FRANCES {SIX EPISODES} (TV)

Summary

Several episodes of this children's animated series about a young badger named Frances and her family. In "Bread and Jam for Frances," Frances decides that she wishes to eat her favorite food, bread and jam, for every meal, refusing any attempts by her parents to get her to eat anything different. They decide to play along and supply her with nothing but bread and jam while the rest of the family has other meals. Soon Frances becomes sick of having bread and jam all the time, and decides that she'd like to eat other foods and have bread and jam only occasionally. Her parents believe this to be a quite sensible decision. In "A Disaster for Francis," Frances accidentally causes her best friend Albert to drop a porcelain fish she made, shattering it into pieces. Frances is furious at Albert and yells at him, sending him home. Neither her mother nor her father can repair the fish, and advise her to make a new one. Frances doesn't think she can make another fish as good as the first, and continues to be upset. Albert calls her and tries to apologize, but Frances says she'll need to think about whether they can still be friends. She eventually realizes that it isn't worth it to jeopardize her relationship with Albert over the broken fish. Albert comes over and Frances apologizes to him for getting mad at him, and they resume their playtime. In "A Goodbye for Frances," Frances discovers that her mother is going to be performing in a piano recital in the city, meaning that she will be gone overnight. This distresses Frances, and she tries to make up various excuses to keep her mom from leaving. She is concerned that her father won't be able to put her to bed properly without her mom around, and continues to hold this belief no matter how much her parents try to reassure her. To prevent her mom from leaving, Frances steals her car keys, but soon regrets this decision. She decides to allow her mother to leave, but asks her to call her on the phone that night and sing her a bedtime song so that she can sleep. That night, her father sings her a different song instead, which successfully puts her to sleep anyway. The next morning Frances is awakened by her mother, much to her joy. In "A Whiny Sister for Frances," the family plans a trip to their favorite amusement park, and Frances is extremely excited. However, the night before the trip her little sister Gloria comes down with the flu, and her parents spend all night taking care of her. In the morning everyone except Frances is too tired for the trip, and they tell Frances they'll have to stay home to take care of Gloria. Frances believes this is unfair and storms off. She tries to have fun with her parents at home, but they are too exhausted to join in and are constantly tending to Gloria. Frances resents Gloria for taking attention away from her, but her father asks her to put herself in Gloria's position. Frances realizes that although she's mad at Gloria, she appreciates her far more than she realized. When she hears Gloria calling for her, she decides that Gloria needs her and decides to make a "family day" of helping her parents take care of her. After a few days Gloria recovers and the family prepares to take their trip to the amusement park, but Frances has caught Gloria's flu, and they all stay home to take care of her. In "A Cupcake for Frances," Frances's mother holds a piano recital at the house for all her students, including Frances. She and Frances bake cupcakes for all the students while Albert comes over to practice his piece one last time. Frances becomes jealous of all the attention her mother is giving to Albert, and in revenge she eats the cupcake meant for him. However, her parents soon note the missing cupcake and she makes up lies about it being taken by a "cupcake monster." The guilt she feels for lying to her parents overwhelms her, and she ultimately decides to make up for it by giving Albert her cupcake. She admits the truth to her mother, who is proud of her for doing the right thing. Having exonerated herself, Frances feels much better. In "Bedtime for Frances," Frances cannot go to sleep, feeling especially energetic. Every time she tries to put herself to bed, she gets paranoid about something in her room. First she believes that a tiger is hiding in her closet, then she becomes convinced that a giant is lurking in her room, then she grows worried about a crack in her ceiling; even the wind blowing at her curtains frightens her. Each time she seeks out her father, who offers explanations and tries to comfort her. He finally tells her that she needs to rest in order to be prepared for school the next day, and that he'll become mad if she keeps troubling him. At last Frances manages to go to sleep by singing a lullaby to herself. She awakens the next morning fresh and full of energy.

Details

• NETWORK: PBS Kids Sprout
• DATE: 2008
• RUNNING TIME: 0:43:12
• COLOR/B&W: Color
• CATALOG ID: B:90322
• GENRE: Animation; Children's
• SUBJECT HEADING: Animation; Children's
• SERIES RUN: PBS Kids Sprout - TV series, 2008
• COMMERCIALS: N/A

CREDITS

• Brian Henson … Executive Producer, Director
• Lisa Henson … Executive Producer
• Jocelyn Stevenson … Executive Producer
• Alex Rockwell … Producer, Writer, Theme Music by
• Ritamarie Peruggi … Producer
• Judy Rothman Rofé … Co-Producer, Writer, Theme Music by, Lyrics
• Bret Nelson … Associate Producer
• Rob Tygner … Animation
• George Barbour … Animation
• Jacob Bergman … Animation
• Andy Fraser … Animation
• Sandra Guarda … Animation
• Nathalie Jean-Bart … Animation
• Loren Klein … Animation
• Charlie Lovett … Animation
• Aysha Madina … Animation
• Joelle Newton-Mold … Animation
• Charles Rawlins … Animation
• Leigh Rens … Animation
• Richard Smith … Animation
• Russell Hoban … Based on the books by
• Jeff Zahn … Music by
• Jessica di Cicco … Performer, Frances
• Kristin Charney … Performer, Frances
• Martin Klebba … Performer, Frances
• Bruce Lanoil … Performer, Dad
• Tony Prince … Performer, Dad
• Leslie Carrera-Rudolph … Performer, Mom
• Nameer El-Kadi … Performer, Mom
• Julianne Buescher … Performer, Gloria, Albert
• Michelan Sisti … Performer, Gloria
• Arturo Gil … Performer, Albert
• Victor Yerrid … Performer