''The Busy World of Richard Scarry'' is an animated

children's television series Children's television series (or children's television shows) are television programs designed for children, normally scheduled for broadcast during the morning and afternoon when children are awake. They can sometimes run during the early evenin ...

, produced by CINAR Animation and France Animation in association with

Paramount Television The original incarnation of Paramount Television was the name of the television production division of the American film studio Paramount Pictures, that was responsible for the production of Viacom television programs, until it changed its name ...

, which aired from 1994 to 1997, first on Showtime, later on

Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (often shortened to Nick) is an American pay television channel which launched on April 1, 1979, as the first cable channel for children. It is run by Paramount Global through its networks division's Kids and Family Group. It ...

, and ran for 65 episodes. The

television series A television show – or simply TV show – is any content produced for viewing on a television set which can be broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, or cable, excluding breaking news, advertisements, or trailers that are typically placed be ...

was based on the books drawn and written by

Richard Scarry Richard McClure Scarry (June 5, 1919 – April 30, 1994) was an American children's author and illustrator who published over 300 books with total sales of over 100 million worldwide. He is best known for his ''Best Ever'' book series that take ...

. Reruns of the show formerly aired in syndication as part of the

Cookie Jar Kids Network The Cookie Jar Kids Network (formerly DiC Kids Network) was a syndicated children's programming block that airs selected Cookie Jar Group shows on local Fox, The CW, MyNetworkTV, and independent stations to provide them with a source of E/I pr ...

block, but the show now continues to air on the Cookie Jar Toons block on

This TV This TV (also known as This TV Network and alternately stylized as thisTV) is an American free-to-air television network owned by Allen Media Broadcast Networks, LLC, part of the Allen Media Group division of Entertainment Studios. Originally f ...

until October 26, 2013. Reruns of the show aired on

Qubo Qubo ( ; stylized as qubo) was an American television network for children between the ages of 5 and 14. Owned by Ion Media, it consisted of a 24-hour free-to-air television network often mentioned as the "Qubo channel" (available as a digital ...

from May 13, 2013, to September 25, 2016. However, it returned to Qubo on March 28, 2017, as part of the network's Night Owl block until May 26, 2018, and has also aired on Light TV, but has since left the network.

Cast

*Sonja Ball as

Huckle Cat Busytown is a fictional town depicted in several books by American children's author Richard Scarry. Busytown is inhabited by an assortment of anthropomorphic animals, including Huckle Cat, Lowly Worm, Mr. Frumble, police Sergeant Murphy, Mr. Fi ...

, additional voices * Keith Knight as Lowly Worm, Harry Hyena, Snozzle, Able Baker Charlie, Soybean Goat, additional voices *Judy Marshak as Fiona Cat, additional voices *Philip Williams as Sergeant Murphy, Bruno Bear, additional voices *

Stephen Ouimette Stephen Ouimette is a Canadian actor and director. Although mostly known for his stage work, particularly at the Stratford Festival of Canada and recently on Broadway in '' La Bete'', he achieved TV fame (and a Gemini Award) as the ghostly Olive ...

as Doctor Lion, Mr. Raccoon, additional voices * Len Carlson as Mr. Frumble, Mr. Gronkle, Mayor Fox, additional voices *Tara Meyer as Sally Cat, additional voices *Cathy Gallant as Hilda Hippo, P.S. Pig, Thump, Deputy Flo, additional voices * John Stocker as John Cat, Mr. Humperdink, Scotty Dog, Pedro, Wolfgang Wolf, additional voices *

Rino Romano Rino Romano is a Canadian actor. Career He is known for his work as Batman in the animated series ''The Batman'' (2004–2008), Spider-Man in '' Spider-Man Unlimited'' (1999–2001), and the video games ''Spider-Man'', '' Spider-Man 2: Enter El ...

as Billy Dog, additional voices * David Berni as Bananas Gorilla, additional voices * Peter Wildman as Mr. Fixit, Rudolph von Flugel, Sniff, Pickles, additional voices * Hadley Kay as Sprout Goat, Dennis Elephant, additional voices *

Stuart Stone Stuart Stone (born Stuart Eisenstein) is a Canadian film, television, and voice-over actor as well as a producer of television, film and music. He is best known for his roles as Ronald Fisher in the 2001 cult film, ''Donnie Darko'' and Ralphie Ten ...

as Kenny Bear (seasons 1-3), Pig Will (seasons 1-3), Pig Won't, Manuel *Linda Feige as Miss Honey (early episodes) *

Susan Roman Susan Roman (born April 17) is a Canadian voice actress and voice director, best known for voice acting the role of Lita/Sailor Jupiter in the Canada DiC (and later Cloverway/CWi) dub of the anime, ''Sailor Moon''. She is one of the few voice ...

as Cucumber, Professor Dog, April Rhino, Squirty Humperdink, additional voices * Tara Charendoff as Lynnie Raccoon (season 5), Abe, additional voices *Michael Caloz as Kenny Bear (later season 3), Vanderbuilt Gronkle, Robby Lion, Pig Will (season 5) * Julie Lemieux as Russ, additional voices *

Lisa Yamanaka Lisa Jai Yamanaka is a Canadian actress. She is known as the voice of Wanda Li in '' The Magic School Bus'' and Yoko in ''Timothy Goes to School''. Yamanaka is also known for her work on '' Babar'' and '' Resident Evil 2''. She is also credited a ...

as Bridget Murphy * Arthur Holden as Bump *

Don Dickinson Don Dickinson (born December 27, 1974) is a Canadian writer and actor, born in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan on December 27, 1947. He was a shortlisted nominee for the Governor General's Award for English-language fiction at the 1991 Governor Gene ...

as additional voices *

Keith Hampshire Keith Hampshire (born 23 November 1945) is an English-born singer and actor. He recorded three songs which were top ten hits in Canada, and hosted the CBC Television show ''Keith Hampshire's Music Machine''. His voice has been compared to Dav ...

as additional voices *William Colgate as additional voices * Paul Haddad as additional voices

Overview

The series takes place in the fictional city of

Busytown Busytown is a fictional town depicted in several books by American children's author Richard Scarry. Busytown is inhabited by an assortment of anthropomorphic animals, including Huckle Cat, Lowly Worm, Mr. Frumble, police Sergeant Murphy, Mr. Fi ...

and mainly stars

, Lowly Worm and many of the other residents of Busytown. Every "human" in the series is an anthropomorphic animal, most commonly pigs, foxes, breeds of

dogs The dog (''Canis familiaris'' or ''Canis lupus familiaris'') is a domesticated descendant of the wolf. Also called the domestic dog, it is derived from the extinct Pleistocene wolf, and the modern wolf is the dog's nearest living relative. ...

mice A mouse ( : mice) is a small rodent. Characteristically, mice are known to have a pointed snout, small rounded ears, a body-length scaly tail, and a high breeding rate. The best known mouse species is the common house mouse (''Mus musculus'' ...

rabbit Rabbits, also known as bunnies or bunny rabbits, are small mammals in the family Leporidae (which also contains the hares) of the order Lagomorpha (which also contains the pikas). ''Oryctolagus cuniculus'' includes the European rabbit sp ...

goat The goat or domestic goat (''Capra hircus'') is a domesticated species of goat-antelope typically kept as livestock. It was domesticated from the wild goat (''C. aegagrus'') of Southwest Asia and Eastern Europe. The goat is a member of the a ...

s, and

cat The cat (''Felis catus'') is a domestic species of small carnivorous mammal. It is the only domesticated species in the family Felidae and is commonly referred to as the domestic cat or house cat to distinguish it from the wild members of ...

s. Each episode always features a conflict (which is eventually resolved in the end). However, episodes featuring other anthropomorphic animals, like Couscous catching Pépé le Gangstaire and his dirty rats, Sam and Dudley, Sneef and Sniff, Cucumber and Pickles, etc. have taken place outside of Busytown in other places around the world.

Episode list

Season 1: 1994

Season 2: 1995

Season 3: 1995–96

Season 4: 1996

Season 5: 1997

Home releases

On July 27, 2010, Mill Creek Entertainment released ''The Busy World of Richard Scarry: Every Day There's Something New'' on DVD in Region 1 (US only). This 3-disc set features the first 30 episodes of the series. On July 19, 2011, Mill Creek released ''The Busy World of Richard Scarry: Fun in Busytown!'', a 4-disc set that features the remaining 35 episodes of the series. On August 4, 2015, Mill Creek Entertainment released ''The Busy World of Richard Scarry- The Complete Series'' on DVD in Region 1 which includes bonus episodes of '' Busytown Mysteries'', '' Wimzie's House'' and '' Simon in the Land of Chalk Drawings''.Mill Creek's 'Complete Series' 6-DVD Set...Soon!

Music

Most of the music was written by two composers. The theme song was written by Sara Zahn and composed by Milan Kymlicka, while the underscore was composed and conducted by Laurent Petitgirard and Steve Wener. Several other composers contributed to several educational shorts in the series.

References

External links

''The Busy World of Richard Scarry''
at Cookie Jar Entertainment * {{DEFAULTSORT:Busy World Of Richard Scarry, The 1990s American animated television series 1994 American television series debuts 1997 American television series endings 1990s Canadian animated television series 1994 Canadian television series debuts 1997 Canadian television series endings 1990s French animated television series 1994 French television series debuts 1997 French television series endings 1990s preschool education television series American children's animated adventure television series American children's animated fantasy television series American television shows based on children's books American preschool education television series Animated television series about animals Animated television series about children Animated television series about families Animated television series about siblings BBC children's television shows Canadian children's animated adventure television series Canadian children's animated fantasy television series Canadian preschool education television series Canadian television shows based on children's books Family Channel (Canadian TV network) original programming French children's animated adventure television series French children's animated fantasy television series French preschool education television series French television shows based on children's books Nick Jr. original programming Nickelodeon original programming Showtime (TV network) original programming Television series by CBS Studios Television series by Cookie Jar Entertainment