Bobby's World

Bobby's World is an American animated television series, which ran from 1990 to 1998, on Fox Kids. The series followed the daily life of Bobby Generic and how he sees the world through his very overactive imagination. The show was created by Canadian actor-comedian Howie Mandel. Mandel also provided the voice of both Bobby and his father Howard Generic, who looks like a cartoon version of Mandel himself. It was produced by Film Roman for Alevy Productions and Fox Kids Productions. The theme song for Bobby's World was composed by John Tesh, along with Michael Hanna.

Plot
Bobby's World is a comical and insightful look inside the mind of 4-year-old Bobby Generic (pronounced "GEN-e-ric"). Bobby lives in a typical suburban neighborhood, but the show takes viewers inside his imagination to discover a world of daring adventure, incredible wonder and lots of laughs, all in pint-sized perspective. Each episode draws from everyday family situations and growing up problems that are magnified by Bobby's active imagination - the window through which we glimpse how kids wrestle emotionally and creatively with life's problems.

Bobby's two biggest character traits are his penchant for taking things literally and letting his imagination get the best of him. Joining Bobby in his adventures is Webbly, a multi-functional stuffed spider. In addition to being Bobby's security blanket, Webbly also serves as everything from an escape ladder out of Bobby's play pen to a monster-stopping slingshot.

Bobby's family also includes his dad, Howie, a businessman facing the same trials any father faces, but still has the ability to humorously spar with his offspring; Bobby's mom, Martha, a contemporary, caring and concerned full-time mother who seems calm and unfazed by Bobby, particularly after having two older children; his 14 year old sister Kelly, 10 year old brother Derek, and Roger, the family dog, who is Bobby's confidante, co-conspirator, and closest friend. A big, lovable, galoot of a sidekick, Roger does his best to protect Bobby, but he's a coward at heart.

Episodes often consist of a short live-action segment either before or after the main story (and sometimes both before and after). The segment would include Mandel describing some aspect of the story and often relating it back to his personal childhood. Sometimes during these segments, the character Bobby would appear in animated form and converse with Mandel. At other times, a live action child would appear and exchange words with Mandel. Endings of the show also featured Mandel breaking the "fourth wall" by talking to viewers about the preceding episode. In some of the episodes, Bobby would break the fourth wall by telling the audience his perspective on life.

Characters
Bobby Generic (voiced by Howie Mandel) — Bobby is the main character of the series, a 4-year old little boy with a big imagination. Scenes with Bobby most often involve elaborate literal interpretations of the popular or colloquial sayings uttered by other characters during the show (i.e. a "traffic jam" becomes Traffic Jam, as Bobby imagines spreading tiny cars and trucks on a piece of bread and taking a bite).

Howard Generic (voiced by Howie Mandel) — Bobby's father is modeled upon Howie Mandel using his regular speaking voice. He is a businessman facing the same trials and tribulations as any father of three, but he has the ability to handle everything with a sense of humor.

Martha Generic (voiced by Gail Matthius) — Martha is Bobby's sweet, nurturing, caring full-time mother. After having raised two older children, mom is calm and unfazed by Bobby and his shenanigans. She speaks with a heavy North Central American English/Scandinavian accent, in stereotypical Minnesotan/Great Lakes style, and often punctuates her speech with phrases like "Fer corn sakes", "Fer cryin' in the mud", "gee golly", "gosh darn" and "don't 'cha know".

Kelly Generic (voiced by Charity James) — Kelly is Bobby's 14 year old sister. Sporting a shag haircut, purple eye shadow, striped tights, and a valley girl accent/demeanor, she often uses her catch phrase "Get real!" A suffering pre-teen, Kelly is a walking dichotomy: desperate for recognition of her personal identity, while scared to death of standing out in a crowd. Her greatest interests include: clothes, boys, her girlfriends, and music.

Derek Generic (voiced by Kevin Smets; Pamela Segall) — Derek is Bobby's 10-year old brother. He is something of a bully, with a rat-tail hairdo, slashed jeans, and a sarcastic manner. He always teases and insults Bobby and tends to call him a "dork." His days are filled with great adventure - riding his skateboard, playing baseball with his friends and much to his dismay, looking after his little brother.

Roger (voiced by Frank Welker) — Roger is the family's large long-haired English Sheep dog. Although only a family pet to the other family members, he is Bobby's confidante, co-conspirator, and closest friend. His long hair serves as a convenient hiding place for Bobby's things. Roger does his best to protect Bobby but he's a coward at heart

Uncle Ted "Teddy" Sven (voiced by Tino Insana) — Uncle Ted is Bobby's uncle and Martha's brother. He is a blond, large-bodied gentleman with a deep rough voice and his signature garment is a yellow shirt printed with red hearts. Uncle Ted is a fun-loving fellow who loves to give noogies to Bobby and is a collector of various things, one of which is a novelty item called Socks in a Can. His last name is revealed to be Sven. He is also affectionate toward his little nephew and often calls him by the nickname "Bob-O." Bobby likes hanging out with Uncle Ted because he thinks of all kinds of fun things to do.

Aunt Ruth (voiced by Edie McClurg) — Bobby's aunt and Martha's sister. She is a blonde, amply contoured woman with a sweet, pretty face, hair in a bun, and kindly ways. She is loving and affectionate toward her small nephew and particularly likes to pinch his cheeks, which Bobby really doesn't go for. Part of her signature attire is knee-high stockings rolled into a ring at the top.

Jackie (voiced by Debi Derryberry) — Jackie is Bobby's cute girlfriend/next door neighbor/classmate with the floor-length pigtails who has a crush on Bobby and loves to kiss him, which Bobby hates. She speaks with a monotonic voice.

History
Mandel has said that he accidentally created the voice that would later be used to voice Bobby when he was choking on a piece of cake at the age of 11. Two of Mandel's friends, Jim Fisher and Jim Staahl signed an agreement with the Fox Corporation's then newly created television division in 1989. Fisher and Staahl asked Mandel to join them in creating a show based on Mandel's Bobby character and voice. Mandel said that he believed Fox didn't think his stand-up routines were "family entertainment." He, Fisher, and Staahl (co-producers) recalled stories from their childhoods as they discussed the formation of the show. Mandel stated "that was the seed of Bobby's World." Later stories from the childhoods of writers Dianne and Peter Tilden along with Mitch Schauer were used as the basis of many of the stories. The other characters on the show were mixes of characteristics of the creators' parents' friends and relatives. Specifically, Uncle Ted was based on Fisher and Staahl's former comedy partner in a comedy trio formed by the three after leaving Chicago's Second City, called The Graduates. Amazingly, that partner, Tino Insana, read for and won the part of Uncle Ted.

The voices of Kelly Generic (Bobby's sister) and Martha Generic (Bobby's mom) are based on two recurring characters Gail Matthius played when she was a cast member on Saturday Night Live in 1980. Martha is based on the character Roweena, a chain smoking hair stylist with an Upper Midwestern accent who gets into arguments with her best customer Nadine (Denny Dillon), while Kelly Generic is based on the character Vicky, a valley girl who annoys others with her shallow questions and rambling stories and often is seen with her friend Debbie (also Dillon).

Mitch Schauer drew the designs for the main characters, with Bobby's character design was based on Schauer's then-four-year old son.

Episodes
Bobby's World has a total of 81 episodes spread over 8 seasons that were produced from September 1990 to February 1998.