| Between the Lions |
The Between the Lions title card. | | Format | Children's television series Puppet Comedy | | Created by | Lou Berger, Christopher Cerf, Michael Frith, Norman Stiles, Kathryn Mullen, Linda Rath | | Starring | Peter Linz, Tim Lagasse, Jennifer Barnhart, Anthony Asbury, Kathryn Mullen, Pam Arciero, Heather Asc, Bertice Berry, Tyler Bunch, Scott Dodson, David Matthew Feldman, BJ Guyer, James J. Kroupa, Paul McGinnis, Fred Newman, Richard O'Connor, Chris Phillips, Matt Vogel, Dr. Ruth Westheimer, Denyce Graves. | | Country of origin |
 United States | | Production | | Running time | 30 minutes per episode | | Broadcast | | Original channel | PBS | | Original run | April 3, 2000 – present | | External links | | Official website | | IMDb profile | | TV.com summary | Between the Lions is a PBS children's puppet show designed to promote reading. The show is a co-production between WGBH in Boston and Sirius Thinking, Ltd., in New York City, in association with Mississippi Public Broadcasting. The show has won six Daytime Emmy awards between 2001 and 2004. Image File history File links Title. ...
Childrens television series are television programmes designed for and marketed to children, normally aired during the morning and afternoon hours, mainly before and after school. ...
A puppet is a representational object manipulated by a puppeteer. ...
A comedy is a dramatic performance of a light and amusing character, usually with a happy conclusion to its plot. ...
Christopher Cerf (born August 19, 1941) is an author, composer-lyricist, and record and television producer. ...
Kathryn Kathy Mullen is an actress, voice actress, and puppeteer most closely associated with Jim Henson projects. ...
Peter Linz is the voice of Snook the Sloth in the PBS kids show – Its a Big Big World! He is a puppeteer and accordingly has given his voice to many puppets and muppets on TV shows like Blues Clues, Sesame Street, Bear in The Big Blue House...
Jennifer Barnhart is a Sesame Street Muppet performer who took over the roles of Mama Bear in 2001 and Gladys the Cow in 2002. ...
Kathryn Kathy Mullen is an actress, voice actress, and puppeteer most closely associated with Jim Henson projects. ...
A successful puppeteer and voice-over artist, Pam Arciero is perhaps best known in the Muppet world for portraying Oscar the Grouchs girlfriend, Grundgetta, on Sesame Street. ...
Dr. Bertice Berry (b. ...
This article may contain original research or unverified claims. ...
Fred Newman (born 1952 in LaGrange, Georgia) is an American actor, voice actor, composer, and sound effects artist, as well as a former talk show host. ...
Chris Phillips (born March 9, 1978 in Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada) is a Canadian professional hockey player. ...
Matt Vogel is a muppet performer for the Jim Henson Company in the 1990s. ...
Dr. Ruth Karola Westheimer (born Karola rith Siegel June 4, 1928), or just Dr. Ruth, is a popular American sex therapist. ...
Denyce Graves (born March 7, 1964 in Washington, D.C.) is an American opera singer. ...
Image File history File links This is a lossless scalable vector image. ...
Not to be confused with Public Broadcasting Services in Malta. ...
is the 93rd day of the year (94th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...
Year 2000 (MM) was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will display full 2000 Gregorian calendar). ...
Not to be confused with Public Broadcasting Services in Malta. ...
WGBH is an established public television and public radio broadcast service located in Boston, Massachusetts. ...
This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...
Characters
The main characters are the lion cubs Lionel and Leona and their parents Theo (Theodor) and Cleo (Cleopatra). For other uses, see Lion (disambiguation). ...
In addition to the lions, other characters include Click the Mouse (a computer mouse made to resemble the rodent), Barnaby B. Busterfield III, Walter and Clay Pigeon, Arty Smartypants, Heath the Thesaurus, Gus the Bunny, Dr. Ruth Wordheimer, and a variety of monkeys who visit the library. Suborders Sciuromorpha Castorimorpha Myomorpha Anomaluromorpha Hystricomorpha Rodentia is an order of mammals also known as rodents, characterised by two continuously-growing incisors in the upper and lower jaws which must be kept short by gnawing. ...
Barnaby B. Busterfield III is a rock statue that talks to the pigeons, Walter and Clay, and they talk to (and annoy) him.
Dr. Alexander Graham Nitwhite (often called "Dr. Nitwit" by his assistant, Watson and sometimes by other characters) is a scientist. In his skits, he announces to Watson that he has discovered "the only word in the entire English language" with a certain word combination (which is nearly always related to the lesson of the whole episode). However, his "discoveries" always turn out to be irrelevant, as Watson inadvertently points out; as such, his nickname is rather apt.
Educational content Between the Lions focuses on teaching reading and a love of books to young children in a fun, informative way.
Among the educational techniques used by Between the Lions are the following:
- Featured Letters and Sounds: Every episode has a feature letter or sound, such as 'h' or 'the long ee sound'. Throughout the show, the featured letter or sound is heard and seen in a variety of words.
- Text on Screen: Frequently, key words or entire sentences of dialog are shown on screen as the characters talk, with the featured letter or combination highlighted.
- Stories: Every episode contains one or more short stories in the form of books read by the Lion family. These stories tie in thematically with the rest of the episode and also serve as another way to present words with the featured sound in context. Sometimes the stories are real books (like "The Carrot Seed" by Ruth Krauss) or well-known tales (like "Rumplestiltskin"); other times they are books that are made-up to fit the episode (like Lionel's favorite book, Nothing but Lug Nuts).
- Songs: Silly but informative songs sum up the rules of English spelling and pronunciation in easy-to-remember ways, with lyrics like "When two vowels go walking, the first one does the talking" or "Even the blues would be blue without an s" and many others. Often the text of the song is shown on screen.
- Animations and skits: A variety of animations and skits show how words are formed and how one word can be changed into another by adding or removing letters.
- Definitions: Whenever a long or unusual word is used in a dialog or story, a quick definition is given. Usually, it is subtly worked into the conversation, such as when one of the parents responds to a question from the children. Other times it may be provided in a humorous way, such as when Heath Thesaurus pokes his head in to define a word. Occasionally words may be defined by showing pictures or other artistic methods.
- Repeated Vocabulary: Various vocabulary words are introduced in each episode, ranging from simple, everyday concepts like "jump" and "read" to more complex words like "sequel", "dictionary", or "drought". After a word has been introduced, it usually used a number of times throughout the episode.
In addition to teaching basic reading, pronunciation, and grammar skills, Between the Lions also strives to promote a general love of reading in its viewers. It explores the many subjects that books can cover and shows how different people may enjoy reading different things. It also demonstrates the value of reference books and the importance of reading in other everyday activities like using a computer, cooking with a recipe, or finding your way with street signs. Ruth Krauss (b. ...
Rumpelstiltskin is the title character of an 1857 fairy tale (called Rumpelstilzchen in the original German) by the Grimm Brothers. ...
Some Between the Lions episodes also deal with larger episodes related to literary matters: How to handle the scary parts of a story, for example, or the fact that it's okay to be a little sad if something bad happens to a character that you like in a book. It also shows how children can use books as jumping points for their own imagination.
Above all, every character on the show expresses a contagious enthusiasm for reading, with the underlying message being "Reading is cool".
Humorous content Between the Lions often makes wild parodies of (often children's) programming. The title itself is a twofold pun, first on the phrase "between the lines", the second is that many classic library buildings have two lions separated by the main entrance. Thus in order to enter the library, you must go "between the lions". Every so often, a wide-eyed child whose face is mostly obscured by TV set comments on the strange thing that has just happened, and an off-stage mother's voice responds with, "It's educational television. It's good for you" or "I'm sure it will help you in school... somehow." Recurring segments include: Altermative topic: Subtext_programming_language. ...
The Word Doctor with Dr. Ruth Wordheimer Dr. Ruth Westheimer plays "Dr. Ruth Wordheimer", a therapist. Her two types of clients are: Ruth Westheimer, Ed. ...
- Monkeys who need help reading or understanding long or difficult words (they are having a "long word freakout").
- Words who are dissatisfied with their current meaning. (By replacing certain well-chosen letters, Dr. Wordheimer is able to give the word a new meaning and a new lease on life.)
Little Wendy Tales A girl (a parody of Sailor Moon, among other anime clichés) reads the misadventures found in Little Wendy Tales. In classic fashion, the big-eyed girl transforms herself into The Punctuator and saves Wendy by means of switching around the punctuation, altering the scene in the process. For the title character, see Sailor Moon (character) and for the first story arc, see Sailor Moon (arc). ...
“Animé†redirects here. ...
To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ...
Fun with Chicken Jane Fun with Chicken Jane is a parody of the famous Dick and Jane books for children. In this, two naive children, Scot and Dot, place themselves in harm's way. An intelligent chicken named Chicken Jane spells out an obvious solution to the problem. At the last moment the children get out of the way and Chicken Jane gets hurt instead. The theme song is a parody of the old Alka Seltzer jingle. In contemporary usage, a parody (or lampoon) is a work that imitates another work in order to ridicule, ironically comment on, or poke some affectionate fun at the work itself, the subject of the work, the author or fictional voice of the parody, or another subject. ...
Dick and Jane were the main characters in popular basal readers written by Zerna Sharp that were used to teach children to read during the 1930s through the 1960s. ...
Cherry Alka Seltzer Plus Tablet dissolving in water Alka-Seltzer is a brand name owned by the German Bayer Corporation for a line of medications sold over the counter and taken by means of rapidly dissolving tablets that form an effervescent solution in water. ...
Cliff Hanger Cliff Hanger is a cartoon lantern-jawed outdoorsman usually featured hanging off the side of a cliff, hanging onto a branch. Each episode presents Cliff with a preposterous situation of some kind, which he attempts to use to his advantage by reaching into his backpack, pulling out what he calls his "trusty survival manual", and following the instructions provided therein. The instructions, though often highly unorthodox, usually prove successful, and Cliff briefly escapes from the cliff. But, inevitably, another highly unlikely incident occurs that leaves Cliff back where he started, hanging onto his branch once again. The cartoon then ends with Cliff's baleful catchphrase: "Can't -- hold -- on -- much -- longer!"
Each segment begins and ends with a theme song sung by a formally-dressed group of singers that flies by in a helicopter, singing "Cliff Hanger, hanging from a cliff! And that's why he's called Cliff Hanger!" Cliff attempts to attract their attention to his predicament by shouting "Excuse me!", but to no avail. Cliff Hanger once escaped the cliff in an online story on the Between the Lions website.
In the series, the character Lionel is a fan of Cliff Hanger books, which his sister Leona thinks are pointless.
Gawain's Word A Wayne's World spoof featuring two jousting knights charging at each other, each touting a speech balloon with half of a word which then became their respective names, then demonstrating the word. For example, one skit featured "Sir ch" and "Sir air". When Sir ch collided into Sir air, their speech balloons melded together to form the word "chair." Then they took advantage of the word, by sitting on chairs. Though the title of the segment clearly is a parody of the SNL skit, the two knights in the segment speak more characteristically like Bill & Ted from Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure than Wayne & Garth from Wayne's World. This article is about the SNL sketch. ...
SNL could mean: Saturday Night Live Scots National League This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ...
Bill & Teds Excellent Adventure (1989) is an American comedy/science fiction movie in which two slackers travel through time in order to assemble a menagerie of historical figures for their high school history presentation. ...
Sam Spud A spoof of the Sam Spade detective stories, this segment portrays an anthropomorphic potato who types out the voice-over narration typical of film noir, making and correcting typographical errors that demonstrate word sounds. This segment makes heavy use of sight gags based on wordplay (such as the narrator referring to the entrance of a "tomato" -- 30s slang for an attractive woman -- who is revealed to be a real tomato wearing a costume; or a neon sign that blinks the words "Flicker Flicker" or "On" and "Off"). Poster of the 1941 Warner Brothers film version of The Maltese Falcon, directed by John Huston Sam Spade was the leading character in the novel and movie The Maltese Falcon (1931). ...
The Un-People vs The Re-People This cartoon is aimed at teaching kids their prefixes. The main character is "young" Monica Maxwell, a girl who seems to have an inordinate amount of trouble with a group of rambunctious rhinos. The segment always begins with the rhinos running amok, usually in Monica's house. The clever, resourceful girl somehow manages to subdue or round up the rhinos, for example, putting them in a zippered bag. All of a sudden, the evil Un-People come along and "un-zip" the bag, causing the rhinos to run free again and resume their rampage of destruction. But when the crime-fighting Re-People appear, they "re-zip" the bag and the destruction of the charging rhinos stops. This segment may be considered a parody of common superhero-themed cartoons such as the Justice League. For other uses, see Cartoon (disambiguation). ...
In linguistics, a prefix is a type of affix that precedes the morphemes to which it can attach. ...
Rhino is a shortened version or slang of Rhinoceros Rhino may also refer to: Rhino Records, a record label Rhino (comics), a character from the Marvel Comics universe Rhino (JavaScript engine), a Javascript engine from Mozilla RHINO (squat), the oldest squat in Geneva (Switzerland) Rhino, a commercial, carrier-grade JSLEE...
In contemporary usage, a parody (or lampoon) is a work that imitates another work in order to ridicule, ironically comment on, or poke some affectionate fun at the work itself, the subject of the work, the author or fictional voice of the parody, or another subject. ...
For other uses, see Superhero (disambiguation). ...
For the animated television series, see Justice League (TV series) or Justice League Unlimited. ...
Vowel Boot Camp In this segment, the soldiers, who are vowels (except the drill sergeant, who is an exclamation point), practice making their sounds and then go out to make words. The famous catchphrase is "This isn't ---; this is Vowel Boot Camp!"
The Lone Rearranger Rewrites Again A parody of The Lone Ranger, this animated segment features a sentence which needs to be rearranged. For example, "Horses must ride cowboys into the corral" needs to be rearranged to say "Cowboys must ride horses into the corral". The Lone Ranger. ...
Moby Duck A parody of Moby Dick, this takes place in a peapod (parody of Pequod) where there are two captains seen. One looks through a telescope and sees a white animal and gives the tagline "Argh! That not be Moby, the great white duck! Argh! That be Moby, the great white (something else)!". For other uses, see Moby-Dick in popular culture. ...
Peapod is an online grocery delivery service owned by Royal Ahold and operating only in a select number of US cities. ...
Pequod may refer to: The Pequot tribe of Native Americans, largely wiped out during the 17th century Pequot War in Connecticut. ...
Captain is a rank or title with various meanings. ...
This article does not cite any references or sources. ...
Similarities to The Electric Company Comparisons are often made to another PBS children's reading series, The Electric Company. The format is similar, with animated segments showing words suspended in the air near people who discuss them. In particular, Sam Spud, Gawain's World and the short segments featuring Fred Newman are highly reminiscent of the old Electric Company vignettes. The Electric Company was an educational American childrens television series produced by the Childrens Television Workshop (now Sesame Workshop) for PBS in the United States. ...
The word vignette has several meanings, depending on the context. ...
Later Seasons Although the series started strong, winning Emmys and attracting many stars (Oliver Platt, Kelly Ripa, and Melissa Etheridge, to name but a few), the seasons aired beginning in 2005 show little sign of the brilliance demonstrated from 2000-2003.
Most of the characters are now gone. No longer do we see Click the Mouse, Barnaby Busterfield III, Walter & Clay the pigeons, Heath the Thesaurus, or other central characters. No new segments of Cliff Hanger, The Lone Rearranger, Sam Spud, Vowel Boot Camp, Moby Duck are being produced, and these have not been replaced by other segments.
Most "new" episodes simply show a re-edited version of a first or second season episode, shortened to 15 minutes instead of a half hour, which are shown together as two 15 minute episodes in one half hour slot.
The show is no longer created by Sirius Thinking, Ltd, but now receives funding from the No Child Left Behind program, which may explain some of the changes, just as the format of Sesame Street changed when it switched from the Children's Television Workshop to Sesame Workshop. Signing ceremony at Hamilton High School in Hamilton, Ohio. ...
Sesame Street is an American educational childrens television series for preschoolers and is a pioneer of the contemporary educational television standard, combining both education and entertainment. ...
Sesame Workshop, formerly known as the Childrens Television Workshop (or CTW), is a non-profit organization behind the production of several educational childrens programs that have run on public broadcasting around the world (including PBS in the United States), as well as Noggin, a joint venture with Viacom...
Sesame Workshop, formerly known as the Childrens Television Workshop (or CTW), is a non-profit organization behind the production of several educational childrens programs that have run on public broadcasting around the world (including PBS in the United States). ...
See also Sesame Street is an American educational childrens television series for preschoolers and is a pioneer of the contemporary educational television standard, combining both education and entertainment. ...
The Electric Company was an educational American childrens television series produced by the Childrens Television Workshop (now Sesame Workshop) for PBS in the United States. ...
Asterisk is a design and animation production company in New York. ...
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