Non-PBS vs. PBS


I'm trying to understand the disconnect between the PBS Curious George and the non-PBS Curious George. Do they exist in separate universes?

The PBS episodes and PBS movies have a specific animation style, a vast array of characters (including a potential love interest in Professor Wiseman), a narrator, a city setting and a country setting.

Meanwhile, the non-PBS movies only overlap with the characters the Man in the Yellow Hat and George, now with the same voice actors, no narrator, and the city setting but with none of the city characters from the show that I can tell. The animation is different, and we know the Man's name is Ted, which I don't believe is ever said in the PBS version. Also, the second movie at least had a separate love interest from Professor Wiseman (I can't speak to the first movie, since I haven't seen that one). The production value is better as expected, and the songs are from some better-known artists than the songs in the PBS movies.

Any other differences/similarities anyone can attest to?

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Also, does anyone know from a production standpoint the reason for the disconnect between the PBS Curious George and the non-PBS Curious George?

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Interesting observations, I would like to know as well. I had noticed the same differences but assumed some episodes were old and some new. I never correlated thePBS and non-PBS eexistence.

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This is just a guess on my part, but I think the non-PBS productions are trying to appeal to the kids who don't want the PBS show. I didn't know there was a PBS show for quite a while, but I knew there were movies. So, I'm assuming there are other people out there who also don't know about the TV show.

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I prefer the PBS version much more. For some reason even George's behavior is different.

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