Monday, October 29, 2012

Spooktober: Toonsylvania (1998)

Steven Spielberg's last animated series for Fox wasn't produced with Warner Bros., but rather with the company he co-founded, Dreamworks. As it turned out, moving out from under the WB shield proved to be a costly mistake for Toonsylvania.

The series initially aired on Saturdays, packaged with Goosebumps and reruns of Eerie, Indiana, but low ratings dictated a banishment to weekdays, particularly on Tuesday afternoons, and the series was subsequently cancelled, although reruns would return intermittently until 2000.

The show's cast included Brad Garrett (later of Everybody Loves Raymond) and Wayne Knight (ex-Seinfeld, and would later join the cast of Third Rock From The Sun), with guest appearances by Jonathan Harris (one of his last toon jobs) and Nancy Cartwright (The Simpsons). In addition to Spielberg, the creative personnel included cartoonist Mike Peters (Mother Goose & Grimm). How could they have gone wrong? Simple. Not enough promotion, but then, Fox wasn't that big on emphasizing one show at a time.....!

CBS-Paramount now owns the rights to the show, but it sits presently in the vaults. What a shock.

Here's a sample clip:



No rating. Never saw the show.

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