This was sort of inspired by/recreated from a TV.com message board that I found.

http://www.tv.com/shows/arthur/forums/least-favorite-arthur-episodes-2099-3311559/

LOL, I forgot about that forum! I even participated in that thread too.

Anyway, yeah, D.W. did get off light in "Arthur's Big Hit." That whole episode was a mess, IMO (how it came from Joe Fallon is beyond me... I mentioned that in the TV.com forum as well). It would have been alright if it just focused on Arthur and D.W. dealing with what happened, but for whatever reason it had to go off on a tangent and become an episode about Binky dealing with peer pressure from the Tough Customers.

I just realized something while watching "Sue Ellen Chickens Out" today. It takes place during the later autumn months, since there's fall foliage and piles of leaves everywhere.

But "Sue Ellen Moves In" took place in the middle of winter time. It also took place while they are in the third grade, as Mr. Ratburn is present towards the end.

So would that mean the kids were in the fourth grade during "Sue Ellen Chickens Out"?

I'm not really sure if that will attract many viewers. It might, but it would probably be targeted towards a younger age demographic, perhaps?

I was thinking along the lines of splitting the age demographic entirely with the two shows: D.W.'s show gets the younger viewers, while Arthur retains the older audience. On the other hand it would be incredibly risky.

Arthur going out of character is not surprising. I had a feeling they were going to make an episode about this any way. I'm also waiting for the day they make an episode about how much of a hypocrite both Francine and Muffy are.

Francine's case is especially irritating, because she seems to be the writers' favorite character when it comes to moralizing the others. Like the one where she gets on Arthur for being mean to D.W. while she's sick, then she ends up being the one to take charge and "fix" everything.

Then there's "Jenna's Bedtime Blues": Francine makes fun of Jenna-- quite literally behind her back-- for getting homesick. Then she tells Jenna off for trying to accuse one of the other girls of being a baby. Or "The Good Sport": Francine picks on Jenna for the entire episode, but as soon as Muffy does it, it's suddenly a bad thing.

If they ever did an episode that brought their hypocrisy to light, it would be on Muffy, while Francine would again be the moralizer.

Sorry... got way off topic. 

In the town I grew up in (called Lakewood ), our parents let us go where ever we wanted as long as we didn't venture too far from home, and stayed away from the railroad tracks that ran through the city (a 9-year-old boy was killed by a train in the early 90s, so naturally every kid's parents were paranoid for a few years). We were allowed to go to the movies or the store by ourselves and hardly ever needed adults or older kids to look after us.

The crime statistics in Lakewood are more or less the same as they were in the 90s, but I honestly would never let my kids (if I had any) venture in those streets on their own. Maybe I'm just more aware of crime now than my parents were, I don't know.

While I like Muffy, I can't see her getting a spinoff. She's such a central character on the show, and unlike Buster-- who regularly goes on travels and therefore a travel show with new characters makes sense-- Muffy more or less stays in Elwood City and tends to hang around the main group of Arthur characters.

If anything, I'd like to see a spinoff involving the Frenskys (with Francine being more or less an ancillary character or not appearing at all). They've introduced so many members of Francine's family over the years, I could see it working.

I was watching the ep on YouTube, and I tend to have headphones because my laptop's speakers aren't too good, so that's how I caught it. Even when YouTube compresses the heck out of the sound, you can still make out details.

The sound mix is also one of the things I love about the series. In scenes where the characters are outside and talking, the acoustics are adjusted in such a way that they actually do sound like they're outdoors (voices echoing off buildings, etc). Most other cartoons don't even bother with such details.

What it could be is monumental at this point. It could be just about anything including and bear with me on this another spin off revolving around another character.

If anything, I would like to see a spinoff involving D.W. and her friends/classmates. The series already feels kind of divided between Arthur and his friends and D.W. and her friends. Splitting into two separate series would be the most sensible way to go, I'd think. The D.W. series could be geared towards the preschool-age viewers while the Arthur series will still be for the tween-and-older crowd.

...I'm getting way off subject here, so I'll stop.