Little Bill

Little Bill
Genre	Educational
Created by	Bill Cosby
Based on	Little Bill by Bill Cosby Varnette P. Honeywood
Developed by	Fracaswell Hyman
Written by	Fracaswell Hyman (head writer)
Directed by	Robert Scull Jennifer Oxley Olexa Hewryk Mark Salisbury Robert M. Wallace
Creative director	Robert Scull
Voices of	Ruby Dee Gregory Hines Phylicia Rashad Rosie Perez Xavier Pritchett[1]
Theme music composer	Bill Cosby, Don Braden, and Jon Faddis
Composers	Stu Gardner and Art Lisi
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of seasons	4
No. of episodes	52[2] (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producers	Bill Cosby David Brokaw Charles Kipps Brown Johnson and Janice Burgess (co-executive producers)
Producers	Robert Scull Shawn Cuddy (supervising producer) Fracaswell Hyman (consulting producer)
Running time	30 minutes
Production company	Nickelodeon Animation Studio
Distributor	MTV Networks
Release
Original network	Nickelodeon
Original release	November 28, 1999 (1999-11-28) – February 6, 2004 (2004-02-06)

Little Bill is an American animated children's television series based on Bill Cosby's Little Bill book series (illustrated by Varnette P. Honeywood), set in Philadelphia (Bill Cosby's hometown).^[3] It was produced for Nickelodeon's Nick Jr. block^[4] and was adapted for television by the show's head writer, Fracaswell Hyman. The stories feature Bill Jr. learning a lesson or moral, and every episode was developed through research and in consultation with a panel of educational consultants.^[5]

The series' premiere was on November 28, 1999, and aired on CBS as part of Nick Jr. on CBS, from September 16, 2000^[6] to September 7, 2002, then as part of Nick on CBS from August 2, 2003 to September 10, 2005. The last episode aired on February 6, 2004, and reruns returned, with the return of Nick Jr. on CBS, on September 17, 2005.

Little Bill was seen through until September 9, 2006. Sonia Manzano, best known for playing Maria Rodriguez on Sesame Street and creating Alma's Way, was a frequent writer for the show.

Plot[]

Set in Philadelphia, the show centers on Little Bill Glover as he explores everyday life through his imagination. Little Bill lives with his parents, his great grandmother Alice (aka Alice the Great), his older sister April, and brother Bobby. At the end of every show, he breaks the fourth wall by summarizing his day to the audience before going to bed.

Episodes[]

Characters[]

• William "Bill/Little Bill" Glover Jr. is an inquisitive and imaginative boy. He is known as Little Bill because his actual name is Bill Jr, and his father's name is also Bill. Little Bill is based on Bill Cosby's son, Ennis William Cosby, and was voiced by Xavier Pritchett.
• William "Bill/Big Bill" Glover Sr. is Little Bill, Bobby, and April's father, and is the husband of Brenda. He is also known as Big Bill because his actual name is Bill Sr. He was voiced by Gregory Hines.
• Brenda Glover (née Kendall) is Little Bill, Bobby, and April's mother, and is the wife of Big Bill. She was voiced by Phylicia Rashad.
• April Glover is the oldest and only daughter of Brenda and Big Bill. She was voiced by Monique Beasley.
• Robert "Bobby" Glover is the middle child, and oldest son of the Glover children. He was voiced by Devon Malik Beckford (season 1–2), and then Tyler James Williams (season 3–4).
• Alice the Great is the Great-grandmother of Little Bill, Bobby, April, and Jamal. Alice is also Brenda and Deborah's grandmother. She also lives with the family. She was voiced by Ruby Dee and Anika Walker in a flashback in "Good Ol' Lightning".
• Elephant is the family pet, a small, light yellow hamster.
• Captain Brainstorm is an astronaut, who has an orange rocket and an orange space suit. Little Bill is a fan of his television show, Space Explorers. He was voiced by Bill Cosby, the creator of Little Bill.
• Andrew Mulligan is an Irish-American boy who is Little Bill's best friend. He lives two houses away from Little Bill. He was voiced by Zach Tyler Eisen.
• Kiku is a Japanese-American friend of Little Bill's. She was voiced by Eunice Cho and later Emily Cleckner.
• Fuchsia Glover is the paternal cousin of Little Bill, Bobby and April. Her father Al is Big Bill's brother. Her mother is named Vanessa. She was voiced by Nakia Williams (Season 1) and Kianna Underwood (Season 2-4). She goes to school with Little Bill.
• Dorado is a friend of Little Bill who is Puerto Rican. He was voiced by Vincent Canales
• Monty is the Grandson of Alice the Great's friend Emmaline, uses a wheelchair to get around because he was born with cerebral palsy. He was voiced by Cole Hawkins.
• Michael Riley is a classmate of Little Bill's who moves to the neighborhood from Miami, Florida. He was voiced by Muhammad Cunningham.
• Miss Aisha Murray–Clinkscales: Little Bill's kindergarten teacher. She was voiced by Ayo Haynes (Season 1) and Melanie Nicholls-King (Season 2-4).
• Dr. Winthrop Clinkscales is Mrs. Murray's husband, whom she married in "Miss Murray's Wedding".
• Mrs. Shapiro is Little Bill's neighbor. She was voiced by Madeline Kahn in her first appearance, and later by Kathy Najimy after Kahn's death.
• Mr. Miguel Rojas is an elderly Mexican-American man who speaks English and Spanish. He was voiced by Victor Argo.
• Mr. Clark Terry is Alice the Great and Little Bill's new friend. He was voiced by Clark Terry, whom he is named and modeled after.
• Baby Jamal Welsh is Little Bill's maternal baby cousin, son of Deborah (Brenda's sister) and Gary.
• Percy Mulch is the owner of a pet shop. He was voiced by Doug E. Doug.
• Mr. Williams is a music store owner. He is voiced by Mike Mearian.
• Aunt Deborah Kendall (voiced by Grace Garland) is Brenda's younger sister, the wife of Uncle Gary (Welsh) and the mother of Baby Jamal.

List of home media releases[]

Paramount Home Media Distribution is the VHS and DVD distributor for the series.

Main releases[]

Episodes on Nick Jr. compilation DVDs[]

Awards[]

Emmy Awards

• 2003 – Outstanding Performer In An Animated Program – Gregory Hines
• 2004 – Outstanding Children's Animated Program

Peabody Award

• 2001^[7]

Video games[]

Little Bill Thinks Big, released on September 29, 2003, is for Windows XP and Macintosh.^[8]

See also[]

• Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids

References[]

External links[]

Wikiquote has quotations related to: Little Bill

• Little Bill at IMDb