Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Literary Toons: The Berenstain Bears (1985)

The most famous family of bears since, well, "The Three Bears" of Goldilocks fame, The Berenstain Bears made the first transition from print to screen in a series of primetime specials during the 70's. In 1985, Hanna-Barbera and its Australian subsidiary, Southern Star, adapted the popular children's book series into a weekly Saturday morning series for CBS which lasted 18 months from September 1985-March 1987. In 2003, the Bears returned in an all-new series produced by Canada's Nelvana for PBS, which might still be on the air on some PBS stations (check listings).

Following is a sample episode, "Too Much Birthday":



It's the best way I can think of to honor the memory of co-creator Jan Berenstain, who passed away over the weekend at 88 from a stroke.

Rating: A.

No comments: