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[10/15/60 - 9/28/63]
Renamed The King and Odie in syndication, King Leonardo and his Short Subjects began on NBC-TV October 15, 1960.
Click here to visit the Toon Tracker's King and Odie Page
[9/28/63 - 12/17/66]
Tennessee Tuxedo was introduced on CBS-TV in response to the 1961 speech by FCC Chairman Newton R. Minow which addressed television as a "vast wasteland".
Click here to visit the Toon Tracker's Tennessee Tuxedo Page
[10/3/64 - 9/1/73]
"There's no need to fear, Underdog is here!" Wally Cox, TV's mild-mannered Mr. Peepers, provided the voice of NBC-TV's Underdog, a super-canine who talked in rhyme.
Click here to visit the Toon Tracker's Underdog Page
[9/10/66 - 9/7/68]
Stringer and Tubby were a pair of rock and roll canines whose misadventures frequently landed them in the doghouse. Presented on CBS-TV in five-minute serialized adventures, The Beagles were an obvious attempt to cash in on the sound-alike name of the Fab Four from Liverpool, who began their own show the year before on ABC-TV. When the series failed to generate high ratings, it was cancelled by CBS. It was repeated the following season on ABC before it quickly disappeared.
Click here to visit Toon Tracker's The Beagles page
[9/14/68 - 9/6/69]
First seen in 1966 on The Underdog Show, The Go-Go Gophers appeared in their own series on CBS-TV and featured a pair of buck-toothed gophers, Ruffled Feathers, who spoke in unintelligible phrases, and his interpreter Running Board.
They were the native inhabitants of Gopher Gulch, which was also home to a U.S. Cavalry Fort. The Fort was headed by Colonel Kit Coyote, a blustery Teddy Roosevelt-type. He was aided by Sergeant Okey Homa, a southerner who resembled John Wayne. The military-minded Colonel spent his time planning new ways to drive the gopher-Indians from their lands. The native gophers devised ingenious and successful ways to protect their territorial rights. Sandy Becker provided the voices of Ruffled Feather and Sergeant Okey Homa. George S. Irving was the voice of Running Board and Kenny Delmar spoke for Colonel Kit Coyote. The show also featured repeats of Klondike Kat and a Hanna-Barbera cartoon, The Space Kidettes, which was also controlled by General Mills.
Visit California Animation Online for a rare look at storyboard drawings from a Go Go Gophers
adventure.
The Summer-Fall 1997 issue of Animato! (issue 38) has several great articles focusing on Underdog and the other Total Television cartoons. Joe Harris even did an original cover for the issue!
The articles help to fill in many of the blanks.
ANNOUNCING A NEW BOOK -
How
Underdog Was Born
by creators
Buck Biggers & Chet Stover
The creators of Total Television, the brains behind Underdog, Tennessee Tuxedo and many classic cartoons, reveal the origin of one of cartoon's greatest champions - Underdog! From conception to worldwide megahit, the entire story of the birth of Total Television at last closes an important gap in animated television history.
Includes
* Original sketches for this biography by artist/creator Chet Stover
* Unused story ideas for the 25th anniversary Underdog series
* Storylines and summaries for The World of Commander McBragg, Underdog, Go Go Gophers, Tennessee Tuxedo, and King Leonardo and His Short Subjects
* And more!$19.95. ISBN: 1-59393-025-9.
Plus $2.50 shipping (foreign orders add $2 more).Click this line to pay with Visa, Mastercard, American Express or Discover
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BearManor Media
P O Box 71426
Albany, GA 31708
Phone: 229-436-4265
Fax: 814-690-1559
1-800-566-1251 (orders only)
books@benohmart.com
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Underdog and all related characters © 1997 GBPC, a subsidiary of Golden Books Family Entertainment. The Toon Tracker sites are not endorsed by any of the respective copyright owners. They are presented solely for historical reference and educational purposes. The creators and maintainers of this web site take no responsibility for the information provided herein. All products and brand names mentioned are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners. All characters and all related slogans and indicia are trademarks of the respective copyright owners. The use of such material falls under Fair use provisions
Updated November 27, 2006
Since June 11, 1997