Arthur creator Marc Brown on appearing as himself in finale, ending at 25 seasons and the show's post-TV future
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Brown, whose PBS kids show ended Monday as the longest-running children's show in U.S. history, says it wasn't his idea to appear in the finale. "I like to have Arthur be front and center! I like to be behind the curtain," he tells Variety. "And I think I appeared one other time. It was in an episode where Sue Ellen came to a bookstore, and I was signing books. Go figure!" Why is the 25th season the last one? "We decided a few years ago that 25 would be a nice place to end," he says. "He’s become the longest-running animated children’s show in history, and we have gathered over 600 stories now about topics that I think are going to be timeless. They’ll go on helping kids and families. But when we started Arthur 25 years ago, we didn’t have a lot of the technology that we have today, and we want to try some new things and see how we can play with those to reach kids. Podcasts, and new games that we can invent; we want to continue doing public service spots on PBS, maybe specials! The door is open to us to try new things with PBS. It’s fun to solve new puzzles!"
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TOPICS: Arthur, PBS, Marc Brown, Kids TV
