Dinosaurs
Genre	Sitcom Puppetry Satire Slapstick Comedy drama
Created by	Michael Jacobs Bob Young
Developed by	Jim Henson
Voices of	Stuart Pankin Jessica Walter Jason Willinger Sally Struthers Kevin Clash Florence Stanley Sam McMurray Sherman Hemsley
Theme music composer	Bruce Broughton
Opening theme	Bruce Broughton
Composers	Bruce Broughton Ray Colcord
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of seasons	4
No. of episodes	65(list of episodes)
Production
Executive producers	Michael Jacobs Brian Henson
Producers	Mark Brull Dave Caplan Tim Doyle Victor Fresco Andy Goodman Jeff McCracken Peter Ocko Dava Savel Kirk Thatcher Rob Ulin Bob Young
Running time	23 minutes
Production companies	Michael Jacobs Productions Jim Henson Productions Walt Disney Television
Original release
Network	ABC[1][2]
Release	April 26, 1991 (1991-04-26) – July 20, 1994 (1994-07-20)

Dinosaurs is an American family sitcom television series that aired onABC from April 26, 1991, to July 20, 1994. The show, about a family ofanthropomorphicdinosaurs, was produced byMichael Jacobs Productions andJim Henson Productions in association withWalt Disney Television.^[3][4] The characters were designed by Henson team memberKirk Thatcher.

News stories written at the time of the show's premiere highlightedDinosaurs' connection toJim Henson, who had died the year before. Henson conceived the show in 1988, according to an article inThe New York Times, adding he wanted it to be a sitcom, but about a family of dinosaurs. Until the success ofThe Simpsons, according to Alex Rockwell, a vice president of the Henson organization, "people thought it was a crazy idea."^[5]

In the late 1980s, Henson worked withWilliam Stout, a fantasy artist, illustrator and designer, on a feature film starring animatronic dinosaurs with the working title ofThe Natural History Project; a 1993 article inThe New Yorker said that Henson continued to work on a dinosaur project (presumablyDinosaurs) until the "last months of his life."^[6][7][8][9]

Thetelevision division ofThe Walt Disney Company began working on the series in 1990 forCBS before the series landed on ABC, which Disney eventually acquired.^[10]

Rafael Montemayor Aguiton ofVulture wrote that upon premiere the show "was a hit", andMichael Jacobs stated that this was why the network did not interfere much in the production.^[11]

Aguiton wrote that ratings suffered from the show being moved to different time slots on the network.^[11] Theanimatronics made the show relatively expensive, with cast memberStuart Pankin recalling that "I heard it was the most expensive half-hour TV show, at least at that point" and that this contributed to the cancellation.^[11]

Dinosaurs is initially set in 60,000,000BC inPangaea. The show centers on the Sinclair family: Earl Sneed Sinclair (father), Fran Sinclair (née Phillips – mother), their three children (Robbie, Charlene, and infant Baby Sinclair) and Fran's mother, Ethyl.

Earl's job is to push over trees for the Wesayso Corporation with his friend and coworker Roy Hess, where they work under the supervision of their boss, Bradley P. Richfield.

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The focus of the show's plot is the Sinclair family: Earl, Fran, Robbie, Charlene, Baby, and Ethyl. The family name is a reference to theSinclair Oil Corporation, which had prominently featured a dinosaur as its logo and mascot for decades, under the belief that petroleum deposits were formed during the age of the dinosaurs.^[12] Other character and family names throughout the series often referred to rival petroleum companies or petroleum products. For example:Phillips,Hess,B.P.,Richfield, andEthyl, among others.

The following characters are not in the Unisaurs category below:

Outside of the recurring characters, there are a group of dinosaur characters called Unisaurs. They are customizable dinosaur characters. Some of the Unisaurs are Full-Bodied while the others are hand-puppets. They come in different types.

The following are the Full-Bodied Unisaurs:

AlthoughDinosaurs is targeted at a family audience, the show touched upon multiple topical issues, which includeenvironmentalism,endangered species,women's rights,sexual harassment,LGBT rights,objectification ofwomen,censorship,civil rights,body image,steroid use,allusions tomasturbation (in the form of Robbie doing the solo mating dance),drug abuse,racism (in the form of a dispute between the two-legged dinosaurs and the four-legged dinosaurs),peer pressure, rights ofindigenous peoples (in the form of the dinosaurs interacting withcavepeople),corporate crime,government interference inparenting, andpacifism.^[13]

In the episode "I Never Ate for My Father," in lieu of carnivorism, Robbie chooses to eat vegetables, which the show uses as a metaphor for homosexuality,communism,drug abuse and counter culture.^{[citation needed]}

The 2-part episode "Nuts to War" was a satire of American involvement in theGulf War, with two-legged dinosaurs going to war with four-legged dinosaurs overpistachios instead ofoil.^[14]

In the final season, "The Greatest Story Ever Sold" (a take-off ofThe Greatest Story Ever Told) referencesreligion when the Sinclair family becomes eager to learn the meaning of their existence. The Elders dictate a new system of beliefs, and the entire cast (with the exception of Robbie) abandons science to blindly follow the newly popular "Potato-ism".

Another religious-themed episode was "The Last Temptation of Ethyl", in which Ethyl willingly allows atelevangelist to exploit hernear-death experience to extort money from followers. She backs out after having a second such experience, where instead ofheaven, she experiences a "place not so nice": an existence surrounded by nothing but multiple Earl Sneed Sinclairs.

Several jokes in the series were at the expense of television shows in general. Earl often wants to watch TV rather than do something more practical, and several jokes accuse television of "dumbing down" the population and making it lazy.

Captain Action Figure shows up in children's programming that Fran mistakes for a commercial. Whenever Captain Action Figure mentions a product, the screen flashes "Tell Mommy I WANT THAT!". Before the appearance of Georgie,Dinosaurs used a puppet reminiscent ofBarney the Dinosaur named "Blarney" in two episodes. During his appearances, members of the Sinclair family commented on his annoying characteristics and failure to teach anything to children.

The characters will sometimes break thefourth wall as well, especially Baby. An example of such is seen in the episode "Nature Calls" (Season 3, Episode 1) when Fran and Earl spell out words in front of Baby during an argument, who, after looking at the camera and saying "This could get ugly", proceeds to spell out "They think I can't spell" with hisalphabet blocks.

The final episode ofDinosaurs produced and aired on ABC was intended as theseries finale^[a] and depicts the irresponsible actions of the dinosaurs toward their environment, and the ensuingIce Age which leads to their demise.

Stuart Pankin, the voice of Earl, stated that the ending "was a simplistic and heartfelt social comment, yet it was very powerful" with "subtlety" being a defining aspect.^[11]

The television series creators decided to make this finale as a way of ending the series as they knew the show could be canceled when they created season 4.Michael Jacobs stated that "We certainly wanted to make the episode to be educational to the audience", and as people knew dinosaurs were no longer alive, "The show would end by completing the metaphor and showing that extinction."^[11]Ted Harbert, president of ABC, expressed discomfort at the ending in a telephone call, but allowed it to go forward.^[11]

Jacobs stated that correspondence from parents revealed that "They understood the creativity in the final episode, and they were sad at the predicament we presented in the story."^[11] Pankin stated that "Everybody was at first shocked, but I think it was more of a reaction to the show ending."^[11] Pankin stated that he did not remember a significant number of audience members being angry about the ending.^[11] In 2018, Jacobs stated that the episode would have trended on social media had it been released that year.^[11]

Noel Murray ofThe A.V. Club stated that the episode "delivered as blunt an environmental message as any major network TV broadcast sinceThe Lorax."^[15] Brian Galindo ofBuzzFeed described it as being shocking for children.^[16]

In the United Kingdom, the show was screened onITV in 1992 and in reruns from 1995 to 2002 onDisney Channel.^[17] In Canada, the show started airing reruns in 1992 onThe Family Channel and aired them until the late 1990s; the show also aired onCHRO-TV in the early-to-mid 1990s. In Australia, the show started airing on theSeven Network from February 1992 through to 1995. In Ireland, in the mid-1990s, it was shown on a Sunday evening onRTÉ Two (known as network 2 back then). In 1994, it was shown in Italy onRai 1. The show has also aired onTV3, then moved in 2003 toTV2 in New Zealand,KBC in Kenya andM-Net in South Africa. In Brazil the show started airing onRede Globo from 1992 to 1999, onSBT from 2003 to 2005, onBand from 2007 to 2011, and onCanal Viva in 2014.^[18] In Mexico the show was aired onCanal 5.^[19]

The first three volumes were released on VHS on December 6, 1991. On May 2, 2006,Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment releasedDinosaurs: The Complete First and Second Seasons as a four-disc DVD box set. The DVD set includes "exclusive bonus features including a never-before-seen look at the making ofDinosaurs". The complete third and fourth seasons, also a four-disc DVD set, were released on May 1, 2007, with special features, including the episodes not aired on U.S. television. Both sets are currently available only inRegion 1.

On September 29, 2017,Hulu acquired the streaming rights toDinosaurs along with fellow Disney–ABC television propertiesHome Improvement andBoy Meets World, in addition to fellowTGIF programsFamily Matters,Full House,Hangin' with Mr. Cooper,Perfect Strangers andStep by Step.^[20]

Dinosaurs was made available for streaming onDisney+ on January 29, 2021, for the United States, with the exception of the episode "A New Leaf".^[21]

As of September 2022, the series as a whole has received an approval rating of 91% onreview aggregatorRotten Tomatoes.^[22] Its first season received an approval rating of 83%, its consensus reads, "Dinosaurs, marries astonishingly expressive puppetry with genuinely funny satire of social norms, making for a forward-thinking prehistoric sitcom."^[23] While its fourth season received more critical praise, with a 100% approval rating.^[24]

Wikiquote has quotations related toDinosaurs (TV series).

• Official website
• Dinosaurs atIMDb

• 1991 American television series debuts
• 1994 American television series endings
• 1990s American children's comedy television series
• 1990s American satirical television series
• 1990s American single-camera sitcoms
• American children's television sitcoms
• American television shows featuring puppetry
• American television series about children
• American television series about families
• Television series about dinosaurs
• Television series set in prehistory
• American English-language television shows
• Television series by The Jim Henson Company
• Television series by Disney
• TGIF (TV programming block)
• Television series created by Michael Jacobs (producer)
• Television series set in the Mesozoic
• American Broadcasting Company sitcoms
• Anthropomorphic dinosaurs
• Children's television series about talking animals

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