The characters and setting are from various books written by Stan & Jan Berenstain as well as from several television specials by Joe Cates.

Other characters are Actual Factual, Big Paw, Mayor Horace J. Honeypot, Farmer Ben, Cousin Fred, and Grizzly Gramps & Gran.

The main antagonists of the series are the "swindler" con artist Raffish Ralph and occasionally Weasel McGreed, seen in six episodes.

The specials were created and written by Stan & Jan Berenstain, produced by Joe Cates, and directed by Buzz Potamkin.

Joe Cates and Buzz Potamkin produced this TV series as well and Elliott Lawrence continuing to score music for the episodes which were based on his compositions from the five specials, but in a faster tempo.

In addition to creating the original books, Stan and Jan Berenstain were producers on the show, and wrote some of the scripts.

However, CBS got interested in the project and would soon struck a deal to pick up the series for a first 13-episode season as an attempt to lure a new audience for their Saturday morning "Kids Just Wanna Have Fun" lineup.

In addition to adapting existing works, CBS executives wanted the series to have an original story tied in to the episodes.

Rumoredly, some of the pre-existing episodes that were planned (mainly the adaptation of the books "Too Much TV" and "Too Much Junk Food") were turned down by the executives because of unhealthy eating.