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Cow and Chicken
File:Cow and chicken 4.jpg Cow and Chicken
Created by	David Feiss
Voices of	Charles Adler Dee Bradley Baker Candi Milo Howard Morris Dan Castellaneta Michael Dorn
Country of origin	United States
No. of episodes	52 (list of episodes)
Production
Running time	22 minutes approx.
Original release
Network	Cartoon Network
Release	July 15, 1997 – July 24, 1999

Cow & Chicken is an Emmy Award-nominated American animated television series, created by David Feiss. The series shows the adventures of a cow, named Cow, and her chicken brother, named Chicken, who are often tormented by the Red Guy, a usually pants-less devil-like character who poses as various characters to scam them. The series was nominated for the Emmy Awards in 1998.

Like Dexter's Laboratory and other Cartoon Network series from the 1990s, the original pilot appeared as an episode of the series What-A-Cartoon!. The Cow and Chicken series first broadcast on Cartoon Network from 1997 to the year 2000, with reruns airing until 2004. Late into the series run, the characters I.M. Weasel and I.R. Baboon, who were part of the series' recurring segment, I Am Weasel, were spun-off onto their own series.

Background

Premise

Cow and Chicken are sister and brother, a cow and a chicken, but who 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 in the series' opening title sequence: 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 the episode "The Day I Was Born" that Cow is adopted (Chicken's paternity is unknown).

Cow and Chicken's extended family consists of various other types of animals, including Cousin Boneless, who is a boneless chicken (unable to walk or get up from the floor); Snail Boy, a snail; Cousin Black Sheep; and Sow, an evil pig. They also have an uncle Longhorn Steer, who appears in "Professor Longhorn Steer". The episode "Happy Meat" also showed the ghosts of a pair of Cow and Chicken's ancestors, a male farmer and a female chicken.

Main characters

• Cow (voiced by Charlie Adler), 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 (voiced by Charlie Adler), Cow's 11-year old brother. At times, he can be quite mean to his younger sister, and even the rest of the family (as seen in "Chicken in the Bathroom", where he refuses to take a bath solely to prevent everyone else from using the toilet). He has a rather large ego. In spite of this, he has a powerful conscience, usually only displayed when Cow is in danger (and unable to become Supercow). He speaks with a "street" type of accent (probably not his real voice), often peppering his speech with,and often using sarcasm. He often gets injured, sometimes quite brutally. Sometimes Chicken uses Cow for his needs. In Sumo Cow, Chicken used Cow's size to get his money, then told her to get lost making her look like the bully.

• Red Guy (voiced by Charlie Adler), 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 (voiced by Howard Morris), Chicken's best friend, who wears red lipstick. He and his father both have glasses. Of the three (Earl, Chicken and himself), he is the one most often sent to perform tasks, because he is the considered the ugliest.
• Earl (voiced by Dan Castellaneta), Chicken's friend who wears a red cap and braces.
• Dad (voiced by Dee Bradley Baker), Cow and Chicken's father (Partially unseen character). Often boasts his manliness, at even the most mundane of tasks (such as driving in the snow, in "Goin' My Way") "bring out the man in (him)".
• Mom (voiced by Candi Milo), Cow and Chicken's mother (Partially unseen character). Seems to be slightly insane, especially when she laughs.
• Teacher (voiced by Candi Milo), Cow and Chicken's female teacher who is simply called Teacher. She says "Shut your pork traps!" or "Shut your pie holes!" to get people to listen to her.

Minor and one-time characters

• Boneless Chicken (voiced by Charlie Adler), Cow and Chicken's cousin. An older chicken who has no bones, except for having teeth. He always says random things, but the watcher can't tell if he's serious or just joking. He is a veteran of the Vietnam war.
• Grandmama, Mom's mother and Cow and Chicken's grandmother who can't drive well.
• Black Sheep, Cow and Chicken's cousin, who keeps getting into trouble despite his sincere efforts to do good.
• Snail Boy (voiced by Tom Kenny), 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.
• Slappy McCracken (voiced by Tom Kenny), An exchange student from neighboring Mozerellaville. Fell in love with Cow in his only episode "The Exchange Student".
• Supercow, The 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.
• Professor Longhorn Steer, Cow and Chicken's uncle, and Dad's brother. Appeared in "Professor Longhorn Steer".
• Cerberus, The Red Guy's assistant, a dog with three heads, one a poodle, one a weiner dog, and one a dalmatian. This character only appeared in the original pilot "No Smoking".
• Blind Mud Puddle Johnson, He is the king of the blues. His voice was provided by B. B. King, the King of the Blues. Appeared in The Cow And Chicken Blues.
• Photo-Realistic Beaver, A beaver that is at the end of one episode, with whom Cow eats breakfast.

History

The idea of Cow and Chicken first existed as a story that David Feiss had made for his daughter. Feiss was a cartoonist who had worked with Hanna Barbera and related projects since 1978.

Later, Feiss was called to submit any ideas he had for the series "What a Cartoon!", a series that was comprised of various cartoon shorts from various creators and writers. Feiss submitted three ideas for the series, one of which was Cow and Chicken. Cow and Chicken premiered on the "What a Cartoon!" series in 1995. Although most cartoons in the series had never gone beyond one short, Hanna Barbera had decided to turn Cow and Chicken into full series, following many letters from fans asking for more Cow and Chicken Cartoons.

The new Cow and Chicken series premiered on July 7, 1997. The series ran for 52 episodes, and had brought out a spin-off series, "I. M. Weasel".

Production

Voicing

A single actor, Charlie Adler, voiced four leading roles of Cow, Chicken, the Red Guy, and I. R. Baboon. Other actors provided supporting voices, including Dan Castellaneta (the voice of Earl). David Feiss himself did the voice of a clown in an episode called "The Great Pantzini".

Humor

Cow and Chicken drew on several types of cartoon humor through its run. The series often made use of cartoon violence; Cow and Chicken were frequently placed in dangerous situations and the Red Guy was frequently pummelled and beaten (usually by Supercow). The series also made fun of the clichés of cartoons. For example, Cow has an alter-ego Supercow, who is a superhero with different characteristics 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. Another cliché made fun of in the series is that 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 makes fun of the idea of partially unseen characters and cartoons in which adults are seen only from the waist down (e.g. Muppet Babies). Also, many jokes of the series use adolescent humor, which made the show somewhat controversial.

Recurring jokes and gags

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). They are also occasionally seen driving a car with their feet, writing and grabbing on to things with their toes, and dialling a phone by kicking the numbers.

Breaking of the fourth wall

The show often breaks the fourth wall. I Am Weasel exists as a cartoon in the fictional world of Cow and Chicken, however this is contradicted in "I.R. In Wrong Cartoon" (a crossover between the two cartoons), when the Red Guy, disguised as a bearskin rug, says to Cow when she wants to take Weasel out of the TV to make him real, "He's just as real as you and I." In "The Laughing Puddle", when the entire population of Folsom has gone into the titular puddle, Chicken states "Is anything in this cartoon ever going to make sense?"

Merchandise

DVD releases

It has been announced that Cow & Chicken: Season 1, a two-disc set featuring the complete first season which contains 13 complete episodes, will be released by Madman Entertainment in Australia (Region 4) on September 12, 2007. There are currently no plans for a US release, however 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.

Toys

Recently, according to AnimationInsider.net, Cow and Chicken, among many other Cartoon Network shows from the 1990s, 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, Game Boy Advance and the Nintendo DS.

Media information

Broadcast history

• Cartoon Network 1997-2000 (first run), 2000-2004 (reruns).
• Boomerang 2007-present (reruns).

Controversial episodes

The episode titled "Buffalo Gals" was banned because of its innuendos implying that the Buffalo Gals were lesbians and its lesbian stereotypes. Some of the innuendos and sexual content included 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 being "Munch Kelly", and the Buffalo Gals playing softball and talking about "pitching" and "catching". Cartoon Network had aired "Buffalo Gals" only once, and since then it was replaced with the episode "Orthodontic Police".

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!". This language offended people, due to the fact that it sounded like damn it, and almost led to cancellation. On reruns, this was edited by having the Dad shout, "Oh..." followed by a few seconds of silence and a repeat of Dad yelling, "Two!" The unedited episode could be seen on Cartoon Network Video August 26th to October 8th 2007.

See also

• I Am Weasel.
• The Red Guy
• List of Cow and Chicken / I Am Weasel episodes

References

1. Emmy Awards Archive Database, using the year range as 1998-1998: http://www.emmys.tv/awards/awardsearch.php
2. ^ "Animator Profile: David Feiss". cartoonnetworkla.com. Cartoon Network. Retrieved 2007-07-20.
3. ^ "Cow and Chicken, and I Am Weasel - two animated cartoon series". h2g2. BBC. 2002-09-05. Retrieved 2007-07-20.
4. Lacey, Gord (2006-06-07). "Home Theatre Forum Warner Bros Chat Transcript - Part 2". TVShowsonDVD.com. Retrieved 2007-03-26. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
5. Bynum, Aaron H. (2006-02-09). "CN Enterprises Announcements". AnimationInsider.net. Retrieved 2007-03-26. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
6. "Trivia for "Cow and Chicken"". The Internet Movie Database. Retrieved 2007-07-05.

External links

• Official UK website
• Unofficial Cow and Chicken website
• Cow and Chicken Episode Guide at the Big Cartoon DataBase

• 1990s American television series
• Animated television series
• Cow and Chicken and I Am Weasel
• Fictional cattle
• Fictional chickens
• Shows on Cartoon Cartoons
• Television spin-offs
• 1997 television program debuts