# What is Arthur\> (PBS Show) **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 16, 1999, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-arthur-pbs-show/7028 "1999-08-16T21:39:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 1999, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-arthur-pbs-show/7028/1 "1999-08-16T21:39:00Z")
I’ve never seen it before. I came across it. It looks like well some charachters are rabbits but what is Arthur? Also what is Francine? ---
**Author:** ![pricciar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f4b2a3/32.png) [@pricciar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pricciar)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 1999, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-arthur-pbs-show/7028/2 "1999-08-16T21:56:00Z")
Well, its not quite as obvious now. But, if you see some of the earlier books (its originally a children’s book series) Arthur is an anteater, for some reason, they decided to shorten his nose, so he looks less like an anteater. pat ---
**Author:** ![timmar68](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/97f17d/32.png) [@timmar68](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/timmar68)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 1999, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-arthur-pbs-show/7028/3 "1999-08-17T04:26:00Z")
My son used to read the Arthur books. Now, what i want to know is…how in the WORLD do Arthur’s glasses stay on? Nothing is holding them up! * * * MaryAnn Sometimes life is so great you just gotta muss up your hair and quack like a duck! ---
**Author:** ![Pug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/51bf81/32.png) [@Pug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pug)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 1999, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-arthur-pbs-show/7028/4 "1999-08-17T21:23:00Z")
Arthur is an Ardvark not an anteater. And my two year old loves him. sigh… ---
**Author:** ![pricciar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f4b2a3/32.png) [@pricciar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pricciar)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 1999, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-arthur-pbs-show/7028/5 "1999-08-17T21:50:00Z")
OOPS!!! My bad, what a dumb mistake… I knew that, my mind just capture the first A animal… duh. Sorry about that. Still, I really did read the book when he had a longer nose. pat ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 1999, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-arthur-pbs-show/7028/6 "1999-08-18T03:55:00Z")
OK what is Francine she looks like a monkey. Of course when I lived in Florida I had one of the guests ask me (I worked in a hotel) “What is Goofy? - A Cow?” ---
**Author:** ![StrTrkr777](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/fbc32d/32.png) [@StrTrkr777](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StrTrkr777)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 1999, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-arthur-pbs-show/7028/7 "1999-08-19T22:08:00Z")
Well for the answer to what animal is Francine, I turned to my wife. She watches Arthur with our daughter. She did not know. I then searched the PBS website and it does not tell. So the answer is, I do not know. Maybe monkey is the correct answer. Jeffery ---
**Author:** ![ChrisCTP](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e36b37/32.png) [@ChrisCTP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChrisCTP)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 1999, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-arthur-pbs-show/7028/8 "1999-08-23T02:20:00Z")
I always thought Arthur was a mouse. I haven’t spent a lot of time checking out Arthur’s bum, though, so I’m not sure whether or not he has a tail. My guess, though, is mouse. * * * Veni, Vidi, Visa … I came, I saw, I bought. ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2000, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-arthur-pbs-show/7028/9 "2000-07-28T04:58:44Z")
Here it is a year later and I STILL don’t know what Francine is. I reckon we got a lot of new people on board so I am gonna bump this up to see if anyone can shed some new light on what Francine is. ---
**Author:** ![psycat90](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@psycat90](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psycat90)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2000, 6:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-arthur-pbs-show/7028/10 "2000-07-28T06:51:32Z")
I have almost alll of The Arthur books. I don;t think it actually says in any of them what Francine is, but I would guess a monkey. Also a neat thing about the books, Marc Brown, the author, hides his children’s names in many of the illustrations. I don’t know if they do anything like that on the TV show, I’ve only seen it a handful of times. ---
**Author:** ![Drogulus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9c0ed/32.png) [@Drogulus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drogulus)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2000, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-arthur-pbs-show/7028/11 "2000-07-28T19:35:41Z")
I seem to recall an episode in which Arthur and his friends are watching a TV show that bears a stong resemblence to Arthur, and they disagree about what kind of animal the show-within-a-show’s Arthur is supposed to be. ---
**Author:** ![Olentzero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/90ced4/32.png) [@Olentzero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Olentzero)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2000, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-arthur-pbs-show/7028/12 "2000-07-28T19:55:18Z")
I have seen the original “Arthur’s Nose” book by Marc Brown and I must unequivocally state that Arthur is in fact an anteater and not an aardvark. [This](http://www.comptons.com/encyclopedia/CAPTIONS/16788029_P.html) is an aardvark. [This](http://www.jeannieshouse.com/forest_friends/anteater.jpg) is an anteater. [Here](http://www.twbookmark.com/books/97/0316111937/) is a picture of the cover of “Arthur’s Nose”. Form your own conclusions. Actually, don’t. Y’all can see Arthur is supposed to be an anteater. ---
**Author:** ![Olentzero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/90ced4/32.png) [@Olentzero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Olentzero)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2000, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-arthur-pbs-show/7028/13 "2000-07-28T19:56:40Z")
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I _know_ the book site says Arthur is an aardvark. He don’t look like no aardvark. He’s a damn anteater. ---
**Author:** ![Padeye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@Padeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Padeye)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2000, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-arthur-pbs-show/7028/14 "2000-07-28T21:04:34Z")
Great, and I thought this was a thread about the son of Uther Pendragon. ---
**Author:** ![silent\_rob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@silent\_rob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silent_rob)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2000, 8:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-arthur-pbs-show/7028/15 "2000-07-29T08:53:02Z")
Weren’t the makers of the TV show recently in big trouble? I remember reading that it was made in Canada, but they had hired American animaters to come and draw it. Cheaper to them, but they still took the money the government gave them because they said they hired Canadian workers. Now, the government has cut nearly half of the funding to the arts because of this. ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2000, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-arthur-pbs-show/7028/16 "2000-07-29T21:47:33Z")
Oh great so now not only do I STILL not know what Francine is but what Arthur is is under question. 🙂 OK so what happened to his nose on the TV show?? BTW did you notice how there is NO intermarriage on the show. All the rabbits are married (or divorced) from rabbits. The monkeys marry monkeys etc. Is this a message???