Big Bag (partially found Cartoon Network live-action animated puppet series; 1996-1998)
Title card.
Status: Partially Found
Big Bag was a relatively short-lived preschool TV series that aired on Cartoon Network from 1996 to 1998, co-produced by Turner and the Children's Television Workshop, and created by Nina Elias-Bamberger. Notable for being Cartoon Network's first live-action series (preceding its infamous CN Real block that would debut on the channel over a decade later), the series combined live-action stories featuring humans and Muppet characters with various animated cartoons (very similar to CTW's flagship series Sesame Street.) Also unique for Cartoon Network, it originally was aired as an hour-long program without commercial breaks during its first season. For the second season, it was reduced to a half-hour program (but still without commercials.) The show was taped at the Disney-MGM Studios Park in Orlando, Florida.
Premise/Development
The premise of the show featured human cast member Molly and her Muppet friends Chelli (a patchwork dog performed by Joey Mazzarino) and Bag (a sentient cloth tote bag whose gender is inconsistent, performed by Rickey Boyd) who own and live in a general store.
Working with them are two anthropomorphic socks, Lyle (also performed by Mazzarino) and Argyle (also performed by Boyd), who usually work in the store's stockroom and hang out in the sock bin, with Lyle often telling Argyle knock-knock jokes (substituting "knock-knock" with "sock-sock.") In the first season, local residents that often appeared included Chelli's human kid friends Kim and Joey, and a group of adult villagers including the shy Martha, mail carrier Josie, exercise instructor Trudy, wacky inventor Waldo, crossing guard Bernard, and veterinarian Dr. Furrball. All of these supporting characters were dropped after the first season, and the show's second season introduced a new humanoid Muppet girl, Sofie. Various cartoon short series (referred to as "shorties") were presented on the program, often coming from different parts of the world, including some co-produced with CTW for the series. Animated segments included Troubles the Cat, Koki, Willam's Wish Wellingtons, Slim Pig, Tobias Totz and His Lion, Samuel and Nina (the latter four only appearing in the first season) and Ace and Avery (this one exclusive to the second season.)
Also in the first season, a "Big Bag Beat" music video would play halfway through the episode, which would encourage kids to get up and dance or play along.
The show was also noted for its' intended interactivity with viewing children. Kids watching the series were encouraged to watch it with a bag containing a pair of socks, two spoons, a hat, and a cardboard tube. The characters in the live-action portions and Troubles the Cat would cue the viewing audience to take one of the items from the bag and use it (such as using the cardboard tube as a "Troublescope" in the Troubles cartoons.) It would also teach important life lessons such as cooperation, honesty, sharing, respect, persistence, use of imagination, and friendship. The show also won the Parent's Choice Silver Medal after its' first season.
One famous episode was in the second season when Elmo of Sesame Street came to visit Chelli, revealing they were pen-pals.
Availability
The show originally aired on Cartoon Network on Sunday mornings beginning in June 1996. In early 1998, the second season began, when the show was cut down to a half-hour and aired on weekday mornings (reruns of first season episodes were also edited down to a half-hour), before finally being cancelled in September 1998, and ended up in reruns on very early Sunday mornings (usually at 5:30 or 6:00 AM Eastern) until March 2001, and has never been rerun since. Only five episodes (three from the first season, and two from the second season) were officially released on VHS during the show's run, along with an additional video, "Sing With Us," which compiled all of the "Big Bag Beat" musical segments. These videos have since gone out of print.
Additionally, the show received two localizations, one in the UK sharing the same name as well as one in France titled Les astuces de Sacatruc. Each show shared a similar format to the US version, however, both replaced the human actors and puppeteers with local actors. (UK version has Matthew Lewis, the actor for Neville Longbottom in the Harry Potter movies, performing as one of the child actors in a role uncredited on his IMDb). The UK production replaced Cartoon Network with Yorkshire Studios, and the French production replaced them with Canal J - all three are co-productions with the Children's Television Workshop. Little is known about the runtime of these two localizations, though research indicates that the UK Version ran in 1998 for 2 seasons, whereas Sacatruc aired from 1997 until possibly 2003; a French Satellite TV media writeup indicates that it's third season aired in November of 2003, suggesting it ran longer than both the US and UK versions. Most we have in terms of Sacatruc visual content is an website with a few screenshots
In addition to localizations, the original US Big Bag received a dub in Portuguese that aired on both Portuguese Cartoon Network and the TV channel TV Cultura, as well as a Spanish dub that aired on Latin American Cartoon Network and the TV channel FETV
In 2009, the Big Bag episodes were released on home video, which were uploaded on YouTube in their entirety by a YouTube user known as "BigBag9"[2]. Later on, all the "Big Bag Beat" segments were uploaded (in the form of the "Sing With Us" video) and any known footage of the show the owner could obtain, including partial episodes. Additionally, on YouTube, all of the individual Koki[3] and Tobias Totz and His Lion[4] segments were uploaded, along with several Troubles the Cat shorts. The rest of the show is currently considered lost.
Episode List
Season 1
| # | Episode Title | Air Date | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Let's Work Together | Jun 2nd, 1996 | Partially Found (Portuguese Dub) |
| 2 | One Little Lie | Jun 9th, 1996 | Partially Lost |
| 3 | Bag O' Tricks | Jun 16th, 1996 | Partially Found (half-hour re-cut) |
| 4 | Good-Bye to Feeling Shy | Jun 23rd, 1996 | Partially Found |
| 5 | Birthday Bash | Jun 30th, 1996 | Lost |
| 6 | Key, Key, Where Can You Be? | Jul 7th, 1996 | Found |
| 7 | The Apple Corps | Jul 14th, 1996 | Lost |
| 8 | Win, Lose or Draw | Jul 21st, 1996 | Found |
| 9 | The Imaginary Treasure | Jul 28th, 1996 | Found |
| 10 | My Crayons, My Crayons | Aug 4th, 1996 | Found |
| 11 | Practice, Practice | Aug 11th, 1996 | Lost |
| 12 | Piano Roll Blues | Aug 18th, 1996 | Lost |
| 13 | Bringing Up Puppy | Aug 25th, 1996 | Lost |
Season 2
| # | Episode Title | Air Date | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Join the Club! | April 6th, 1998 | Found |
| 2 | The Sock Hop | Unknown | Found |
| 3 | Birthday Blahs | Unknown | Found |
| 4 | Zoom to the Zoo | Unknown | Lost |
| 5 | The Showdown | Unknown | Lost |
| 6 | Elmo's Visit | Unknown | Found (Missing Cartoon Segments) |
| 7 | Afraid of the Dark | Unknown | Partially Found (Portuguese Dub) |
| 8 | Presto Change-O | Unknown | Lost |
| 9 | To See or Not to See | Unknown | Lost |
| 10 | Giggle Cookies | Unknown | Lost |
| 11 | Royal Bag | Unknown | Lost |
| 12 | It's Showtime | Unknown | Lost |
| 13 | Case of the Missing Sock | Unknown | Lost |
| 14 | Chelli's in Charge | Unknown | Partially Found |
| 15 | Fair Play at the Country Fair | Unknown | Lost |
| 16 | Bathtub Blues | Unknown | Found |
| 17 | Parrot Patrol | Unknown | Found |
| 18 | Where's Harriet? | Unknown | Lost |
| 19 | Oatmeal Man | Unknown | Lost |
| 20 | You Don't Look Bluish | Unknown | Lost |
| 21 | Mrs. Everard Returns | Unknown | Lost |
| 22 | Attention Shoppers | Unknown | Lost |
| 23 | Sofie the Champ | Unknown | Lost |
| 24 | Dr. Bag | Unknown | Lost |
| 25 | Doing My Share | Unknown | Lost |
| 26 | I Ought to be in Pictures | Unknown | Lost |
Gallery
Press Photo of Episode Guest Starring Nell Carter
Localizations
UK Version
Season 1
Episode Count Confirmed on a Main Puppeteers Website
| # | Episode Title | Air Date | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Poly Gone! | Unknown | Found |
| 2 | Friends | Unknown | Found |
| 3 | So Far So Good | Unknown | Found |
| 4 | Showtime | Unknown | Found |
| 5 | Captain Porridge | Unknown | Found |
| 6 | Missing Sock | Unknown | Found |
| 7 | Afraid of the Dark | Unknown | Found |
| 8 | Invisible Bag | Unknown | Found |
| 9 | Generous Bag | Unknown | Found |
| 10 | Showdown | Unknown | Found |
| 11 | Unknown | Unknown | Lost |
| 12 | Unknown | Unknown | Lost |
| 13 | Unknown | Unknown | Lost |
Season 2
| # | Episode Title | Air Date | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| ? | Win, Lose or Draw | Unknown | Partially Found |
| 2 | Unknown | Unknown | Lost |
| 3 | Unknown | Unknown | Lost |
| 4 | Unknown | Unknown | Lost |
| 5 | Unknown | Unknown | Lost |
| 6 | Unknown | Unknown | Lost |
| 7 | Unknown | Unknown | Lost |
| 8 | Unknown | Unknown | Lost |
| 9 | Unknown | Unknown | Lost |
| 10 | Unknown | Unknown | Lost |
| 11 | Unknown | Unknown | Lost |
| 12 | Unknown | Unknown | Lost |
| 13 | Unknown | Unknown | Lost |
French Version (Les astuces de Sacatruc)
This episode list is not confirmed but is from a French Film Magazine website
| # | Episode Title | Air Date | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Le facteur est triste | Unknown | Lost |
| 2 | Comment faire? | Unknown | Lost |
| 3 | Sois patient, voyons! | Unknown | Lost |
| 4 | L'enfant marqué | Unknown | Lost |
| 5 | Un vieux répondeur | Unknown | Lost |
| 6 | Cirque à domicile | Unknown | Lost |
| 7 | Une journée Baba Doum | Unknown | Lost |
| 8 | Modernité | Unknown | Lost |
| 9 | Rage de dents, rage de faim | Unknown | Lost |
| 10 | Mini postière | Unknown | Lost |
| 11 | Plante verte ou stylo | Unknown | Lost |
| 12 | Zoo | Unknown | Lost |
| 13 | Essaie! | Unknown | Lost |
| 14 | Carnaval à domicile | Unknown | Lost |
| 15 | Sonnettes et klaxons | Unknown | Lost |
| 16 | Paysages sonores | Unknown | Lost |
| 17 | Peur, moi? Jamais! | Unknown | Lost |
| 18 | Quelques propositions | Unknown | Lost |
| 19 | Rangement musical | Unknown | Lost |
| 20 | La chaîne | Unknown | Lost |
| 21 | Lettre à Barnabé | Unknown | Lost |
| 22 | Préparatifs de vacances | Unknown | Lost |
| 23 | Ne te fatigue pas! | Unknown | Lost |
| 24 | Quelle tenue! | Unknown | Lost |
| 25 | Chellie 1er | Unknown | Lost |
| 26 | Prisonnier des corsaires | Unknown | Lost |
| 27 | Panne d'électricité | Unknown | Lost |
| 28 | On est tous amis | Unknown | Lost |
| 29 | Oups berk pouah | Unknown | Lost |
| 30 | Cloche-pied | Unknown | Lost |
| 31 | Le gâteau surprise | Unknown | Lost |
| 32 | Comme des oeufs de Pâques | Unknown | Lost |
| 33 | Carnaval vénitien | Unknown | Lost |
| 34 | Mes lunettes | Unknown | Lost |
| 35 | Il faut bien reconnaître | Unknown | Lost |
| 36 | Il faut se couvrir chaudement | Unknown | Lost |
| 37 | Moonboots en été | Unknown | Lost |
| 38 | Quel poète! | Unknown | Lost |
| 39 | Supporters | Unknown | Lost |
| 40 | Sons de Pâques | Unknown | Lost |
| 41 | Sois poli | Unknown | Lost |
| 42 | Vrai ou faux | Unknown | Lost |
| 43 | Je vais t'aider | Unknown | Lost |
| 44 | Je vais t'aider | Unknown | Lost |
| 45 | Peignes et brosses | Unknown | Lost |
| 46 | Une promesse est une promesse! | Unknown | Lost |
| 47 | Le magnétophone de tante Annette | Unknown | Lost |
| 48 | Voyage spatio-temporel | Unknown | Lost |
| 49 | Feu de tout bois | Unknown | Lost |
| 50 | T'as d'beaux cheveux, tu sais! | Unknown | Lost |
| 51 | Réveil perdu | Unknown | Lost |
| 52 | Cirque et pizza | Unknown | Lost |
| 53 | Le carillon | Unknown | Lost |
| 54 | En rollers | Unknown | Lost |
| 55 | Tolérance et respect blessé | Unknown | Lost |
References
- ↑ New York Times Report on the show from June 21st, 1995 Retrieved 15 October '23
- ↑ BigBag9's YouTube channel Retrieved 21 March '17
- ↑ Koki's Fun Club YouTube channel Retrieved 21 March '17
- ↑ The Tobias Totz shorts on YouTube Retrieved 21 March '17
External Links
See Also
Jim Henson Company Media
- Alligator Boots (partially lost pilot of cancelled Comedy Central sketch/puppet series by Kanye West; 2008)
- America's Next Muppet (lost test pilot of cancelled ABC reality parody show; 2006)
- The Cheapest Muppet Movie Ever Made! (lost production material of cancelled "Muppet" film; 1985-2009)
- The Dark Crystal (partially found high-quality version of workprint/director's cut of puppet fantasy film; early 1980s)
- Fraggle Rock (partially found British co-production of puppet children's television series; 1984-1990)
- Little Muppet Monsters (partially found puppet TV series; 1985)
- Monster Safari (lost production material of cancelled stop-motion animated film; 2009)
- The Muppet Show "Juliet Prowse" (partially lost unaired pilot version of episode of sketch comedy TV series; 1976)
- The Muppets (partially lost series of early TV commercials featuring puppet characters; 1962-1969)
- Muppets - 2007 presentation pilot (lost pilot of cancelled Muppet series; 2007)
- Muppets In Space (lost early drafts of "Muppets From Space" sci-fi family film; 1999)
- The Muppets Present (lost cancelled remake of "The Muppet Show"; early 2000s)
- The Power of The Dark Crystal (partially lost production materials from canceled sequel to "The Dark Crystal" fantasy film; 1982-2014)
- The Pretty Things Are Going to Hell (partially found David Bowie music video; 1999)
- Sam and Friends (partially found early Jim Henson puppet TV series; 1955-1961)
- The Sam Plenty Cavalcade of Action Show Plus Singing! (partially found web series; 2008)
- Tinseltown (lost LGBT sitcom pilot; 2007)
- Watch With Monkey (lost unaired pilot of scrapped BBC family comedy show; 2003)
- Wilkins and Wontkins (partially lost series of Jim Henson commercials; 1957-1969)
Sesame Street Related Media
- Batibot (partially found Filipino children's educational TV series; 1984-2002)
- The Grover Monster - Jean Marsh Cartoon Special (lost TV special; 1975)
- Out to Lunch (partially found Sesame Street/Electric Company crossover special; 1974)
- Sesame Park (partially found Canadian co-production of Sesame Street; 1972-2001)
- Sesame Street At Night? (lost Sesame Street television special; 1977)
- The Sesame Street Experiment (partially lost documentary based on children's educational TV series; 1989)
- Sesame Street Live (partially found live stage shows; 1980-2003)
- Sesame Street Mecha Builders (partially found test pilot of Cartoonito CGI-animated spin-off series; 2020)
- View-Master Interactive Vision (partially lost VHS-based games; 1988)