49 Fun Facts About Kids TV Show

Which famous puppeteer did Sesame Street's producers ask to work full-time on the show in 1969?

Jim Henson waived his performance fee in exchange for full ownership of the Sesame Street Muppets, rights the show's workshop finally bought in 2000.

Which Sesame Street Muppet did NASA discuss sending into space aboard the shuttle Challenger?

Big Bird's performer, Caroll Spinney, said the puppet wouldn't fit, so a teacher, Christa McAuliffe, flew on the doomed 1986 mission instead.

Sesame Street's Count von Count is modeled on which actor's portrayal of Dracula?

Bela Lugosi's Dracula inspired the Count's cape pose and laugh, and European folklore held that vampires felt compelled to count scattered seeds.

Which is Cookie Monster's favorite kind of cookie?

Chocolate chip is his favorite, but after 2005 health segments sparked rumors he would become Veggie Monster, he began calling cookies a sometimes food.

Which Muppet performer, also the voice of Yoda, played Cookie Monster when Sesame Street began in 1969?

Frank Oz never planned a career in puppetry: he has said he really wanted to be a journalist or direct movies, and he later became a film director.

Which Sesame Street Muppet describes himself as three and a half years old?

Elmo never caught on until Kevin Clash took over the puppet from a frustrated Richard Hunt and gave him his high falsetto voice.

Which Sesame Street pair shares its names with two characters in the 1946 film It's a Wonderful Life?

Bert and Ernie share names with the film's characters played by Ward Bond and Frank Faylen, but the show's makers have said the match is a coincidence.

Which Muppet had orange fur in Sesame Street's first season before turning green?

Oscar the Grouch was orange in season one and green from season two, and he exists because producers wanted Muppets who could share the street with the human cast.

What did Sesame Street tell children about Mr. Hooper after actor Will Lee passed away in 1982?

That he had died: producers chose to be honest, airing the episode on Thanksgiving Day 1983 so parents would be home to talk it through with their children.

In a classic 1971 Sesame Street picture book, which Muppet begs readers to stop turning the pages?

Grover ties the pages down and even builds a brick wall to stop you, only to discover that the monster at the end of the book is himself.

Which Sesame Street Muppet did the adults dismiss as imaginary for 14 years, until they finally met him in 1985?

Mr. Snuffleupagus was finally revealed because writers feared children would stop telling adults about disturbing things if the grown-ups on the show never believed.

Mister Rogers' Neighborhood was produced by a public TV station in which city?

Pittsburgh's station WQED made the show, and Fred Rogers said he went into television because he hated it and wanted to use it to nurture viewers.

Fred Rogers weighed 143 pounds for decades and said the number stood for what?

I love you takes one, four and three letters, and after his morning swims Rogers stepped on a scale that kept reading 143.

Fred Rogers was ordained as a minister in which church?

Presbyterian leaders ordained him with an unusual charge: to minister to children and their families through television rather than leading a congregation.

Which actor played Fred Rogers in the 2019 film A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood?

Tom Hanks plays Rogers, yet the story follows a jaded Esquire journalist who is assigned to profile him and comes away changed.

After Steve left Blue's Clues in 2002, what was the name of the new host?

Joe, played by Donovan Patton, took over after Steve Burns quit, saying he refused to lose his hair on a kids' TV show.

On Blue's Clues, where does the host sit down to work out what the three clues mean?

The Thinking Chair is where the host pieces the clues together, after drawing each one in the notebook, a device meant to teach children memory skills.

Which Australian city inspired the setting of Bluey?

Brisbane is where Bluey is set, and creator Joe Brumm based the show on his own experience raising two daughters.

What is the job of Bandit, Bluey's dad?

Archaeologist is Bandit's job, and his voice, Custard frontman David McCormack, first assumed he was being asked to record just a couple of lines.

What does Peppa Pig love jumping in?

Muddy puddles are Peppa's favorite thing, yet thousands of Peppa clips were once pulled from China's Douyin video app.

Which toy giant bought Peppa Pig's owner, Entertainment One, in 2019?

Hasbro kept Peppa Pig but sold eOne's film and TV business to Lionsgate in 2023 for $500 million.

Which Canadian toy company produces PAW Patrol?

Spin Master developed PAW Patrol as a TV show and a toy line at the same time, working out the story before the toys were designed.

What breed of dog is Chase, the police pup on PAW Patrol?

German Shepherd Chase has a sad backstory: PAW Patrol: The Movie reveals he was abandoned as a puppy on the streets of Adventure City.

In the PAW Patrol TV series, rival Mayor Humdinger is mayor of which town?

Foggy Bottom is Humdinger's town in the series, but in PAW Patrol: The Movie he grabs the mayor's job in Adventure City.

What kind of animal is Boots, Dora the Explorer's best friend?

A monkey named Boots is Dora's best friend, and in the show's Spanish and Italian dubs the lesson flips, teaching English words instead.

What kind of animal is Arthur Read?

An aardvark is what Marc Brown made Arthur, and a still of Arthur's clenched fist from one episode later became a hugely popular internet meme.

Which reggae artist performed the Arthur theme song 'Believe in Yourself'?

Ziggy Marley sang it with the Melody Makers, and in 2019 Alabama's public TV network refused to air the episode where teacher Mr. Ratburn marries a man.

What color is Tinky Winky, the biggest of the Teletubbies?

Purple Tinky Winky was accused by Jerry Falwell in 1999 of being a hidden gay symbol, because of his color and his triangle-shaped antenna.

What type of dinosaur is Barney?

Tyrannosaurus rex Barney started as a 1988 home-video series that Sheryl Leach made because she couldn't find good videos for her young son.

Which future pop stars both appeared as children on Barney & Friends?

Selena Gomez and Demi Lovato met at age 7 while waiting in a Barney audition line, sat down to color together and became close friends.

Barney's closing song is sung to the tune of which traditional children's song?

This Old Man is the tune of Barney's closing song, and music from the show was reportedly used by US interrogators on detainees.

Who hosted Reading Rainbow on PBS from 1983 to 2006?

LeVar Burton and his company licensed the brand from WNED in 2011, then relaunched Reading Rainbow as an iPad app in 2012.

Reading Rainbow's 2014 revival campaign raised over $5 million on which crowdfunding site?

Kickstarter backers revived the brand, but WNED, the station behind the show, later took legal action against its former host.

Who voiced Ms. Frizzle in the original Magic School Bus cartoon?

Lily Tomlin returned two decades later in Netflix's reboot, where Ms. Frizzle earns a Ph.D. and hands the bus to her sister, voiced by Kate McKinnon.

Before becoming the Science Guy, Bill Nye worked as an engineer at which aircraft maker?

Boeing employed Nye as an engineer on the 747, and his Science Guy name began as a sarcastic retort from a host of a local sketch comedy show.

What breed of dog was Wishbone, the PBS pup who daydreamed his way into classic novels?

Jack Russell Terrier Soccer played Wishbone, and on promotional tours he flew first class, stayed in four-star hotels and had his own security detail.

A 1997 Pokémon episode sent hundreds of Japanese children to hospital with seizures; which Pokémon's attack caused the flashing?

Pikachu's Thunderbolt caused the strobing explosion, yet it was Porygon, the episode's featured Pokémon, that the anime largely kept off screen afterward.

What kind of animal is Zoboomafoo, star of the Kratt brothers' TV show?

A lemur, a Coquerel's sifaka named Jovian, played Zoboomafoo on camera, and a puppet took over whenever the character had to talk.

Which former Beatle was the original narrator of Thomas & Friends?

Ringo Starr also played Mr. Conductor on the US spin-off Shining Time Station, then left to focus on music, and George Carlin replaced him in both roles.

Thomas the Tank Engine and his friends live on which island?

Sodor is a made-up island, the setting for stories Wilbert Awdry first told his son Christopher when the boy was stuck in bed with measles.

What do the Doozers, the Fraggles' tiny neighbors, make their buildings from?

Radishes go into the Doozers' candy-like building sticks, and Doozers want Fraggles to eat their work so there is room to build more.

Doug Funnie's superhero alter ego is called what?

Quailman is Doug's daydream alter ego, and creator Jim Jinkins later sold the show's studio to Disney, which ordered new episodes of Doug.

Which children's book illustrator drew the Little Bear books that the TV series is based on?

Maurice Sendak illustrated the first five Little Bear books and later helped produce the cartoon, staying closely involved in its new stories.

In Hey Arnold!, what is the name of the boarding house Arnold's grandparents run?

Sunset Arms sits in Hillwood, a city creator Craig Bartlett pieced together from places he loved, including Seattle, Portland and Brooklyn.

Which toy did Captain Kangaroo feature on air in the 1950s, helping turn it into a hit?

Play-Doh began as putty for rubbing coal soot off wallpaper, until Kay Zufall, a relative of the maker, suggested selling it as a toy.

Which two words did Howdy Doody's silent clown finally speak at the end of the last episode in 1960?

Goodbye, kids came from Lew Anderson, Clarabell's third performer; the original clown, Bob Keeshan, reportedly left in 1952 amid a salary dispute.

Schoolhouse Rock! began when its creator's son could memorize which band's lyrics but not times tables?

The Rolling Stones' lyrics stuck with David McCall's son, so McCall hired musician Bob Dorough to set multiplication to music, which became 'Three Is a Magic Number'.

Before creating SpongeBob SquarePants, Stephen Hillenburg worked as what?

A marine science educator at the Orange County Marine Institute, Hillenburg drew a tide-pool comic, The Intertidal Zone, whose characters grew into SpongeBob's world.

In Avatar: The Last Airbender, which sky bison spent a century frozen in an iceberg with Aang?

Appa was trapped in the ice with Aang after the young Avatar ran away from his new responsibilities and a storm drove them into the ocean.