Bobby's World
Bobby's World is an American animated television series. It ran from 1990 to 1998 on FOX Kids. It was set in 1979 in California. It was about the life of Bobby Generic (pronounced /ˈdʒɛnərɪk/ JEN-ə-rik) and his imagination on how he sees the world. The show was made by Canadian actor-comedian Howie Mandel. Mandel also provided the voice of both Bobby and his father Howard Generic, who looks like a cartoon version of Mandel. It was made by Film Roman for Alevy Productions and Fox Kids, and later NBC Universal. The theme song for Bobby's World was made by John Tesh and Michael Hanna.
History
[change | change source]The character of "Bobby" can be traced back to Mandel's stand-up comedy performances; Mandel would commonly have the same voice as Bobby, often talking with an unseen "parent".
The voices of Kelly Generic (Bobby's sister) and Martha Generic (Bobby's mom) are based on two characters Gail Matthius played when she was a member on Saturday Night Live in 1980. Martha is based on the character Roweena, a chain smoking hair stylist with a Upper Midwestern accent who gets into arguments with her best customer Nadine (Denny Dillon), while Kelly Generic is based on the character Vicky, a valley girl who annoys others with her shallow questions and rambling stories and often is seen with her friend Debbie (also Dillon).
In the US, during the show's final season on-air, the show was open-captioned; this was intended as an aid to help younger children learn to read.
In an April 2006 online interview, Mandel expressed his desire for a possible re-launch of the series.[1] Episodes can be seen in syndication, or on some websites.
According to a video posted on YouTube.com,[2] Mandel mentions that they are working on new episodes.
On February 12, 2007, the character Bobby made a surprise appearance on an episode of Deal or No Deal.
Show format
[change | change source]Episodes often consist of a short live-action segment either before or after the main story (and sometimes both before and after). The segment would include Mandel describing some aspect of the story and often relating it back to his personal childhood.
Sometimes during these segments, the character of Bobby would appear in animated form and converse with Mandel. Other times, a live action child would appear and exchange words with Mandel. Endings of the show also featured Mandel breaking the proverbial "fourth wall" by talking to viewers about the preceding episode. In some part of the episode, Bobby will break the fourth wall by telling the audience his perspective on life.
Characters
[change | change source]- Bobby Generic - 4-year-old boy (voiced by Mandel)
- Howard Generic - Bobby's father (voiced by Mandel using his regular voice)
- Martha Generic - Bobby's mother, who speaks with a heavy North Central American English accent and often says things like "Fer cryin' in the mud", "gee golly", "gosh darn" and "don't 'cha know". (voiced by Gail Matthius)
- Kelly Generic - Bobby's 14-year-old sister, has a shag haircut, purple eye shadow and a valley girl accent (voiced by Charity James)
- Derek Generic - Bobby's 10-year-old brother, with a rat-tail hairdo and a sarcastic manner. (voiced by Kevin Smets seasons 1-5 and Pamela Segall season 6-7)
- The Generic Twins - Introduced in Season 4 but mentioned in Seasons 2 and 3 as Martha was pregnant with them, Bobby's infant brothers
- Aunt Ruth - Bobby's aunt and Martha's sister (voice of Edie McClurg)
- Uncle Ted - Bobby's uncle and Martha's brother. He loves to give noogies to Bobby and collects things, one of which is a novelty item called Socks In A Can. (voice of Tino Insana)
- Roger - the Generic family dog (voiced by Frank Welker)
- Jackie - Bobby's cute and kind girlfriend next door neighbor/classmate with the floor-length pigtails who has a crush on Bobby and always kisses him. She also had the ability to fly with her pigtails. (voiced by Debi Derryberry)
- Charlotte - Charlotte was the fun-loving adventurous girl who was famous for her dislike of chocolate and her ability to tease Bobby incessantly over small things he does.
Seasons
[change | change source]| Season | Episodes | Season Premiere | Season Finale |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 13 | September 8, 1990 | January 19, 1991 |
| 2 | 8 | September 7, 1991 | November 16, 1991 |
| 3 | 13 | August 29, 1992 | May 8, 1993 |
| 4 | 13 | September 18, 1993 | February 26, 1994 |
| 5 | 13 | September 12, 1994 | February 20, 1995 |
| 6 | 8 | September 11, 1995 | 1996 |
| 7 | 3 | 1996 | |
| 8 | 10 | September 6, 1997 | February 23, 1998 |
DVD releases
[change | change source]- Classic Scratch 'n' Sniff Episodes and The Signature Episodes were both issued on DVD in North America by Anchor Bay Entertainment.
Video game
[change | change source]The Super Nintendo Entertainment System and Sega Game Gear made a video game from Bobby's World, which was built by RSP and published by Hi Tech Entertainment. In the game, Bobby's mother tells him to clean his room. As he is cleaning his room Bobby starts daydreaming about a toy. After you beat a level, Bobby has another daydream about another toy that he puts away.[3]
References
[change | change source]- ↑ "The TV Squad Interview: Howie Mandel - TV Squad". Archived from the original on 2011-05-21. Retrieved 2010-11-08.
- ↑ Howie Stand Up
- ↑ SNES Central: Bobby's World
Other websites
[change | change source]- BobbysWorld.net
- Bobby's World on IMDb
- Bobby's World at TV.com
- Bobby's World at TV.com[permanent dead link]
- Toon Tracker Audio File - The Bobby's World Theme Archived 2007-09-27 at the Wayback Machine
- Bobby's World at Don Markstein's Toonopedia
- Bobby's World on Kabillion.com Archived 2009-07-16 at the Wayback Machine