''Peep and the Big Wide World'' is an

animated Animation is a filmmaking technique whereby image, still images are manipulated to create Motion picture, moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on cel, transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and e ...

preschool television series created by Danish-Canadian animator Kaj Pindal. It revolves around the lives of Peep, Chirp, and Quack, as viewers discover, investigate, and explore the world around them. The show was based on the 1988 short film of the same name produced by the

National Film Board of Canada The National Film Board of Canada (NFB; ) is a Canadian public film and digital media producer and distributor. An agency of the Government of Canada, the NFB produces and distributes documentary films, animation, web documentaries, and altern ...

, which itself is based on the 1962 short film ''The Peep Show'', also produced by the National Film Board of Canada. The series premiered on April 12, 2004, on

Discovery Kids Discovery Kids, stylized as discovery k!ds, is a brand name owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Starting as a television block within Discovery Channel, the brand expanded as a separate television channel in October 1996. Discovery Kids on NBC was ...

and on

TLC TLC may refer to: Arts and entertainment Television * ''TLC'' (TV series), a 2002 British situational comedy television series that aired on BBC2 * TLC (TV network), formerly the Learning Channel, an American cable TV network ** TLC (Asia), an A ...

as part of their ''

Ready Set Learn! ''Ready Set Learn!'' is a defunct American television block broadcast from late 1992 until 2010 across the Discovery Communications-owned TLC and Discovery Kids networks. A cable competitor to PBS Kids, PBS's children's offerings, it broadcast t ...

'' children's block in the United States, and on

TVOKids TVOKids (stylized as tvokids) is the brand for most of the children's programming aired by TVO (formerly TVOntario) in Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three ter ...

in Canada. It was produced by WGBH Boston (through its kids division WGBH Kids) and

9 Story Media Group 9 Story Animation Studio (formerly known as 9 Story International) is a Canadian media production, animation studio, and distribution company founded in September 1996 by Vince Commisso and Steven Jarosz. History As 9 Story Entertainment The com ...

(formerly 9 Story Entertainment; in its debut production), in association with

TVOntario TVO (stylized in all lowercase as tvo), formerly known as TVOntario, is a Canadian Public broadcasting, publicly funded English-language educational television network and media organization serving the Canadian province of Ontario. It operates ...

and

and is distributed by

Alliance Atlantis Alliance Atlantis Communications Inc. (commonly known as Alliance Atlantis) was a Canadian media company that operated primarily as a specialty service operator in Canada. Alliance Atlantis also had offices in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Halifax, Los ...

(through AAC Kids for the first season). Carriage on the Discovery children's networks ended on October 10, 2010 with the discontinuation of ''Ready Set Learn!'' and the replacement of

with

The Hub The Hub may refer to: Places * The Hub, Bronx, an area of the South Bronx, New York, known for its convergence of subway and bus lines * The Hub (Edinburgh), former church in Edinburgh that is now home to the Edinburgh International Festival * T ...

, and now,

Discovery Family Discovery Family (known on-air as Discovery Family Channel and abbreviated as DFC) is an American Specialty channel, cable television channel co-owned by The Cartoon Network, Inc. and Hasbro Entertainment, which are divisions of Warner Bros. Di ...

. The series was offered to public television stations via independent public television distributor

American Public Television American Public Television (APT) is an American nonprofit organization and syndicator of programming for public television stations in the United States. It distributes public television programs nationwide for PBS member stations and indepen ...

from April 1, 2007, through January 3, 2018. Beginning January 1, 2018, the series was distributed by

PBS Kids PBS Kids (stylized as PBS KIDS) is the branding used for nationally distributed children's programming carried by the U.S. public television network PBS. The brand encompasses a daytime block of children's programming carried daily by most PBS ...

. U.S. broadcasts ended December 26, 2021. Throughout its run, it has been

underwritten Underwriting (UW) services are provided by some large financial institutions, such as banks, insurance companies and investment houses, whereby they guarantee payment in case of damage or financial loss and accept the financial risk for liability ...

by the

National Science Foundation The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) is an Independent agencies of the United States government#Examples of independent agencies, independent agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government that su ...

, with

Northrop Grumman Northrop Grumman Corporation is an American multinational Aerospace manufacturer, aerospace and Arms industry, defense company. With 97,000 employees and an annual revenue in excess of $40 billion, it is one of the world's largest Arms industry ...

underwriting season four in 2010. Each episode consists of two 9-minute stories, which are animated segments, and two 2-minute live action segments, in which children explore and demonstrate the same topic presented in the animated segment. The show is narrated by

Joan Cusack Joan Mary Cusack ( ; born October 11, 1962) is an American actress and comedian. She received nominations for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her roles in the comedy-drama '' Working Girl'' (1988) and the romantic comedy '' In ...

Overview

Viewers follow Peep, Chirp, and Quack as they investigate and explore the world around them. Following the 9-minute animated episode, there is a 2-minute live-action segment which features children exploring and demonstrating the same topic presented in the episode. The animation consists of bright colors, 2D, 3D and simple shapes, which simulates and reflects a youthful art style.

Characters

Attributed to the following sources:

Main

* Peep (voiced by

Scott Beaudin ''Peep and the Big Wide World'' is an animated preschool television series created by Danish-Canadian animator Kaj Pindal. It revolves around the lives of Peep, Chirp, and Quack, as viewers discover, investigate, and explore the world around ...

in seasons 1–3, Shawn Molko in season 4 and Maxwell Uretsky in season 5) is a male, yellow

chicken The chicken (''Gallus gallus domesticus'') is a domesticated subspecies of the red junglefowl (''Gallus gallus''), originally native to Southeast Asia. It was first domesticated around 8,000 years ago and is now one of the most common and w ...

who is very curious. He is the youngest bird of the group. The show's title is derived from his name. However, Peep is female in the original short film. * Chirp (voiced by Amanda Soha) is a female, red robin who is also very curious, and attempts frequently to fly, with unsatisfying results, until "A Daring Duck", when she flies from the ground. In "Big Bird", she meets a real robin for the first time. She is Peep and Quack's best friend. However, Chirp is male in the original short film. * Quack (voiced by Jamie Watson) is a male, blue-purple

duckling Duck is the common name for numerous species of waterfowl in the family Anatidae. Ducks are generally smaller and shorter-necked than swans and geese, which are members of the same family. Divided among several subfamilies, they are a form ta ...

who wears a white sailor's hat. He is older than Peep and Chirp, as they are still chicks. He frequently boasts about himself and ducks as a whole, and unwittingly makes many discoveries. Quack is purple in the original short film and is now referred to as blue, but is still quite indigo. He also seems to have a

hoarding Hoarding is the act of engaging in excessive acquisition of items that are not needed or for which no space is available. Civil unrest or the threat of natural disasters may lead people to hoard foodstuffs, water, gasoline, and other essentials ...

issue, as evidenced in the episode "An Inconvenient Tooth, Part 1". * The Narrator (voiced by

) is an omniscient voice who narrates each episode. She usually remains separate from the action, but occasionally, the characters are shown to be able to hear her and will interact with her.

Minor

* Ant (voiced by

Robert Tinkler Robert Tinkler is a Canadian voice actor who provides voices for a number of cartoons and anime shows. He voiced Max in '' The Adventures of Sam & Max: Freelance Police'', Delete in the children's animated series ''Cyberchase'', Pelswick Eggert ...

) is a very busy male ant who is leader of the ants. * Bat (voiced by Ron Rubin in season 1 and Ron Pardo in season 2) is a very shy bat. * Beaver Boy (voiced by Tessa Marshall in seasons 1–3 and Amanda Gryniewski in seasons 4–5) is a young naïve male beaver who lives in an adjoining pond to Quack's pond. He appears in several episodes. His desire to please his mom and dad often results in him chewing down too many trees. He often calls Quack "Blue Sailor" Peep "Yellow Guy" and Chirp "Red Round". * Beaver Dad (voiced by Phillip Williams) is Beaver Boy's businesslike father. * Beaver Mom (voiced by Kathleen Laskey in season 1 and Debra McGrath seasons 2–3) is Beaver Boy's workaholic mother. * Blue Jays (voiced by David Huband and Kathleen Laskey for male and female, resp.) are very silly blue and white birds who love to cause lots of trouble when they see stuff. * Bunnies (voiced by Melanie Tonello, Raquel Cadilha,

Alexander Conti Alexander Biagio Conti (born 1 September 1993) is a Canadians, Canadian actor. He made his acting debut in the film ''Finding Forrester'' (2000). Since then, he has been nominated for five Young Artist Awards. Biography Conti was born in Br ...

, resp. in seasons 1–2; Avigail Humphreys and

Riele Downs Riele Downs (born July 8, 2001) is a Canadian actress. She began her career as a child actress, playing Faith in the 2013 film ''The Best Man Holiday''. She went on to co-star as Charlotte on the Nickelodeon television series ''Henry Danger'' from ...

in seasons 4–5) are inhabitants who live in rabbit holes. In season 1, three bunnies who lived in a rabbit hole became Peep's friends in "Peep in Rabbitland". In season 4, five bunnies are aided by Peep and Quack to find their bunnysitter in "You Can Count on Bunnies". * Bunnysitter (voiced by Jake Sim) is a bunny who babysits the 5 bunnies. * Dragonfly (voiced by Catherine Disher) is a quiet dragonfly. * Fish (voiced by John McGrath in season 1 and

Rob Tinkler Robert Tinkler is a Canadian voice actor who provides voices for a number of cartoons and anime shows. He voiced Max in ''The Adventures of Sam & Max: Freelance Police'', Delete in the children's animated series ''Cyberchase'', Pelswick Eggert ...

in season 2) are cohabitations of Quack's pond. * Fish Jr. (voiced by Phoebe McAuley in seasons 1–2 and Sarah Commisso in season 3) is the youngest fish in the pond and Quack's best fish friend. * Frog (voiced by

) is a frog who lives in Quack's pond. He rarely talks. * Groundhog (voiced by Rachel Marcus) is a young groundhog destined to find her shadow. * Old Groundhog (voiced by Adrian Truss) is the oldest of all groundhogs. * Hoot (voiced by Corinne Conley) is a menacing, but kind purple female owl who lives in the Deep Dark Woods. * "Me" Tiny Ant (voiced by Erica Commisso) is the tiniest ant in the anthill. "Me" was named after a misinterpretation from Peep. * Nellie (voiced by Marium Carvell) is a red female dog who acts as a seemingly maternal figure for the birds. * Newton (voiced by Colin Fox) is an old, male, dark-green turtle who lives under an apple tree. * Quack #2 (voiced by

Megan Mullally Megan Mullally (born November 12, 1958) is an American actress. She is best known for playing Karen Walker in the NBC sitcom '' Will & Grace'' (1998–2006, 2017–2020), for which she received eight Primetime Emmy Award nominations for Outst ...

) is an annoying pink female duck who has her own pond, built by Quack, Peep, Chirp, Beaver Boy and his parents. * Rabbit (voiced by

Jayne Eastwood Jayne Eastwood (born December 17, 1946), also credited as Jane Easton or Jane Eastwood, is a Canadian actress and comedian. She is best known for her film roles as Anna-Marie Biddlecoff in '' Finders Keepers'' (1984), Judy the Waitress in '' The ...

) is an excitable and somewhat distracted rabbit. * Raccoon (voiced by

Jeff Lumby Jeff Lumby (born 1956) is a Canadian actor. He is a member of the Lumby family, who created and produced the 1980s Canadian children's television series, '' Size Small'', where he performed as various characters and a puppeteer. Lumby played "Wins ...

) is a gobbo, male brown & black raccoon who has lots of rubbish * Robins (voiced by Kathleen Laskey and

Holly Hunter Holly Hunter (born March 20, 1958) is an American actress. For her performance as a mute Scottish woman in ''The Piano'' (1993), she won the Academy Award for Best Actress. She earned three more Academy Award nominations for '' Broadcast News'' ( ...

respectively) are two individual robins with differentiating personalities. One is a blue robin who flies around giving Chirp pep talks and comes from "Chirp Builds a Nest". Another is an adult robin who appears in "Big Bird" and "Chirp Flies the Coop". * Skunk (voiced by Adrian Truss) is a rather deadpan skunk who lives near Quack's pond. * Snail (voiced by Laura Lynn) is a pondweller in Quack's pond. * Spider (voiced by Marium Carvell) is a smart and sneaky spider. * Splendid Bird from Paradise (voiced by Jabella A. Urrejola-Lugo) is a green bird who was captured from the jungle, adopted by a little girl and found her way in the Big Wide World. * Squeak (voiced by Kathleen Laskey) is an anxious pink, female mouse who lives under a brick and always worries a lot about what could go wrong. * Squirrel (voiced by Peter Wildman) is a brown squirrel with a long tail who favors acorns. * Tom (voiced by Alex Hood in season 1 and Matthew Knight in season 2) is a sly, male blue kitten with black stripes who often tries to eat Peep, Chirp, and Quack. He is the sole antagonist.

Episodes

Season 1 (2004)

Season 2 (2005-2006)

Season 3 (2007)

Season 4 (2010)

Season 5 (2011)

Music composition

Music for ''Peep and the Big Wide World'' is composed by Terry Tompkins and Steve D'Angelo, from Eggplant. The opening theme is performed by famous celebrity and musician

Taj Mahal The Taj Mahal ( ; ; ) is an ivory-white marble mausoleum on the right bank of the river Yamuna in Agra, Uttar Pradesh, India. It was commissioned in 1631 by the fifth Mughal Empire, Mughal emperor, Shah Jahan () to house the tomb of his belo ...

Broadcast

United States

''Peep and the Big Wide World'' was originally broadcast on

and

— the latter as part of the ''

'' preschool block — from April 12, 2004 to September 14, 2007. Reruns of the first three seasons continued to air until October 8, 2010 when Discovery Kids discontinued the block to make way for the new network to launch known as

on October 10. The last two seasons were broadcast exclusively on select local public television stations with episodes distributed by APT from January 4, 2010 to October 14, 2011, though second-runs of previous episodes began as early as April 1, 2007. APT continued distributing reruns until January 3, 2018, well after commercial networks dropped the program. A total of 60 episodes (120 segments) were broadcast. On January 1, 2018, reruns of ''Peep and the Big Wide World'' began airing on the 24-hour PBS Kids channel, marking the first time the series aired nationally on PBS Kids. Despite being a production of PBS station WGBH, ''Peep and the Big Wide World'' was turned down by PBS in 2003 in favor of developing programming directed at "slightly older children". (The series was geared toward preschool children ages 3–5; meanwhile, PBS eventually launched the

PBS Kids Go! PBS Kids Go! was an American educational television brand used by PBS for programs aimed at school-age children ages 6 to 8, in contrast to the preschool target demographic of PBS Kids. Most PBS member stations aired the PBS Kids Go! block o ...

block in 2004 which was intended for children above the preschool level.) The broadcast of the series ended on December 26, 2021, when it was replaced with reruns of ''

Dinosaur Train ''Dinosaur Train'' is an animated television series aimed at children ages 3 to 6 and created by Craig Bartlett, who also created Nickelodeon's '' Hey Arnold!''. The series features a ''Tyrannosaurus rex'' named Buddy who, together with the re ...

'' to the 7:30 a.m. weekend morning timeslot. APT and PBS Kids broadcasts of ''Peep and the Big Wide World'' were paired with a short episode from ''

Pocoyo ''Pocoyo'' ( in Spanish and stylised as ''POCOYO'') is an animated interactive preschool comedy television series created by David Cantolla, Luis Gallego, and Guillermo García Carsí, that premiered on 7 January 2005 on La 2. The series was ...

'' which aired immediately after each show from 2010 to 2021.

Media

Home video

WGBH Boston Video released the episodes of the first season on

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...

in 2005. The 2005 DVD releases each contained six segments of the specified subject; ''Peep Explores'', ''Peep Finds'', ''Peep Floats'', ''Peep's New Friends'', ''Chirp Flies'', and ''Quack Knows It All''. The 2007 DVD release, ''Peep Figures It Out'' contained six segments as usual, plus two bonus segments. In 2011, PBS Kids Video released two DVDs; ''Seasons of Adventure'', and ''Star Light, Star Bright'', which contains episodes from seasons two and three respectively. In 2012, PBS Kids Video released two more DVDs; ''Finders Keepers'' and ''Bringing Spring''. In 2014, PBS Kids Video released two more DVDs; ''Diva Duck'', and ''Peep Discovers'' (which was once available as a limited release to retail stores). As of 2024, all of these DVDs are now out of print and very hard to find, but commonly found at

public libraries ''Public Libraries'' is the official publication of the Public Library Association (PLA), a division of the American Library Association (ALA). It is devoted exclusively to public libraries. The print edition is published six times a year and i ...

. In

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

Entertainment One Lionsgate Canada is a Canadian entertainment company and a subsidiary of Lionsgate Studios. Based in Toronto, the company is primarily involved in the acquisition and production of films and television series. The company began on June 1, 1973 ...

released four DVDs in both English and French languages; ''Quack Quack'', ''Peep's Moon Mission'', ''Stick With Me'', and ''Flower Shower''.

PBS LearningMedia shorts

In 2017, WGBH released ''PEEP and the Big Wide World: Weather Factors,'' a media gallery in PBS LearningMedia's ''Bringing the Universe to America's Classrooms'' project. ''Weather Factors'' contains 4 animated shorts: ''PEEP and the TOO Windy Day'', ''PEEP and the Chilly Dam'', ''PEEP and the Changing Sky'', and ''PEEP and the Rainy, Snowy Day''.

References

External links