Curious George

"George is a monkey, and he does things we can't do." —the PBS Kids show

Curious George is a series of books and a TV spin-off, plus a movie, based on the character by Margret and H.A. Rey. George is a monkey who is found overseas in Africa by "The Man With the Yellow Hat," a father-figure who takes the monkey home with him to his apartment in the city. Hilarity Ensues when the monkey is treated like a human child, rather than a pet. The books and series are marketed to the preschooler/early reader group and attempt to give children an early grasp on patterns and other bits of necessary information about life.

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The original books

There have also been a number of pastiche works, most of them out of print for years.

• Curious George (1941).
• Curious George Takes a Job (1947).
• Curious George Rides a Bike (1952).
• Curious George Gets a Medal (1957).
• Curious George Flies a Kite (1958).
• Curious George Learns the Alphabet (1963).
• Curious George Goes to the Hospital (1966).

The Books, Movies, and TV Series Include Examples Of:

• Adults Are Useless: The Man With the Yellow Hat often leaves George to his own devices. Let us repeat: George is a monkey.
• Black Bead Eyes: In the books.
• Caretaker Reversal: Occurs in a few of the tv series episodes.
• Curious as a Monkey: Trope Namer
• Deadpan Snarker: Junior. Actually Junior is made of this.
• Don't Try This At Home (See the above page quote; used with the twist that the only death-defying stunts George does are his monkey antics)
• Everything's Better with Monkeys
• Great White Hunter: The Man with the Yellow Hat's role in the first book, where he captured George for an American zoo.
• Heroes Want Redheads: Maggie.
• Hey, It's That Voice!: Frank Welker as George in the movie and TV series.
• Hot Teacher: Maggie.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Ivan.
• No Name Given: The Man With the Yellow Hat, until the movie, which revealed his name to be Ted Shackleford.
• Nice Hat: The Man With the Yellow Hat, natch.
• Person with the Clothing: The Man with the Yellow Hat.
• The Nose Knows: Ivan.
• Once Per Episode: George's curiosity would always get him in trouble. Then he would do something heroic, and all would be forgiven.
• Shallow Love Interest: Thankfully averted with Maggie.
• The Unfavorite: Junior.
• "Well Done, Son" Guy: Junior.
• Shirtless Scene: Only happened once in the episode Curious George Sees Stars, where the Man in the Yellow Hat is seen in his swim trunks.

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The Movies Include Examples Of:

• Adaptation Expansion: The Movie, especially the character of Ted.
• The Chew Toy/The Woobie: Ted spends most of the movie going between these two.
• Crazy Prepared: The theater's phone tree has an option for Klingon.
• Deadpan Snarker: Ted in the movie, when things don't go well for him.
• Getting Crap Past the Radar: During Ted's exchange with an unseen and unheard angry motorist, Ted yells back, "Well, that's physically impossible for me to do!"
• Sequel: Curious George 2: Follow That Monkey - Direct to Video
• Single-Issue Landlord: Only in The Movie.
• The Other Darrin: In The Movie Ted was voiced by Will Ferrell; in the Sequel he was voiced by Jeff Bennett