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+.