To clarify, this is a video about the production of the show, not exactly what happens in the episodes themselves. Don’t forget to check the second channel out! Link in the description!
Comedy Central was actually the first Network that Duckman was pitched to in February of 1993. They had originally agreed to pick up the Series so as long as Klasky Csupo could have 13 Episodes ready by the Mid Fall, By Mid Autumn, CC discovered that Klasky Csupo had fallen Way behind Schedule(Due to Rugrats production going on Hiatus and due to the Development of a NEW Nicktoon called "AAHH! Real Monsters" which Nickelodeon Set a Strict Deadline to be Fully Ready by the End of the Summer of 1994 for a Fall Full Season debut) and with a limited team, could only finish 6 of the 13 Episodes ordered, after getting into a Falling out with Distributor Paramount Pictures Television, Comedy Central Partners,Inc or HA! Networks DROPPED Duckman from its planned lineup shortly after its Sneak Pilot aired in November of 1993. USA Network Immediately snatched up Duckman after New Years and gave Klasky Csupo more time to finish the remaining 13 episodes and then Ordered a 2nd Season once "AAHH! Real Monster's" 1st Season Deadline for Nickelodeon was fully completed.
In a pre South Park/Family Guy adult animation world, both The Critic and Duckman are shows that had adult themes that didn't rely solely on shock humor. Pan Pizza of RebalTax called Duckman "Bojack Horseman of the 90s" and there are too many comparisons between the two shows not to come to a similar conclusion as well.
@@nathanspradlin8570 You're welcome. There was alot of Promotion of Duckman on Comedy Central throughout late 1993. Regarding FOX, Duckman was considered and FOX showed some interest in it back in the Summer of 1993, but Gracie Films had already pitched "The Critic" to FOX so they had already passed on Duckman and purchased the 1st Season of The Critic after the ABC Pilot as a Replacement for In Living Color(The Simpsons didn't get moved back to Sunday Evenings until September 1994 and had been a Thursday Night Staple since September of 1990). Also Keep in Mind, Peck had Pitched a Very EDGY Adult Primetime Concept to Comedy Central(The 1993 Comedy Central Pilot included Cigarette Smoking, Vulgarity, Sexual Harassment, Drinking and Lots of Profanity(Bleeped Out of Course) but this was how CC promoted Duckman, using Clips of him Swearing like on COPS and using the Tagline "He's Definitely not for the kiddies. This is a Grownup Cartoon". And the Version FOX had wanted was heavily toned down because of Network Censors. Fun Fact: When USA Network picked up Duckman in January of 1994, they agreed to not make heavy changes, but its Censors bluntly told Peck and Co Writer Michael Markowitz "You can't have all that Bleeped out Excessive Swearing like on COPS. Alot of Puritanical Parents would likely prevent Tweens from watching it. We NEED that Demographic. Remember what happened with Beavis and Butthead regarding little kids playing with Matches? Also. No Smoking. Kids are up Saturday Nights. While We know that 11 Year olds are smart and wise enough not to let a Cartoon Duck convince them to smoke, we just can't risk it. Especially regarding the Controversy of the Joe Camel Magazine Character". So USA Network Censors ordered all the Bleeped out Profanity and Duckman Depicted as a Cigarette smoker to be completely CUT and removed from the Final Version of the Cartoon.
I prefer duckman over bojack. Why, I feel like it’s not as much of a depressing watch which I know that’s the point of bojack But it’s just not my cup of tea And I like duckman as a character more than bojack Which again I know that’s the point of bojack. That your not supposed to like him and what not But still I just don’t care much about shows that is just about a crappier person who tries to do better but ends up being crappier in the process Especially, with almost sleeping with an underage girl and letting one of his closest friends die. Atleast, with duckman he may be an absolute dick (pun, not intended.) He atleast tries to do better and does not be a crappier person And he knows that he’s in the wrong sometimes and actually makes good points about society. And when sad moments come on duckman And when they talk about Beatrice it actually brings in some heart warming moments/sympathetic moments to a character that’s not meant to be at all too likable.
Alexander,Travis and Berger ALL lived in NYC until the Spring of 1994, that's because Seinfield's first 4 seasons were filmed in Rockerfeller Plaza Studios in NYC and in the same building SNL was taped and rehearsed , and because Travis herself hails from Yonkers. But By the Spring of '94, Seinfield's Production had moved to Century City/Los Angeles, Berger was now busy with Voice work in L.A. while Nancy Travis had moved to Hollywood. So Yes, S1 was all pre recorded in a Separate ADR Studio in Manhattan where each Tape and Mostly Specially cleaned up CD was mailed across the Coast to L.A. But by the 2nd Quarter of 1994, All 3 had relocated to Los Angeles.
Talk about an intriguing history of an animated show. Before there was Futurama and King of the Hill, there was Duckman. Rest In Peace both Everett Peck, the creator of the show, and Dana Hill, the voice actress for one of conjoined twins named Charles.
Duckman is THE MOST underrated show of the 90s. It still holds up extremely well too! The whole series was on youtube for a long time, and now I'm going to see if it's still here.
This show takes me back. I remember staying up late on Saturday nights to watch Weird Science and Duckman back to back, and then flipping over the PBS to watch Monty Python's Flying Circus. And luckily for me, Sci Fi channel reran episodes of MST3K on Sunday mornings, so that pretty much rounded out my comedy needs.
Duckman was originally picked up by Comedy Central, and started production in late 1992. The Original Unaired Pilot was never released, but Clips of it were available on the Duckman DVD which featured Peck talking over it. Originally, Duckman was voiced by John Ratzenberg of Cheers fame, Bernice was voiced by Jean Smart, Ajax was voiced by Breckin Meyer and Charles and Mambo were voiced by Nancy Cartwright and Christine Cavanaugh(R.I.P.). The Unaired Pilot was first pitched to Comedy Central/HA! in February of 1993, before being purchased by Viacom/Paramount Global in May of 1996, Comedy Central Partners,Inc/HA! Networks had anemic programming and mostly Filler Standup Specials. They often Settled for SUPER Cheap Licensing with shows like Kids In The Hall,Laugh In, Mystery Science Theater 3000, Duckman was their First Shot at having an original IP made just for them, so they commissioned and hired Klasky Csupo and Paramount Pictures Television to produce a 13 Episode Season and have it Ready for the Autumn of 1993. After the Pitch, The Voice Cast was changed during development to Jason Alexander (As Andrea Ramano felt Alexander's Voice fit Duckman Immaculately) ,Nancy Travis(Because she was a bit more younger than Smart and able to infuse Yuppie Feminism in Bernice), Dweezil Zappa(Son of Frank Zappa as Zappa had cleared Licensing of his Music for the Series prior to his death in 1993), Elizabeth Daily and Dana Hill. The ONE Voice Actor who was ALWAYS in the original concept was Gregg Berger. Unfortunately when the Pilot Episode "Duckman: Private Dick/Family Man" was ready to Air in Early November 1993, Comedy Central Partners,Inc/HA! Networks were informed by Paramount Pictures Television that Klasky Csupo had fallen BEHIND schedule and couldn't make the 13 Episode Deadline having only completed 6 Episodes. After the Pilot Aired once on Comedy Central on November 13,1993, Comedy Central Partners,Inc had a falling out with Paramount Pictures Television and DROPPED Duckman from their Lineup entirely, Klasky Csupo then facing the possibility of the show being canned, TRIED to hastily finish the remaining Episodes and get Paramount Pictures TV to renegotiate a Deal with Comedy Central, but Hope Springs Eternal as After New Years 1994, MCA Television contacted Paramount Pictures Television and expressed interest in picking up the series for its USA Network, Immediately, MCA then happily informed Klasky Csupo that the Deadline were eased and extended to March to finish the remaining Episodes and then Ordered a 2nd Season. And So in January 1994, USA Network officially picked up Duckman, but just a couple of Weeks later, Hollywood's Animation Industry was ROCKED by the Northridge San Fernando Earthquake which put production behind by another month. Due to this, "American Dicks" the 11th Planned Episode was retooled and was instead an edited version of the 1993 Comedy Central Pilot. USA Network had already commissioned "I,Duckman" as their premiere Pilot Episode/1st Episode. Duckman Premiered on March 5,1994 on USA Network's Saturday Night lineup.
It amazes me how Peck's art style perfectly aligns with the established *Klasky-Csupo* aesthetic. Strange, but appealingly well-designed strangeness. That and the revelation that it started as a *Dark Horse* comic is surprising, but not totally unexpected.
Here it is, the 1 Seinfeld cast member Who got a show that was as good as Seinfeld And, if anybody says this show doesn’t count cause it’s a cartoon Screw off. Comedic talent can come from just dialog alone.
USA Network was like the Fox of cable in the 90s. I watched it after WWF RAW, probably didn't understand it being so young but it was fun and funny to watch.
I remember the ending to 'Haunted Society of Plumbers' when Homer Simpson made an appearance. Duckman was on the USA Network; not affiliated with Fox. The fact that Fox allowed a rival to use a character from it's most popular show demonstrates how much the writers from The Simpson's golden era loved and respected Duckman. I'm 45 and I remember Duckman and let me tell you, kids: There was NOTHING on television at the time that was even close to Duckman. Legend!
I first saw Duckman's RARE 1993 Pilot on Comedy Central. It had Bleeped out Cussing like every few minutes. I watched Duckman's entire USA Run from 1994-1997. I'm 41 BTW.
One drunken and hazy night i was sad and bored, looking for something to watch on youtube. Cant remember if i'd seen a thumbnail before, and hunted it down, or if my feed just showed me a duckman episode. But either way i started with episode 1, immediately loved it.
When our little town got cable, had to rely on antenna and home release VHS tapes and what a way to introduce to cable tv was to watch Duckman on Teletoon and I watched it on there until they stopped showing it.
You can’t tell the story of Duckman without mentioning Jeff Reno and Ron Osborn, who created the TV show, wrote the pilot, and were the showrunners for the entire series. Reno & Osborn, working at Paramount, were the guiding visionaries behind every moment of the show.
Also another Fun Fact: In the Original First Issue of the Dark Hourse Duckman Comic, Beatrice was actually "Bernice" and was a SHREW and Feminist. But in the Ongoing series, she was renamed "Bernice" and Peck Retooled Beatrice as his Easy going "Sister-In-Law" who was Eric T. Duckman's Tipping Off point. When Duckman was adapted into an Animated Series in 1992, Peck and Markowitz made the conscience decision to write "Bernice" as his Emasculating Sister-In-Law instead of his Shrewish Wife, and Write off "Beatrice" as his Assumed Dead Wife. It was to Add more Poignancy. The Comic Book Series Sis in Law Beatrice later DID make into the Show, she was introduced as "Beverly" in Season 3. Final Fun Fact: Nancy Travis Voiced ALL Three Huffengal Sisters including Grandmama in Flashbacks. Like Jason Alexander, You can EASILY hear "Bernice's" voice in Interviews done by Travis, especially in her Last Man Standing promos.
I adore the Klasky cuspso’s art design even on some of their commercials on Taco Bell (nacho and dog) Yeah you’re either gonna love the character designs or hate it And fun fact this isn’t their last adult cartoon they had quite a few!
I am a huge fan of this series. I have not only the complete series on DVD but one of the comic books thanks to perusing eBay. I've introduced my father & sister to this show & they both find it drop-dead hilarious. The satire & especially the social commentary is priceless & relevant even after thirty plus years on. An amazing series. Lots of heart, laughs, & smarts.
Dude, in the 1998 logo splatt literally pronounces it as chew-Poe. Granted, it’s kind of hard to hear due to the Macintosh boing text to speech voice they used.
@@tenebrousoul9368 like I said It is kind of heard to hear cause of the Macintosh robot voice That’s why many people confuse it as soo-Poe instead of chew-Poe. Or you could be like me for many years and skip the logo entirely cause the face is looks like a demon spawn from hell Seriously, it’s probably the ugliest mascot for a company period.
I loved this show. I was 16 when it was on, and I felt like I was watching something special something not everyone was watching. Turns out nobody was. 😂
Props to USA for for sticking with it. Mind you, for a small network, it was probably a lot more forgiving, since they wouldn't have had as much opportunity to replace it. But there's a combination of factors, and putting it on Fox might have led to a better looking show, but would have definitely been cancelled after a year or two. At the end of the day, USA did stick with it (more or less), and that's pretty admirable. Here in Canada, this was when specialty channels were just exploding, so we got all sorts of weird mashups of content. This played on Teletoon, which ran everything from classic cartoons to weird Candiana and the entire Nelvana library to more adult offerings like Duckman. It was such a wild west channel when it launched, and the timing was basically perfect. A few years out and they'd have never run Duckman (even though they did continue with some adult programming), but when they launched, they were throwing everything at the wall, so it gave a lot of shows like this a following in Canada.
Paramount Studios really should've just had more faith in Duckman and held on to it to use it as a launch show for UPN. It be also would've conveniently solved them their problem later on of finding a better show than Shasta Mc.Nasty, to put in front of the timeslot before Dilbert.
UPN didn't launch until November 18,1994. Duckman debuting exclusively on UPN Network would have meant that production would have been WAY behind and its Pilot Date would have marred the entire Cartoon. Comedy Central who originally picked up Duckman in 1993 WAS the Right Home for the series and would have allowed it to be Completely Untouched and its Censors would have had NO problem with Duckman smoking,Drinking and being a Lech as well as Bleeped out Profanity. The Show was originally aimed at Adults, and High Schoolers and CC's planned timeslot was 1 AM on Sundays/Midnight CST. Before After Dark on Late Saturday Night. In the 90s, this timeslot was known as the "Liberal After Dark" Timeslot for Cable Television. Where Censors were much more lenient with content as during this time, even if kids were up during that time, any mature content would likely fly over their young they're young minds. USA Network's Timeslot was Saturday at 11 PM/10 PM CDT, when the Night was Still young. So Mature Content would easily be processed by kids'. That's WHY USA Network Censors had the Smoking removed, Drinking Toned Down and didn't allow the Bleeped Profanity. The Ones at Fault were Klasky Csupo. They didn't put enough Resources into Duckman's 1st Season because they used most of them for development of AAAH!Real Monsters. Comedy Central Dropped the Show from its lineup because Klasky Csupo could Not meet its Deadlines.
I remember the short lived series of squirrel boy another show by Everett Peck when i was growing up but i remember seeing this show here and there over the years
I remember watching Duckman & Weird Science growing up in the 90s. The Weird Science show never really stuck with me over the years but Duckman did. Jason Alexander did such a great job voicing the character.
Howdy! I bumped into this solely by accident but had to watch! My friend Todd Yvega (and his partner Squilk) scored the amazing music to the show and there are some small corrections to be made with history. Not slagging you off at all. I moved to LA after he was already in production with Duckman but as we were all Synclavier owners, there was a very tight net community for sharing behind-the-scenes stories.
The choice of having Zappa's music in this was genius. Without it, the show wouldn't feel nearly as rebellious, irreverent and bizarre. He also proved he could stray away from that and do heartwarming melodies or variations from famous pieces like Strauss' Zarathustra. I came to know him because of duckman a week or so ago and his stuff is so good. Gone too soon
Duckman would kill it now with a reboot. Everyone who can needs to come back. People who can't should have their characters replaced. The show, however, cannot happen without Jason Alexander.
Honestly, I wish Duckman would be revived for a revival special that resolves the cliffhanger ending of season 4, either on Netflix or Paramount+. Both Rocko's Modern Life and Invader Zim got revival movies on Netflix, so why not Duckman?
The problem is that Everett peck sadly passed away recently and Klasky csupo does not really work in the industry anymore I found out they are not involved with the new rugrats reboot at all. Thanks to sabersparks new video And it’s a shame cause I feel like out of all their shows the one that does need a comeback is duckman. But with klasky csupo not doing much stuff these days, Everett peck dying of cancer, And Jason Alexander not wanting to return due to how hard it is to voice the character despite how much fun he had Yeah, this show is probably not gonna come back anytime soon. And even if it does Knowing Hollywood It’s not gonna be as good. Duckman, is what it is Is because It needed Everett pecks style Klasky csupos, famous unique animation And Jason Alexander’s amazing voice work.
The writers have admitted that they didn’t have a conclusion to the cliffhanger finale. Duckman was ahead of its time and probably would work much better if it debuted now.
Duckman to me is like one of the best Adult cartoons that I have ever experienced since childhood. My mom would never allow me to watch that kind of stuff just like Ren & Stimpy on Nickelodeon, but I ended up enjoying it anyway. I have always thought the mature humor was more funnier than children’s cartoons, just like the time I have discovered anime at the video store, the animation looked a lot better than the kids section that I use to back then. 11:30- By the way, that point and click adventure game from 1997 deserves a HD remake on Steam.
Definitely wouldn’t have lasted on fox. I was only 13 but I stayed up late to watch this show. Damn 3 seasons ?? I gotta rewatch them to get them adult visuals.
Duckman would look terrible done digitally. Its a product of its time and the grungy handdrawn look is perfect. Clone high translated well but the writing was different (another factor in reboots).
I used to do battle with a buddy who went by Duckman and had his profile as Duckman. It was a great show, one of the best ever. I miss Duckman onfield, but he is off doing life instead now, cant blame him.
So glad Duckman has been getting more love lately. Aside from The Simpsons/Futurama, It's my favorite adult animated show. The writing, humor, characters, stories, etc. Everything about it was top shelf stuff and I do a rewatch of the series every year. Thank you for making this.
I had Duckman drawn on my old table and my friends drew whatever they wanted on my shit table in my basement room in high school… Him Denis Leary, Norm MacDonald and Andrew Dice Clay and Eddie Murphy sculpted me. And Mr. Show.
I waited until this very day to leave a comment here. You see, this cartoon debuted in 1994, and of all the days it could've done it, it just so happened to be on my birthday (March 5th). I am the exact age as Everett Peck's magnum opus. The stars must've been perfectly aligned when I was born.
If USA was putting wrestling on as the lead in, they obviously wanted to show to succeed. WWF Monday Night Raw was probably the highest rated show on the network at the time. Not nearly the ratings it would get later on in the decade, but definitely strong for that channel.
They also had James Brown on the show, which is wild, and Joe Walsh made a new version of 'Life's Been Good' for it. When he sent them the demo, fully performed and orchestrated, they loved it so much they used it exactly as it was. Also important and insane to note is that seasons 3 and 4 (which you say were split up from one season order) - was about 50 more episodes! Really, in terms of episode count, its like we got five seasons of Duckman... I'd love a one-off just to resolve that cliffhanger - and yeah, to see all that extra animation. I highly doubt 10 extra minutes were fully animated, maybe storyboarded.... I still want to understand what was going through USA's mind. If the show was always hemorrhaging money for them, why did they keep it going?? Just for the good reviews and some Emmy nominations? ... PS! Another thing worth noting is Duckman was the first to do 'Road To...' musical episodes, modeled after Abbot & Costello movies... years before Family Guy.
Thankgod this is real and I didn’t just imagine it. I once asked if anybody had seen it when aired back in the 90’s and nobody had. Here in the UK it was on late at night just after the bars closed which explains a lot 😂
Thanks for making this production history video essay on Duckman. Way beyond the wishes among some lucky Patreon donating user named Zane. Duckman was one legitimate Seinen toned comedy drama that was beyond some short term, disposable shock novelty :) Plus I didn't mind the "Beatrice is still alive" surprise ending for that show's final episode. Like even those comedy-dramas need their Gainax endings when those pre Monk, USA network, VHS era OVA series like funds dry up once every blue moon. It it were the Calamity Jane animated series or a pre "reset button Goliath Chronicles" era Gargoyles, jokingly lazy endings to conclude an episode like Duckman's three weddings one would be inappropriate for those more dramatically toned types of shows, but a legacy series is still a legacy series
Duck man was allowed in our house because my mom liked Jason. Alexander Beavis and b******* was not for obvious reasons. Some of the most thrilling times of my childhood were sitting close to the t v flipping between channels twenty three and twenty four m t v and U s a respectively comma catching beavis and butthead during commercials of duck man hoping My parents didn't catch me.
I remember when I was in grade school I used to watch cartoons with my grandma and for some reason I was innocently drawn to Duckman, in one of the times she actually started paying attention to the plot of the show she turned to me and said, I don't think this is a show for kids, and that's the last time I saw Duckman, been meaning to binge whatch it.
This is the original adult animated series. OG through and through. Yes, The Simpsons had already been on air, but the sheer amount of humor, wit, raunchiness, references, and satire that we currently equate with adult animated series all come from Duckman. This is a CRIMINALLY underrated show.
I really don't understand why the writers would leave the final series finale of Duckman as a cliffhanger in the end because if they were planning to the end Series forever then why the hell didn't they just have a happy ending instead of an unanswered cliffhanger. I mean Duckman, Cornfed and King Chicken were going to marry Honey, Beverly and Bernice as the wedding goes off without a hitch until Duckman's supposedly deceased wife, Beatrice, returns which doesn't really make sense since everyone including Duckman though she was dead. Only Cornfed knew that Beatrice was alive but he never told Duckman this at all because why would he keep this a secret from his friend/business partner in the first place.
There is more. You see the artist that did the art work. Didn't stop. He has over a decade for duck man. And not the remake of it. I miss the original one. Like when this woman that was human, called him dad. And cornfed dated her. Cornfed even said to duckman I never saw you more of man then I do to day. Duckman corrected cornfed, and said I am a Duck. Calling himself a dick🦆 (I can't believe my cell phone gave a image of a Duck when I spelled dick. Weird. Also remember to spell the word weird. The I 👁️ does not come before the letter E.)
