Bubble Guppies

Did You Know?

• A spinoff web series titled Bubble Guppies: Super Princess Mermaids premiered on February 7, 2025.
• The show continues to air in reruns on the Nick Jr. Channel.

Format and overview

The show begins with its logo appearing in a room that slowly fills with water. A small fish then speaks directly to the audience, announcing the title. Molly starts her usual introduction by saying, "Hi, it's me, Molly, and it's time for—" but Gil cuts her off by doing something related to the day's topic. One or both of them then declare, "It's time for Bubble Guppies!" and the theme song plays. After that, the little fish says the name of the specific episode. Sometimes, an event happens while a character is heading to school. For example, in "Call a Clambulance!", Avi breaks his tail while Oona is on her way. Once at school, a guppy tells Mr. Grouper about what happened. He responds, "Let's think about it," and the group discusses the theme. A pop song about the topic follows, usually sung by Molly or Gil, though Deema or Mr. Grouper sometimes take over. Next, one of the guppies visits a shop that fits the theme, like a doctor's office in the clambulance episode. The shopkeeper, often played by Deema, asks what they need, and after some jokes and silly answers, the correct item is found. Mr. Grouper ends this part by asking, "Excuse me, what time is it?" and the guppies reply, "It's time for lunch!" three times. During lunch, three characters, typically Nonny, make a food pun related to the subject. After lunch, another short sketch with Gil and Molly appears. Then, a classroom activity or more discussion from Mr. Grouper reinforces the topic. This ends when Mr. Grouper says, "Line up everybody, it's time to go outside!" and the "outside song" plays. Outside, the guppies act out a story about the theme, using Adobe Flash-animated graphics. Once back inside, they perform a dance song. In the first season, the dance song came before the story, and both were preceded by a second "Let's think about it" segment. Finally, Gil and Molly do one more sketch.

Characters

Molly is a bubbly human guppy girl and the primary host alongside Gil, who is her best friend. She appears with Gil in transitional segments, aiding him to prevent problems. She has tan skin, long pink hair, and brown eyes, and wears a cadet and turquoise blue striped tail and bikini. Brianna Gentilella provides her singing voice in all seasons and her speaking voice in seasons 1–2 and season 6 episodes 2–13 and from episode 15; Bailey Gambertoglio voices her in seasons 3–4, and Taylor Kaplan in seasons 5–6. Gil is a silly human guppy boy and the secondary host, who gets scared easily and often attempts things with unexpected results. He has fair skin, blue sideswept hair, and blue eyes, and wears a green and forest green tail. He is voiced by Zachary Gordon in season 1–season 2 episode 2, Jacob Bertrand in season 2 episode 3–season 3, Jay Gragnani in season 4, and Quinn Breslin in seasons 5–6; his singing voice is provided by Teddy Walsh in season 2 episode 4–season 3, Nirvaan Pal in season 5, and Brody Bett in season 6. Goby is a friendly human guppy boy with an imaginative personality, good friends with Gil. He has dark skin, curly indigo hair, and brown eyes, and wears a blue and purple tail. He is voiced by Jelani Imani in seasons 1–2, Marleik 'Mar Mar' Walker in season 3, Issac Ryan Brown in season 4, Caleb Clark in season 5 episodes 1–24, and Josiah Gaffney in season 5 episode 25–season 6; his singing voice is provided by Christopher Borger in season 1 and Johntae Lipscomb in seasons 3–4. Deema is a jovial human guppy girl with a wild imagination who often plays the shopkeeper in store segments. She has fair skin, large curly blonde hair, and blue eyes, and wears an orange tail and bikini with sunglow polka dots and orange earrings. She is voiced by Angelina Wahler in seasons 1–2, Grace Kaufman in seasons 3–4, Catherine Bradley in season 5, and Zoe Glick in season 6; her singing voice is provided by Selena Gonzalez in season 1. Oona is a human guppy girl with a sweet personality, having pale skin, purple pigtailed hair, and brown eyes, and wearing a purple and dark purple tail and a pink star clip. She is voiced by Reyna Shaskan in seasons 1–2, Tori Feinstein in seasons 3–4, Colby Kipnes in seasons 5–6, and Mia Lynn Bangunan from season 6 episode 8.

Production

Bubble Guppies was created by Jonny Belt and Robert Scull, who had previously worked on The Backyardigans as writers and executive producers. Janice Burgess, the creator of The Backyardigans, helped develop the concept alongside them. The show began production in 2009 and premiered on Nickelodeon in 2011. Belt served as supervising art director and Scull as supervising director, the same roles they held on The Backyardigans. The voice cast works in New York and California, recording dialogue at Dubway Studios and Rhumba Recorders in New York, as well as at Nickelodeon Animation Studio in Burbank. Animation was outsourced to Wildbrain Entertainment for the first season, Nelvana for seasons two through four, and Jam Filled Entertainment for seasons five and six. The series originally ended with season four on October 21, 2016, but returned for a fifth season on September 27, 2019. Season six premiered on October 19, 2021, and concluded on June 30, 2023. On January 23, 2014, Debbie and Dean Rohn, a married business team from Cadillac, Michigan, filed a lawsuit against Viacom and several retailers, claiming trademark infringement over Bubble Guppies clothing. They had founded Guppie Kids, Inc. in 1990 to make yuppie-style clothes for school-aged children under the Guppie Kid brand. The business had low sales, with estimated lifetime revenue of about $12,000 and only around $2,000 in sales outside western Michigan through its website.