The ant and the aardvark

[fuzzygobo]

I'll say this much (and only this much) in favor of Wait Til Your Father Gets Home. Yes, the production values are flimsy, the topical humor has not aged well, and it is painful to watch now. But I was four years old when it premiered in 1972, and it was originally shown in prime-time. There were only a handful of other cartoons ever seen at night (The Flintstones, The Jetsons, The Alvin Show, and Top Cat) and for me, the concept of Cartoons After Dark seemed pretty nifty!
But after the theme song, even I had trouble keeping up with it. (Not too many four-year-olds know what a "commie" is).

At least now there's the Simpsons, Family Guy, Futurama, South Park etc. to prove toons can find a home in prime-time.

And during its brief lifespan (13 episodes made, only 7 aired) I did enjoy Capitol Critters.

 

[Drtooth]

Cartoons in prime time is (at the risk of using outdated rap slang from the 90's like a 50 year old white guy) the shiznit! I loved when Kid's WB had Pinky and the Brain and Freakazoid in prime time... I loved Capital Critters when it was on, and I still love watching the Fox line up. Sadly, it seems more cartoons are on prime time now than Saturday morning (unless you have cable... even then, it barely tips the scales).

 

[Xerus]

I too loved Capital Critter and Fish Police as well. I was disappointed that they didn't last. But then a year later, they came out with The Critic and Duckman.

 

[fuzzygobo]

Duckman was great for keeping the spirit of Frank Zappa alive (and throwing in a few snippets of his best songs)- and son Dweezil as the voice of Ajax!

 

[D'Snowth]

There's apparently now an updated version of the Ant and the Aardvark playing on Boomerang I think (I wouldn't know, Comfinicast refuses to offer Boomerang): the Aardvark is apparently still has his previous slightly exaggerated New York Jew mannerisms, but the Ant is now apparently more "urban" voiced by Kel Mitchell... I may have to check this out for myself.

 

[Drtooth]

The New Pink Panther show? Yeah... I saw it and it's pretty good. They didn't muck around with it like they did with Pink Panther and Son or that one where he talked. it's pretty much just updated to have more modern jokes, like ones about arcade games. Most updated versions of cartoons don't get that lucky. That show and Tom and Jerry Tales were much closer to the originals than any other ones made for television after them.

 

[Yorick]

There's apparently now an updated version of the Ant and the Aardvark playing on Boomerang I think

Yes, it's part of "Pink Panther & Pals" and I like it a lot - the whole show. They changed a few things, and it would have been nice to have John Byner back as the Ant and Aardvark, (no offense to the two new voices) but overall it's true to the original Pink Panther and Ant & Aardvark cartoons in most ways!

I'm not buying the whole idea that Filmation's the worst animation studio of all time...

Right on! I love the story of how they got started. It's quite inspiring (even though we know that that same type of rise of a studio can't happen today - much like how the Rocky series is inspiring, even to those of us who don't plan to be boxers)

 

[Drtooth]

Right on! I love the story of how they got started. It's quite inspiring (even though we know that that same type of rise of a studio can't happen today - much like how the Rocky series is inspiring, even to those of us who don't plan to be boxers)

Yeah, I could get into a whole thing about Filmation. I have respect for them. The factory floor where they had to make a million different cartoons at once was just a sign of the times in animation. There were some real WHAT?!?! shows and movies they did... but over all they had some choice stuff like Fat Albert, their version of Mighty Mouse (my second favorite overall, after the Ralph Bakshi series), and of course, their best work ever, Bravestarr. Bravestarr proved that if they focused on smaller batches of shows at a time, they can be high quality. Too bad they lost everything with that terrible Snow White movie. They could have done so much more instead.

But the worst animation studio? Cambria. The "geniuses" behind Clutch Cargo and the meh Three Stooges cartoons.