Little Bill is an American animated educational children's television series created by Bill Cosby. It is based on the Little Bill book series, written by Cosby with illustrations by Varnette P. Honeywood. Cosby also composed some of the theme music, appeared in live-action in the show's intro sequence, and voiced the recurring character of Captain Brainstorm. It was Cosby's second animated series, after Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids. The show's main character, Little Bill, is a fictionalized younger version of Cosby; the show's executive producer, Janice Burgess, described the character as "little Bill Cosby." Each episode features Little Bill learning a lesson while interacting with his large family and group of friends. The show was developed with a panel of educational consultants. The show is set in Philadelphia, Cosby's hometown. Little Bill's personality was inspired by both Cosby himself and his son, Ennis Cosby; Little Bill's catchphrase "Hello, friend!" was originally a greeting that Ennis used. The series originally ran on Nickelodeon from November 28, 1999 to February 6, 2004, and reruns continued until December 22, 2006. In September 2007, Nickelodeon announced that Little Bill would permanently move to the Noggin channel. It premiered on Noggin on September 10, 2007. Reruns continued to air until 2014, when the show was pulled from the air due to allegations of sexual assault against Cosby.

Premise

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 (nicknamed Alice the Great), his older sister April, and brother Bobby. Each episode includes a daydreaming sequence where Little Bill imagines a fantastical scenario. At the end of every episode, he breaks the fourth wall by summarizing his day to the audience by talking to the audience or Elephant, his hamster, before going to bed, and a family member offscreen asks, "Little Bill, who are you talking to?" causing Little Bill to laugh.

Broadcast history

Little Bill was first announced in 1997. It aired on Nickelodeon from November 28, 1999 to February 6, 2004. The first eight episodes debuted on Sunday nights before airing on Nick Jr. at a later date. The series secured a regular weekday timeslot on Nick Jr. beginning on September 4, 2000. Nick Jr. aired reruns until December 22, 2006. The series also aired on Nick on CBS from September 16, 2000 until September 9, 2006. In September 2007, Little Bill was moved to the Noggin channel, which advertised it as a "new series". Noggin aired five "premiere episodes" from September 10 to September 15, 2007. Reruns of Little Bill were shown on Noggin and the Nick Jr. channel until February 21, 2014, when Nickelodeon removed the show from its services. In addition to pulling reruns, Little Bill was removed from NickJr.com in 2014. Commenting on the show's removal from television, Distractify wrote: "Perhaps Little Bill should be left in the past." In 2017, the American Library Association said that the Little Bill series was one of the books most often targeted for removal in school libraries due to the sexual assault allegations against Bill Cosby. In December 2014, TV Guide noted that Little Bill episodes had become difficult to find after the allegations, since the show was no longer aired on television.

Episodes

Characters

Glover household

Friends and neighbors

Related media

Several episodes were released to VHS and DVD by Paramount Home Media Distribution. A computer game, Little Bill Thinks Big, was released on September 29, 2003 for Windows XP and Macintosh.

Main video releases

Episodes on Nick Jr. compilation DVDs

Awards

Emmy Awards Peabody Award

Footnotes