The iconic jazz saxophone intro, the quirky personalities of PS 118, and Football Head’s teenage bedroom dream of “Hey Arnold!” has fascinated millennials for decades and brought together ’90s kids of all backgrounds.
But ask anyone about the most memorable episode of a Nickelodeon show and they’ll likely point to the show’s depth, the episodes that lead to loss, the struggle to adapt, and the undeniable complexity of childhood.
As fans focus on the show’s 30th anniversary in October, creator Craig Bartlett reflects on the enduring affection for “Hey Arnold!”, especially for the cartoon’s refusal to shy away from what’s raw and real. It’s all helpful, Bartlett tells TODAY.com, because that’s exactly the point of the show.
“You know, everyone was trying to figure out how to make their own cartoon have its own corner that was different from everything else,” Bartlett says. “And for me, that was emotional authenticity.”
Premiering on October 7, 1996, the series centered around friendly fourth-grader Arnold Shortman ran for five seasons over nearly eight years. While the show wasn’t without its laughs, many viewers felt that what made the cartoon stand out was that it tackled topics like depression, addiction, poverty and more.
For example, the Season 1 episode “Arnold’s Christmas” examines the backstory of the character Mr. Hyunh, who is revealed to be a refugee who was tragically separated from his infant daughter during the Fall of Saigon, the historical event that marked the end of the Vietnam War.
In the later episodes of the series, the Chocolate Boy character tries to get rid of his chocolate addiction. As Arnold helps him along his journey, Chocolate Boy reveals that his attachment to candy stems from the beloved nanny he had when he was young, who gave him a bag of chocolates when leaving the family.
Who can forget the episode where the grumpy and tough Helga sits down with the school psychologist? Through therapy sessions, it becomes clear that beneath her tough exterior is a girl from a dysfunctional family who feels largely forgotten by her parents. From what is shown in the episode, Helga’s obsession with Arnold dates back to her first day of kindergarten. While her family ignored her and left her to walk alone in the rain, it turns out that Arnold was the first to notice Helga that day and show her the slightest kindness.
The showrunner explains that the series actually started with the dirt shorts that appeared on “Sesame Street.” Arnold in those shorts was five years old. But he says Bartlett “raised” him for Nickelodeon.
“He was supposed to be like me when I was little, I was a little bored with everything and in some ways I was a dreamer who wasn’t there,” Bartlett says. “I heard him say, ‘Hey Arnold!’ When we enlarge it as . He was a fourth grader doing things with his friends, but he was still a dreamer; “You imagine he had a really free-form imagination, and that’s how it all started.”
Bartlett says much of his inspiration came from the 1965 animated classic “A Charlie Brown Christmas.” In it, main character Charlie Brown is unable to feel the holiday cheer despite the warmth and celebrations of the season. Bartlett says the film’s main character’s acknowledgment of his melancholy deeply comforted him in his childhood.
“I was so moved by ‘Charlie Brown Christmas,’ she was bored and knew she was supposed to love Christmas and be happy, but it wasn’t there,” Bartlett explains.
He adds that this reflects the feeling of “longing” often felt during teenage years.
“That tells me about childhood. You… you hope for great things and you don’t have to have it,” he says. “I think that was really important. That’s what I was trying to convey.”
When creating the show, Bartlett says he aimed to capture some of the heavy emotions that children naturally feel. While many of the topics in the series are serious in nature, told through the eyes of the characters, Bartlett explains that he and his team aren’t worried about whether kids will understand it.
“We trusted that children lived such lives,” Bartlett says, citing Helga’s story as an example. “Some of them lived lives where they felt they didn’t look like Helga.”
The show was also one of the first cartoons where children voiced children. Bartlett says the young tweens of the period, who provided the cast’s unforgettable voices, from Lane Toran as Arnold to Francesca Marie Smith as Helga, also inspired much of the writing and added personality to the characters.
The stories weren’t the only thing that gave the series its authentic feel. Bartlett says composer Jim Lang’s score was crucial in conveying the show’s raw emotion.
“The music went hand in hand. Jim took all these ideas and turned them into really good, uplifting music,” Bartlett says. “It’s about dejection. And I thought Jim really intensified that feeling. I can’t imagine these episodes without music.”
Bartlett adds that the team’s freedom to experiment with themes and stories played a huge role in bringing these meaningful lessons to the big screen. Bartlett says that at the time, Nickelodeon actually gave the band the freedom to play.
“It’s hard to believe that the network allowed us to work this way, but they did. Mostly they left us alone to do our job,” he says.
He says the moment was perfect.
“You really got the feeling that it was time for us to do our own thing and that they were actually going to let us do it,” he says. “It was a great time for everyone. Nick was making a ton of money, and they said, ‘If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.'”
While the show ended in 2004, there was one final curtain call with the 2017 television movie “Hey Arnold: The Jungle Movie.” There has been no shortage of love for the show since then. Lang even took music back on the road with his PS 118 All Stars project, where the band behind the iconic songs performed the tracks live for audiences across the US. Bartlett appears as a special guest on many dates.
Fans have long been chanting “Hey Arnold!” Following the revival, Bartlett says he’s unsure whether there will be any more Arnold Shortman stories on our future screens.
For now, he says he is happy to attend shows as part of PS 118 All Stars and compares his tour experience to Mr. Hyunh’s experience in the episode “Mr. Hyunh Goes Country”.
“I’m so grateful that I ended up making 100 half-hours and two movies,” Bartlett says. “If there are no Arnold TV series or movies left, I’m glad it ended so well.”