The show is a co-production between WGBH in Boston and Sirius Thinking, Ltd., in New York City, in association with Mississippi Public Broadcasting, the distributor from seasons 1–10.

The show premiered on PBS Kids on April 3, 2000, taking over the schedule slot held by The Puzzle Place upon its debut, and ended its original run on November 22, 2010.

Notably, the show consisted of two ten-minute shorts, each a condensation of an earlier episode, tied together and united around a theme.

Old segments such as "Magic Time" "Sam Spud" and "The Monkey Pop-Up Theater" were replaced with new ones such as "Joy Learno" and "The Flying Trampolini Brothers".

Major characters such as Busterfield, Walter and Clay, Heath, and Martha Reader vanished from the show as well, despite still appearing in the intro.

[2] Al Roker, India Arie,[3][4] Jasmine Guy, Ossie Davis (along with his wife Ruby Dee), Bruno Kirby, Denyce Graves, Larry King, Roma Downey, Vanessa Williams, and Jane Seymour as well as a few athletes have also made appearances to read words to the viewers, including basketball player Stephon Marbury.

Several Sesame Street Muppets made cameos in Season Two and in the "Dance in Smarty Pants" music video.

The title itself is a double entendre in that it is a play on the phrase "between the lines" and that many classic library buildings have two lions separated by the main entrance.

In Season 1, the stage backdrop is not lit, leaving viewers to see only lips, and usually satin gloves and feather boas, and hair.

In seasons 2–4, the dark stage background is replaced with a colorful silver background obviously revealing that The Vowelles are only three pairs of lips surrounded by wigs, and usually accompanied by satin gloves and feather boas, and the unidentified puppets in the audience are replaced with monkeys and Johnny Consananti is the announcer.

Each episode presents Cliff with a preposterous situation of some kind, which he attempts to use to his advantage by reaching into his backpack, pulling out what he calls his "trusty survival manual", and following the instructions provided there.

The cartoon then ends when the branch starts cracking as Cliff says his baleful catchphrase: "Can't... hold... on... much...

His name is a play on the media term "cliffhanger" which is often shown on non-Between the Lions episodes as "to be continued".

In another episode, Lionel's friend Lenny, a lizard, introduces a similarly styled series of books called Justin Time, about a stereotypical explorer named Justin Time who relaxes in a hammock until an absurd scenario like those of Cliff Hanger occurs, forcing him to intervene to restore the calm, boasting, "Couldn't be more comfortable.

He too used a version of the Survival Manual, called a Safety Manual, which is from his Survival Kit, a version of Cliff Hanger's backpack and the same formally dressed chorus, riding in the back of a Pickup truck introduces him at the beginning of the story, singing "Justin Time, he's always saved just in time!

In the series, the character Lionel is a fan of Cliff Hanger books, which his sister Leona thinks are pointless.

But, even in episodes where she expresses hatred, she has shown respect for it, such as when she decided to help Lionel get Livingston Dangerously to write more books.

Sam Spud: Par-Boiled Potato Detective: A spoof of the Sam Spade detective stories, this segment portrays a par-boiled potato (voiced by Michael K. Frith) who types out the voice-over narration typical of film noir on a late night, making and correcting typographical errors that demonstrate word sounds.

In most cases, the segments would end with a live-action child watching Sam Spud on television and calling out to his or her mother that "there's a talking potato with a hat on and no mouth!"

The main character is "young" Monica Maxwell, a girl about 8 years-old who seems to have an inordinate amount of trouble with a group of rambunctious rhinos or other misfortunes.

But when the crime-fighting Re-People appear, they "re-zip" the bag and the destruction of the charging rhinos stops, or other misfortune-quelling results.

Another running gag would feature an onscreen assistant throwing water into the face of Ahab, humiliating him.

It stars former NFL superstar quarterback turned FOX Sports co-host Terry Bradshaw as a commentator.

Arty Smartypants A farcical and somewhat discombobulated bunraku puppet man with large overalls (which he refers to as his "smarty pants").

In each segment, they have a recipe and all the things they need (and a few they do not need) in front of them with their names on them (For example, slammed and rammed ham with no yam or clam).

They read the recipe step-by-step that usually involves getting rid of the extra ingredients and doing something (rather literally) to the main item before placing it in something.

When they reach the last step, that involves cooking the food for a certain amount of time, they just say "Nah" and eat it raw.

The Joy Learno Show: Female Parody of Jay Leno talks to various guests about words and their meanings.

It also demonstrates the value of reference books and the importance of reading in other everyday activities like using a computer, cooking with a recipe, or finding your way with street signs.

[7] Between the Lions premiered on PBS Kids in the United States on April 3, 2000,[31] replacing The Puzzle Place on the schedule lineup.