| This article is about references outside of Arthur. You may be looking for the list of parodies within Arthur. |
The Arthur franchise has made appearances in other television programming outside of the official television series such as in references and parodies of the original show. Arthur products have also appeared as props in other programming.
TV[]
Antiques Roadshow[]
Antiques Roadshow is a television program on PBS since 1997 that features expert appraisals of antiques. During a celebrity edition of the show in 2021, the roadshow appraised some of Marc Brown's original Arthur artwork. Appraisals started at $500 for initial sketches and various working examples, with intermediate artwork ranging anywhere from $3,000 to $5,000, and complete paintings up to $10,000. One watercolor painting (cover artwork for "Arthur's Perfect Christmas") was noted as being sold at auction for $7,800.
Doug[]
Arthur and Buster on Doug
Doug is an animated series that aired on Nickelodeon (1991-1994, original) and ABC (1996-1999, revived) that is centered around a boy in his early adolescent school life. The series was created by American cartoonist Jim Jinkins, who previously worked on PBS children's programming unit. In 1996, Disney acquired the series from Nickelodeon for its fifth season, which premiered during the same year as Arthur's launch on public television, and featured writing by Joe Fallon and Ken Scarborough, who also worked on Arthur.
In the first episode of Disney's Doug, "Doug's Last Birthday," his sister mentions he wanted to cancel his 11th birthday because of Doug's unwillingness to move away from his old town and he would have still only had his old friends Arthur and Buster if he had gotten his way. In a flashback, Arthur and Buster with altered designs wave outside of the window of Doug's old room. A slightly different version of the theme song to Arthur plays in the background.
Family Guy[]
Family Guy is an adult animated sitcom created by comedian Seth MacFarlane about a dysfunctional, middle-class family. Since its premiere in 1999, the program has been co-produced, predominantly aired and released under the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series regularly references and parodies other Western media, commonly through short skits (or "cut-aways") randomly brought into relevance by a character.
In the fifth episode of season 23, titled "My Dog is My Co-Pilot," Stewie Griffin compares his mother's childhood Easy Bake Oven to the "series finale of Caillou." The scene then cuts to a parody of the crime drama, The Sopranos' series finale. In an art style reminiscent of the Canadian infamous children's cartoon, Caillou, Caillou is sitting at a cafe while other people, including his family and Arthur Read comes in. Arthur seats himself in the patio area of the cafe and then frowns at Caillou while tapping his hands on the table impatiently, suggesting that he is jealous. He then walks to the bathroom with an annoyed expression and the scene abruptly cuts to black. The cut-away may be an allusion to the finale of Arthur and the fact that both Arthur along with Caillou aired on PBS Kids, but also animated by WildBrain. Not to mention that Jane Lynch who guest starred as Patty Ratburn guest starred in Family Guy as Dotty Campbell.
Fetch! with Ruff Ruffman[]
Fetch! with Ruff Ruffman is a live-action/animated hybrid reality game show that aired on PBS Kids Go! from 2006 to 2010. In some versions of the opening theme song, at the end Ruff makes the comment, "I bet Arthur doesn't have to deal with stuff like this," as things go wrong on his animated set. Both Fetch! and Arthur are productions of WGBH Boston.
Mister Rogers' Neighborhood[]
Mister Rogers' Neighborhood is an educational children's program hosted by the late Fred Rogers. It is one of the longest-running children's television series in history, airing on public television from 1968 through 2001. In episode 1743 ("Go Stop Go"), Mister Rogers visits Marc Brown at his studio and meets Quebecois child actor Michael Yarmush. He also shows viewers artwork by Brown and an Arthur puppet, who appears as a character in the Neighborhood of Make Believe.
Mona the Vampire[]
Arthur made a cameo as a stuffed animal in one episode. Both programs are productions of WildBrain.
Reading Rainbow[]
Reading Rainbow is a literature-focused educational children's program hosted by LeVar Burton that aired on PBS from 1983 to 2006. The book Arthur's Eyes was featured and read aloud on episode 13 of the first season, but narrated by Cosby. The book The Bionic Bunny Show was featured and read aloud on episode 1 of the sixth season.
Robot Chicken[]
Robot Chicken sketch
Robot Chicken is an adult-oriented, American stop-motion animated sketch comedy series that aired on the kids' animation-focused cable TV network Cartoon Network's late-night Adult Swim block.
In the 2017 episode “Scoot to the Gute," there is a parody of the Arthur television show in which Buster voiced by United States based writer, Tom Root attempts to preform a Laser Assisted in Situ Keratomileusis Surgery (or LASIK, as it is called in the sketch) for Arthur voiced by well-known actor Seth Green. Arthur says, "Wow, I can't believe I'm finally getting LASIK surgery!" and Buster replies, "Wow, I can't believe they sold a laser to a rabbit!" and starts the procedure. Background music mimics the type of soundtrack in Arthur.
ZOOM[]
ZOOM is an education variety show for children that originally aired on PBS from 1972 to 1978, with a revived series from 1999 to 2005 on PBS Kids. Both iterations are productions of WGBH Boston. In episode 12 of Season 7 of the revived series, the ZOOMers sing the Arthur theme song around a campfire.
Notable others[]
D.W. doll in kitchen safety informative.
- A D.W. plush doll can be seen in a syndicated 1997 kitchen safety informative video.