A Little Curious

*A Little Curious*
A Little Curious
Genre	Comedy; Educational
Created by	Steve Oakes
Written by	Carin Greenberg; Nicholas Hollander; Alana Sanko; Frederick J. Stroppel
Directed by	Steve Oakes
Voices of	Cameron Bowen; Amanda Kaplan; Gary Yudman; Marilyn Pasekoff; Sandy Correia; Bob Kaliban; Gerrianne Raphael; Rafael Ferrer
Composer	Pat Irwin
Country of origin	United States
No. of seasons	2
No. of episodes	43
Production
Executive producer	Sheila Nevins
Producer	Meghan Trainor
Animators	Kris Greengrove (Cel/Flash animation); Boo Wong (CGI animation); Hunt Squibb (stop-motion/claymation)
Running time	23 minutes
Production companies	Curious Pictures; HBO Original Programming
Original release
Network	HBO
Release	December 5, 1998 –; May 5, 2000

A Little Curious is a children's television show which was produced in 1998-2000 and aired on HBO Family since 1999. The show, produced by Curious Pictures and HBO, was aimed at preschoolers. It was one of the cornerstone programs for the relaunch of the HBO Family channel in February 1999.^[1]^[2]

The 23-minute episodes are essentially anthologies of shorts centered on a common, easily digested theme such as "Up and Down" or "Slippery." While each short draws from the same pool of characters, they are produced in a variety of animation techniques.^[3] Animation styles include stop-motion, clay animation, traditional 2-D cel animation, and 3-D CGI, along with live-action segments narrated by Bob the Ball. Some of the shorts are designed to fit more than one theme, and are re-used in a number of different episodes.

Characters

The "pool" of characters, generally based on everyday objects, include:

Bob the Ball, a boisterous, exuberant bouncing red rubber ball.
Doris the Door, a door, who, while playful, is easily tired. Doris often talks about her distant childhood.
Little Cup, a cute, woefully innocent glass cup of fruit punch who spends a lot of time learning about the world around him. He is Bob's best friend.
Mr. String, a nervous, intelligent, fussy bit of string who can twist and tie himself into a multitude of shapes. He also bears a striking resemblance to Earthworm Jim.
Mop, a teenaged, rock music-loving mop who often changes her "hairstyle."
Pad and Pencil, a presumably married drawing pad and pencil couple who constantly fawn over each other through French accents à la Lumiére and Fifi/Babette in Beauty and the Beast.
Plush, a multi-colored stuffed dog who is one of Bob's best friends.
The Shoe Family, a family of pairs of shoes with footwear-themed names such as "Mary Jane." The parents are Mrs. Shoe (red high heel shoes) and Mr. Shoe (brown dress shoes) and the children are Lacey (sneakers) and Mary Jane (a pair of Mary Janes). In "A Little Curious About Life", they had a baby brother named Booties.

The characters appear to be designed to evoke a sense of familiarity in preschoolers. For instance, young children can see aspects of their own personalities in Bob and Little Cup, observe the family dynamic among the Shoe Family, and perhaps most obviously, see a bit of their grandparents in Doris the door.

References

^ Richard Katz, "HBO in Family way with heavy push of new fare", Variety, September 9, 1998.
^ Lynne Heffley, "HBO Launches Spinoff With Pair of Excellent Kids' Shows", Los Angeles Times, February 1, 1999.
^ Scott Moore, "Multiplex Channel Has A Singular Focus: Kids", The Washington Post, June 13, 1999.

External links

[1] Richard Katz, "HBO in Family way with heavy push of new fare", Variety, September 9, 1998.

[2] Lynne Heffley, "HBO Launches Spinoff With Pair of Excellent Kids' Shows", Los Angeles Times, February 1, 1999.

[3] Scott Moore, "Multiplex Channel Has A Singular Focus: Kids", The Washington Post, June 13, 1999.

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