W. Carter Merbreier is an American television personality, ordained Lutheran minister and former police chaplain for the Philadelphia Police Department. Merbreier created and co-hosted the long-running syndicated children's television series, Captain Noah and His Magical Ark, in 1967. The show aired until 1994. Carter Merbreier co-hosted Captain Noah and His Magical Ark with his real life wife, Patricia Merbreier. He played Captain Noah while Patricia Merbreier played Mrs. Noah and acted as the show's puppeteer, beginning with its 13th week on the air. Merbreier originally created the series as a Sunday morning religious program, but switched the format to a children's show in 1970. The Philadelphia Council of Churches produced the show, which was filmed at the studios on WPVI. At its peak in the early 1970s, Merbreier's Captain Noah and His Magical Ark aired in syndication on twenty-two television stations throughout the United States and attracted a larger local Philadelphia audience than both Captain Kangaroo and Sesame Street combined. Carter and Patricia Merbreier jointly decided to retire and end the show in 1994 after co-hosting approximately 3,600 episodes since 1967.