Cow and Chicken is an American animated comedy television series created by David Feiss for Cartoon Network, and the 3rd of the network's Cartoon Cartoons. It follows the surreal adventures of two funny animal siblings, Cow and Chicken. They are often antagonized by the Red Guy, a caricature of the Devil who poses as various characters to scam them.
The original pilot appeared as an episode of the animation showcase series What a Cartoon!. The popularity of the original short allowed Hanna-Barbera to give it the greenlight for a full series, which premiered on July 15, 1997. Originally, Cow and Chicken was attached to another segment called I Am Weasel, which was later spun off into its own half-hour series on June 10, 1999. The series was produced by Hanna-Barbera Cartoons. It was nominated for two Emmy Awards.
Video Cow and Chicken
Premise
The program focuses on the misadventures of two unlikely yet somehow biological siblings: the sweet-natured, dim, ecstatic anthropomorphic Cow and her cynical older brother Chicken (both voiced by Charlie Adler). The two are often caught in escapades with their flamboyant enemy, the Red Guy (Adler), who disguises himself under various personas to attempt to scam the two.
Supporting characters include Chicken and Cow's delirious human parents (Dee Bradley Baker, Candi Milo) who are only ever seen from the waist down, Chicken's two best friends Flem (Howard Morris) and Earl (Dan Castellaneta), and his appropriately-named cousin, Boneless Chicken (Adler).
The series draws on eccentric, surreal, grotesque, and repulsive humor. For example, Cow and Chicken always order "pork butts and taters" when in the cafeteria, and characters often pepper their speech with malapropisms and sarcasm. The humor and storylines depicted in the series are sometimes based around traditional childhood worries, anxieties, or phobias such as cooties or venturing into the girls' restroom, but enhanced comically.
Many of the slapstick antics involve Cow getting physically abused. Because Hinduism considers the cow a sacred animal, the series was largely ignored in India.
Maps Cow and Chicken
Production
Development
David Feiss first created Cow and Chicken as a story for his daughter. Feiss was an animator who had worked with Hanna-Barbera and related projects since 1978.
Years later, Feiss was called to submit ideas for What a Cartoon!, a series of various animated shorts from numerous creators and writers. Feiss submitted three ideas to executive producer Larry Huber, one of which was Cow and Chicken. Cow and Chicken premiered on What a Cartoon! in 1995. Later, Hanna-Barbera decided to turn Cow and Chicken into a full series, following many letters from fans asking for more.
Voice actors
Cow and Chicken was notable in that a single actor, Charlie Adler, voiced three leading roles of Cow, Chicken, and the Red Guy. Supporting voices included Candi Milo and Dee Bradley Baker as Mom and Dad, and Dan Castellaneta and Howard Morris as Earl and Flem.
Guest stars included Feiss, Will Ferrell, Carlos Alazraqui, Tom Kenny, Jill Talley, Dom Deluise, Michael Gough, Mark Hamill, Jess Harnell, Pamela Segall Adlon, and many others.
Episodes
Cow and Chicken has a total of 52 episodes in 4 seasons that were produced from November 1996 to April 1999. Each half-hour contains 2 Cow and Chicken and 1 I Am Weasel segment. Cow and Chicken premiered as a full half-hour on July 15, 1997. The series ran for 52 episodes through 1999. As a supporting segment, the show included a cartoon called I Am Weasel; this segment was spun off as an independent series late in the show's run. Typically, an episode would consist of two seven-minute Cow and Chicken shorts playing back-to-back, then followed by a seven-minute I Am Weasel short before the end credits. The exception to this structure was episode 105 ("The Ugliest Weenie"), which had the Weasel short ("I Are Big Star") play in-between the two Cow and Chicken shorts, possibly because said shorts were one storyline.
Reruns continued to be shown on Cartoon Network from 1999 to 2003, and again from 2005 to 2008 as part of the network's blocks titled The Cartoon Cartoon Show and Top 5.
Controversial episode
"Buffalo Gals" (season two, 1998), which was paired with the segment "Cow and Chicken Reclining," was banned by Cartoon Network after receiving a complaint from a parent about the episode's liberal visual and verbal innuendo about the titular biker group being lesbians (the Buffalo Gals break into people's homes and literally chew on the carpet, one of the bikers is named Munch Kelly and has a carpet swatch for a calling card, and when Dad freaks out over the Buffalo Gals in the house, Mom says, "They're not after you.") In addition, the Buffalo Gals play softball and talk about pitching and catching. Although it was only shown on air once, it was replaced by "Orthodontic Police" in future airings, including on Netflix streaming and reruns on Boomerang. The episode was also discussed on an installment of Rob Paulsen's Talkin' Toons special featuring Cow and Chicken creator David Feiss and voice actor Charlie Adler when an audience member asked why "Buffalo Gals" only aired once. Since Cartoon Network Studios did not involve from this production, the controversial episode "Buffalo Gals" was uncensored.
Awards and nominations
Other media
The two main characters, Cow and Chicken, made cameo appearances as aliens in Ben 10: Omniverse. They were the second Cartoon Network characters to make cameo appearances in the Ben 10 franchise, Billy from The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy being the first. Adler reprised his roles for the cameo.
Chicken made a cameo near the end of the Cartoon Planet episode " Tom Foolery".
During the Mad episode "Once Upon a Toon", Cow and Chicken are among the many classic cartoon characters being reunited in a spoof of ABC's Once Upon a Time.
Home media releases
Cow and Chicken: Season 1, a two-disc set featuring the complete first season which contains 13 complete episodes, was released by Madman Entertainment in Australia (Region 4 PAL) on September 12, 2007. Season 2 came out on February 10, 2010, by the same company in Australia. The entire series got released on DVD in Thailand as 4 season sets, containing Thai and English audio. The banned segment "Buffalo Gals" is missing from these releases.
The video game Cartoon Network Racing contains the episodes "Black Sheep of the Family" and "Child Star" (PS2 version only) as unlock able extras.
American releases
- Cartoon Network Halloween: "Cow with Four Eyes"
- Cartoon Network Christmas: "Me an' My Dog"
Video games
Cow, Chicken, and the Red Guy are playable characters in the game Cartoon Network Racing. The PlayStation 2 version includes Flem and Earl as playable characters.
Cow/Supercow, Chicken, and the Red Guy are playable characters in the game Cartoon Network Speedway.
In the video game FusionFall, one of the character items is based on Cow and Chicken. Cow and Chicken's cousin, Boneless Chicken, can also be seen on a billboard in the game. Though not in the game, Cow is seen as Supercow as a statue at Mt. Neverest.
See also
- I Am Weasel
- Cartoon Cartoons
- The Ren & Stimpy Show
References
External links
- Cow and Chicken at Cartoon Network's Department of Cartoons (archive)
- Cow and Chicken on IMDb
- Cow and Chicken at TV.com
- Cow and Chicken at the Big Cartoon DataBase
Source of article : Wikipedia
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