DefunctTV: The History of Between the Lions

funding for defunct TV is provided by audible a massive audio library right at your fingertips and viewers like you thank you on November 10th 1969 a new children's television program debuted on the public television network national educational television the show featured a cast of humans animals and monsters all living together in the colorful neighborhood of Sesame Street the show combined puppetry animation music and more to teach elementary concepts such as letters and numbers to children the creators of the show tailored it to kids between the ages of 2 & 5 specifically underprivileged inner-city youth in an attempt to supplement the lack of educational programs and opportunities low-income areas received Sesame Street was massively popular upon its debut and its attempt to implement its own curriculum would spark national debates on the rule the television should play in the lives of children after moving to the Public Broadcasting Service in 1970 and subsequently continuing its run for over four decades it is safe to say that its attempt to fill gaps and children's developmental education was more successful than anyone could have imagined with its mainstream success and cultural impact it is no surprise that a sequel would be considered when such a project would finally begin development in the mid-90s its educational goals would be much more ambitious teaching young children letters and numbers was one thing but teaching them to read was uncharted territory [Music] here's a command [Music] between the liens premiered on PBS on April 3rd 2000 the show was the first on television specifically designed to educate children on reading comprehension skills the show's producer to the stoie explained Sesame Street teaches letters and numbers between the Lions goes the next step it's for kids who are about to learn to read or are just beginning to read despite the fact that a significant portion of the cast and crew had worked on Sesame Street and Jim Henson company projects in the past between the Lions was not officially affiliated with either the first season the show took 6 years and cost over 30 million dollars to create the show is produced by Boston PBS affiliate WGBH an independent production company serious thinking WGBH was one of PBS's major production affiliates having produced popular children's television shows such as Arthur zoom and where in the world is Carmen Sandiego the crew for between the lines would have to travel between Boston and New York to film scenes for the episodes on top of the core crew of around 50 people the producers brought on consulting experts on teaching reading and literacy all of these factors resulted in an incredibly expensive children's television show in the first season episodes could cost more than $500,000 to produce each a massive amount of money for Studios relying on government grants and private donations the show itself focused on a family of lions that lived in and operated a library the main cast comprised of cleo the mother lioness puppeteer by Jennifer Barnhart Theo the father lion puppeteered by Baron the big blue house puppeteer Peter Lenz their seven-year-old child Lionel performed by Anthony Ashbury and Lionel's little sister the four-year-old Leona performed by Katharine Mullen the main character trait of the family was that they loved to read and they loved to eat other residents of the library included Barnaby B Buster Field the third and often grumpy bust of the library's founder and Walter and clay pigeon two birds that often annoyed Barnaby by hanging around him and calling him buster there was also click the mouse a living computer mouse that helped the main characters in a variety of situations by using books and the Internet she was also used to promote the between the Lions website which had more activities to stimulate children's interest in reading each episode followed a similar format it begins with a character named announcer bunny popping out of a magician's hat to announce the start of the show the theme song would then roll after this the main storyline with the Lyon family would begin there were two types of stories that an episode would follow the storybook storyline would center around the family learning about and reading a real-life book that children watching might find at their own library the other storyline was a pronunciation and comprehension focused storyline these were more random and the plot was specifically centered around a certain letter combination or word type that the rest of the episode would teach for instance the season 1 episode The Lost Rock focused on the word Rock and similar words such as clock and sock after the first section of the main storyline was over the show moved on to rapid-fire learning segments taking a note from Sesame Street's format these contain a myriad of music pop-culture references mediums of art and performance the show quickly established a series of recurring segments that became popular among the young audience here are a few of the more notable segments The Adventures of cliffhanger was an in show book series written by Livingston dangerously it was most read by Lionel who considered it his favorite in the library the books tell the story of cliffhanger an adventurer that is stuck holding a branch on the side of a cliff it starts with the branch beginning to break and cliff exclaiming just before his inevitable fall cliff spots a way to get out of the situation he then reaches into his backpack finding a tool that will help him take advantage of the potential situation usually looking in a survival manual after making his initial escape attempt things look good for cliff but after things take a turn for the worse he always ends up back on the cliff an entire second season episode revolves around the author of Livingston dangerously writing the last cliffhanger book fun with Chicken Jane was a parody of the popular Dick and Jane book series the segment centered around two children named Scott and dot and a chicken named Jane each segment would begin with a song about Scott and Jane walking down the lane the part of each story would consist of Scott and dot taking their time and sounding out everything they saw around them usually a dangerous situation heading their way Jane however would frantically tried to get their attention fully aware of the importance of the issue at hand Jane would eventually spell out to Scott and dot how to avoid the issue just in time for Scott and dot to save themselves but not in time for Jane to do the same each episode would end with the opening song and three walking down the lane once again with one of Jane's wings in a sling what's cooking with Theo and Clea was a fake cooking show starring Theo and Cleo the two lines would demonstrate a recipe typically an elaborate rhyming scheme matching the grammar being taught in the episode theone Clea would go through each step coming upon the final detail the cooking time for the dish after examining the amount of time it would take to cook the two exclaim na and begin devouring the raw food Gawain's word was a medieval parody of the SNL skit Wayne's World and an homage to Monty Python and the Holy Grail these short recurring segments featured a night hosting a joust in an exaggerated American teenage accent the two nights would each charge with a sound and a certain amount of letters from a given word once they clashed the word would become clear other segments included a therapy show parody entitled the word doctor with dr. Ruth's word heimer a theatre performance called the monkey pop-up theatre a golfing parody with the character tiger words a film noir parody called sam spud a Motown parody called the vowels a segment where Fred Newman would just appear and sound out words and much much more perhaps the most haunting product of the segments was a character named Artie smartypants a terrifying man with large overalls he would eventually sing his signature song dance and smartypants good luck getting that out of your head while that might be the most haunting image of between the liens the following segment was the most immediately terrifying no introduction can do this justice did the tummy lady eat too many treats the episodes would return to the main storyline with the Lyon family and supporting characters eventually resolving the minor conflict less emphasis was put on the story's moral lessons in order to focus on reading comprehension like Sesame Street between the lines would feature a variety of guest stars a key difference was that between the liens favored the more obscure celebrities this resulted in guest stars such as Al Roker and the cast of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart making appearances in various segments between the lines was a huge success both for ratings and effectiveness studies showed the children from low-income communities that regularly watch between the liens significantly improved key reading skills between the Lions also came at a time of scrutiny for PBS is line up the 90s have brought the smash hit shows Teletubbies and Barney and friends who loved by children but despised by parents between the Lions with its use of clever parody and mature but appropriate humour was refreshing to family audiences who were tired of shouting and baby talk season one it between the Lions aired throughout April and the beginning of May of 2000 with the first season ending on may 12th the success of the show resulted in a renewal for a 25 episode second season which began airing a year later on April 2nd 2001 a highly publicized episode of season 2 introduced a character with a learning disability the show was praised for its incorporation and handling of the subject all episodes of this season were released on a similar schedule to the first season during April and May after this the show was renewed for a third season but only ten episodes were ordered these would not begin airing until September 16 to 2002 with the last episode of season three airing on November 18th 2002 the season for renewal would bring an even smaller order with only five episodes airing between September 15th and September 19th 2004 the unusually high production cost of the show was resulting in less and less episodes being created each season in the future between the lions was oblique PBS could only cover around one-fourth of the budget and it seemed almost certain that this show would be canceled luckily in early 2004 Mississippi Public Broadcasting noticed the issue impressed with the effectiveness of the show's curriculum they quickly swooped in offered funding a local crew and studios if the show moved production to the state state of Mississippi already had a relationship with the show for one Mississippi State University conducted one of the major studies proving between the lines effectiveness on literacy on top of this children from Mississippi were among the lowest performing groups in reading comprehension in the country from the production side the move made perfect sense as well filming in Mississippi as opposed in New York and Boston would significantly reduce production costs in the generous offer at such a desperate time cannot be turned down plus the crew in Mississippi were non-union so the production was even cheaper due to all of this between the lines would move to Mississippi to film its fifth season a 10 episode fifth season of between the lines aired between September 19th and November 22nd 2005 it would also be the basis for small preschool curriculums and library activities in Mississippi and across the United States between the lions transition to Mississippi was a success and the show was able to secure not only a sixth season but a seventh eighth ninth and tenth season each containing ten episodes and airing between September and November each year an interesting note is that the puppeteers were sometimes replaced between the seasons of the show and the majority of the main cast of characters would be played by multiple performers one of the more notable changes was barring the Big Blue House puppeteer no MacNeil puppeteering Lionel in seasons 9 and 10 the final episode of season 10 aired on November 22nd 2010 this would be the final episode of between the lions the exact reason for the show's cancellation was not clear but it most likely came down to the amount of content available for reruns despite reruns of the show only continuing on most stations until the summer of 2011 the high production costs and a general decline in the use of puppetry and children's programming with animation becoming cheaper to produce PBS and other children's networks seem to favor the style / classic puppetry this is perhaps why after the cancellation of between the lions an animated spin-off of the show was developed to be produced by the children's animation company cloudkit which had already worked with the show on some of its second the exact status of these episodes is unclear - were about classic children's stories and - were about nature it seems according to episode listings that the first two were released as the first episodes of season 10 one of these titled three more Little Pigs can be found online this seems to be more of a concept test as the pod and many scenes were recycled from previous episodes character sheets and production stills were posted on cloud kids website as early September 2010 before the release of this episode and cloud kid would eventually post a short clip from the episode on Vimeo it is unclear whether the other three episodes were produced or released but plans for a full animated spin-off were certainly abandoned by 2015 when cloud kid became defunct and its staff was absorbed by the development team of oddly enough that Chiba robot between the lines was one of PBS's most popular shows throughout the 2000s it won a total of seven Emmys throughout its tenth season 130 episode run and it received endless praise from children parents and critics but it was more than just a successful TV show it was an important program with a specific and effective curriculum it's noble goals unassuming style and endless charm should solidify its place in television history and a generation of children is lucky that they were taught to read between the Lions [Music] [Applause] you [Music] funding for defunct TV is provided by audible it's that time of year when everyone is thinking about thoughtful gifts and what gift is better than the gift of reading and what better way to read them through audibles unbeatable selection of audio books with an audible membership you can choose three titles every month one audiobook and two audible originals that you can't hear anywhere else for instance you can listen to click clack moo cows that type a favorite of the lion pride you can listen on any device anytime anywhere and right now for a limited time you can get three months of audible for just $6.95 a month that's more than 50% off just go to audible.com slash defunct land or text a funcle' and to five hundred five hundred to get this incredible deal give yourself the gift of listening and while you're at it think about giving audible as a gift to someone on your list just go to audible.com slash the fun clan or text a funk line to five hundred five hundred today [Music] you [Music]

Channel: Defunctland

Views: 887,110

Rating: 4.9720092 out of 5

Keywords: defunctland, kevin perjurer, theme park, extinct, abandoned, defunct, history, disney, disneyland, disney world, previous, attractions, on ride, lights on, between the lions, television history, pbs, pbs kids go, pbs history, childrens television history, old childrens tv shows, between the lions episodes

Id: NpRmCXTdlE8

Length: 15min 1sec (901 seconds)

Published: Thu Dec 13 2018

Reddit Comments

[u/ToffeeFever]

Ah man, that was my shit back in my elementary days during the early 2000s! So glad it's finally getting the nostalgic appreciation it deserves!

[u/The-Bigger-Fish]

I remember this show as a kid, really liked it. I'm actually surprised it aired until 2010. But then again, PBS has a bad habit of airing all of its genuinely good kid shows at really bad times. (Like 6am in the morning on a Saturday bad. Hi Animalia!)

Also, I forgot how much of a trip this show was (especially the skits), must have blocked most of the weirder parts out of my mind to retain sanity as a child. Thanks for bringing those memories back to the surface, Kevin! ;)

[u/TheSonder]

Oh Kevin Perjurer: giving us episodes we didn’t even know we wanted!

[u/SakuOtaku]

I forgot the terrifying pants guy until this video.

Thanks.

(Though it reminded me of other good parts I had forgotten)

[u/cheryl4667]

Me and my son loved this show. I too did not know it aired that long! Great for them. He was also a huge Arthur fan! Learned to tell time so he knew when these shows were on.

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[u/genralc46]

YES!

[u/kiaha]

I freaking loved this show as a kid! My local library still has the stuffed versions of the mom and dad lions in the kid's section, I remember seeing them as a kid when I would go and for some reason it got me hyped to read. :)

[u/sunny790]

im loving this defunct tv series. my favorite channel just keeps getting better.

[u/IrishAmerican95]

You know, I never really found Mr. Smarty Pants scary.