Dinosaurs (TV series) facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Dinosaurs
Genre	Sitcom Puppetry Satire
Created by	Michael Jacobs Bob Young
Developed by	Jim Henson
Voices of	Stuart Pankin Jessica Walter Jason Willinger Sally Struthers Kevin Clash Sam McMurray Sherman Hemsley
Theme music composer	Bruce Broughton
Opening theme	Bruce Broughton
Composer(s)	Bruce Broughton Ray Colcord
Country of origin	United States
Original language(s)	English
No. of seasons	4
No. of episodes	65 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)	Michael Jacobs Brian Henson
Producer(s)	Mark Brull Dave Caplan Tim Doyle Victor Fresco Andy Goodman Jeff McCracken Peter Ocko Dava Savel Kirk Thatcher Rob Ulin Bob Young
Running time	23 minutes
Production company(s)	Michael Jacobs Productions Jim Henson Productions Walt Disney Television
Release
Original network	ABC
Original release	April 26, 1991 (1991-04-26) – November 10, 1995 (1995-11-10)

Dinosaurs is an American family sitcom television series that aired on ABC for four seasons from April 26, 1991, through July 20, 1994 (preempted episodes that had never been allowed to run also aired as a second part of the fourth season from September 6, 1995 through November 10, 1995), and repeats were shown on Disney Channel. The show, about a family of anthropomorphic dinosaurs, was produced by Michael Jacobs Productions and Jim Henson Television in association with Walt Disney Television and distributed by Buena Vista International, Inc. The characters were designed by Henson team member Kirk Thatcher.

Origins and development

News stories written at the time of the show's premiere highlighted Dinosaurs' connection to Jim Henson, who had died the year before. Henson conceived the show in 1988, according to an article in The New York Times, adding he wanted it to be a sitcom, but about a family of dinosaurs. Until the success of The Simpsons, according to Alex Rockwell, a vice president of the Henson organization, "people thought it was a crazy idea."

In the late 1980s, Henson worked with William Stout, a fantasy artist, illustrator and designer, on a feature film starring animatronic dinosaurs with the working title of The Natural History Project; a 1993 article in The New Yorker said that Henson continued to work on a dinosaur project (presumably the Dinosaurs concept) until the "last months of his life."

The television division of The Walt Disney Company began working on the series in 1990 for CBS before the series landed on ABC, which Disney eventually acquired.

Rafael Montemayor Aguiton of Vulture wrote that upon premiere the show "was a hit", and Michael Jacobs stated that this was why the network did not interfere much in the production.

Aguiton wrote that ratings suffered from the show being moved to different time slots on the network. The animatronics made the show relatively expensive, with Stuart Pankin recalling that "I heard it was the most expensive half-hour TV show, at least at that point" and that this contributed to the cancellation.

Plot

Dinosaurs is initially set in 60,000,000 BC in Pangaea. The show centers on the Sinclair family: Earl Sneed Sinclair (the father), Fran Sinclair (née Phillips – the mother), their three children (son, Robbie; daughter, Charlene; and infant, Baby Sinclair) and Fran's mother, Ethyl.

Earl's job is to push over trees for the Wesayso Corporation with his friend and coworker Roy Hess, where they work under the supervision of their boss, Bradley P. Richfield.

Characters

The focus of the show's plot is the Sinclair family: Earl, Fran, Robbie, Charlene, Baby, and Ethyl. The family name is a reference to the Sinclair Oil Corporation, which had prominently featured a dinosaur as its logo and mascot for decades, under the belief that petroleum deposits were formed during the age of the dinosaurs. Other character and family names throughout the series often referred to rival petroleum companies or petroleum products. For example: Phillips, Hess, B.P., Richfield, and Ethyl, among others.

Main characters

International screening

In the United Kingdom, the show was screened on ITV in 1992 and in reruns from 1995 to 2002 on Disney Channel. In Canada, the show started airing reruns in 1992 on The Family Channel and aired them until the late 1990s; the show also aired on CHRO-TV in the early-to-mid 1990s. In Australia, the show started airing on the Seven Network from February 1992 through to 1995. In Ireland, in the mid-1990s, it was shown on a Sunday evening on RTÉ Two (known as network 2 back then). In 1994, it was shown in Italy on Rai 1. The show has also aired on TV3, then moved in 2003 to TV2 in New Zealand, KBC in Kenya and M-Net in South Africa. In Brazil the show started airing on Rede Globo from 1992 to 1999, on SBT from 2003 to 2005, on Band from 2007 to 2011, and on Canal Viva in 2014. In Mexico the show was aired on Canal 5.

Home media

The first three volumes were released on VHS on December 6, 1991. On May 2, 2006, Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment released Dinosaurs: The Complete First and Second Seasons as a four-disc DVD box set. The DVD set includes "exclusive bonus features including a never-before-seen look at the making of Dinosaurs". The complete third and fourth seasons, also a four-disc DVD set, were released on May 1, 2007, with special features, including the episodes not aired on U.S. television. Both sets are currently available only in Region 1.

On September 29, 2017, Hulu acquired the streaming rights to Dinosaurs along with fellow Disney–ABC television properties Home Improvement and Boy Meets World, in addition to fellow TGIF programs Family Matters, Full House, Hangin' with Mr. Cooper, Perfect Strangers and Step by Step.

Dinosaurs was made available for streaming on Disney+ on January 29, 2021, for the United States.

See also

In Spanish: Dinosaurios (serie de televisión) para niños