WKRP - The Animated Series? - Sitcoms Online Message Boards

Lester · 06-27-2008, 07:12 AM

I've seen mentioned somewhere on a WKRP site that someone had the bright idea of doing a spin-off series in animation, but with the characters as dogs!

Whoever came up with that one must have been nibbling at Johnny's cookies!

But wasn't it the case that some shows had spin-off cartoons while still running? One that comes to mind is from Happy Days, (No, not Laverne & Shirley, Mork & Mindy or Joanie Loves Chachi

) and I think it was titled Fonzie and the Happy Days Gang. IIRC they were in a time machine and getting into trouble as usual. So if WKRP had been done as a cartoon, how do you think it would have went?

dlemond · 06-28-2008, 04:45 PM

It would have went pretty badly I suspect.

Now how could they be dogs?

The show itself was very three dimensional character-wise, so it would have been hard enough coming up with kid storylines. Were they going to solve crimes at concerts? Fight ghosts? All the while playing cheesey kiddy made up music. (and of course, as dogs, if that was the case).

I never heard anything about a cartoon, so it's news to me.

Larry Surrell · 06-28-2008, 07:12 PM

The Partridge Family and The Brady Bunch both had Saturday morning cartoons too.

A WKRP dog cartoon sounds weird!

Mr. Television · 06-28-2008, 08:30 PM

The Odd Couple had a cartoon made of it...The Oddball Couple with a dog and a cat so anything is possible.

catlover79 · 06-30-2008, 01:56 PM

In the immortal words of Venus Flytrap - "Say WHAT!??"

Lester · 07-02-2008, 06:28 AM

That was my reaction when I saw it mentioned elsewhere. It's a long while since I saw it, and I can't remember where it was, but it was on a site about WKRP. Given that network execs were messing the show about by continually moving it about in the schedules, I wouldn't be at all surprised to find that at a meeting of said persons:

"Deeerrr, how we ruin dat show W......K.........arrrrrr.....P....?"

"Darrr, we already keep changing da timsel... timesel... derrr... day it on. Der, i have idea. Us'll do cartoon version of it."

"Deerr, me like cartoon. Will it have talking dogs? Me like talking dogs!"

"Dah, dat good idea. Us'll do dat radio station - me can't remember name - as dogs!"

Lester · 07-07-2008, 06:18 AM

Regarding my original mention about a rumour that WKRP was considered as an animated series, with the characters as dogs, I've lately been looking around some of the websites that I used to get my info from, and sad to say, a lot of them don't seem to exist anymore, so it would seem that the rumour is at best an urban myth. I know that I saw the rumour, hence my comment at the start of this thread, but it's anoying that I can't substantiate it.

(Unless it was Les who told me about it!)

jaime_weinman · 07-07-2008, 06:22 PM

I can tell you where the story comes from. When the WKRP cast and crew did a panel at the Museum of Television and Radio (as you probably know, MTR does panel discussions for several shows every year; they did WKRP in 1994), they took questions from the audience and one guy in the audience was a former cartoonist for Hanna-Barbera, who said that he had been assigned to do a cartoon series with all the characters as dogs. The panel is available for viewing at the MTR in New York, which is where I saw it.

Networks were doing cartoon spin-offs of prime time shows at the time, as you've said, so that's why CBS was considering a Saturday morning cartoon version of WKRP. Either the cartoon idea got dropped, or WKRP was canceled before it could be made; either way, it never happened, but it would have fit right in with "Fonz and the Happy Days Gang" or "Laverne and Shirley in the Army" or the Dukes of Hazzard cartoon.

Lester · 07-08-2008, 07:38 AM

I'm glad you said that. As I said, I saw the rumour on a site years ago, but couldn't find that same site lately. I had a vague idea what the site was called but didn't wish to name it as "Such-and-such website" in case it turned out that I was totally wrong.

Thanks for the update. I especially didn't know about Laverne & Shirley being turned into a cartoon.

JMFabiano524 · 08-14-2008, 12:26 PM

It may have had a chance if it was done like another MTM project in animation: the Carlton Your Doorman pilot. But that would make it adult oriented, so forget that.

And yes there was an L&S cartoon...think you can see the opening on YouTube. Shirley, who usually was the sensible one, talks Laverne into joining the Army just so they could meet guys :-)

treky · 08-16-2008, 10:00 PM

There were cartoon versions of "MASH", "GILLIGANS ISLAND", "THE PARTRIGE FAMILY", "THE ADDAMS FAMILY", "I DREAM OF JEANNIE, and "STAR TREK" in the 70s, and one that was loosely based on "ALL IN THE FAMILY".

The "STAR TREK" one was supossed to be pretty good, though. Most of the actors voiced their characters, and sometimes they used actual film footage from the show of the Enterprise flying through space, etc. as a basis for the same scene. And a lot of the stories were written by Harlon Ellison and some others. Ellison wrote the shows award-winning, classic episode "THE CITY ON THE EDGE OF FOREVER".

James28 · 12-08-2008, 12:43 AM

I think a WKRP animated series with the main characters as dogs is a messed-up idea.

06-27-2008, 07:12 AM	#1
Lester Member Occasional Poster Join Date: Jun 19, 2008 Location: North-East England Posts: 79	WKRP - The Animated Series? I've seen mentioned somewhere on a WKRP site that someone had the bright idea of doing a spin-off series in animation, but with the characters as dogs! Whoever came up with that one must have been nibbling at Johnny's cookies! But wasn't it the case that some shows had spin-off cartoons while still running? One that comes to mind is from Happy Days, (No, not Laverne & Shirley, Mork & Mindy or Joanie Loves Chachi ) and I think it was titled Fonzie and the Happy Days Gang. IIRC they were in a time machine and getting into trouble as usual. So if WKRP had been done as a cartoon, how do you think it would have went?
	__________________ "Good day, and may the good news be yours!"

06-28-2008, 08:30 PM	#4
Mr. Television 23 Years at Sitcoms Online Forum Icon Join Date: Jun 06, 2003 Location: Somewhere you're Not Posts: 62,132	The Odd Couple had a cartoon made of it...The Oddball Couple with a dog and a cat so anything is possible.
	__________________ Sonny

06-30-2008, 01:56 PM	#5
catlover79 God Bless Val Forum Addict Join Date: May 29, 2006 Location: Bewitched in Ohio Posts: 70,382	In the immortal words of Venus Flytrap - "Say WHAT!??"
	__________________ "Jesus loves you and He approves this message." "I'm alive. I'm feeling good. I'm trying to live every moment as much as I can." - Valerie Harper, March 2013

08-16-2008, 10:00 PM	#11
treky star trek fan Eternal Member Forum Fanatic Join Date: Feb 25, 2002 Location: Conshohocken, pennsylvania Posts: 14,490	There were cartoon versions of "MASH", "GILLIGANS ISLAND", "THE PARTRIGE FAMILY", "THE ADDAMS FAMILY", "I DREAM OF JEANNIE, and "STAR TREK" in the 70s, and one that was loosely based on "ALL IN THE FAMILY". The "STAR TREK" one was supossed to be pretty good, though. Most of the actors voiced their characters, and sometimes they used actual film footage from the show of the Enterprise flying through space, etc. as a basis for the same scene. And a lot of the stories were written by Harlon Ellison and some others. Ellison wrote the shows award-winning, classic episode "THE CITY ON THE EDGE OF FOREVER".
	__________________ the Clampetts are in a fancy Beverly Hills jewelry store. Granny points to a tray of rubies. Granny: "How much fer one o' them red diamonds?" clerk: "Madam, those are rubies." Granny: "OK ask her kin we buy one offa her." clerk: " The ruby I am talking about is not a lady." Granny: "Lissen, how she got them diamonds is her business. I'm just sayin' ask her kin we buy one from her."

06-28-2008, 04:45 PM	#2
dlemond Hey, I know you. Moderator Forum Veteran Join Date: Dec 03, 2001 Location: New Jersey Posts: 6,751	It would have went pretty badly I suspect. Now how could they be dogs? The show itself was very three dimensional character-wise, so it would have been hard enough coming up with kid storylines. Were they going to solve crimes at concerts? Fight ghosts? All the while playing cheesey kiddy made up music. (and of course, as dogs, if that was the case). I never heard anything about a cartoon, so it's news to me.

06-28-2008, 07:12 PM	#3
Larry Surrell Ed M. 1918-2006 RIP Forum Regular Join Date: Dec 27, 2003 Location: Thousand Oaks, CA Posts: 702	The Partridge Family and The Brady Bunch both had Saturday morning cartoons too. A WKRP dog cartoon sounds weird!

07-02-2008, 06:28 AM	#6
Lester Member Occasional Poster Join Date: Jun 19, 2008 Location: North-East England Posts: 79	That was my reaction when I saw it mentioned elsewhere. It's a long while since I saw it, and I can't remember where it was, but it was on a site about WKRP. Given that network execs were messing the show about by continually moving it about in the schedules, I wouldn't be at all surprised to find that at a meeting of said persons: "Deeerrr, how we ruin dat show W......K.........arrrrrr.....P....?" "Darrr, we already keep changing da timsel... timesel... derrr... day it on. Der, i have idea. Us'll do cartoon version of it." "Deerr, me like cartoon. Will it have talking dogs? Me like talking dogs!" "Dah, dat good idea. Us'll do dat radio station - me can't remember name - as dogs!"

07-07-2008, 06:18 AM	#7
Lester Member Occasional Poster Join Date: Jun 19, 2008 Location: North-East England Posts: 79	Regarding my original mention about a rumour that WKRP was considered as an animated series, with the characters as dogs, I've lately been looking around some of the websites that I used to get my info from, and sad to say, a lot of them don't seem to exist anymore, so it would seem that the rumour is at best an urban myth. I know that I saw the rumour, hence my comment at the start of this thread, but it's anoying that I can't substantiate it. (Unless it was Les who told me about it!)

07-07-2008, 06:22 PM	#8
jaime_weinman Member Frequent Poster Join Date: Apr 22, 2000 Posts: 122	I can tell you where the story comes from. When the WKRP cast and crew did a panel at the Museum of Television and Radio (as you probably know, MTR does panel discussions for several shows every year; they did WKRP in 1994), they took questions from the audience and one guy in the audience was a former cartoonist for Hanna-Barbera, who said that he had been assigned to do a cartoon series with all the characters as dogs. The panel is available for viewing at the MTR in New York, which is where I saw it. Networks were doing cartoon spin-offs of prime time shows at the time, as you've said, so that's why CBS was considering a Saturday morning cartoon version of WKRP. Either the cartoon idea got dropped, or WKRP was canceled before it could be made; either way, it never happened, but it would have fit right in with "Fonz and the Happy Days Gang" or "Laverne and Shirley in the Army" or the Dukes of Hazzard cartoon.

07-08-2008, 07:38 AM	#9
Lester Member Occasional Poster Join Date: Jun 19, 2008 Location: North-East England Posts: 79	I'm glad you said that. As I said, I saw the rumour on a site years ago, but couldn't find that same site lately. I had a vague idea what the site was called but didn't wish to name it as "Such-and-such website" in case it turned out that I was totally wrong. Thanks for the update. I especially didn't know about Laverne & Shirley being turned into a cartoon.

08-14-2008, 12:26 PM	#10
JMFabiano524 Member Forum Regular Join Date: Jun 04, 2002 Posts: 525	It may have had a chance if it was done like another MTM project in animation: the Carlton Your Doorman pilot. But that would make it adult oriented, so forget that. And yes there was an L&S cartoon...think you can see the opening on YouTube. Shirley, who usually was the sensible one, talks Laverne into joining the Army just so they could meet guys :-)

12-08-2008, 12:43 AM	#12
James28 Member Forum 3000 Club Member Join Date: Apr 14, 2007 Posts: 3,981	I think a WKRP animated series with the main characters as dogs is a messed-up idea.