Last February, almost exactly a year ago, I found that every episode of The Joy of Painting was available online. I noted that it might be crazy to watch them all but hedged my bets, saying that I might do it. I did. Starting from April 11 and watching, usually, an episode per day, I finished the series a few days ago. I have come back with the results of the voyage.
The Bob Ross Avatar
In the early days of the internet when I searched Alta Vista for Bob Ross, I found a graphic similar to the one above. It's Bob Ross' main photo on imdb, it's the photo they use on Amazon, it's the official photo used on the Bob Ross website. Given the ubiquity of the image, I figured it would be fun, as I go through the series, to find the episode where he paints that particular picture.
That painting never exactly shows up but Season 2 Episode 12 is the closest. In retrospect, that painting has too much detail to fit into the half-hour format but Season 2 Episode 12 might be the 30 minute version/variant of that original model.
The Theme Song
Bob's Afro Through The Years
It is now widely known that Bob Ross grew to dislike his afro hair style but felt he had to keep going with it because it was a trademark of his brand. Going through every episode, I figured I'd track the size of the afro through the seasons.
Here is the graph of the progression over time:
Afro radius is an estimated best guess by myself. I'm not confident in the numbers - I just have no experience in measuring afros.
You can plainly see in both graphics that something happened in Season 9. It was 1986, someone thought it was now the late 80s and it was time for a new look for an updated crowd, I theorize. Short hair and bright colored shirts for the hip almost-90s. That was my working theory but if that was what happened, it is then inexplicable how the early 90s saw perhaps the longest lengths of the series!
As for the exact season with the largest afro, that's a judgment call, you can decide for yourself. But special note should be made of the Special "The Grandeur of Summer" where the especially giant afro size is anchored by the addition of a slight afro mullet.
The Oddest Quote
Bob Ross was a character, full of sayings and stories. But a particular line, is worthy of note as it is perhaps the oddest of the series. From Season 12 Episode 2:
“There’s nothing wrong with making friends with nature… One day nature’s gonna take over again and you’re gonna need a friend.”
Bob Ross, there, right in the middle of the peaceful valley of happy trees, just letting you know that the animal uprising (or else some other natural apocalyptic event) is on its way. I appreciate that Bob alone knows the certainty of things to come and is already in possession of the only remedy.
Unusual Paintings
Bob Ross obviously had a very well defined style of painting. I thought I would note a few paintings that deviated most from that style.
In Season 3 Episode 10, Bob paints a campfire and then adds the silhouette of a person sitting next to it. If I recall correctly, this is the only time he puts a human being in any of his paintings in the series.
But the most unusual painting, the one that actually almost veers into pop art is Season 26 Episode 7:
Those colors - bright blue fading into fluorescent yellow - is hypnotic. And it's (to me) the most abstract and the most "pop art" that Bob ever gets.
The Dark and the Light
There is aBob Ross clip/quote about the dark and light in painting being like the dark times and light times of life. It goes viral occasionally and I see it a lot on reddit but if you haven't seen it, here it is:
That was another thing I kept an eye out for. He says it a few times, I believe, but this particular moment is from Season 23 Episode 3. The fans have wondered what "darkness" he's referring to and the thing that goes around is that his wife died shortly before the taping of the episode. That's a myth. This episode aired September 17, 1991 and must have been recorded some time before that. Bob's wife died of cancer in August of 1992. It's possible that she had been diagnosed or was sick at this time, however, that is pure speculation as I don't know anything about it.
The Most Emotional Moment
So people justifiably like the "dark/light" moment because it's an inspirational quote, applies to everyone and is vaguely sad; but the most emotional moment in the series comes a little later. Season 26 is dedicated to Bob's recently deceased wife (through a graphic at the end of the credits) and then at the end of Season 27 Bob thanks everyone in the audience for their sympathies. Bob is usually guarded with his personal life and this moment falls like a bombshell as he very noticeably chokes back tears. This is the most emotionally stirring moment of the series.
Happy Little Trees
If you asked the average person if they knew who Bob Ross was, probably most would know him as the "guy who paints happy little trees" or "the happy little tree guy." It's all over t-shirts, posters, mugs and everything. The ironic thing is that this phrase is not original to Bob Ross. The "happy little" objects phrasing as well as the other Bob Rossism "almighty mountains" were both coined by Bill Alexander, Bob's mentor.
Assessing The End
"The Joy of Painting" has 31 seasons, each with 13 episodes. That's a total of 403 episodes and I watched them all. There is an hour long "special" on youtube, and I watched that. There are two documentaries about Bob and I watched those. But Bob also sold 10 instructional VHS tapes and DVDs, of which I was only able to find 2. The rest could be obtained second-hand on ebay and such but I couldn't bring myself to start shelling out the cash for them. Perhaps some day I will, but the initial goal was to watch every episode of the series and that is complete.
Conclusion
Speaking of Bob Ross merchandise, there is a lot of it these days in addition to successful youtube and twitch channels (as well as the episodes available to stream on Amazon.) But sadly, the people profiting off his likeness are not Bob or his family. In fact, the people making all the money fought against him in his life and betrayed his final wishes after his death. The story on that can be found in the documentary "Bob Ross: Happy Accidents, Betrayal & Greed (2021)."
At the end of each season, Bob always made the announcement that it was the last show of the season but rest assured they'll be making another season. But at the end of the 31st series, Bob replaces that promise with "I hope to see you again very soon." About a year later, Bob would be dead from cancer.
I have completed a number of television and internet series over the years and almost always there comes a time when you're "over it" and "let's just get this done." This is when I may start watching episodes while eating, watching at 130% speed, getting as many done in a day that as possible, all that stuff - just get it done and out of the way. That never happened with "The Joy of Painting." In fact, as the end approached, I slowed down, I didn't want it to end. I even put off making this post. The format of the show is the very definition of limited and repetitive... but it never got old, exactly. The reason is Bob Ross. Bob Ross was a good man and every moment spent in his presence was an honor.
