''Animal Crack-Ups'' is an

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

game show A game show is a genre of broadcast viewing entertainment (radio, television, internet, stage or other) where contestants compete for a reward. These programs can either be participatory or Let's Play, demonstrative and are typically directed b ...

which aired in primetime from August 8 to September 12, 1987, after which it aired on Saturday mornings from September 12, 1987, to December 30, 1989, and again from June 2 to September 1, 1990. It was produced by

ABC Productions Walt Disney Television, formerly American Broadcasting Companies, Capital Cities/ABC and Disney-ABC Television Group has formed a number of production companies over the years. ABC Film Syndication, or ABC Films, was ABC's syndication distributio ...

in association with

Vin Di Bona Productions Vin or VIN may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Vîn TV, a Kurdish language satellite television channel founded in 2007 * ''Vos Iz Neias?'', an American Jewish online news site * Coastal radio station VIN Geraldton (callsign), a stati ...

(both companies also produce ''

America's Funniest Home Videos ''America's Funniest Home Videos'', also called ''America's Funniest Videos'' (abbreviated as ''AFV''), is an American video clip television series on American Broadcasting Company, ABC, based on the Japanese variety show ''Kato-chan Ken-chan Gok ...

'') and hosted by

Alan Thicke Alan Thicke (born Alan Willis Jeffrey; March 1, 1947December 13, 2016) was a Canadian actor, songwriter, and game and talk show host. He is the father of singer Robin Thicke. In 2013, Thicke was inducted into Canada's Walk of Fame. Thicke was be ...

, who was on ''

Growing Pains ''Growing Pains'' is an American television sitcom created by Neal Marlens that aired on ABC from September 24, 1985, to April 25, 1992. The show ran for seven seasons, consisting of 166 episodes. The series followed the misadventures of the Se ...

'' at the time. The program was based on a Japanese

Tokyo Broadcasting System Television JORX-DTV, branded as is the flagship station of the Japan News Network (JNN), owned-and-operated by , a subsidiary of JNN's owner, TBS Holdings. It operates in the Kantō region and broadcasts its content nationally through TBS-JNN Networ ...

series, ''Wakuwaku Dōbutsu Land'' ( わくわく動物ランド). The show's theme song was "Animals Are Just Like People Too", created by Thickovit music (Alan and Todd Thicke and Gary Pickus).Library of Congress. "Animals are just like people too : Theme from Animal crack-ups." Copyright registration PAu001011105.

Gameplay

Four celebrities competed. Host Thicke introduced a video clip about an animal; at some point, the video was paused and Thicke asked a question about the clip. The celebrities give their answers, after which the remainder of the clip was played, revealing the answer. Any celebrities giving the correct answer received a point; score was kept by placing a stuffed animal (a monkey in the first season, a hedgehog in later seasons) in front of the celebrity's podium. Co-host Debi Bartlet provided the stuffed animals. The celeb with the most toy animals/points won the game and $2,500 for their favorite animal

charity Charity may refer to: Giving * Charitable organization or charity, a non-profit organization whose primary objectives are philanthropy and social well-being of persons * Charity (practice), the practice of being benevolent, giving and sharing * Ch ...

. If a tie occurred, the money was split between the charities. On segues to two commercial breaks, a

hedgehog A hedgehog is a spiny mammal of the subfamily Erinaceinae, in the eulipotyphlan family Erinaceidae. There are seventeen species of hedgehog in five genera found throughout parts of Europe, Asia, and Africa, and in New Zealand by introducti ...

puppet A puppet is an object, often resembling a human, animal or Legendary creature, mythical figure, that is animated or manipulated by a person called a puppeteer. The puppeteer uses movements of their hands, arms, or control devices such as rods ...

named "Reggie the Hedgie" (voiced by

Susan Blu Susan Maria Blue, better known as Sue Blu, is an American voice-actress, voice-director, and casting-director in American and Canadian cinema and television. She most notably voiced Arcee in '' The Transformers: The Movie'' and Seasons 3 and 4 of ...

, performed by

Lisa Sturz Lisa or LISA may refer to: People People with the mononym * Lisa Lisa (born 1967), American actress and lead singer of the Cult Jam * Lisa (Japanese musician, born 1974), stylized "LISA", Japanese singer and producer * Lisa Komine (born 1978), ...

) gave animal facts to the home viewers and read home-viewer mail.

International versions

References

External links

Vin Di Bona Productions
*
Clip of the show's theme song with scenes of animals
American children's game shows 1987 American television series debuts 1990 American television series endings 1980s American children's comedy television series 1990s American children's comedy television series 1980s American children's game shows 1990s American children's game shows 1980s American comedy game shows 1990s American comedy game shows American Broadcasting Company original programming American television series based on Japanese television series American television shows featuring puppetry English-language television shows Television series about animals {{US-game-show-stub