The Anniversary Brothers TV Podcast: Hey Arnold! 25th Anniversary

Aaron and Josh are back for their July TV podcast. This
month the brothers are commemorating Hey
Arnold! for its 25th anniversary.


Hey Arnold! is a traditionally animated
cartoon based on claymation shorts and comics by series creator
Craig Bartlett. Nickelodeon attached the pilot to its first
feature film, Harriet the Spy,
which opened in theaters on July 10, 1996. Hey
Arnold! officially became a Nicktoon when the
series premiered on television on October 7, 1996. 100 episodes
aired before the series ended on June 8, 2004. During this run
Arnold returned to the big screen for his own movie in
2002. Hey Arnold! saw a brief
revival in 2017 with a TV movie
wrapping up the storyline set up in the show’s two-part
finale, originally meant to culminate in a second theatrical
film.


Arnold is a fourth grader going to school at P.S. 118. He
lives in grandparents’ boarding house in the city of Hillwood.
Many episodes focus on Arnold helping someone with a problem,
often one of his classmates or one of the tenants of the boarding
house. Notable characters include Arnold’s best friend Gerald and
a girl named Helga. Helga bullies Arnold to conceal a huge crush
on him.


Many actors portray Arnold, with J.D. Daniels
from The Mighty Ducks voicing
Arnold in the pilot and Toran Caudell of
Recess playing him in Season 1. Jamil
Walker Smith of Stargate Universe
voices Gerald in the series’ original run while Francesca
Marie Smith, another voice from Recess
plays Helga. Perhaps the most notable voice actors are
those playing Grandma Gertie and Grandpa Phil. Tress MacNeille is
best known as the voice of Dot on
Animaniacs while Dan Castellaneta is the
voice of Homer Simpson on The
Simpsons.


Josh and Aaron talk about the pilot and the show’s TV
premiere. The brothers also discuss memorable episodes and
another possible continuation or reboot on Paramount+.


For another beloved cartoon from yesteryear, you can
listen to Aaron and Josh’s podcast on Dexter’s
Laboratory.


Hey Arnold! is streaming on
Paramount+.