Big Bag

Big Bag was a preschool television series that blended live-action, animation, and puppetry. Created by Nina Elias-Bamberger, it aired on Cartoon Network and was co-produced with Sesame Workshop, with Muppet designs from the Jim Henson Company. The show ran from 1996 to 1998, with reruns continuing until 2001, often paired with another program called Small World. International versions appeared on Canal J in France and Yorkshire Television in the UK.

The main Muppet was Chelli, a patchwork dog, who ran a general store on Main Street with his best friend Bag, an anthropomorphic cloth bag that spoke in gibberish everyone understood. They lived with a human friend named Molly, alongside various animal characters named after their species. Two sock puppets, Lyle and Argyle, worked as stockroom boys and told "sock-sock" jokes. A humanoid Muppet named Sofie joined in the second season. The first season featured many human regulars, including children and local townsfolk. The human cast included Molly, a girl named Kim, a boy named Joey, a crossing guard named Bernard, an exercise instructor named Trudy, a shy woman named Martha, a mail carrier named Josie, a veterinarian named Doc Furrball, and an inventor named Waldo Muckle. Neighborhood Kids also appeared occasionally.

Voice actors included María Conchita Alonso as Troubles the Cat, Fran Brill as Nina, Kevin Clash as Avery, and Andrew Sachs as the narrator for "William's Wish Wellingtons." Other voice performers contributed to segments like "Ace & Avery," "Slim Pig," and "Samuel and Nina."

The show framed its live-action puppet scenes around several animated segments, each running three to eight minutes. These were produced by studios in New York, Australia, and Europe, often with input from Sesame Workshop and Cartoon Network. Notable shorts included "Troubles the Cat," the first original U.S. cartoon based on Latino characters, created by a five-year-old and her mother. It featured a girl named Marina and her multicultural friends, with her cat Troubles using a "troublescope" to solve relationship problems. "William's Wish Wellingtons" followed a boy whose magic boots granted wishes, narrated by Andrew Sachs. "Slim Pig" showed a two-dimensional pig navigating a three-dimensional farm world. Other segments rotated between seasons, with only "Troubles the Cat" and "Koki" continuing into the second season.