'Postcards,' Back From the Edge

Dec. 20, 2006— -- Buster is back.

Against the odds, that traveling bunny Buster, star of "Postcards From Buster," is back on PBS, and television-watching tots everywhere are breathing a huge sigh of relief, even if conservative groups are gritting their teeth.

Buster caused a ruckus in 2005 when he paid a visit to a family in Vermont that had two mommies. Education Secretary Margaret Spellings took issue, and that set off some Christian coalitions. After that, he was almost headed for a pot of hasenpfeffer.

Since then, there have been other tough breaks for the preschool and the just-started-school set. Kids are still getting over the retirement of the most famous member of the hugely popular musical group -- and television act -- the Wiggles. And earlier in the year, "Sesame Street" caused some consternation by introducing a "girly-girl" Muppet to the show.

So the return of Buster -- a sensitive, kindhearted rabbit, familiar to fans of Marc Brown's "Arthur" TV series and books -- comes at a good time. "Our intention is to engage, educate and entertain children," says Mary Beth LeFaivre, a publicist at WGBH, the Boston public television station that produces the animated series.

After the "Sugartime!" episode, in which Buster visited that Vermont family during maple sugar season, the American Family Association, a conservative Christian group organized by the Rev. Donald Wildmon, started an e-mail campaign in support of Spellings' position -- and some PBS stations declined to air it. To make matters worse for the show's producers, funding dried up and production went on hiatus.

But now WGBH has managed to raise money for 10 new episodes, which started airing just after Thanksgiving. As usual, in the upcoming season Buster crisscrosses the country with his video camera, visiting friends and taking pictures. The result is a mix of animation and live action footage.

"There was a moment there when funding looked bleak," admits the show's executive producer, Pierre Valette. "And we had to shake a lot more trees than we normally do. But we all felt very strongly about this series because there's really nothing else like it on television. Fortunately, we found funders who supported our efforts."