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The Berenstain Bears' Media Madness is a book in the Berenstain Bears Big Chapter Book series that was first published on March 21, 1995.

Synopsis[]

Bear Country School gets its own TV station and the cubs are being famous. However, when their parents have to sign failed test papers, things fall apart.

Plot[]

Chapter 1: The Calm Before the Storm[]

One day, as Brother, Sister, Cousin Fred, and Lizzy all walked to Bear Country School, they ran into Too-Tall, who always felt annoyed about seeing the four of them together. Instead of getting into a fight, Too-Tall unballs his fists, and Queenie advises the both of them to make up.

What the cubs didn't notice that Bonnie Brown had gone to school early that morning with her uncle Squire Grizzly. They both were in Mr. Honeycomb's office having a discussion about media madness, something that was planned to take the school by storm.

Chapter 2: The Gift Horse[]

At lunch later that same day, Brother and his friends were discussing about Squire Grizzly's gift to Bear Country School: A television station. At the Bear family treehouse later that evening, Papa reads a newspaper article about Squire Grizzly giving Bear Country School its own TV station, as Brother and Sister knew about this during the morning assembly. When Mama asks, Brother tells her that some of the teachers don't like TV, with Miss Glitch saying that television "destroys the minds of their country's youth".

Chapter 3: Let's Party![]

The next morning at school, Brother, Sister, and their friends meet up with Too-Tall in the schoolyard as he was talking to Bonnie about the deal Squire Grizzly made with Mr. Honeycomb, who accepted the TV equipment. Miss Glitch and Coach Grizzmeyer were against the idea, but Teacher Bob and Teacher Jane were with it and broke the tie.

The idea of having their own TV station prompted Too-Tall to grab Queenie and dance with her while the other cubs clapped and cheered, except for Brother and Bonnie. Brother tells her that he has a funny feeling about the new TV station. As Brother conversed with Bonnie, a WBBC truck with a satellite dish on pulled into the schoolyard. They, and several other cubs, run to the loading platform to watch the driver and his helper unload various kinds of TV equipment. After they finished, the driver and helper both got back into the truck and left to do a remote on a train wreck just outside the city limits.

Teacher Bob then calls for Too-Tall and his associates to carry the TV equipment into the storeroom behind the school auditorium, with Brother helping and Bonnie acting as supervisor.

Chapter 4: A Word to the Wise[]

After the equipment has been moved in, Mr. Honeycomb lets Teacher Bob be the TV station manager after the latter tells him his experience with university TV and radio stations. Mr. Honeycomb, however, tells Teacher Bob that Miss Glitch wants a program on language arts and Coach Grizzmeyer wants a program for physical education, and advises him to let them have an input on the programming.

As both Mr. Honeycomb and Teacher Bob walked back into the building, he tells him to not get carried away with the TV station as it's an extra.

Chapter 5: We're All Gonna Be on TV![]

After recess, the students in Teacher Bob's class all filed back into his classroom and were excited when he entered. Barry Bruin suggests that he should be in charge because he "knows his TV backwards and forwards". He demonstrates by acting out in class, with Too-Tall telling him that when Queenie meant to "sit down", he stated "sit down and shut up."

Teacher Bob explains to his class that he has been placed in charge of the school's new television station and has his class suggest ideas. Babs Bruno suggests art and culture, Ferdy Factual suggests a science show, Queenie wanted a news show, and Barry wanted a comedy show. While the cubs in class suggested idea, Teacher Bob saw Miss Glitch out the corner of his eye and closed the classroom door. She continued to her classroom angrily and Mr. Grizzmeyer wondered what happened.

Chapter 6: Keep It Simple, Stupid[]

In Teacher Bob's classroom, he asks Brother what his idea for the school's television station was, but instead of suggesting something, Brother suggests planning out what kind of shows to put on the school's network and how fun it is to watch, and since they were going to be a school station, Brother suggests that there should be some educational programs. As Brother gave out his idea, Teacher Bob wrote out what Brother was saying on the chalkboard.

Bonnie stood up from her seat and applauded Brother for raising several key points about running a television station. She then added that part of running a television station is remembering the basics and adds that the word "KISS" has nothing to do with kissing, but is an acronym for "Keep It Simple, Stupid". Bertha Broom applauded for Brother and Bonnie with the other cubs, as well as Too-Tall and his gang, joining in. The class then votes in favor of Bonnie being program director and Brother being the general manager.

The class cheered so loudly that they didn't hear the school bell ring.

Chapter 7: Things to Do[]

At Teacher Bob's house, he wrote down a to-do list after he and his wife put their preschool children to bed. When he was done, Teacher Bob then wroute out an announcement on a blank sheet of paper using his typewriter. He went to bed late that night, but after going off to sleep, he had a dream where Miss Glitch appeared dressed like a witch.

Chapter 8: Clear for Action![]

At school the next morning, Teacher Bob wrote down the TV table of organization on the chalkboard, leaving Bertha in charge of things while he was out. As the Chief of Security, Too-Tall declared that anyone who touches the cameras will be dealt with. Once things were settled, Teacher Bob, Brother, Bonnie, Ferdy, and Trudy went to meet the expert from WBBC.

After some inspection, the WBBC expert tells them about the problems they were going to deal with, but he spoke in a way that Teacher Bob didn't understand. Ferdy and Trudy aided the expert in getting the equipment working while Teacher Bob, Brother, and Bonnie went to talk in a corner about how the school station was going to function during the last period of the day.

After the equipment was working again, Teacher Bob and the cubs went back to his classroom to discuss what call letters they should use for the school station, but when they got back to class, Teacher Bob saw some call letters on the chalkboard and weren't pleased with some of the choices. However, one set of call letters in particular, "BTV", stuck out to him and after a unanimous decision from his students, Teacher Bob used it.

Chapter 9: Putting It Together[]

When the station was set up, there were open talent auditions in the school auditorium, with Bonnie judging performances. One of Too-Tall's ideas was creating a window pole and a bent coat hanger to pull singers off the stage, but Teacher Bob objected to the idea of using a hook.

Brother and Queenie were sorting ideas they agreed with. They had Pile A for good ideas, Pile B for okay idea, and a PEE-YEW pile, a name that Queenie came up with, for bad ideas. Barry runs toward them with an idea about a program called Ant Farm, which details the life of an ant. Queenie disliked the idea and threw it into the "PEE-YEW" pile.

A notice about the program guide was then sent out to all classrooms and placed on the bulletin board. There was a Talent Hunt with the winner appearing on station WBBC on Monday, a cub with a minicam on Tuesday, a daredevil show on Wednesday, a suggestion box on Thursday, and the Bear Country Gladiators program on Friday.

That same day, Teacher Jane delivered a message to Miss Glitch, and just after she left, Miss Glitch crumpled the schedule and threw it into her wastebasket.

Chapter 10: Busy Weekend[]

On Friday afternoon, Brother was walking home from school with Sister. He tells her that the board rejected her idea of a jump rope show because they think it wouldn't make a good show, and even though Brother and Sister were siblings, the former can't play favorites.

After getting home, the cubs filed into the kitchen for some milk and cookies that Mama left out for them. Sister tells Mama that Brother is a TV big shot, and Brother excuses himself from the table to go upstairs and do his homework. When Mama tells Sister what the word "comeuppance" means, Sister explains to her that Miss Glitch gave her a special English lesson in school that day. Just then, Papa came in from his workshop. He and Mama were proud of the "homework" Brother was doing, but he was actually editing scripts, writing announcements, and commenting on program ideas, which weren't the kinds of assignments that Mama and Papa mentioned.

Chapter 11: We're a Smash![]

The TV station managers hoped BTV was a success, but what they didn't expect was that BTV became a huge success, as some blunders during live programming boosted the ratings. During Barry's turn, one of his cue cards was upside down and he blankly stared at his audience, and during a filming of Top That Stunt, Gil Grizzwold's shorts slid off.

Instead of being happy about their success, both Brother and Bonnie were embarrassed. Teacher Bob himself was invited to the newspaper for an interview and to speak to the Businessbears' Club in Big Bear City. During the third Talent Hunt, the Too-Tall gang's rap won them a prize as Cousin Fred helped them with looking up words that rhyme with "drips."

Chapter 12: The Trouble with Success[]

The BTV gang celebrated their success at Burger Bear with some milkshakes. Queenie mentions when something is successful, everybody wants in. At first, Brother suggests letting the BTV program run for a full hour instead of a half-hour, but Bonnie objects to the idea as it would cost the school money to keep it open.

Ferdy, after yawning, goes into a detailed explanation about the financial problems about over-the-air station broadcasting and has his uncle, Professor Actual Factual, using his over-the-air license to broadcast to the community and sell commercials. Queenie agrees to the idea, but Brother says that they need a license for an over-the-air television station and both power and a transmitter.

Ferdy mentions that Professor Actual Factual has an over-the-air license, and they can hook up a school emergency generator for an hour a day. The cubs shared their ideas to Teacher Bob, who shared them with Mr. Honeycomb, who accepts the idea after taking a few breaths. Queenie offers to take charge of selling commercials and picks Too-Tall, Babs bruno, and Barry Bruin as her sales crew.

Chapter 13: Commercials Galore[]

Queenie and her crew bring in plenty of commercials, as well as a pile of checks and contracts, ranging from "Papa Bear's Fine Furniture", "Biff Bruin's Pharmacy", and many other bears. As Queenie was working with commercials, Ferdy and Trudy helped Professor Actual Factual set up a small transmitter and hook it up to the school's generator.

With everything in place, they set the channel to 17, and many calls were coming in about BTV being received all over Beartown.

Chapter 14: Going Public[]

Everyone on the BTV crew worked harder than ever to prepare the schedule for broadcasting. Ridiculous Pet Tricks was the channel's most popular program, and the commercials caused businesses to increase in sales and Papa, Biff Bruin, and Farmer Ben becoming overnight celebrities.

Chapter 15: The Wrap Party[]

Brother and his friends were walking home from school when they suggest they should have a wrap party after their first week of success. They do so in the school's audiorium and invited the whole school to join them. The BTV crew was congratulated for their hard work, but most of it went to Teacher Bob for being the one who came up with the idea.

As the party was going on, Ms. Bearson gets a message from Mr. Honeycomb's fax machine and went to give it to him. Mr. Honeycomb's time at the party was cut short upon reading the message, then he gave it to Teacher Bob, who gave it to Mr. Grizzmeyer as he left the auditorium. Brother, Bonnie, and their friends all watched Teacher Bob and Mr. Grizzmeyer leave the auditorium.

Chapter 16: Comeuppance[]

Maxwell Bearhard of the Big Bear City Board of Education announced that all Bear Country schools will be tested in English, math, science, social studies, and geography.

An emergency teachers' meeting was called, and Too-Tall, who was in the nearby broom closet, heard the whole thing. He went to tell the BTV crew that Teacher Bob admitted to Mr. Honeycomb ad the faculty that he got carried away with BTV and didn't keep his students up on their normal studies.

Too-Tall adds that due to the message, BTV is ceasing operations until further notice. Gloom quickly overcame the cubs, and Brother went to his Thinking Place in the woods. Just after, Police Chief Bruno arrived at school carrying an official piece of paper, which turned out to be a summons for Mr. Honeycomb to appear before the Bear Country Communications Board for running an illegal television station.

When Brother returned from his Thinking Place, Too-Tall explains his plan to make sure that everyone passes the test so Teacher Bob can keep his job by dividing them into study groups, each with a smart cub acting as the leader. Bonnie then tells Brother about the summons Mr. Honeycomb received following a phone call she made to her aunt Lady Grizzly.

After recess, the cubs head back in and return to class.

Chapter 17: There's More to Life Than Television[]

A week later, Teacher Bob gets the results back from the test, and after he tells them that while they didn't do very well, they all passed. In response, the cubs jumped out of their seats and danced in excitement. Too-Tall even blushed.

Meanwhile, Mr. Honeycomb was with the communications board explaining about the BTV situation. After the board lets him have his say, Mr. Bearhard tells Mr. Honeycomb that Ferdy Factual is too young to use Professor Actual Factual's broadcasting license. As a consequence, Mr. Honeycomb has to pay a large fine.

At school the next morning, the cubs gathered in the schoolyard as Mr. Honeycomb got ready to explain about the situation, but Queenie gets the idea of refunding the commercials she sold. With Teacher Bob's permission, Queenie went to the sponsors to tell them about the fix Mr. Honeycomb was in to get him out of his fine. While most of the sponsors agreed to help her, there wasn't enough money.

After school that day, Bonnie phones her Uncle Grizzly and he agrees to put up the rest of the money. After she explains her plan, Mr. Honeycomb was able to pay his fine. As a result, station BTV was taken away from Teacher Bob's class, but it was relegated to being an in-school station. While Bonnie and Brother have learned their lessons after their experience with BTV, Squire Grizzly enters and looks for the talent-hunt winner: Too-Tall and his rap gang.

The gang's rap group became an instant success, so they were called by a music agent to make a demo record in Bearville. However, Too-Tall quickly learned that the agent was Ralph Ripoff, an infamous swindler.

Cast[]

Chapters[]

  1. The Calm Before the Storm
  2. The Gift Horse
  3. Let's Party!
  4. A Word to the Wise
  5. We're All Gonna Be on TV!
  6. Keep It Simple, Stupid
  7. Things to Do
  8. Clear for Action!
  9. Putting It Together
  10. Busy Weekend
  11. We're a Smash!
  12. The Trouble with Success
  13. Commercials Galore
  14. Going Public
  15. The Wrap Party
  16. Comeuppance
  17. There's More to Life Than Television
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