Welcome to the Muppet Central Forum!
Back to the Rock Season 2
Sesame Street Season 54
The Muppets Mayhem premieres
Bear arrives on Disney+
Sam and Friends BookI thought it would be fun to tell you all a story about several cartoon shows that were being developed, but never aired on television:
Rah Rah Woozy ( also known asWoozy State)
The last cartoon pilot developed by Jay Ward of Bullwinkle fame. It featured a college football team starring various animals (I can't specifically name them now, but I intend on doing so late). Jay was a big fan of college football, so naturally he wanted to make a show about it. The pilot was developed and filmed, but never sold. In fact, a 1980 proposition called "The New Bullwinkle show" was to have had this as a feature.
Marsupilami
You may be familiar with the 1993 Disney version that was featured in Raw Toonage. However, the character had been around since the 60's, as a Belgian comic strip (much like the Smurfs). Either a Pilot or a series Bible (animation term for a book describing the characters, plots, and settings) was produced by Marvel back in 1983. (In case you're wondering, a new Marsupilami show aired in Europe in 2002, and unlike Disney's version, he wasn't the only Marsupilami in existance) This was written by the king of 1980's cartoon scripts, Jeffery Scott....
Speaking of him, he also tried to blend his job as head writer for Muppet Babies with his grandfather's legacy as Moe of the Three Stooges to combine
Wee Stoogesin 1994. As you can probably tell, baby three stooges. he actually tried to revive new stooge projects for a while, and the only one that was developed was a Las Vegas stage show. Actually, this guy wrote a lot of cartoons in the 80's and 90's. I have a how to write for animation book that has a filmography. A lot of projects he developed or wrote for didn't tkae off the ground. Some were promising, like a 1983 X-men cartoon, and one based of Marvel's Secret wars, and some were thankfunnly dismissed... like a Menudo cartoon.
But let's get back to usless Muppet Babies ripoffs.
Disney Babies
Apparently they were trying to make money off of the baby fad by making Mickey et al toddlers. Though the idea surfaced as a number of products and apparel, a show was thankfully never produced.
Then there's the tale of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Next Mutation
go to www.ninjaturtles.com and you'll find a couple proposed shows (on on Kids' WB, on CGI) but even rarer is this one. remeber the Live action series? Well, it flopped , contrary to what fans feel,not because of poor ratings, but lack of budget. Season 2 was to have been completely animated. However, Venus DiMilo (Denounced by fans and ever Peter Laird) was to have been in the cast, so I'm glad they just ended it as is, especially since the current show turned out nicely.
Austin Powers was to have had his own show as well. Between The Spy who shagged me, and Goldmeber, plans for a cartoon for HBO were announced. It was to have had Mike Myers reprising his roles, and probably some of the other stars were to have joined him as well. While it's unclear if this just died, or it was a rumor to begin with, it never made it. And it's a shame, since it would have worked pretty good in animated form.
Remember a short lived game series about Bubsy the Bobcat? Bohott entertainment and Dic DID produce a pilot of this one, and it actually aired one Thanksgiving. I recall it was VERRRRRY similar to Eek the cat. Since Bubsy wasn't that popular a game anyway, the show never made it past one episode.
and finally, I close with The Adventures of Who Wants to be a Millionaire?
Trust me... I am not making this up. BAck about 2001 or 2002, ABC came to Dic entertainment with the proposal of this series. While I can't think of any reason for it, I recall the pitch was reported in the paper. My recallection is fuzzy, but Dic CEO Andy Heyward said, "it would be fun to think of what the winners will do with their money and the adventures they'll have" or something to that extent. Mercifully, the actuall program's popularity died before they could develope the series any further. But, this was the same time period when Dic made Sabrina the series, Evolution the series (based of the flop film) and that Mary Kate and Ashley spy series.
Well, that's all I have for now, so if you know of anyothers you want to discuss, please post some.
Rah Rah Woozy ( also known asWoozy State)
The last cartoon pilot developed by Jay Ward of Bullwinkle fame. It featured a college football team starring various animals (I can't specifically name them now, but I intend on doing so late). Jay was a big fan of college football, so naturally he wanted to make a show about it. The pilot was developed and filmed, but never sold. In fact, a 1980 proposition called "The New Bullwinkle show" was to have had this as a feature.
Marsupilami
You may be familiar with the 1993 Disney version that was featured in Raw Toonage. However, the character had been around since the 60's, as a Belgian comic strip (much like the Smurfs). Either a Pilot or a series Bible (animation term for a book describing the characters, plots, and settings) was produced by Marvel back in 1983. (In case you're wondering, a new Marsupilami show aired in Europe in 2002, and unlike Disney's version, he wasn't the only Marsupilami in existance) This was written by the king of 1980's cartoon scripts, Jeffery Scott....
Speaking of him, he also tried to blend his job as head writer for Muppet Babies with his grandfather's legacy as Moe of the Three Stooges to combine
Wee Stoogesin 1994. As you can probably tell, baby three stooges. he actually tried to revive new stooge projects for a while, and the only one that was developed was a Las Vegas stage show. Actually, this guy wrote a lot of cartoons in the 80's and 90's. I have a how to write for animation book that has a filmography. A lot of projects he developed or wrote for didn't tkae off the ground. Some were promising, like a 1983 X-men cartoon, and one based of Marvel's Secret wars, and some were thankfunnly dismissed... like a Menudo cartoon.
But let's get back to usless Muppet Babies ripoffs.
Disney Babies
Apparently they were trying to make money off of the baby fad by making Mickey et al toddlers. Though the idea surfaced as a number of products and apparel, a show was thankfully never produced.
Then there's the tale of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Next Mutation
go to www.ninjaturtles.com and you'll find a couple proposed shows (on on Kids' WB, on CGI) but even rarer is this one. remeber the Live action series? Well, it flopped , contrary to what fans feel,not because of poor ratings, but lack of budget. Season 2 was to have been completely animated. However, Venus DiMilo (Denounced by fans and ever Peter Laird) was to have been in the cast, so I'm glad they just ended it as is, especially since the current show turned out nicely.
Austin Powers was to have had his own show as well. Between The Spy who shagged me, and Goldmeber, plans for a cartoon for HBO were announced. It was to have had Mike Myers reprising his roles, and probably some of the other stars were to have joined him as well. While it's unclear if this just died, or it was a rumor to begin with, it never made it. And it's a shame, since it would have worked pretty good in animated form.
Remember a short lived game series about Bubsy the Bobcat? Bohott entertainment and Dic DID produce a pilot of this one, and it actually aired one Thanksgiving. I recall it was VERRRRRY similar to Eek the cat. Since Bubsy wasn't that popular a game anyway, the show never made it past one episode.
and finally, I close with The Adventures of Who Wants to be a Millionaire?
Trust me... I am not making this up. BAck about 2001 or 2002, ABC came to Dic entertainment with the proposal of this series. While I can't think of any reason for it, I recall the pitch was reported in the paper. My recallection is fuzzy, but Dic CEO Andy Heyward said, "it would be fun to think of what the winners will do with their money and the adventures they'll have" or something to that extent. Mercifully, the actuall program's popularity died before they could develope the series any further. But, this was the same time period when Dic made Sabrina the series, Evolution the series (based of the flop film) and that Mary Kate and Ashley spy series.
Well, that's all I have for now, so if you know of anyothers you want to discuss, please post some.
