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Postcards from Buster

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Postcards From Buster is a children's television series containing both animation and live-action that airs on PBS, and is a spin-off of the Arthur cartoon series. The show stars Arthur's best friend, 8-year-old rabbit Buster Baxter (often wrongly referred to as "Buster the Bunny").

Buster's interests include eating anything, reading comic books, and playing video games. Buster's personality is that of a fairly intelligent and curious child. He also believes that extraterrestrial aliens are real. Buster's parents are divorced; in this series, Buster is seen with his father, Bo Baxter.

Overview

Postcards From Buster centers on Buster traveling to various places around the United States (and beyond) with his father, a pilot for a pair of musicians. In each episode, Buster meets several children in the ___location being visited, who show him aspects of their family lives and local culture. The sequences with Buster are animated, while the portions featuring the children are live action (viewed from the viewpoint of Buster's video camcorder).

After each trip, Buster sends to Arthur a "video postcard" videotape summarizing what he's done and who he's met in each ___location.

The children and their families that are presented on the series are meant to be multicultural and diverse, and range from a Mormon family in Utah to a Latino family in Texas.

Controversial episode

Controversy erupted for the show in January 2005 when new United States Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings criticized Postcard From Buster's producers for an episode titled "Sugartime!" that features Buster visiting Vermont to learn about the production of maple sugar. While there, Buster meets several children who have lesbian parents (Vermont was one of the first states to legalize civil unions for homosexuals). Spellings demanded that PBS return all federal funding that had been used in the production of the episode, claiming that "many parents would not want their young children exposed to the life-styles portrayed in this episode" [1]. PBS decided to not distribute this episode, but some affiliates across the country have chosen to air the episode, including flagship PBS affiliates WNET in New York City and WGBH in Boston, Massachusetts. Shortly after the controversy PBS's CEO announced she would step down when her contract expires in 2006. [2][3] [4] Spellings was criticized by many liberals for what they portrayed as pandering to conservative Christians, a key constituency of Spellings' Republican party, and called the comments homophobic.

Criticism

The show has received much criticism from loyal Arthur fans for its lack of interest that it generates. Many are upset that of all characters, Buster would receive a spin-off, as opposed to other more "interesting" characters. Others complain that the shows are slower and less comedic than the Arthur series, and that the combination of live action and cartoon elements makes little sense.

Voice cast

Episode list

Pilot Episode: Postcards from Buster

Trivia

  • It's all done in live-action on a camera but they switch to animation to show Buster doing something or showing his friends from Elwood City.
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