What a Wonderful Kind of Day

May 13, 2019 8:09 PM

In today's season 22 premier on PBS, Arthur featured a very special wedding, between Mr. Ratburn and his new husband, aardvark chocolatier Patrick (with special guest star Jane Lynch as Mr. Ratburn's sister). You can watch the full episode here!
posted by Eyebrows McGee (17 comments total)

Aw, I just bet that Patrick makes a mean chocolate cake.
posted by northernish at 9:03 PM on May 13, 2019 [3 favorites]

It kind-of made my before-school cartoon-watching morning today. :D I was kvelling a little!
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 9:16 PM on May 13, 2019 [1 favorite]

Arthur! On PBS! If this had uh...come out? Two weeks ago I’d have run Arthur in the background of my tonsil recovery.

I am so glad to see this.
posted by bilabial at 9:19 PM on May 13, 2019

Wow, I love Arthur and watched Arthur a LOT, but I haven't seen it in a while. They have smartphones now!
posted by batter_my_heart at 9:46 PM on May 13, 2019 [4 favorites]

I'm kind of irrationally pleased that Arthur is still going. It was big news in our house when it started, even though we were probably a bit too old for it. (I grew up only allowed to watch PBS.)
posted by hoyland at 4:19 AM on May 14, 2019 [1 favorite]

After a childhood of recognizing examples of same-sex couples in subtext by necessity, like Ernie & Bert, Laverne & Shirley, or the Skipper & Gilligan, and an adulthood of having to argue with idiots to justify my finding my own life interpreted in subtle cues in the margins of popular culture, I’m happy for every kid who will no longer be stuck seeking patterns in the noise and dealing with jerks arguing that puppets are just puppets and a clearly bonded and loving pair are just Very Good Friends™. It’s a new day.
posted by sonascope at 4:54 AM on May 14, 2019 [17 favorites]

A rat and an aardvark? I can feel Rick Santorum's extrasensory perception tingling.
posted by sydnius at 5:13 AM on May 14, 2019 [2 favorites]

Yay! As a former-chocolatier named Patrick, I feel a special kinship to this whole thing.
posted by xingcat at 5:41 AM on May 14, 2019 [10 favorites]

Hmmm. Mr. Ratburn has s fondness for Kake, you say?
posted by GenjiandProust at 5:49 AM on May 14, 2019

Wow the past 24 hours on Twitter makes so much more sense now.
posted by tofu_crouton at 6:13 AM on May 14, 2019 [8 favorites]

When my daughter was little we used to watch PBS kids shows. Arthur was the ONE show that if she fell asleep during, I would stay tuned to see how the episode ended. Great show.
posted by ian1977 at 6:26 AM on May 14, 2019 [8 favorites]

Man, I was hoping for a Sponge Bob crossover.
posted by xedrik at 7:00 AM on May 14, 2019

It's hard to overstate what a big deal to get something like this done in kid's tv is. It takes years and years for this small little thing to get approved. As the article touches on, PBS pulled, and lost funding for, an episode of Postcards from Buster due to a (live-action) lesbian couple with kids being featured. Alex Hirsch wasn't allowed to make a background couple who appear for half a second a gay couple in like, 2015? Rebecca Sugar could have lost her job for the SU wedding if that hadn't miraculously been supported. The first show on Disney with an openly gay main character was just canceled. I could go on. Every single tiny progressive thing in this side of the media sphere takes an enormous level of work and commitment and a lot of quiet behind-the-scenes disappointment. But we're living in a world where just as much exciting stuff is starting to happen now, with a generation of creators doing things like She-Ra and SU and Danger & Eggs and it's a good time to be alive.

So like ANYWAY Mazel Tov to Mr. Ratburn and Patrick!!!!!!!!
posted by colorblock sock at 12:16 PM on May 14, 2019 [2 favorites]

I love Arthur but hadn't seen it for years. Thank you for sharing. As as a queer public school teacher who still deals with homophobia at work -- never from students but from administration and colleagues, this warmed my heart sooooo much!
posted by smorgasbord at 9:26 PM on May 14, 2019 [2 favorites]

I'm so down for Mr. Ratburn having a husband, but I'm shocked at what seems to have happened to the animation quality of this show. I don't want to ruin the thread by complaining, but it kinda killed my motivation to watch the rest of the episode.
posted by J.K. Seazer at 10:33 PM on May 14, 2019

I want to be an aardvark chocolatier when I grow up!
posted by Umami Dearest at 11:06 PM on May 14, 2019 [1 favorite]

This is absolutely outrageous! What are they teaching kids now - that it is totally acceptable to take a USB key from a stranger and plug it into your mobile device?!

;-)
posted by Qubit at 12:56 PM on May 15, 2019 [1 favorite]