In June 1994, television producer Bruce D. Johnson, then an executive vice-president at
Hanna-Barbera, was browsing through a bookstore in
Washington, D.C. when he stumbled upon Bennett's 1993 book of moral tales,
The Book of Virtues. Compelled by the book's themes, Johnson called Bennett with the idea of an animated television program for children based upon the book. According to Johnson: "...I placed a cold call to William Bennett. To my surprise, he takes the call; to my chagrin, he informs me that 19 other companies have already approached him, including
Disney, and that he was 'down the road' on a probable deal at that moment. Nevertheless, I inform him of my experience producing anthologies and express an interest in producing his book wherever it ended up. We have a pleasant conversation, and he offhandedly asks me to fax my resume to him. I do." Johnson and Bennett eventually met and bonded over their shared dedication to children's television and moral philosophy. From there, the two agreed to begin production on what would become
Adventures. That same year in the 1994 midterm elections, the
Republican Party won control of the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate, giving the Party control of Congress for the first time in four decades. In January 1995, Speaker of the House
Newt Gingrich expressed publicly his desire to "zero out" federal funding for
PBS, stating, "Why would you say to some poor worker out here with three kids, 'We're now going to take your money and tax you for a program that you may never watch?'" As the debate over federal funding for public broadcasting was being waged in Congress, Johnson shopped the developing project around to various networks, hoping to find one that would air
Adventures in a prime time slot. The final taker was PBS, who at first aired the series in prime time during its debut in September 1996, then gave the series a regular weekend timeslot in February 1997. Many conservative figures approved of PBS's pickup of the series. When asked whether PBS was attempting to appease Congressional Republicans by accepting a series developed by a well-regarded Reagan cabinet appointee, PBS President Ervin S. Duggan denied, stating, "We are not buying Bill Bennett's opinions... The series is not political at all."
Adventures from the Book of Virtues went on to become the first animated series to air on PBS in primetime. The series sought to illustrate themes of common virtues through famous all-embracing heroes and stories, based on Bennett's
The Book of Virtues. The core audience were families with children who were between the ages of 6 and 10 years old. Music for the opening sequence and the first season was produced by
J. A. C. Redford. In 2006, the first two seasons were redubbed in Singapore. According to Chuck Powers, one of the voice actors in the Singaporean dub, PorchLight redubbed the series because the studio could not afford to pay royalties to the celebrity voice actors. == Episodes ==