''Cow and Chicken'' is an American

animated Animation is a method by which still figures are manipulated to appear as moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Today, most ani ...

comedy Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. The term o ...

television series created by

David Feiss David Feiss (born 1959) is an American animator, writer, director, and storyboard artist.Lenburg, Jeff, ''Who's Who in Animated Cartoons: An International Guide to Film & Television'' (Applause Theater & Cinema Books, 2006), 80. Feiss began his ca ...

for Cartoon Network and distributed by

Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution Warner Bros. Television Studios (operating under the name Warner Bros. Television; formerly known as Warner Bros. Television Division) is an American television production and distribution studio of the Warner Bros. Television Group division of ...

. It is the third of the network's

Cartoon Cartoons Cartoon Cartoons is a collective name used by Cartoon Network for their original animated television series originally aired between 1995 and 2003 and produced in majority by Hanna-Barbera and/or Cartoon Network Studios. Beginning with its incept ...

. It follows the

surreal Surreal may refer to: *Anything related to or characteristic of Surrealism, a movement in philosophy and art * "Surreal" (song), a 2000 song by Ayumi Hamasaki * ''Surreal'' (album), an album by Man Raze *Surreal humour, a common aspect of humor ...

adventures of two

talking animal A talking animal or speaking animal is any non-human animal that can produce sounds or gestures resembling those of a human language. Several species or groups of animals have developed forms of communication which superficially resemble verbal ...

siblings, Cow and Chicken. They are often antagonized by the Red Guy, a cartoon version of the

Devil A devil is the personification of evil as it is conceived in various cultures and religious traditions. It is seen as the objectification of a hostile and destructive force. Jeffrey Burton Russell states that the different conceptions of ...

who poses as various characters to scam them. The original pilot appeared as an episode of the animation showcase series ''

What a Cartoon! ''What a Cartoon!'' (later known as ''The What a Cartoon! Show'' and ''The Cartoon Cartoon Show'') is an American animated anthology series created by Fred Seibert for Cartoon Network. The shorts were produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions; by ...

''. The popularity of the original short allowed Hanna-Barbera to give it the green light for a full series, which premiered on July 15, 1997. Originally, ''Cow and Chicken'' was attached to another segment called ''

I Am Weasel ''I Am Weasel'' is an American animated television series created by David Feiss for Cartoon Network and produced at Hanna-Barbera. It is the fourth of the network's Cartoon Cartoons. The series centers on I. M. Weasel (voiced by Michael Dorn), a ...

'', which was later spun-off into its own half-hour series on June 10, 1999. The series was produced by Hanna-Barbera Cartoons. In fact, along with ''

'', it is the last original Cartoon Network show to be entirely produced by Hanna-Barbera Cartoons. It was nominated for two Emmy Awards.

Premise

The series focuses on the misadventures of two unlikely yet somehow biological siblings: the sweet-natured, dim, ecstatic, anthropomorphic 7-year-old Cow and her cynical 11-year-old older brother Chicken (both voiced by Charlie Adler). The two are often caught in escapades with their flamboyant enemy, the Red Guy (Adler), a comical version of

the Devil Satan,, ; grc, ὁ σατανᾶς or , ; ar, شيطانالخَنَّاس , also known as the Devil, and sometimes also called Lucifer in Christianity, is an entity in the Abrahamic religions that seduces humans into sin or falsehood ...

himself who disguises himself under various personas to attempt to either scam them or take them to Hell. Supporting characters include Chicken and Cow's

delirious Delirious may refer to: * A state of delirium Film and television * Delirious (1991 film), ''Delirious'' (1991 film), an American comedy directed by Tom Mankiewicz, starring John Candy * Delirious (2006 film), ''Delirious'' (2006 film), an Americ ...

human parents Dad and Mom (

Dee Bradley Baker Dee Bradley Baker (born August 31, 1962) is an American voice actor. Much of Baker's work features vocalizations of animals and monsters. Baker's roles include animated series such as ''Avatar: The Last Airbender'', '' Codename: Kids Next Door'', ...

and

Candi Milo Candyce Anne Rose "Candi" Milo (born January 9, 1961) Timestamps: (00:27:12-00:27:45) Milo states that she is "firmly 51". (00:06:40-00:06:47) Milo states that she was born in Palm Springs. (00:16:23-00:16:25) She says her birthday is in Januar ...

, respectively), only seen from the waist down and implied to have no torsos, heads, or arms; Chicken's best friends Flem (

Howard Morris Howard Jerome Morris (September 4, 1919 – May 21, 2005) was an American actor, comedian, and director. He was best known for his role in ''The Andy Griffith Show'' as Ernest T. Bass, and as "Uncle Goopy" in a celebrated comedy sketch on Sid Ca ...

) and Earl (

Dan Castellaneta Daniel Louis Castellaneta (; born October 29, 1957) is an American actor, comedian, and writer. He is best known for voicing Homer Simpson on the animated series ''The Simpsons'' (as well as other characters on the show such as Abraham "Grampa" ...

); and their

cousin Most generally, in the lineal kinship system used in the English-speaking world, a cousin is a type of familial relationship in which two relatives are two or more familial generations away from their most recent common ancestor. Commonly, ...

, Boneless Chicken (Adler). Cow has her favorite dolls, Crabs the Warthog, Piles the Beaver, and Manure the Bear, who is a polar bear. The series draws on eccentric, surreal, grotesque, and repulsive humor. For example, Cow and Chicken always order "pork butts and taters" in the cafeteria, the Red Guy always shows his butt, and characters often pepper their speech with malapropisms and sarcasm. The humor and storylines depicted are often based on traditional childhood worries, anxieties, or phobias such as

cooties Cooties is a fictitious childhood disease, commonly represented as childlore. It is used in the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the Philippines as a rejection term and an infection tag game (such as Humans vs. Zombies). It ...

or venturing into the girls' restroom, but enhanced comically. Many of the slapstick antics involve the main characters getting physically abused.

Production

Development

David Feiss first created ''Cow and Chicken'' as a story for his daughter. Feiss was an animator who had worked with Hanna-Barbera and related projects since 1978. Years later, Feiss was called to submit ideas for ''

'', a series of various animated shorts from numerous creators and writers, created by Hanna-Barbera president

Fred Seibert Frederick (Fred) Seibert (born September 15, 1951) is an American television producer, co-founder of MTV and the CEO of FredFilms, an animation production company based in Burbank, California. His official biography states he has led five (working ...

. Feiss submitted three ideas to executive producer

Larry Huber Lawrence "Larry" Huber (born May 6, 1946) is an American television producer, writer, and animator who is known for his long history as a producer at Hanna-Barbera, Ruby-Spears, and Nickelodeon. Huber began his animation career in 1969 while work ...

, one of which was ''Cow and Chicken''. Cow and Chicken premiered on ''What a Cartoon!'' in 1995. Later, Hanna-Barbera decided to turn ''Cow and Chicken'' into a full series, following many letters from fans asking for more.

Voice actors

A single actor, Charlie Adler, voiced the three leading roles of Cow, Chicken, and the Red Guy. Supporting voices included

and

as Mom and Dad, and

and

as Earl and Flem. Guest stars included Feiss,

Will Ferrell John William Ferrell (; born July 16, 1967) is an American actor, comedian, and producer. He first established himself in the mid-1990s as a cast member on the NBC sketch comedy show '' Saturday Night Live'', where he performed from 1995 to 2 ...

Carlos Alazraqui Carlos Jaime Alazraqui (born July 20, 1962) is an American actor, stand-up comedian, impressionist, producer, and screenwriter. He is best known for his role as Deputy James Garcia on '' Reno 911!'' and for his voice acting roles. His extensive ...

Tom Kenny Thomas James Kenny (born July 13, 1962) is an American actor and comedian. He is known for voicing the titular character in ''SpongeBob SquarePants'' and associated media. Kenny has voiced many other characters, including Heffer Wolfe in '' ...

Jill Talley Jill Talley (born December 19, 1962) is an American actress and comedian. She is a main cast member on the animated series ''SpongeBob SquarePants'', in which she voices Karen Plankton. Her other voice roles include Sarah Dubois on Adult Swim's ...

Dom DeLuise Dominick DeLuise (August 1, 1933 – May 4, 2009) was an American actor, comedian, director, producer, chef, and author. Known primarily for his comedic performances, he rose to fame in the 1970s as a frequent guest on television variety shows ...

Michael Gough Francis Michael Gough ( ; 23 November 1916 – 17 March 2011) was a British character actor who made more than 150 film and television appearances. He is known for his roles in the Hammer Horror Films from 1958, with his first role as Sir Arthu ...

Mark Hamill Mark Richard Hamill (; born September 25, 1951) is an American actor and writer. He is known for his role as Luke Skywalker in the ''Star Wars'' film series, beginning with the original 1977 film and subsequently winning three Saturn Awards f ...

Jess Harnell Jess Harnell (born December 23, 1963) is an American voice actor and singer. His notable roles include Captain Hero in the animated TV series ''Drawn Together'', Wakko Warner in ''Animaniacs'', Ironhide in the first three ''Transformers'' films ...

Pamela Adlon Pamela Fionna Adlon (; ; born July 9, 1966) is an American actress. She is known for voicing Bobby Hill in the animated comedy series ''King of the Hill'' (1997–2010), for which she won a Primetime Emmy Award. She also voiced Baloo in ''Jungl ...

, and many others.

Episodes

''Cow and Chicken'' has a total of 52 episodes in 4 seasons that were produced from July 1997 to July 1999. Each half-hour contains 2 ''Cow and Chicken'' and 1 ''I Am Weasel'' segment. ''Cow and Chicken'' premiered as a full half-hour on July 15, 1997. The series ran for 52 episodes through 1999. As a supporting segment, the show included a cartoon called ''I Am Weasel''; this segment was spun off as an independent series that premiered on June 10, 1999. Typically, an episode would consist of two seven-minute ''Cow and Chicken'' shorts playing back-to-back, then followed by a seven-minute ''I Am Weasel'' short before the end credits. The exception to this structure was episode 105 ("The Ugliest Weenie"), which had the ''Weasel'' short ("I Are Big Star") play in-between the two ''Cow and Chicken'' shorts, possibly because said shorts were one storyline.

"Buffalo Gals" controversy

The second season segment "Buffalo Gals", first paired with "Cow and Chicken Reclining", was banned by Cartoon Network after receiving one letter of complaint from a parent about the episode's visual and verbal innuendo about the titular biker group being lesbians. In the segment, the Buffalo Gals break into people's homes to chew on the carpet, a biker named Munch Kelly has a carpet swatch for a calling card, and when Dad freaks out over the Buffalo Gals in the house, Mom says, "They're not after you." In addition, the Buffalo Gals play softball and talk about pitching and catching. Although "Buffalo Gals" only aired once on June 27, 1998, "Buffalo Gals" has been replaced with "Orthodontic Police" in future airings, including on

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...

streaming and reruns on

Boomerang A boomerang () is a thrown tool, typically constructed with aerofoil sections and designed to spin about an axis perpendicular to the direction of its flight. A returning boomerang is designed to return to the thrower, while a non-returning b ...

. The episode was also discussed on an installment of

Rob Paulsen Robert Frederick Paulsen III (born March 11, 1956) is an American voice actor, known for his roles in numerous animated television series and films. He received a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Performer in an Animated Program and three Anni ...

's ''Talkin' Toons'' special featuring ''Cow and Chicken'' creator David Feiss and voice actor Charlie Adler when an audience member asked why "Buffalo Gals" only aired once.

Awards and nominations

Other media

Cow makes a cameo in the beginning of ''

The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy ''The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy'' is an American animated television series created by Maxwell Atoms for Cartoon Network and distributed by Warner Bros. Domestic Television. It follows Billy, an extremely dimwitted, happy-go-lucky boy, an ...

'' episode "Herbicidal Maniac" giving General Skarr fertilizer. During the '' Mad'' episode "Once Upon a Toon", Cow and Chicken are among the classic cartoon characters reunited in a spoof of ABC's ''

Once Upon a Time "Once upon a time" is a stock phrase used to introduce a narrative of past events, typically in fairy tales and folk tales. It has been used in some form since at least 1380 (according to the ''Oxford English Dictionary'') in storytelling in the ...

''. The two main characters, Cow and Chicken, made cameo appearances as aliens in '' Ben 10: Omniverse''. They were the second Cartoon Network characters to make cameo appearances in the ''Ben 10'' franchise, Billy from ''

'' being the first. Adler reprised his roles for the cameo. In the '' OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes'' episode "'' Crossover Nexus''", Chicken and I.M. Weasel (with

Michael Dorn Michael Dorn (born December 9, 1952) is an American actor best known for his role as the Klingon Worf in the '' Star Trek'' franchise. He has appeared more times as a regular cast member than any other ''Star Trek'' actor in the franchise's histo ...

reprising his role as Weasel for a speaking cameo) made cameo appearances as two of the Cartoon Network heroes that were summoned by Strike, and also Cow (as SuperCow) appears as one of the Cartoon Network heroes that

Ben Tennyson Benjamin Kirby "Ben" Tennyson, commonly known as Ben 10, is a fictional superhero and the title protagonist of the ''Ben 10'' franchise. An initially normal 10-year-old boy, until, during his summer vacation, he encountered the Omnitrix, an alien ...

(''

Ben 10 ''Ben 10'' is an American media franchise created by Man of Action Studios, produced by Cartoon Network Studios and owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The series centers on a boy named Ben Tennyson who acquires the Omnitrix, an alien device rese ...

'') shapeshifts into.

Home media

''Cow and Chicken: Season 1'', a two-disc set featuring the complete first season which contains 13 complete episodes, was released by

Madman Entertainment Madman Entertainment Pty. Ltd., also known as Madman Films, is an Australian distribution and rights management company headquartered in East Melbourne, Victoria, specialising in feature films, documentaries and television series across theatr ...

in Australia ( Region 4

PAL Phase Alternating Line (PAL) is a colour encoding system for analogue television. It was one of three major analogue colour television standards, the others being NTSC and SECAM. In most countries it was broadcast at 625 lines, 50 fields (25 ...

) on September 12, 2007. ''Season 2'' came out on February 10, 2010, by the same company in Australia. The entire series got partially released on DVD in Thailand as 4 season sets, containing Thai and English audio, with the segment "Buffalo Gals" banned from these releases. The video game ''

Cartoon Network Racing ''Cartoon Network Racing'' is a racing video game developed by Eutechnyx for PlayStation 2 and Firebrand Games for Nintendo DS, published by Danish video game developer The Game Factory, and released on December 4, 2006, in North America, and on ...

'' contains the episodes "Black Sheep of the Family" and "Child Star" (PS2 version only) as unlockable extras. All 4 seasons were released on iTunes and Amazon as of August 16, 2018. American releases * ''Cartoon Network Halloween - 9 Creepy Capers'': "Cow with Four Eyes" (August 10, 2004) * ''Cartoon Network Christmas - Yuletide Follies'': "Me an' My Dog" (October 5, 2004)

Video games

Cow, Chicken, and the Red Guy are playable characters in the 2006

racing game Racing games are a video game genre in which the player participates in a racing competition. They may be based on anything from real-world racing leagues to fantastical settings. They are distributed along a spectrum between more realistic rac ...

'', which released on the

PlayStation 2 The PlayStation 2 (PS2) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on 4 March 2000, in North America on 26 October 2000, in Europe on 24 November 2000, and in Australia on 3 ...

and

Nintendo DS The is a handheld game console produced by Nintendo, released globally across 2004 and 2005. The DS, an initialism for "Developers' System" or "Dual Screen", introduced distinctive new features to handheld games: two LCD screens working in tan ...

. The PlayStation 2 version includes Flem and Earl as playable characters. Cow/Supercow, Chicken, and the Red Guy are playable characters in the

kart racing Kart racing or karting is a road racing variant of motorsport with open-wheel, four-wheeled vehicles known as go-karts or shifter karts. They are usually raced on kart circuit, scaled-down circuits, although some professional kart races are als ...

video game ''

Cartoon Network Speedway ''Cartoon Network Speedway'' is a kart racing video game released for the Game Boy Advance in 2003. Published by Majesco Entertainment and developed by DC Studios, the game features characters from Cartoon Network's original animated television s ...

'', which released on the

Game Boy Advance The (GBA) is a 32-bit handheld game console developed, manufactured and marketed by Nintendo as the successor to the Game Boy Color. It was released in Japan on March 21, 2001, in North America on June 11, 2001, in the PAL region on June 22, 2 ...

in North America on November 17, 2003. In the online video game ''

FusionFall ''Cartoon Network Universe: FusionFall'' was a massively multiplayer online game developed by Cartoon Network and South Korean studio Grigon Entertainment and released on January 14, 2009. ''FusionFall'' used the Unity engine as its client techn ...

'', one of the character items is based on ''Cow and Chicken''. Cow and Chicken's cousin, Boneless Chicken, can also be seen on a billboard in the game. Though not in the game, Cow is seen as Supercow as a statue at Mt. Neverest.

Notes

References

External links

* at Cartoon Network's Department of Cartoons () * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cow And Chicken 1997 American television series debuts 1999 American television series endings 1990s American animated television series 1990s American surreal comedy television series American children's animated adventure television series American children's animated comedy television series Animated television series about children Animated television series about siblings Animation controversies in television Best Animated Short Subject Annie Award winners Cartoon Cartoons Cartoon Network original programming Comedy franchises Cross-dressing in television Fiction about the Devil Fictional duos English-language television shows LGBT-related controversies in animation LGBT-related controversies in television LGBT-related controversies in the United States Television controversies in the United States Television series about cattle Television series about chickens Television series by Hanna-Barbera Television series created by David Feiss