Little Bill
Little Bill is an American Flash-animated children's television series based on Bill Cosby's Little Bill book series (illustrated by Varnette P. Honeywood), set in Philadelphia.[3] It was produced for Nickelodeon's Nick Jr. block[4] and was adapted for television by the show's head writer, Fracaswell Hyman. The stories feature Bill Jr. learning a lesson or moral, and every episode was developed through research and in consultation with a panel of educational consultants.[5]
Little Bill | |
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Genre | Educational |
Created by | Bill Cosby |
Based on | Little Bill by
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Developed by | Fracaswell Hyman |
Written by | Fracaswell Hyman (head writer) |
Directed by |
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Creative director | Robert Scull |
Voices of |
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Theme music composer | Bill Cosby, Don Braden, and Jon Faddis |
Composer | Stu Gardner and Art Lisi |
Country of origin | United States |
Original language | English |
No. of seasons | 4 |
No. of episodes | 52[2] (list of episodes) |
Production | |
Executive producers |
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Producers |
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Running time | 30 minutes |
Production company | Nickelodeon Animation Studio |
Distributor | MTV Networks |
Release | |
Original network | Nickelodeon |
Original release | November 28, 1999 – February 6, 2004 |
The show's debut was on November 28, 1999, and aired on CBS as part of Nick Jr. on CBS, from September 16, 2000[6] – September 7, 2002, then as part of Nick on CBS from August 2, 2003 – September 10, 2005. The final episode aired on June 23, 2004, and reruns returned, with the return of Nick Jr. on CBS, on September 17, 2005.
Little Bill was seen through until September 9, 2006. Sonia Manzano, best known for playing Maria Rodriguez on Sesame Street, was a frequent writer for the show.
Plot
Set in Philadelphia, the show centers on Little Bill Glover as he explores everyday life through his imagination. Little Bill lives with his parents, his great grandmother Alice (aka Alice the Great), his older sister April, and brother Bobby. At the end of every show, he breaks the fourth wall by summarizing his day to the audience before going to bed.
Episodes
Season | Episodes | Originally aired | ||
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First aired | Last aired | |||
1 | 9 | November 28, 1999 | June 19, 2000 | |
2 | 12 | September 4, 2000 | February 26, 2001 | |
3 | 12 | May 7, 2001 | July 8, 2002 | |
4 | 19 | September 16, 2002 | June 23, 2004 |
Characters
- William "Bill/Little Bill" Glover Jr.: An inquisitive and imaginative boy. He is known as Little Bill because his actual name is Bill Jr, and his father's name is also Bill. Little Bill is based on Bill Cosby's son, Ennis William Cosby, and was voiced by Xavier Pritchett.
- William "Bill/Big Bill" Glover Sr.: Little Bill, Bobby, and April's father, and is the husband of Brenda. He is also known as Big Bill because his actual name is Bill Sr. He was voiced by Gregory Hines.
- Brenda Glover (née Kendall): Little Bill, Bobby, and April's mother, and is the wife of Big Bill. She was voiced by Phylicia Rashad.
- April Glover: The oldest and only daughter of Brenda and Big Bill. She was voiced by Monique Beasley.
- Robert "Bobby" Glover: Bobby is the middle child, and oldest son of the Glover children. He was voiced by Devon Malik Beckford (season 1–2), and then Tyler James Williams (season 3–4).
- Alice the Great: Great-grandmother of Little Bill, Bobby, April, and Jamal. Alice is also Brenda and Deborah's grandmother. She also lives with the family. She was voiced by Ruby Dee and Anika Walker in a flashback in "Good Ol' Lightning".
- Elephant: Elephant is the family pet, a small, light yellow hamster.
- Captain Brainstorm: Captain Brainstorm is an astronaut, who has an orange rocket and an orange space suit. Little Bill is a fan of his television show, Space Explorers. He was voiced by Bill Cosby, the creator of Little Bill.
- Andrew Mulligan: Andrew is an Irish-American boy who is Little Bill's best friend. He lives two houses away from Little Bill. He was voiced by Zach Tyler Eisen.
- Kiku: Kiku is a Japanese-American friend of Little Bill's. She was voiced by Eunice Cho and later Emily Cleckner.
- Fuchsia Glover: Fuchsia is the paternal cousin of Little Bill, Bobby and April. Her father Al is Big Bill's brother. Her mother is named Vanessa. She was voiced by Nakia Williams (Season 1) and Kianna Underwood (Season 2-4). She goes to school with Little Bill.
- Dorado: Dorado is a friend of Little Bill who is Puerto Rican. He was voiced by Vincent Canales
- Monty: Grandson of Alice the Great's friend Emmaline, uses a wheelchair to get around because he was born with cerebral palsy. He was voiced by Cole Hawkins.
- Michael Riley: A classmate of Little Bill's who moves to the neighborhood from Miami, Florida. He was voiced by Muhammad Cunningham.
- Miss Aisha Murray–Clinkscales: Little Bill's kindergarten teacher. She was voiced by Ayo Haynes (Season 1) and Melanie Nicholls-King (Season 2-4).
- Dr. Winthrop Clinkscales: Mrs. Murray's husband, whom she married in "Miss Murray's Wedding".
- Mrs. Shapiro: Little Bill's neighbor. She was voiced by Madeline Kahn in her first appearance, and later by Kathy Najimy after Kahn's death.
- Mr. Miguel Rojas: Mr. Rojas is an elderly Mexican-American man who speaks English and Spanish. He was voiced by Victor Argo.
- Mr. Clark Terry: Alice the Great and Little Bill's new friend. He was voiced by Clark Terry, whom he is named and modeled after.
- Baby Jamal Welsh: Little Bill's maternal baby cousin, son of Deborah (Brenda's sister) and Gary.
- Percy Mulch: The owner of a pet shop. He was voiced by Doug E. Doug.
- Mr. Williams: A music store owner. He is voiced by Mike Mearian.
- Aunt Deborah Kendall (voiced by Grace Garland): Aunt Deborah is Brenda's younger sister, the wife of Uncle Gary (Welsh) and the mother of Baby Jamal.
List of home media releases
Paramount Home Media Distribution is the VHS and DVD distributor for the series.
Main releases
Name | Release Date | Number of Episodes | Episode Titles |
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Me and My Family | June 5, 2001 | 4 |
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Big Little Bill | June 5, 2001 | 4 |
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What I Did at School | August 21, 2001 | 4 |
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I Love Animals! | February 5, 2002 | 4 |
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Merry Christmas, Little Bill | September 24, 2002 | 3 |
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Episodes on Nick Jr. compilation DVDs
Name | Release Date | Number of Episodes | Episode Titles |
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Nick Jr. Holiday | September 24, 2002 | 1 |
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Nick Jr. Celebrates Spring! | March 2, 2004 | 2 |
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Nick Jr. Favorites Vol. 1 | May 24, 2005 | 1 |
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Nick Jr. Favorites Vol. 2 | October 18, 2005 | 1 |
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Nick Jr. Favorites Vol. 3 | February 7, 2006 | 2 |
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Nick Jr. Favorites Vol. 4 | June 6, 2006 | 2 |
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Nick Jr. Favorites Holiday | September 26, 2006 | 1 |
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Nick Jr. Favorites Vol. 5 | March 13, 2007 | 2 |
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Nick Jr. Favorites Vol. 6 | August 7, 2007 | 2 |
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Awards
- 2003 – Outstanding Performer In An Animated Program – Gregory Hines
- 2004 – Outstanding Children's Animated Program
- 2001[7]
Video games
Little Bill Thinks Big, released on 29 September 2003, is for Windows XP and Macintosh.[8]
See also
References
- "Monty's Roar/Natural Root Pals". Little Bill. Season 1. Episode 1. 23 minutes in.
|access-date=
requires|url=
(help) - "Little Bill episodes". TV Guide. Archived from the original on August 26, 2014. Retrieved January 9, 2015.
- "Nickelodeon's 'Little Bill' Debuts as First African American Balloon In 76th Annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade". PRNewswire.com. Archived from the original on 2 October 2013. Retrieved 13 September 2013.
- Erickson, Hal (2005). Television Cartoon Shows: An Illustrated Encyclopedia, 1949 Through 2003 (2nd ed.). McFarland & Co. p. 505. ISBN 978-1476665993.
- "Little Bill". noggin.com. Archived from the original on April 7, 2008. Retrieved April 7, 2016.
- Shrivastava, K M (2005). Broadcast Journalism in the 21st Century. New Dawn Press Group. p. 56. ISBN 9788120735972. Retrieved February 20, 2015.
- 61st Annual Peabody Awards, May 2002.
- "Little Bill Thinks Big". Retrieved 15 May 2015.
External links
Wikiquote has quotations related to: Little Bill |