The Berenstain Bears (2002 TV series)

Premise

The series is set in a forested land populated only by anthropomorphic bears and primarily focuses on the title Berenstain Bears. The Berenstain Bears are a family residing in the rural community of Bear Country. The family consisted of Mama Bear, Papa Q. Bear, Brother Bear, and Sister Bear.

Although numerous episodes are based on the books and promote the same morals as encouraged in the picture books from which their plots originated, the program's faithfulness to the original series is slightly mixed on account of a number of later episodes following original storylines.

Nonetheless, they mostly portray the same circumstance depicted in the original Berenstain Bears storybooks quite accurately and concentrate on the messages and lessons learned by the family through their different experiences, such as generosity and responsibility, as well as the daily lives of the bears.

Production and music

The series was co-produced by Corus' animation unit Nelvana Limited and Agogo Entertainment for PBS Kids in the United States and Treehouse TV in Canada. Eighty 15-minute episodes were produced, adapted from the books and also a few new stories as well, similar to the 1985 incarnation.

Due to Canadian laws requiring Nelvana to employ Canadian writers and designers, the Berenstain couple's involvement in the program was limited; they sought to exert their influence on some details, according to Stan: "Our bears don't wear shoes, and Papa wouldn't wear his hat in the house...And we try to keep complete, total banality out of the stories". Common practicalities of animation did force some minor costume changes from the books, such as eliminating polka dots and plaids (this issue also occurred in the past animated series and specials and only a limited amount of polka dots was allowed in the five specials).

The series is supposed to supplement the 1980s series because new books were released since then, even though the two incarnations have a thoroughly different production style as well as a change of in-universe elements. Another issue is the two series are not seen together. Missing was Honey Bear, a toddler cub who never appeared in the TV series.

All of the series' music composed by Ray Parker and Tom Szczesniak along U.S. country singer Lee Ann Womack performed the series' theme song and lyrics written by Stan Meissner.

After its ending seven years later, twenty episodes of the series were dubbed in Lakota language and aired under the title "Matȟó Waúŋšila Thiwáhe" on PBS stations in the Native Dakotas starting in September 11, 2011.

Broadcast and home media

In Canada, the series first aired on September 9, 2002 on Treehouse TV and French-language Ici Radio-Canada Télé. In 2010 until 2013, it also briefly aired on YTV as part of the short-lived "YTV Playtime" block.

It first premiered in the United States on PBS on January 6, 2003. Initially, it aired together with Seven Little Monsters (originally part of the "PBS Kids Bookworm Bunch") in a shared half-hour timeslot, but two shows were eventually separated. The original broadcast run on PBS ended September 10, 2004, and repeated until February 1, 2009, along with Sagwa, the Chinese Siamese Cat and Zoboomafoo. The series continued to air in reruns on select PBS stations until September 8, 2025.

Starting in September 2005, reruns aired on PBS's new, preschool-aimed, digital cable channel, PBS Kids Sprout (later known simply as "Sprout"), from its inception up until the channel rebranded into Universal Kids on September 9, 2017, after Sprout's rights to air the series expired.

In the mid-2000s, Sony Pictures Entertainment (formerly Columbia-TriStar) released the series on both VHS and DVD in the United States. In the late 2010s, PBS released more DVDs of the series.

In Canada, kaBoom! also released all of the series on both VHS and DVD.

As of 2025, the series now streamed on both Treehouse Direct and Amazon Prime.

Episodes

Main article: List of The Berenstain Bears (2002 TV series) episodes{{!}}List of ''The Berenstain Bears'' (2002 TV series) episodes

Voice cast

Main article: List of Berenstain Bears characters

Main

• Michael Cera (seasons 1–2) and Michael D'Ascenzo (season 3) as Brother Bear
• Tajja Isen as Sister Bear
• Benedict Campbell as Papa Q. Bear
• Camilla Scott as Mama Bear

Recurring

Family

• Leslie Carlson as Grizzly Gramps
• Corinne Conley as Grizzly Gran
• Marc McMulkin as Cousin Fred

Friends

• Amanda Soha as Lizzy Bruin
• Nikki Marshall as Queenie
• Mark Rendall as Ferdy Factual
• Gage Knox as Too-Tall
• Billy Rosemberg as Skuzz
• Patrick Salvagna as Smirk
• Maryke Hendrikse as Hillary

Citizens

• Chris Wiggins as Squire Grizzly
• Ellen-Ray Hennessy as Miss Grizzle
• Philip Williams as Farmer Ben

Accolades

Notes

:a. National repeats on PBS ended. :b. With Family Segments On YouTube.

References

References

1. (2018). "The Encyclopedia of American Animated Television Shows". Rowman & Littlefield.
2. "Berenstain Bears". Corus Entertainment.
3. Gillies, Judith S.. (January 4, 2003). "Grin 'n' 'Bear' it: The Berenstains come to WTTW". [[The Washington Post]].
4. "Learn Lakota Language with Matȟó Waúŋšila Thiwáhe - The Lakota Berenstain Bears - About the Series".
5. (December 10, 2002). "The Berenstain Bears – The Nelvana-Produced Series Comes To Video For The First Time Ever". Corus Entertainment Inc..
6. (November 14, 2002). "The Berenstain Bears Bring 40 Years Of Literary History To "PBS Kids" With Premiere Of 15-Minute Animated TV Series". Corus Entertainment.
7. "WGTE - TV 30 Schedule".
8. "TV Listings Guide and TV Schedule, Where to Watch TV Shows - Zap2it".
9. (September 30, 2017). "Mitchell Hodack - Universal Kids, will you do reruns episodes of The Berenstain Bears?". [[Facebook]].