Sammy Scribble (2001 animated series)

Sammy Scribble is a Canadian-American animated children's television series based on a concept and characters created by social worker Denise-Marie Pelletier. The series was produced by Magic World Productions in association with WGBH Boston and aired on PBS, TVO and YTV for two seasons from 2001 to 2002.

Unusually for an animated series geared to children in the early 2000's, it touches on subjects like child abuse, bullying, anxiety and fiction vs. reality from a socially inexperienced child's perspective. This has caused some degree of controversy when it initially aired in the United States.

Premise
Sammy Stribling is a young boy with a passion for drawing and making up stories where he sees himself as a hero always saving the day. He has moved with his family from the big city into the idyllic rural town of Birchwood Falls when he befriends his next-door neighbour Todd Bitterman, who lives with a dysfunctional family.

In many episodes, Sammy finds himself in a situation where he is faced with a new situation or complicated idea that confuses and overwhelms him, trying to make sense of it via his imaginary world where his drawings act out his experiences. Once he learns (mainly from his parents or others) more about the source of his frustrations, he returns to his paper and pencils to literally complete the picture.

Main characters
 * Sammy Stribling  - The protagonist of the series, a young boy (approximately 7 or 8 years old) in second grade whose primary hobby is drawing pictures and making up scenarios to go with them. He has a very idealistic outlook on life but is easily frustrated when confronted by whatever confuses him, being friendly and assuming others will be the same which tends to hit hard for him when finding some people are unkind. As such, he is also socially oblivious but spends much of the series learning to empathize with and be considerate of others around him.

 * Todd Bitterman  - The deuteragonist of the series, a boy the same age as Sammy. Due to living with his abusive family, he is constantly anxious, pessimistic, doubtful and has problems trusting other people (aside from Sammy making efforts to be nice to him). For what it's worth, he does try to warn Sammy of any potential trouble when the drawing-lover gets a little reckless and too friendly for his own good at times.

Supporting characters
 * John and Amanda Stribling  - Sammy's parents who are very supportive of him, trying their hardest to make the family's new life in Birchwood Falls as good as can be. Though they do make efforts to help comfort him with tough situations he doesn't understand, they (perhaps ironically) share a similar flaw of being too nice to their neighbours, even ones Sammy accuses of being too mean, sometimes finding out he was true the hard way.

 * Alicia Stribling  - Sammy's older sister, who is always stressed out about schoolwork and her poor relationships with teachers and such. She often inadvertently expresses her frustrations by taking them out on Sammy (who means no harm, of course) but feels bad about it once their parents observe what is going on and a solution is eventually worked out to improve interactions with her brother.

 * Billy and Dinah Bitterman  - Todd's parents who are both clearly unfit to raise children. Billy is lazy outside of working his Navy job while Dinah gripes about needing to do housework every day, seeing their children (especially Todd) as a nuisance eating away at their little free time. They're also unkind, short-tempered and verbally abusive to him regularly yet turn a blind eye to their other kids bullying him nonstop.

Broadcast
The show premiered on February 12, 2001 on PBS in the United States of America with its Canadian debut on TVO and YTV occurring later on in early April. PBS aired the second season's final episode on June 28, 2002.

Afterwards, the series aired daily in reruns until December 29, 2002. The series eventually returned to PBS in further reruns from June 2003 to September 2004 and was never shown again.

In Canada, TVO aired the series in its children's block TVOKids from April 2002 until June 2008. YTV also began showing it the same month in 2002, concluding in November of 2008, later returning for a short time in the spring of 2010 before leaving once more in December of that year

Reception
When the series was broadcast on PBS in the United States, it received generally mixed reception from parents, teachers and specialists alike. Many voiced their concerns of or outright criticized it for the fact that the show presented harsh subjects to young children, some episodes even ending without a standard positive resolution.

That some official parents' guides made to complement the series' run gave advice on explaining the show's themes and situations to children also provoked consternation.

One parent group leader was quoted as stating, "Sammy Scribble is a mystifying experiment in education on the part of the nation's top public television network. Rather than learning basics such as the alphabet, mathematics and polite manners, the series expects its elementary school-aged audience to comprehend a subject as complicated as the darker side of human nature (confined to ordinary human beings in a rural setting, that is).

...with many episodes lacking a happy ending to prove that life isn't fair, it could prove to be emotionally disarming for young children, especially on a network where it shares company with more optimistic fare like Barney & Friends and Sesame Street." Pelletier defended her own show with the following statement, "While debate as to what things are OK to talk about with your kids is rampant, and some things may indeed be better left to an older age, I strongly believe that understanding others' motives and reasons behind why they act and showing that life isn't always fair are extremely important to a child's development.

Good guys who always win over bad guys teach children little of value in the end. Understanding that not every problem can be solved nor is an easy solution always within reach while still extolling the importance of doing what's right make for a much-needed balance children's media rarely suggests." Some child abuse survivor advocacy groups also voiced their approval of the series for its realistic take on the issue, as have many who looked back on the show in the intervening years.