The Berenstain Bears (2003 TV series)


The Berenstain Bears is a Canadian children's animated television comedy series based on the children's book series of the same name by Stan and Jan Berenstain. The series follows the lives of a family of anthropomorphic bears who learn a moral or safety-related lesson during the course of each episode. It ran for 40 episodes in three seasons. The series debuted on PBS Kids in the United States on January 6, 2003 and ended on December 6, 2004.
A previous Berenstain Bears cartoon aired in Australia and the United States from 1985 to 1987.

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 Bear, Brother Bear, and Sister Bear. Albeit 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 generousity and responsibility, as well as the daily lives of the bears.

Episodes

Cast and characters

Main

Family

The show was produced by the Canada-based animation studio Nelvana for PBS Kids in the United States and Treehouse TV 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 the laws requiring Nelvana to employ 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. The show's theme song is performed by country singer Lee Ann Womack. 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 sings the series' theme song, which was written by Stan Meissner.

Broadcast

It debuted in the United States on PBS Kids on January 6, 2003. Originally, it aired together with Seven Little Monsters but the two shows were eventually separated.

Accolades