Cow & Chicken

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Cow & Chicken

Cow and Chicken
Genre Animation/Comedy
Creator(s) David Feiss
Starring Charles Adler
Dee Bradley Baker
Candi Milo
Howard Morris
Dan Castellaneta
Michael Dorn
Country of origin Flag of United States United States
No. of episodes 51
Production
Running time 22 minutes approx.
Broadcast
Original channel Cartoon Network
Original run 1997 – 2000
Links
Official website
IMDb profile
TV.com summary

Cow & Chicken is an American animated television series, created by David Feiss, first broadcast on the Cartoon Network from 1997 to the year 2000, with reruns airing until 2004. The series shows the adventures of a cow, conveniently named Cow, and her brother Chicken (who is a chicken), who are often tormented by the Red Guy, a usually naked devil-like character who poses as various characters to scam them. Usually the Red Guy's pseudonyms are puns on his nude appearance (e.g. Dr. Hiney Bottoms, Officer Pantsoffski, Baron von Nein-Lederhosen, Ben Pantced, Mrs. Barederriere, C.D. High-Knee, etc.). This show was nominated for the Emmy Awards in 1998.

Like Dexter's Laboratory, the original pilot appeared as an episode of the series What a Cartoon!. Before I.M. Weasel and I.R. Baboon got their own series, I Am Weasel backed up Cow and Chicken (I Am Weasel segments were cut from reruns when Weasel got his own show). In the episode where Weasel finds out everyone's watching his life Cow and Chicken are seen watching both him and later Baboon's show being aired. This may be the reason why The Red Guy appears in both cartoons, with the same attributes.

Contents

[edit] Background

Cow and Chicken are a brother and sister who are a chicken and a cow, but have human parents. The creators were faced with the question of whether and how to explain this scenario. Sometimes opening credits are cumbersome vehicles for an origin story. David Feiss approached this problem with gusto: an opening song goes Mama had a chicken/Mama had a cow/Dad was proud/He didn't care how. This is all that is ever offered in explanation, though there is one hint in that the children have a cousin Boneless, who is a boneless chicken (unable to walk or get up from the floor), and the episode "The Day I Was Born" suggests (and confirms) that Cow is adopted (Chicken's paternity is unknown). Their other cousins are Snail Boy, a snail; Cousin Black Sheep; and Sow, an evil pig. The episode "Happy Meat" also showed the supposed ghosts of a pair of Cow and Chicken's ancestors, a male farmer and a female chicken. The episodes take the scenario and run with it with a manic energy that is also seen in cartoons like Ren and Stimpy. Many of the jokes use adolescent humor, thus making the show somewhat controversial.

Poster to the Cow and Chicken pilot No Smoking
Poster to the Cow and Chicken pilot No Smoking

The series draws on the clichés of cartoons. For example, Cow has an alter-ego Supercow, who is a superhero with different chararactistics to her normal character (such as flight, and the ability to speak Spanish); and the Red Guy tries in vain to discover Supercow's secret identity (so he can die happy) even as he torments Cow. The children seem unable to enter water without inadvertently doing so in the proximity of a large and dangerous waterfall, though Chicken took a shower in "P.E.", and a Cartoon Network break bumper showed Chicken in a bathtub (curiously, he refused to bathe in "Chicken in the Bathroom"). The children's parents, who are called Mom and Dad, exist only from the waist down, and can be seen to stop at the waist (whenever their shadows appear, they are cut off at the waist). This is an homage to partially unseen characters such as Mammy-Two-Shoes from MGM's Tom and Jerry cartoons, who was Tom's African-American owner who was only seen from the waist down, and many cartoons which often show the adults from the only waist down (e.g. Muppet Babies).

In some episodes, the missing upper bodies are used as a gag. For example in one episode, the cartoon "camera" accidentally zooms out too far, and shows Mom and Dad cut off at the waist. In another episode, Cow and Chicken search through a closet by throwing out everything inside, and for a small moment, the upper (human) bodies of Mom and Dad are visible as part of a discarded science project by Cow (however, considering the absurdist nature of the show's humor, this may be a throwaway gag).

A single actor, Charlie Adler, voiced all three of the leading parts. While this practice was commonplace in cartoons of the 1940s and 1950s, thanks to the talents of Mel Blanc, it is much rarer in work of the 1990s. Other actors provided supporting voices, however, including Dan Castellaneta, (the voice of Homer Simpson), as Earl. David Feiss himself did the voice of a clown in an episode called The Great Pantzini.

[edit] Banned and Edited Episodes

A single episode titled "Buffalo Gals" was banned due to its content. Because of the innuendo implying that the Buffalo Gals are lesbians (the carpet calling card Cow uses to find The Buffalo Gals, Mom's line "It's the Buffalo Gals, a biker group that randomly breaks into people's houses and chews on their carpet," the name of one of the bikers is "Munch Kelly", the Buffalo Gals play softball and talk about "pitching" and "catching"), Cartoon Network only aired "Buffalo Gals" once, and since then it was replaced with "Orthodontic Police".

A second episode, "Pirate Lessons", in which the Red Guy disguises himself as a pirate, features him (originally) introducing himself as "Captain Butt Pirate" ("butt pirate" being an offensive epithet against male homosexuals) on the first airing. Later airings of this were dubbed over to alter the Red Guy's character name to be spoken as "Captain Butz Pirate". The episode title was then changed to "Captain Butz Pirate" as well.

Another episode, "Comet!", was edited after its first showing. On the part where Dad hits his golf ball too far, he originally shouts, "Oh, divot!" (which, to the untrained ear, sounds like "Oh, damn it!"). On reruns, this was awkwardly edited by having the Dad shout, "Oh..." followed by a few seconds of silence and a repeat of Dad yelling, "Two!"


[edit] Voice Actors and their characters


[edit] Main Characters

  • Cow: One of the two main characters and Chicken's 7-year old sister. Her weight is given at several points as 600 pounds. Usually viewed (at least by Chicken) as exceedingly stupid, she however occasionally displays uncanny talents.
  • Chicken: Cow's 11-year old brother. At times, he can be quite mean to his younger sister. He has a rather large ego.
The Red Guy
The Red Guy
  • Red Guy: Cow, Chicken, Weasel and Baboon's arch nemesis. He is an often-incompetent antagonist disguised as various authority figures (principals, kings, lunchladies), trying to either scam the protagonists or torment them. In some episodes, multiple and seemingly distinct Red Guys are present, usually working together..
  • Flem: Chicken's best friend, and wears red lipstick. He and his father both have glasses.
  • Earl: Chicken's friend who wears a red cap and braces.
  • Dad: Cow and Chicken's father (a not completely unseen character).
  • Mom: Cow and Chicken's mother (a not completely unseen character).
  • Teacher: Cow and Chicken's female teacher who is simply called Teacher.

[edit] Guest

  • Grandmama: Mom's mother and Cow and Chicken's grandmother.
  • Black Sheep: Cow and Chicken's cousin.
  • Cousin Boneless: Cow and Chicken's cousin. An older chicken who has no bones and in one episode he was blue instead of white.
  • Snail Boy: Cow and Chicken's cousin and Mom's nephew who is a snail.
  • Sow: Cow and Chicken's cousin. She is an evil pig who blames Cow for bad things she does.
  • Supercow: superhero alter-ego of Cow. Inexplicably, she speaks Spanish. Her catchphrase is "¡Supercow al rescate!" ("Supercow to the rescue!"), often followed by a ululating battle cry.

[edit] Trivia

This article contains a trivia section.
Content in this section should be integrated into other appropriate areas of the article or removed, and the trivia section removed.
  • After the show was cancelled, a new short called "Lost Cat" was aired in Cartoon Network's Big Pick. Not part of the "Cow and Chicken" or "I Am Weasel" continuity, but still written and directed by David Feiss himself and animated in the same way.
  • In 2006 the cartoon Billy and Mandy showed Cow as a cameo appearance.

[edit] Cow and Chicken Merchandise

[edit] DVDs

Although no DVD of Cow and Chicken is out yet, Warner Brothers has stated in an interview that they are "...in conversations with Cartoon Network" for DVD collections of various cartoons, among which is Cow and Chicken[1]

[edit] Toys

Recently, according to AnimationInsider.net,[2] Cow and Chicken, among many other Cartoon Network shows from the 1990's, will be in a new toy line in the fall of 2007. Cartoon Network has not yet released any other information on the subject of Cow and Chicken specifically.

Cow and Chicken, The Red Guy, and I M Weasel have all been characters in the game Cartoon Network Racing. The game is for the Playstation 2, GameBoy Advance and the Nintendo DS.

[edit] Titles in other languages

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Lacey, Gord (2006-06-07). Home Theatre Forum Warner Bros Chat Transcript - Part 2. TVShowsonDVD.com. Retrieved on March 26, 2007.
  2. ^ Bynum, Aaron H. (2006-02-09). CN Enterprises Announcements. TVShowsonDVD.com. Retrieved on March 26, 2007.

[edit] Broadcasting

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

Cartoon Cartoons
Codename: Kids Next Door • Courage the Cowardly Dog • Cow and Chicken • Dexter's Laboratory • Ed, Edd n Eddy • Evil Con Carne • The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy • Grim and Evil • I Am Weasel • Johnny Bravo • Mike, Lu & Og • The Powerpuff Girls • Sheep in the Big City • Time Squad • What a Cartoon! • Whatever Happened to Robot Jones?
Other Cartoon Network original series
Camp Lazlo • Class of 3000 • Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends • Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi • The Life and Times of Juniper Lee • My Gym Partner's a Monkey • Squirrel Boy • Chowder • Zoot Rumpus
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