PBS Kids Funding Bumper
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The PBS Kids Funding Bumper is a commercial/advertisement that appeared before and after shows such as Clifford, Dragon Tales, Sesame Street and Reading Rainbow during the early to mid-2000s. This underwriting spot was used on broadcasts of those shows from 2000 to 2006, though the CPB screen continued to be used on Sesame Street until 2014.
Description
On a background with two halves of different colors, there is a kid's head and a thought bubble on the bottom and top halves. The background transforms from two different objects to another kid's head. The sponsors for the shows on which this bumper appeared on are next to the kids' heads. Throughout the bumper, the kids' heads smile at the viewer and look around.
PBS Kids Ready To Learn/Ready To Learn Television Cooperative Agreement
The top half is yellow and the bottom half is blue. On the bottom left, there is a girl's head. The girl (unofficially named Kaleigh) looks to the left as a flower appears in the thought bubble above, then she looks up when the flower changes to a pair of musical notes and smiles. Lastly, she looks at the camera with an excited look on her face as the musical notes change to a boy's head before abruptly returning to normal. A custom-made variation of the PBS Kids print logo (Dot variant) is used; it is more sloppily drawn, Dot's smile is wider and the "KIDS" text is off-centered. However, the logo is replaced with the red text "Ready To Learn Television Cooperative Agreement" on season 2 of CTBRD, Reading Rainbow, seasons 33-35 of Sesame Street and Clifford's Puppy Days.
US Department of Education
US Department of Education: The top half is orange and the bottom half is green. On the bottom left, there is a boy's head (unofficially named Estuardo). The thought bubble has a truck, a kite and the next girl's head. The boy looks up, smiles at the viewer, grins as he tilts his head a little and then looks up one last time before smiling at the viewer again.
Corporation for Public Broadcasting
The top half is red, the bottom half is yellow and the girl (unofficially named Demi) from the previous screen is seen on the bottom-right. The objects appearing in the thought bubble above the girl's head are a monkey, a star and a snow/ice cream cone.
All of this was done in limited 2D computer animation by Razorfish, the successor to Lee Hunt Associates (which animated the first PBS Kids logo that debuted in September 1999); it would later be reanimated by Primal Screen for season 2 of Dragon Tales in 2001.
Why It's Ready to Learn
- Despite being mostly limited, the animation and art style are cute; they perfectly reassemble Richard McGuire, William Hannah and Joseph Barbara and Bob Shea's art styles.
- Creative, adventurous and memorable backgrounds.
- Great voice-overs provided by the likes of Gary LeRoi Gray, Eli Gabay, Cree Summer and Scott Lipe.
- The avant-garde/synth-pop music is catchy, along with the instrumental/woodwind version of the Sesame Street theme song on PBS broadcasts of said show from 2002 to 2006.
- Estuardo, Kaleigh and Demi are all likable.
- The Reading Rainbow variant pays tribute to the VHS era.
Trivia
- The unofficial names given the first two kids' heads (Kaleigh and Estuardo) are a possible reference to former Zoom cast members Kaleigh Cronin and Estuardo Alvizures, respectively.
- Many variants and memes/parodies of this bumper exist.