Little Bill (TV series)
| Television series | |
|---|---|
| German title | Little Bill |
| Original title | Little Bill |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English |
| Year (s) | 1999-2004 |
| Production company |
Nickelodeon Animation Studio |
| length | 30 minutes |
| Episodes | 52 in 4 seasons |
| genre | education |
| Director |
|
| idea | Bill Cosby |
| script |
|
| production | Robert Scull |
| music | Stu Gardner, Art Lisi |
| First broadcast | November 28, 1999 on Nick Jr. |
| German-language first broadcast |
November 21, 2009 on Nick Jr. |
Little Bill is an American animation - children's series based on an idea from Bill Cosby , who for Nick Jr. was produced. The stories are based on the book series of the same name by Bill Cosby, illustrated by Varnette P. Honeywood and set in Philadelphia . Bill Jr. always learns a lesson in stories developed in consultation with educational consultants.
The premiere took place on 28 November 1999 of 16 September 2000 to 7 September 2002, the mission as part of Nick Jr. on CBS , on 2 August 2003 to 10 September 2005 as part of Nick on CBS on CBS broadcast. The last episode was broadcast on June 23, 2003, on September 17, 2005 reruns were added to the program. On September 9, 2006, the reruns were removed from the program, but remained on Nick Jr. until 2014. The German-language first broadcast took place on November 21, 2009 on Nick Jr. Sonia Manzano , who plays Maria Rodriguez in Sesame Street , contributed the script for many episodes.
action
The show shows Little Bill Glover discovering the world with the help of his imagination. Little Bill lives with his parents, grandmother Alice, older sister April, and brother Bobby. At the end of each episode, he sums up his day to the audience before going to sleep. Occasionally he also speaks to his hamster Elephant. Each episode ends with a family member asking, "Little Bill, who are you talking to?"
With the exception of three episodes, an episode usually consists of two eleven-minute stories. Two episodes are about Little Bill's role model, Captain Brainstorm, and there is also a Christmas special ( Merry Christmas, Little Bill ). Although Bill Cosby only lends his voice to the supporting character Captain Brainstorm in the show, he appears in the opening credits and interacts there with the animated Little Bill.
characters
- William "Bill / Little Bill" Glover Jr .: A curious and resourceful boy who loves his hamster named Elephant and is a fan of the fictional Blue Socks baseball team. He likes Captain Brainstorm because he has great ideas. He likes going to kindergarten , although he misses Elephant there, but he is still happy and satisfied. He is known as Little Bill because his real name is Bill Jr * and his father's name is also Bill. The character is based on Bill Cosby's son Ennis William Cosby and was voiced by Xavier Pritchett.
- William "Bill / Big Bill" Glover Sr .: father of Little Bill, Bobby and April and husband of Brenda. The children have a very close relationship with their father. He works for the Department of Housing as a housing inspector. His hobby is collecting and listening to jazz records. He is also known as Big Bill as his real name is Bill Sr. He was voiced by Gregory Hines .
- Brenda Glover (nee Kendall): mother of Little Bill, Bobby, and April and wife of Big Bill. She works in a bank (featured in Mom's Trip), but her hobby is photography. It was voiced by Phylicia Rashād .
- April Glover: Brenda and Big Bill's oldest child and only daughter. She is a very talented basketball player on the school team and also in the basketball camp where she wins a trophy. She is also in the choir of the local church. She is often seen getting bossy and she argues with Bobby at times. It was voiced by Monique Beasley.
- Robert "Bobby" Glover: Bobby is the hardest of the kids. He always reads and examines things. He is the second oldest child and the oldest son in the Glover family. He can also play the violin and sometimes he says annoying things which usually lead to his family shouting "Bobby!" He was first spoken by Devon Malik Beckford (seasons 1-2), later by Tyler James Williams (seasons 3-4).
- Alice the Great: Great-grandmother of Little Bill, Bobby, April, and Jamal *. Alice is also the grandmother of Brenda and Deborah (episode "The Magic Quilt"). Alice the Great has an older brother and sister (episode "The Surprise") and a cousin who lives in Cincinnati. She tells and teaches Little Bill stories and lives with the family. It was voiced by Ruby Dee and in a flashback in Good I'm Lightning by Anika Walker.
- Elephant: Elephant is the family's pet *, a small, light yellow hamster . He's the only family member who doesn't speak and stays home when the family goes on vacation.
- Captain Brainstorm: Captain Brainstorm is a spaceman who has an orange rocket and an orange spacesuit. Little Bill is a fan of his television show Space Explorers . Captain Brainstorm owns a dog named Spark E who shouts "Ruff Roo!" He was voiced by Bill Cosby .
- Andrew Mulligan: Andrew is an Irish-American boy and Little Bill's best friend. They have a lot in common, they both like Captain Brainstorm or play with building sets. In the episode "Copy Cat", Little Bill and Andrew have an argument and Andrew calls Little Bill a copycat, but soon learns his lesson and apologizes to him. Andrew has a German shepherd named Farfy. He is sometimes seen with his cousins: Kevin and Rachel. Andrew lives two houses from Little Bill. He was voiced by Zach Tyler Eisen .
- Kiku: Kiku is a Japanese-American friend of Little Bill. Little Bill would say she's the nicest of his friends. She loves the outdoors (especially flowers) and origami (her maternal grandmother, Ms. Natsuko, shows Little Bill how to make origamis in Shipwreck Saturday). It was voiced by Eunice Cho and later by Emily Cleckner.
- Fuchsia Glover: Fuchsia is the paternal cousin of Little Bill, Bobby, and April. Her father Al (Big Bill's brother) runs a business near Little Bill's house. Fuchsia's mother is called Vanessa. She was voiced by Nakia Williams (season 1) and Kianna Underwood (seasons 2-4) and goes to school with Little Bill.
- Dorado: Dorado is a Puerto Rican friend of Little Bill (episodes "New Foods" and "Natural Root Pals"). He teaches Little Bill about Hispanic culture by taking him out to dinner. Dorado shows Bill “arroz con guandules y platanos” (rice with pigeon peas and plantains). Dorado is something of a comedian. He was voiced by Vincent Canales.
- Monty: The grandson of Emmaline, Alice the Great's friend, is in a wheelchair because he has infantile cerebral palsy . He and Little Bill are good friends and play dinosaurs * together. Monty's favorite dinosaur is the tyrannosaurus. He was voiced by Cole Hawkins.
- Michael Riley: A Little Bill classmate moving to the neighborhood from Miami, Florida. He's mean to Little Bill and his friends at first, but he soon learns his lesson. Then he becomes a very good friend of Little Bill. Michael sleeps with Little Bill one episode and plays Little Bill in the snow for the first time in the next episode. As shown in "Michael Sleeps Over," he has a goldfish named Goldie that he brought back from Florida. He was voiced by Muhammad Cunningham.
- Miss Aisha Murray-Clinkscales: Little Bill's kindergarten teacher who later became Dr. Winthrop Clinkscales marries (students can continue to call her Miss Murray because they have difficulty pronouncing her husband's last name). Their engagement was featured on "The Ring Bear" and they married in the episode "Miss Murray's Wedding." She was voiced by Ayo Haynes (season 1) and Melanie Nicholls-King (seasons 2-4).
- Dr. Winthrop Clinkscales: Mrs. Murray's husband whom she marries in "Miss Murray's Wedding". He is a doctor and treats Little Bill when he breaks an arm in "A Trip to the Hospital". The children have difficulty pronouncing his last name.
- Mrs. Shapiro: Little Bill's neighbor who moves back to Hawaii in "Same Moon, Same Sun, Same Star" to live with her sister Mimi. It was initially spoken by Madeline Kahn and, after her death, by Kathy Najimy .
- Mr. Miguel Rojas: Mr. Rojas is an elderly Mexican American who speaks English and Spanish . He moves into Mrs. Shapiros house and meets Little Bill in the episode "The New Neighbors" know and owns a dog named Lito, who knows tricks. Mr. Rojas can only be seen in "The New Neighbors", "Doggie Magic", "The Early Bill" and "The Halloween Party". He has children, but they are grown up and have families of their own. He was voiced by Victor Argo.
- Mr. Clark Terry: Alice the Great and Little Bill's new boyfriend. He shows Little Bill how to climb rocks and make music with reeds. He also plays the flugelhorn . The character is voiced by Clark Terry , whom it is modeled after and after whom it is named.
- Baby Jamal Welsh: Little Bill's maternal baby cousin, son of Deborah (Brenda's sister) and Gary.
- Percy Mulch: pet shop owner. He knows everything about animals, but is a bit clumsy and cannot remember the first names of Little Bill's parents. Ef was voiced by Doug E. Doug .
- Mr. Williams (voiced by Mike Mearian): Owner of the music store "The Musical Instrument". He is a talented musician and shows Little Bill the piano, accordion, saxophone and drums (which is his grandson's favorite instrument).
- Aunt Deborah Kendall (voiced by Grace Garland): Aunt Deborah is Brenda's younger sister, wife of Uncle Gary (Welsh) and the mother of baby Jamal. She is Little Bill, Bobby and April's maternal aunt and Big Bill's sister-in-law. She appears in the episode "Just a Baby" when she and Gary visit her sister to show them Baby Jamal.
Home video publications
The program was not evaluated in German for the home video market. There have been several releases in English on VHS and DVD at Paramount Home Media Distribution.
Main publications
| title | Release date | Number of episodes | Episode title |
|---|---|---|---|
| Me and My Family | June 5, 2001 | 4th |
|
| Big Little Bill | June 5, 2001 | 4th |
|
| What I Did at School | August 21, 2001 | 4th |
|
| I love animals! | February 5, 2002 | 4th |
|
| Merry Christmas, Little Bill | September 24, 2002 | 3 |
|
Publications on Nick Jr. compilations
| title | Release date | Number of episodes | Episode title |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nick Jr. Holiday | September 24, 2002 | 1 |
|
| Nick Jr. Celebrates Spring! | March 2, 2004 | 2 |
|
| Nick Jr. Favorites Vol. 1 | May 24, 2005 | 1 |
|
| Nick Jr. Favorites Vol. 2 | October 18, 2005 | 1 |
|
| Nick Jr. Favorites Vol. 3 | February 7, 2006 | 2 |
|
| Nick Jr. Favorites Vol. 4 | June 6, 2006 | 2 |
|
| Nick Jr. Favorites Holiday | September 26, 2006 | 1 |
|
| Nick Jr. Favorites Vol. 5 | March 13, 2007 | 2 |
|
| Nick Jr. Favorites Vol. 6 | August 7, 2007 | 2 |
|
Awards
- 2003 - Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Performer in an Animated Program - Gregory Hines
- 2004 - Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Children's Animated Program
- 2001
Video game
On September 29, 2003, the video game Little Bill Thinks Big was released for Microsoft Windows XP and Macintosh .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Little Bill episodes . In: TV Guide . Archived from the original on August 26, 2014. Retrieved January 9, 2015.
- ^ Hal Erickson: Television Cartoon Shows: An Illustrated Encyclopedia, 1949 Through 2003 , 2nd Edition, McFarland & Co, 2005, ISBN 978-1-4766-6599-3 , p. 505.
- ↑ Nickelodeon's 'Little Bill' Debuts as First African American Balloon In 76th Annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade . In: PRNewswire.com . Archived from the original on October 2, 2013. Retrieved September 13, 2013.
- ↑ Little Bill . In: noggin.com . Archived from the original on April 7, 2008. Retrieved April 7, 2016.
- ^ KM Shrivastava: Broadcast Journalism in the 21st Century . New Dawn Press Group, 2005, ISBN 978-81-207-3597-2 , p. 56 (accessed February 20, 2015).
- ↑ 61st Annual Peabody Awards , May 2002.
- ↑ Little Bill Thinks Big . Retrieved May 15, 2015.
Web links
- Official website of Bill Cosby
- Little Bill in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Little Bill at fernsehserien.de
- Little Bill at the Big Cartoon DataBase
- Little Bill at TV.com