W. Watts Biggers
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W. Watts Biggers (2 June 1927 - Avondale Estates, Georgia) is an American novelist and co-creator of the Underdog TV series. His work sometimes appears under the name Buck Biggers.
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[edit] Animation
As account supervisor for advertising agency Dancer Fitzgerald Sample's General Mills account, Biggers worked with Chester Stover, Treadwell Covington and Joseph Harris to create animated cartoon commercials for the cereal giant. He then relocated to Cape Cod to form his company, Total TeleVision (TTV), with animation produced at Gamma Studios in Mexico. TTV created and produced King Leonardo and his Short Subjects, The Hunter, Tooter Turtle, Tennessee Tuxedo and his Tales, Go Go Gophers, The World of Commander McBragg, Klondike Kat and Underdog. Biggers co-wrote more than 500 scripts and composed all the theme songs. Underdog was telecast on NBC from 1964 to 1966, on CBS from 1966-1968, then NBC from 1968-1970 and 1972-1973. [1]
In 1995, Biggers, Stover, Covington and Harris sold their creations to Lorne Michaels, who sold the rights to Little Golden Books, which published Underdog and the Disappearing Ice Cream. For BearManor Media, Biggers co-authored How Underdog Was Born (2005).[1]
[edit] Novels
In 1968, Ballantine Books published Biggers' The Man Inside as an original paperback. In 1999, it was reissued by Bamberger Books as a hardcover.[2] It was optioned as a feature film by One Brick Films. His novel Hold Back the Tide about a lovelorn police chief who wants a hypnotist to eliminate his obsessions so he can continue solving crimes. It was published February, 2001, as a 1st Books Library ebook.
In the mid-1970s, Biggers and Stover collaborated on "TV Tinderbox," a syndicated column of television news for King Features.
[edit] Victory Over Violence
Biggers is vice-president and co-founder of the Boston-based Victory Over Violence "dedicated to creating a positive force in the media to offset the cynicism and negativity, which create a climate of violence," and has used Underdog to promote the organization.
Biggers created a new episode of Underdog in 1999 as a half-hour radio show, narrated by Tom Ellis. In it, Simon Bar Sinister develops a Switchpitch baseball to turn positive people negative. His attempt to become king of Boston is foiled by Underdog and Sweet Polly Purebred. [3]
[edit] References
- ^ a b Biggers, Buck and Chet Stover. How Underdog Was Born. Albany, Georgia: BearManor Media, 2006. The creators of Total TeleVision and Underdog tell how it all began. ISBN 1-59393-025-9
- ^ Biggers, W. Watts. The Man Inside. New York: Ballantine Books, 1968. Bamberger Books, March 1999. ISBN 0917453379
- ^ Driscoll, Kathi Scrizzi. "There's no need to fear... Positivity is here," Cape Cod Times, October 25, 1999.
