Here's Humphrey

"Here's Humphrey" is an Australian television series for children first aired on Monday 24 May 1965. It featured a character known as Humphrey B. Bear.In the early days Humphrey was known as "Bear Bear" and was named "Humphrey B. Bear" as the result of an on-air competition. "Here's Humphrey" has become one of the most successful programs for pre-schoolers in Australia.

It has won Logies for Best Children's Series and the character of Humphrey has received a number of National Awards and Commendations, including a special "Citizen of the Year" Award at the 1994 Australia Day celebrations. "Here's Humphrey" has fans all over the world thanks to the United States version of the show shown on PBS in America and the Spanish version shown on Galavision.

It was recorded mainly in NWS-9 Adelaide by Banksia Productions. The Nine Network stopped showing Here's Humphrey in 2007, however Banksia Productions were approached by other channels interested in the show. Repeats of Here's Humphrey run every summer from December to February.

On 14 February 2007 the Nine Network announced that it would record a new "Here's Humphrey" series for the first time since 2003. [ [http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/02/13/1171128967982.html Humphrey Bear lives on - TV & Radio - Entertainment - smh.com.au] The episodes started airing in December 2007, featuring a few minor tweaks to the show's set, presenters, segments, and layout.

Criticism of "Here's Humphrey"

Typical complaints about the Humphrey character include the character failing to wear pants and the fact that he is mute. The latter has drawn the most serious criticism, mainly relating to concerns children may be negatively affected by a role model that does not communicate properly.

Over the years (presumably to fend off criticism that the show does not teach children a great deal) more educational content has been injected, but some still counter that this is still at best superficial. The combination of muteness and lack of educational content has caused at least one character to disappear off Australian network television (namely Fat Cat, from Fat Cat and Friends), which clearly has been a guiding factor in the recent development of the show.

Trivia

* "The Curiosity Show" started as a segment in "Here's Humphrey" before being spun off into a separate show in 1972.
* Under Australian government regulations for pre-school programming on commercial television, "Here's Humphrey" is aired without commercial breaks.

See also

* List of Australian television series

References

External links

* [http://www.humphreybbear.com "Here's Humphrey" official site]
* [http://www.banksia.com Banksia television programmes]