| Genre: | Educational Children's television series Comedy |
| Alt Name: | Peep |
| Creator: | Kaj Pindal[1] [2] |
| Voices: | Scott Beaudin (1-3) Shawn Molko (4) Maxwell Uretsky (5) Jamie Watson Amanda Soha |
| Narrated: | Joan Cusack |
| Theme Music Composer: | Steve D'Angelo Terry Tompkins |
| Opentheme: | "Peep and the Big Wide World" performed by Taj Mahal |
| Endtheme: | "Peep and the Big Wide World" (instrumental) |
| Director: | Rick Marshall |
| Country: | Canada United States |
| Language: | English |
| Num Seasons: | 5 |
| Num Episodes: | 60 (240 segments) |
| Executive Producer: | Kate Taylor |
| Producer: | Vince Commisso Marisa Wolsky |
| Runtime: | 22–25 minutes |
| Company: | WGBH Boston 9 Story Entertainment Eggbox LLC National Film Board of Canada |
| Network: | TVOKids (Canada) TLC (2004–08) and Discovery Kids (2004–10) (seasons 1-3) (U.S.) PBS Kids Member Stations (seasons 4-5) (U.S.) |
Peep and the Big Wide World (PATBWW) is an animated children's television series created by Danish-Canadian animator Kaj Pindal. It revolves around the lives of Peep, Chirp, and Quack, as viewers discover, investigate, and explore the world around them.[3]
The show was based on the 1988 short film of the same name produced by the National Film Board of Canada,[4] which itself is based on the 1962 short film The Peep Show,[5] also produced by the National Film Board of Canada. The series premiered on April 12, 2004, on Discovery Kids and on TLC as part of their Ready Set Learn children's block in the United States, and on TVOKids in Canada. It was produced by WGBH Boston (through its kids division WGBH Kids) and 9 Story Media Group (formerly 9 Story Entertainment; in its debut production), in association with TVOntario and Discovery Kids and is distributed by Alliance Atlantis (through AAC Kids).
Carriage on the Discovery children's networks ended on October 10, 2010 with the discontinuation of Ready Set Learn and the replacement of Discovery Kids with The Hub, and now, Discovery Family. From September 3, 2005 through January 3, 2018, it was offered to public television stations via independent public television distributor American Public Television. Beginning January 1, 2018, the series was distributed by PBS Kids. U.S. broadcasts ended December 26, 2021.
Throughout its run, it has been underwritten by the National Science Foundation,[6] [7] [8] with Northrop Grumman underwriting season four in 2010.
Each episode consists of two 9-minute stories, which are animated segments, and two 2-minute live action segments, in which children explore and demonstrate the same topic presented in the animated segment. The show is narrated by Joan Cusack.[9]
Viewers follow Peep, Chirp, and Quack as they investigate and explore the world around them. Following the 9-minute animated episode, there is a 2-minute live-action segment which features children exploring and demonstrating the same topic presented in the episode. The animation consists of bright colors and simple shapes, which simulates and reflects a youthful art style.
| Episode № | Segment names | Original airdate | Prod code | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total | Season | First segment | Second segment | |||
| 1 | 1 | Spring Thing | Springy Thingy | 12 April 2004 | 110 | |
| 2 | 2 | A Duck's Tale | Quack's Tracks | 13 April 2004 | 101 | |
| 3 | 3 | Quack and the Very Big Rock | Shadow Play | 14 April 2004 | 102 | |
| 4 | 4 | Current Events | Quack Loses His Hat | 15 April 2004 | 103 | |
| 5 | 5 | Night Light | Sounds Like... | 16 April 2004 | 104 | |
| 6 | 6 | The Windy Day | Peep Feet | 19 April 2004 | 105 | |
| 7 | 7 | Newton's Big Adventure | Peep Crosses the Road | 20 April 2004 | 106 | |
| 8 | 8 | Stormy Weather | Peep in Rabbitland | 21 April 2004 | 107 | |
| 9 | 9 | Quack's Stuck Stick | Peep's Can | 22 April 2004 | 108 | |
| 10 | 10 | Under Duck | All Fall Down | 23 April 2004 | 109 | |
| 11 | 11 | The Perils of Peep and Chirp | Hoop Tricks | 26 April 2004 | 111 | |
| 12 | 12 | Save It For Later | The Red Ballmoon | 27 April 2004 | 112 | |
| 13 | 13 | Chirp Builds a Nest | Stuck Duck | 28 April 2004 | 113 | |
| 14 | 14 | The Real Decoy | Peep's Lost Leaf | 29 April 2004 | 114 | |
| 15 | 15 | Birds of a Feather | The Incredible Shrinking Duck | 30 April 2004 | 115 | |
| 16 | 16 | Go West Young Peep | A Delicate Balance | 3 May 2004 | 116 | |
| 17 | 17 | The Fish Museum | Peep's Night Out | 4 May 2004 | 117 | |
| 18 | 18 | There's No Place Like Home | Flipping Newton | 5 May 2004 | 118 | |
| 19 | 19 | Chirp's Flight Program | Mirror Mirror in the Dump | 6 May 2004 | 119 | |
| 20 | 20 | Bridge the Gap | Meeting Half-Way | 7 May 2004 | 120 | |
| 21 | 21 | Peep Plants a Seed | The Root Problem | 10 May 2004 | 121 | |
| 22 | 22 | Hide and Go Peep | A Peep of a Different Color | 11 May 2004 | 122 | |
| 23 | 23 | That's a Cat | Faster than a Duck | 12 May 2004 | 123 | |
| 24 | 24 | Quack Hatches an Egg | The Whatchamacallit | 13 May 2004 | 124 | |
| 25 | 25 | Wandering Beaver | Peep's New Friend | 14 May 2004 | 125 | |
| 26 | 26 | The Trip to Green Island | Give Me a Call | 17 May 2004 | 126 | |
| Episode № | Segment names | Original airdate | Prod code | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total | Season | First segment | Second segment | |||
| 27 | 1 | Finders Keepers | Quack Quiets the Universe | 14 November 2005 | 201 | |
| 28 | 2 | Peep's Moon Mission | The Many Moons of Quack the Duck | 15 November 2005 | 202 | |
| 29 | 3 | The Mystery of the Thing That Went and Came Back | Peep's Color Quest | 16 November 2005 | 203 | |
| 30 | 4 | Reflection Affection | Peep Deep in the Big Muddy | 17 November 2005 | 204 | |
| 31 | 5 | Chirp Sorts it Out (Sort Of) | Hear Here! | 19 September 2006 | 205 | |
| 32 | 6 | Dry Duck | 18 November 2005 | 206 | ||
| 33 | 7 | Snow Daze | Flower Shower | 5 December 2005 | 207 | |
| 34 | 8 | Who Stole the Big Wide World? | M-U-D Spells Trouble | 20 September 2006 | 208 | |
| 35 | 9 | Finding Time | Smaller than a Peep | 21 September 2006 | 209 | |
| 36 | 10 | Quack Quack | One Duck Too Many | 18 September 2006 | 210 | |
| 37 | 11 | Count Them Out | Peep Prints | 25 September 2006 | 212 | |
| 38 | 12 | Stick With Me | Tree Feller | 26 September 2006 | 211 | |
| 39 | 13 | A Daring Duck | The Trouble With Bubbles | 27 September 2006 | 213 | |
| Episode № | Segment names | Original airdate | Prod code | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total | Season | First segment | Second segment | |||
| 40 | 1 | The Tooth, the Whole Tooth, and Nothing but the Tooth | The Winter of Quack's Discontent | 16 April 2007 | 302 | |
| 41 | 2 | Nosing Around | The Last Straw | 17 April 2007 | 303 | |
| 42 | 3 | The Disappearing Drink | Door Tour | 18 April 2007 | 304 | |
| 43 | 4 | In a Bind | Star Light, Star Bright | 19 April 2007 | 305 | |
| 44 | 5 | Bedtime Story | The Deep Duck Woods | 20 April 2007 | 306 | |
| 45 | 6 | I Spy a Spider | Robin in the Bat Cave | 10 September 2007 | 307 | |
| 46 | 7 | Marble Mover | Fair Shares | 11 September 2007 | 308 | |
| 47 | 8 | The Feats of Peep | Quack Goes Nuts | 12 September 2007 | 309 | |
| 48 | 9 | The Sounds of Silence | 13 September 2007 | 301 | ||
| 49 | 10 | Big Bird | Chirp Flies the Coop | 14 September 2007 | 310 | |
| Episode № | Segment names | Original airdate | Prod code | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total | Season | First segment | Second segment | |||
| 50 | 1 | The Lurmies are Coming | Quack's Square Deal | 2 February 2010 | 406 | |
| 51 | 2 | An Inconvenient Tooth | 1 May 2010 | 401 | ||
| 52 | 3 | Bringing Spring | Quack's Pond Party | 13 May 2010 | 403 | |
| 53 | 4 | You Can Count on Bunnies | Falling Feathers | 14 May 2010 | 405 | |
| 54 | 5 | Trading Places | The House of Sand and Frog | 26 June 2010 | 402 | |
| 55 | 6 | Magic Duck Dancing | Chirp Chirp Tweet Tweet Chirp | 17 July 2010 | 404 | |
| Episode № | Segment names | Original airdate | Prod code | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total | Season | First segment | Second segment | |||
| 56 | 1 | Two's a Crowd | 10 October 2011 | 501 | ||
| 57 | 2 | The Road Not Taken | 11 October 2011 | 502 | ||
| 58 | 3 | Soap Opera | Diva Duck | 12 October 2011 | 503 | |
| 59 | 4 | Quack and the Amazing Sandy Magic | Duckball | 13 October 2011 | 504 | |
| 60 | 5 | Things That Go Peep in the Night | Mud Muddle | 14 October 2011 | 505 | |
Music for Peep and the Big Wide World is composed by Terry Tompkins and Steve D'Angelo, from Eggplant. The opening theme is performed by famous celebrity and musician Taj Mahal.[11]
Peep and the Big Wide World was originally broadcast on TLC and Discovery Kids — the latter as part of the Ready Set Learn preschool block —, from April 12, 2004 to September 14, 2007. Reruns of the first three seasons continued to air until October 8, 2010 when Discovery Kids discontinued the block to make way for the new network to launch known as The Hub on October 10.
The last two seasons were broadcast exclusively on select local public television stations with episodes distributed by APT from January 4, 2010[12] to October 14, 2011, though second-runs of previous episodes began as early as September 3, 2005.[13] APT continued distributing reruns through December 2017, well after commercial networks dropped the program. A total of 60 episodes (120 segments) were broadcast.
On January 1, 2018, reruns of Peep and the Big Wide World began airing on the 24-hour PBS Kids channel, marking the first time the series aired nationally on PBS Kids. Despite being a production of PBS station WGBH, Peep and the Big Wide World was turned down by PBS in 2003 in favor of developing programming directed at "slightly older children".[14] (The series was geared toward preschool children ages 3–5; meanwhile, PBS eventually launched the PBS Kids Go! block in 2004 which was intended for children above the preschool level.) The broadcast of the series ended on December 26, 2021, when it was replaced with reruns of Dinosaur Train to the 7:30 a.m. weekend morning timeslot.[15]
APT and PBS Kids broadcasts of Peep and the Big Wide World were paired with a short episode from Pocoyo which aired immediately after each show from 2010 to 2021.
WGBH Boston Video released the episodes of the first season on DVD in 2005. The 2005 DVD releases each contained six segments of the specified subject; Peep Explores, Peep Finds, Peep Floats, Peep's New Friends, Chirp Flies, and Quack Knows It All. The 2007 DVD release, Peep Figures It Out contained six segments as usual, plus two bonus segments. In 2011, PBS Kids Video released two DVDs; Seasons of Adventure, and Star Light, Star Bright, which contains episodes from seasons two and three respectively. In 2012, PBS Kids Video released two more DVDs; Finders Keepers and Bringing Spring. In 2014, PBS Kids Video released two more DVDs; Diva Duck, and Peep Discovers (which was once available as a limited release to retail stores). As of 2024, all of these DVDs are now out of print and very hard to find, but commonly found at public libraries. In Canada, Entertainment One released three DVDs in both English and French languages; Stick With Me, Peep's Moon Mission, and Flower Shower.
In 2017, WGBH released PEEP and the Big Wide World: Weather Factors, a media gallery in PBS LearningMedia's Bringing the Universe to America's Classrooms project. Weather Factors contains 4 animated shorts: PEEP and the TOO Windy Day, PEEP and the Chilly Dam, PEEP and the Changing Sky, and PEEP and the Rainy, Snowy Day.[16]