musician. Her 2000 single, " I Hope You Dance" was a major crossover music hit, reaching No. 1 on the Billboard Country Chart and the Top 15 ...

performed the theme song written by Stan Meissner for the series.

Broadcast

It debuted in the United States on PBS Kids on January 6, 2003. Originally, it aired together with ''

Seven Little Monsters ''Seven Little Monsters'' is a children's picture book by American author and illustrator Maurice Sendak. Published by Harper & Row in 1977, it was originally created as an animated short for Sesame Street in 1971 and served as the basis for the C ...

'' but the two shows were eventually separated. Reruns aired on PBS Kids Sprout (later known as simply Sprout) from its inception up until the channel rebranded into

Universal Kids Universal Kids is an American children's television channel owned by the NBCUniversal Television and Streaming unit of Comcast's NBCUniversal. The channel launched on September 26, 2005, as PBS Kids Sprout, a preschool-oriented channel jointly ...

on September 9, 2017, after Sprout's rights to air the series expired.

Accolades

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Berenstain Bears (2003 TV series), The 2000s Canadian animated television series 2000s Canadian children's television series 2003 Canadian television series debuts 2004 Canadian television series endings Canadian children's animated comedy television series Canadian preschool education television series Canadian television shows based on children's books Canadian television series with live action and animation English-language television shows 2003 TV PBS original programming PBS Kids shows Treehouse TV original programming YTV (Canadian TV channel) original programming Animated television series about bears Animated television series about children Animated television series about families Animated television series about siblings Television series by Nelvana Television series by Corus Entertainment Animated preschool education television series 2000s preschool education television series