Trivia / Donkey Hodie

• Acting for Two:
  • David Rudman plays both Bob Dog and Grampy Hodie.
  • Stephanie D'Abruzzo is Duck Duck and Harriet Elizabeth Cow.
  • Frankie Cordero plays Purple Panda, the penguin referee, and Turtle-Lou.
• Adored by the Network:
  • PBS loves promoting this show. Before it aired, they aired many sneak peaks of the musical numbers and aired promos about the characters themselves. After it premiered, they constantly put ads for the show on Twitter and Instagram ad spaces, they had various parenting blogs promote the show by having them preview the episodes and make flying flapjacks, the official YouTube channel uploaded many episodes and compliation videos of the show onto their channel, and they even had two Family Night marathons of the show, with one of them lasting four hours.
  • When the show temporarily went into reruns after the first 13 episodes aired, "Spooky Shadow Swamp; Hidden Orchestra" tended to play more often than any other of the episodes from that batch, airing at least every 3 days on WNET.
  • The second season was heavily promoted by the network, mainly due to the debut of Trolley in the series. Press releases about the season were released up to months before it premiered, and PBS took the liberty of pre-empting one of the Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood timeslots on the 24/7 channel to simulcast the 5 episodes alongside their premieres on the PBS Kids block. Keep in mind that with the exception of Family Night and special events (like the Arthur 25th anniversary marathon or holidays like Christmas), it's rare for the PBS Kids channel to change its schedule.
• Content Leak:
  • This commonly happens with social media sites for PBS affiliates using pictures from the upcoming episodes instead of from older ones.
    • A very strange example of this happened when WOUB's Twitter promoted the PBS Kids Family Night on June 25, 2021 that was a marathon of this show. Rather than use a picture from one of the episodes airing that night, they used a picture from the then-unaired episode "Everything Explorers".
    • On August 1st, 2023, the Facebook page for WUCF Education used a picture from the then-upcoming episode “The Quiet Game” to promote the debut batch of Season 2 episodes. This specific image also spoiled the outcome of the episode with Duck Duck winning The Quiet Game.
  • On September 29, 2022, four episodes of the show ("A Donkey Hodie Halloween", "Snow Day", "Snow Surprise Challenge", "Yodel Bird Sitting" and "Superhero Squabble") were accidentally leaked by TVO Kids, the Canadian broadcaster of the series. In addition, "A Donkey Hodie Halloween" and "Snow Surprise Challenge" were accidentally made available worldwide, which would be fixed on October 5, 2022, with the episodes being region-locked to Canada only.
  • Clips of "Super Duper Sleepover", "Chili Jamboree", "Uniquely Panda" and "Feelings Detectives" were posted to PBS LearningMedia ahead of their airdates.
• Copiously Credited Creator: David Rudman is credited not only as the creator, but also as executive producer, director, writer, storyboard artist, puppet designer, song lyricist and theme song performer on the series, as well as the puppeteer of Bob Dog, Grampy Hodie and Yodel Bird.
• Cowboy BeBop at His Computer:
  • One Google description for "The Lavender Lights" refers to Duck Duck with he/him pronouns, while in the show she uses she/her.
  • There's a section found on Cablevision's search feature called "Neighborhood of Make Believe", which features Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood...and Donkey Hodie, which takes place in Someplace Else.
  • The book adaptation of "Pickle Penguin Problem", "In A Pickle!", has two errors:
    • The book claims that Donkey Hodie used her "I, Donkey Hodie..." catchphrase when explaining her plan. In the actual episode, she says "We will get that Pickle Penguin back, or my name isn't Donkey Hodie!"
    • The recurring song is misquoted as "We can't give up because that would be a shame. Going to turn this hard problem into a fun game!", rather than the actual "We don't want to give up because that would be a shame. Gotta turn this hard problem into a fun game!"
  • TVOntario's transcripts for the show spells the part where Duck Duck says "Kay kay" in the theme song as "Ki Ki". In addition, their transcript for "The Lavender Lights" refers to Donkey Hodie with he/him pronouns during the scene where Donkey has Duck Duck ride on her back, the transcript for "Art Show Today" spells Donkey Hodie's name as "Donkie Hodie" at one point, and "A Fair Way To Bounce" refers to Harriett Elizabeth Cow as Harriett Elizabeth Pig.
  • For unknown reasons, the closed captioning on the PBS Kids upload of "The Masked Veggies" omitted the parts where Purple Panda sings Jingle Bells and only showed Donkey's dialogue during that scene.
  • The book "Donkey Hodie Helps An Elephant" says that Donkey went into a bird's nest because Bob Dog's ball landed in there in the episode "A Big Favor For Grampy". In the actual episode, she catapults herself on a see-saw to get Gregory to move, but accidentally winds up in the nest.
  • Some tracks on the Here Comes Donkey Hodie album credit the wrong characters who sang the songs. For instance, in the series, "Dancing Under The Golden Rainbow" was sung by Donkey Hodie and Purple Panda, but the album says that Duck Duck and Bob Dog, who don't even appear in said episode the song is from, also sang in the song.
  • A few PBS affiliates, including NH PBS, list the incorrect names for certain episodes, despite keeping the correct synopsises.
    • Art Show Today/The Lavender Lights is Spooky Shadow Swamp/Hidden Orchestra
    • Super Duper Sleepover/Mountain Climb Time is The Masked Veggies/The Royal Hosts
• Creator's Favorite Episode:
  • Haley Jenkins' favorite episode, according to her Meet Our Neighbors interview, is "Potato Pirates".
  • Caroline Bandolik, VP of Production, likes the episode "Donkey's Bad Day" due to how perfect it is from start to finish and its song, "Cheer Yourself Up".
  • Stephanie D'Abruzzo's favorite episodes include "Bye, Bye Book", "Art Show Today", "The Lavender Lights", and "Swoop-a-Rino".
• Defictionalization: The PBS Parents website for this show contains the following tutorials to do several activities as seen on the show:
  • A recipe for Flying Flapjacks ("Flying Flapjacks")
  • A hoof dancing tutorial ("Hoof Dancing Is Hard")
  • A tutorial to create Donkey Hodie's beach bongos ("Royal Sandcastle Builders")
• Descended Creator: Co-creator David Rudman plays Grampy Hodie and Bob Dog.
• Development Gag:
  • The original animated versions of Donkey and her pals are often interpreted as drawings seen in the show.
  • "Purple Peg Problem" used the animated versions of the characters twice: in the illustrations Donkey shows off during the "Little Steps" song and in the illustrated plan that is used by the characters.
• Died During Production: Joanne Rogers, chair of the board of Fred Rogers Productions (which created this show), died on January 14, 2021, months before this show's premiere.
• Directed by Cast Member:
  • Frankie Cordero (Purple Panda) has directed some episodes.
  • David Rudman (Bob Dog, Grampy Hodie) is also one of the directors.
• Disowned Adaptation: Betty Aberlin, who played Lady Aberlin on Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, openly hates the show just like she did with Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood.
  "so fyi, @ PBS' "Donkey Hodie" is a travesty. the antithesis of everything we stood for. a rip-off & a desecration.”
• Early-Bird Release:
  • When the series premiered in May of 2021, 8 episodes were released on the PBS Kids app before their official airdates.
  • On March 4, 2022, "Groovy Guitar/Treasure Nest" and "Swoop-a-Rino/Duck Duck's Great Adventure" were released on the PBS Kids app before their official airdates on March 11 and March 18, respectively. "Being Bob Dog/Panda Panda" followed suit a few days later.
  • PBS loves batch-releasing the episodes onto their Video app. They did it with the March 2022, June 2022, and the August 2023 batches for only a few examples.
• Early Draft Tie-In: The Jada Toys figurine of Purple Panda does not have light purple coloring inside the ears, which comes from an early promotional image where Panda's ears did not have the light purple coloring in them. This is averted for the other Jada Toys merchandise like the plush dolls.
• Edited for Syndication:
  • TVOntario airs the show as a Quarter Hour Short.
  • Unlike other PBS shows, there's no in-between segment. However, to fill time, a short airs after the show ends. Depending on the episode, this is either That's So Interesting, Through the Woods or What Can You Become?.
• Fan Community Nicknames: Donkaroos is used to refer to fans of Donkey Hodie by the official social media accounts. Donkaroo is Grampy's nickname for Donkey Hodie in-series.
• Fandom Life Cycle: The show is currently between Stages 2 and 3.
• Invisible Advertising: The March 2022 episode premieres did not get advertised until after PBS aired them, with the exception of "A Night Out; Poetry Problem" and "Swoop-A-Rino; Duck Duck's Great Adventure" (likely due to its use of "You've Got To Do It" from Mister Rogers' Neighborhood). To make matters worse, the latter was advertised only 10 minutes before it aired on TV. This is due to the monthly tentpole event overshadowing everything else. In this case, it was the TV premiere of The Monster At the End of This Story.
• Marth Debuted in "Smash Bros.": Since Mister Rogers' only aired in North America, the debut of Donkey Hodie in Australia, Spain, and the United Arab Emirates marked the debuts of characters such as Donkey Hodie, Purple Panda, Bob Dog and Harriet Elizabeth Cow in the country, but in different incarnations.
• Meaningful Release Date:
  • "Donkey's Bad Day", about the titular character having an unlucky day, aired on August 13th, 2021, which was on a Friday. Many people associate Friday the 13th with bad luck.
  • A book adaptation of "Planet Purple Party" was released on May 3, 2022, a year to the day the show premiered.
  • The episode “Purple Peg Problem”, which was written by Stephanie D’Abruzzo, aired on December 7th, her birthday.
• Missing Episode: The Arabic dub skips "The Try Scouts", "Wiz Kazizz Kazaam", "Stanley's One-Dragon Show", "A Donkey Hodie Halloween", "Hey-O, Purple Moon", "Fashion Donkey" and "Bright Bright Bugs" because they don't align with Islamic values. "Wiz Kazizz Kazaam" and "Stanley's One-Dragon Show" contain magic, "A Donkey Hodie Halloween" was skipped because Halloween is 'haram' in Islam, and "Fashion Donkey" was skipped because Fashion Penguin is an effeminate male. The other episodes' reasons for being skipped are unknown.
• Network Redheaded Stepchild: This is the first live-action show on PBS Kids since Odd Squad in 2014, and the first puppet show since It's a Big Big World in 2006, as PBS had switched their focus to Flash-animated cartoons. Despite this status, the series is still a hit, being the third most-watched PBS Kids show on cable as of 2022.
• Out of Holiday Episode:
  • "A Lot Of Hot", which takes place during the summer, aired in May 2021, a month before summer.
  • "Snow Surprise Challenge", which takes place during the spring, aired in December 2022.
• Out of Order:
  • In typical PBS fashion, this is how the episodes air. "Flying Flapjacks/Pickle Penguin Problem" was aired as the series premiere, but it is the sixth episode in production order. The real first episode is "The Waiting Game/Planet Purple Party".
  • Episode segments are aired out of order as well, with the second produced segment airing before the first.
    • According to a tweet by Stephanie D'Abruzzo, "Planet Purple Party" was the first segment filmed. However, "The Waiting Game", which was filmed second, is the first segment in the episode where this segment appears.
    • The New York Times article about Donkey shows the clapboard for Potato Pirates as the B-segment for the episode despite being aired first.
  • Aside from the premiere week, this was done for several other premiere bombs of the show too:
    • The November 2021 premiere bomb aired "The Try Scouts; Wiz-Kaziz-Kazaam", which is episode 22, before "Potato Pirates; Panda's Special Something", which is episode 21. According to an article promoting the episodes, this was intentional, as the producers wanted to air an episode about the power of giving on Thanksgiving itself.
    • The June 2022 one switched the order of "The Potato Stand; Clyde's Surprise Playdate" (episode 29) and "Acornball; Super Duper Magic Fun Box" (episode 30), with the later playing before the former. This was probably because June 8th was Best Friends Day, and PBS likely wanted to air a friendship-related story for that day, as the B-segment for the latter episode was a story about how best friends don't have to like the same things.
    • "A Donkey Hodie Halloween" is episode 32 in production order, but aired before episode 31, "Snow Day; Snow Surprise Challenge", which wound up airing in December 2022.
    • The premiere of Season 2 started with the fourth episode of the season in production order, "Trolley Visits Someplace Else; Wish Upon A Fish". The first episode of that season was actually "The Breakfast Bowl; Dancing Dandelions".
• Production Posse: Many of David Rudman's associates from Sesame Street work on the show, including Joey Mazzarino (formerly head writer and the performer of Murray Monster and Stinky the Stinkweed), Haley Jenkins (various bit parts), Frankie Cordero (Rudy), Stephanie D'Abruzzo (various characters, most notably Elizabeth and Prairie Dawn), Liz Hara, Matt Vogel (current performer of Big Bird, Count von Count, Mr. Johnson, and outside of Sesame most of Jerry Nelson’s former Muppet characters and Kermit the Frog), Peter Linz (current performer of Ernie), Bill Sherman (musical director), Rollie Krewson (puppet builder and occasional performer), and Polly Smith (puppet costumer and occasional builder). There's also overlap with Nature Cat, another Spiffy Pictures/WTTW program that happens to utilize frequent Muppet performers.
• Promoted Fanboy: Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, which this show is based off, was Haley Jenkins' (the voice and puppeteer of Donkey Hodie) favorite show as a child, tied with Lamb Chop's Play-Along.
• Recycled Script:
  • "Bye Bye Book" and "Panda's Special Something" both revolve around a character struggling to part with something special to them.
  • The episode "Hidden Orchestra" is similar to the Sesame Street episode "Elmo and the Bookaneers", in which a character discovers that somebody is part of a secret club and has to pass a series of challenges in order to become a member of said club.
  • The episode "The Golden Crunchdoodles" has the same plot as the Garfield and Friends segment "Over The Rainbow". Both have a character searching for something considered legendary (cereal in the former and a pot of gold in the latter) and having to compete in a game show to earn what they desire.
  • "Donkey's Bad Day" and "Donkey and Panda Cheer Up" both revolve around a main character having to cheer up after bad things happen to them.
• Release Date Change:
  • The show was originally scheduled to premiere in Winter 2021, but it was delayed to May 2021 (in the spring) instead.
  • Merchandise example: Two tie-in books, "Meet Donkey Hodie!" and "Flying Flapjacks!", had their releases delayed due to a paper shortage caused by the Delta variant of the coronavirus.
  • The second season was scheduled to premiere in the spring of 2023, but got delayed to August 2023 (in the summer) instead.
  • The toys were slated to come out in spring 2023, but were then delayed to Summer 2023 before eventually being released on October 1, 2023.
• Screwed by the Network: Upon the premiere of Lyla in the Loop, KLCS in Los Angeles, California moved this show to 6:30AM, when the target audience is asleep. And even worse, that affiliate's feed of the PBS Kids channel doesn't even show Donkey Hodie.
• Short Run in Peru: Episodes 31-33 ^note Snow Day/Snow Surprise Challenge, A Donkey Hodie Halloween, and Yodel Bird Sitting/Superhero Squabble and 37-40 ^note Gator's New Game/Donkey and Panda Cheer Up , Me, Myself, and Donkey/Fashion Donkey, Bright Bright Bugs/Panda's Purple Break and The Golden Crunchdoodles Return/Flowers, Fetch, and Dance of the show were released early on TVOKids in Canada between September and December of 2022. The former example also counts as a Content Leak since A Donkey Hodie Halloween and Snow Surprise Challenge were temporarily available on the TVO Kids Youtube channel without region-lock enabled.
• Similarly Named Works:
  • Jack's Big Music Show, another Spiffy Pictures series, also has an episode named "Snow Day".
  • Eight months after "Piano Problem" premiered, SuperKitties would premiere an episode with the same title.
• Sleeper Hit: Despite the series being a Network Redheaded Stepchild as mentioned above, it managed to be a huge hit. The show generated 32.6 million streams, the most for any PBS Kids series launch since Ready Jet Go!. On-air, the series posted the highest Kids 2-8 ratings and reach of any PBS Kids series during its premiere week, reaching 2.7 million TV viewers. It even managed to snag a toy license within six months. In fact, the show's uniqueness might have been why the show got high viewership.
• The Merch: The show has several pieces of merchandise, most of it available on the PBS Kids store, including books, t-shirts, blankets, mugs, ornaments and even tote bags. Jada Toys also created a line of merchandise including small and large plushies (with the small ones saying character catch phrases when squeezed), finger puppets, a figurine set and a toyline-exclusive frozen yogurt truck playset.
• Unfinished Dub:
  • The European Spanish dub, Burrita Rita, only dubbed 40 segments out of 78, likely because the channel it aired on, Canal Panda, ceased operations.
  • 6 segments and the Halloween special were skipped in the Arabic dub.
• Unspecified Role Credit: The credits list the puppeteers without saying who played whom.
• What Could Have Been: Now has its own page.
• Word of God: Ellen Doherty stated in an interview that the four main characters are not kids or adults, making them teenagers.
• Working Title:
  • One PBS affiliate listed "Duck Duck's Great Adventure" under the title "Duck Duck Can't Choose", hinting that this was the original title for the episode.
  • The PBS Kids Video app previously listed the episode "Snow Day" as "Snowy Day on Another Planet", and "Purple Peg Problem" as, "Problem, We Have a Panda", implying that those were the original titles for the episodes.
  • Most PBS affiliates list "Panda's Purple Break" under the title "Panda's Purple Party", which might mean that this was its original title.
• Written by Cast Member:
  • Stephanie D'Abruzzo (Duck Duck) has written some episodes such as "The Fastest Fetcher", "Panda Hodie", and "Growing the Ungrowdenia".
  • Writer Joey Mazzarino also plays Game Show Gator.
  • Mel Campbell, an assistant puppeteer on the show, has written multiple episodes such as "Hey-O, Purple Moon." and "Wish Upon a Fish."