| Bob and Margaret | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Format | Animated comedy |
| Created by | David Fine and Alison Snowden |
| Starring | Andy Hamilton/Brian George as Bob Fish Alison Snowden as Margaret Fish Steve Coogan as Various |
| Country of origin | UK, Canada and USA |
| No. of episodes | 52 |
| Production | |
| Running time | 30 mins |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | UK: Channel 4, BBC Two Canada: Global Television Network USA: Showtime Israel: HOT cable network |
| Original run | June 22, 1998 – December 25, 2001 |
| External links | |
| IMDb profile | |
| TV.com summary | |
Bob and Margaret was a Canadian/UK animated television series that was also shown in the United States and all over the world. It was based on the Academy Award winning animated short Bob's Birthday, featuring the same main characters. The award-winning series is one of the few Canadian TV shows to ever have regular American exposure. In Canada, it was the highest rated Canadian made animation series ever when it aired in prime time on Global Television.
The show revolved around a married English couple named Bob and Margaret Fish, a middle class 40-ish working couple with no children and two dogs named William and Elizabeth. Bob is a dentist and Margaret is a chiropodist (podiatrist for American viewers, though the term was not dubbed and changed during US broadcasts of the episodes). Bob and Margaret struggle with everyday issues and mid life crisis. Stories often revolve around the mundane, but in a way which is imminently relatable. From the trials of shopping to dealing with friends who annoy them, but owe them a dinner.
In the first two seasons, Bob and Margaret lived in England, in the South London community of Balham. For the third and fourth seasons, however, they moved to Toronto, Canada, allowing the writers to explore the humour of culture clash. The move was actually inspired by the realities of funding, with certain Canadian tax benefits dependent on stories actually based in Canada. As such, to keep the series funded, the move was necessary. The creators of the series (real-life husband-and-wife David Fine and Alison Snowden, see below) chose to take an executive role on these latter two series, reviewing scripts and consulting, but not involved in the detail they were for the first two series. Snowden continued to provide the voice of Margaret, but Bob's voice, originally played by Andy Hamilton, was replaced by Brian George. Some of the Canada-based episodes use the "culture clash" theme to parody this pressure and regulation.
The programme was shown in the United Kingdom on Channel 4 and Ftn, in the United States on Comedy Central, and in Germany and France on ARTE. Comedy Central only showed the two "London" seasons. The third and fourth "Toronto" seasons were eventually shown (almost 2 years after Comedy Central showed the last second season episode) on the Showtime cable channel; they currently rerun all four seasons on their specialty "Showtime Women" channel.
The series was produced by Nelvana, a Toronto animation studio, and created by Canadian David Fine and Brit Alison Snowden. The series was based on the short film Bob's Birthday, which won the Best Animated Short Film Oscar in 1994.
Bob and Margaret currently airs on Adult Swim Latin America and on Canada's YTV. Cartoon Network Brasil airs its four seasons on the Adult Swim program. The London seasons also get shown in the UK, currently on Channel 4.
The second series can be found on Region 1 NTSC DVDs in Canada and Region 2 PAL DVDs in the UK. Season one can still be found on VHS in PAL (at least in the UK) and NTSC (at least in Canada), but not on DVD, as of yet (owing to contractual issues with the distributor of season one)
[edit] See also
- O Canada (TV series) (Cartoon Network series that featured "Bob's Birthday")
[edit] External links
- Bob and Margaret at the Internet Movie Database
- Bob and Margaret on Arte TV
- SnowdenFine.com — the creators' website
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