Good day, fellow traveler, and welcome to the seventy-sixth posting of the John Maxwell Blog. In this posting, I put on my television hat and see how I would do in charge of a well-known animated children's show. When in television, it helps to foresee work in various fields, including children's television. I hear the pay's good.
The animated television show Arthur is now producing its 20th season of episodes, which will no doubt be broadcast as two separate week-long segments. After nineteen seasons of stories, even with marching time along to match the present time of the viewer, the amount of story material is running low, a point made by the introduction of a new character to increase the story ideas. Now, in recent weeks, I have been taken by the concept of the wheel show. A wheel show is a umbrella show of three or more shows sharing the exact same time slot during a season, the most famous example being the NBC Mystery Movie, which ran from 1971 to 1977. Now, why do I mention these two unrelated things? Simple.
Now, this is a what-if situation but suppose if I was put in charge of a 21st season of Arthur by some force. On my first day, I would propose to the staff my idea for a wheel segment I call The ARTHUR Mystery Mini. The concept here is to take the different detective alter egos the show has featured and spin them off into their own segments. The ARTHUR Mystery Mini would always be the second segment of an episode and would be straightforward. These segments are not dream sequences or fantasy spots. They would be the alter egos in their own worlds, inhabited by the "Arthur" characters as a regular cast to draw from. With up to ten segments on hand per season, it would allow a saving of story ideas and prolong the show's well of ideas for a few more seasons.
The segment would begin in the style of The NBC Mystery Movie, with a silhouette of Arthur walking towards the viewer holding a flashlight, against a cloud background. The images shown would be mocks of those from the NBC Mystery with the alter ego characters. After the close up on Arthur, which then drops away, an iris showing different-colored filmstrips with the "Arthur" logo and MYSTERY written on them. Arthur's voice will then say "Now it's time for a mystery starring (BLANK)"
The three alter egos of "The ARTHUR Mystery Mini" are:
Watteau and Bastings - Fern's detective alter ego and her George-inspired associate solving crimes in a 1920s setting.
Buster Baxter, Private Eye - Buster's detective alter ego solving crimes in a 1940s noir-like setting in black and white.
Officer Binky - Binky as a police officer in a city filled with the children trying to solve crimes while trying to please Fern as the chief of police.
There's even room for a fourth original creation should the need arise. Each mystery would take up the 11 minutes allotted to each segment of the show, so the story can proceed quickly and hold children's interest. Plus, I plan to keep the humor of the show, so some jokes at the expense of the fourth wall will be on hand to keep attention spans. I don't really expect to propose my idea or even think anyone from the show will hear. I'm just saying that this would be a change of pace and would help to remind the audience of a different kind of show. Besides, those older viewers getting into things like The NBC Mystery Movie will find the whole concept funny and they'll keep tuned in as well.
This concludes my posting for this week. Next week, come back to the blog for the first installment of a children's fantasy story I'm writing. It's steampunk, it's pirates, it's action, it's adventure, and it's something else! Until then, this is John Maxwell, saying let a little movement be your guide.
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