Total Television was an American animation studio founded in 1959 by
Buck Biggers, Chester "Chet" Stover,
[p.478 Erickson,Hal ''Television Cartoon Shows: An Illustrated Encyclopedia, 1949 through 2003'' McFarland & Co., 2005] Joe Harris,
and
Treadwell D. Covington.
[ They were executives in the advertising agency ]Dancer Fitzgerald Sample
Dancer Fitzgerald Sample (DFS and later DFS-Dorland) was a Madison Avenue advertising agency during the 20th century. It was founded in Chicago in 1923, and was acquired and merged into the Saatchi & Saatchi network in the 1980s.
History
The ag ...
who had the account for the General Mills
General Mills, Inc., is an American multinational manufacturer and marketer of branded processed consumer foods sold through retail stores. Founded on the banks of the Mississippi River at Saint Anthony Falls in Minneapolis, the company orig ...
food corporation. Total was formed to create cartoon characters encouraging children to buy General Mills breakfast cereals and other products. The company mostly created cartoons for television networks such as NBC. ''Underdog
An underdog is a person or group in a competition, usually in sports and creative works, who is largely expected to lose. The party, team, or individual expected to win is called the favorite or top dog. In the case where an underdog wins, the ...
'', ''King Leonardo and His Short Subjects
''King Leonardo and His Short Subjects'' (also known as ''The King and Odie Show'') is a 1960–1963 American Saturday-morning animated television series that aired on NBC, sponsored by General Mills. It was created by Total Television (which wou ...
'', and ''Tennessee Tuxedo and His Tales
''Tennessee Tuxedo and His Tales'' is an animated television series that originally aired Saturday mornings on CBS from 1963 to 1966 as one of the earliest Saturday morning cartoons. It was produced by Total Television, the same company that prod ...
'' were among the most popular series made by the studio.
Production and Shows
The studio produced animated series from 1959 to 1969 at Gamma Productions, a primitive start-up company, which was contracted to produce the animation for Jay Ward Productions
Jay Ward Productions, Inc. (sometimes shortened to Ward Productions) is an American animation studio based in Costa Mesa, California. It was founded in 1948 by American animator Jay Ward.
The Jay Ward Productions library and rights were previou ...
' output. Ward was never satisfied with the work performed at Gamma.
Gamma Productions is the animation studio who is notable for their work on ''Underdog'' (1964), ''Tennessee Tuxedo and His Tales'' (1963), ''Commander McBragg'' (1963) and ''Go Go Gophers'' (1964).
*''Cocoa Puffs
Cocoa Puffs is an American brand of chocolate-flavored puffed grain breakfast cereal, manufactured by General Mills. Introduced in 1956, the cereal consists of small orbs of corn and rice flavored with cocoa. Cocoa Puffs have the same shape as K ...
'' commercials (1960-1969)
*''King Leonardo and His Short Subjects
''King Leonardo and His Short Subjects'' (also known as ''The King and Odie Show'') is a 1960–1963 American Saturday-morning animated television series that aired on NBC, sponsored by General Mills. It was created by Total Television (which wou ...
'' (1960–1963)
*''The Hunter'' (1960–1963)
*''Commander McBragg
Commander McBragg is a cartoon character who appeared in short segments (usually 90 seconds) produced by Total Television Productions and animated by Gamma Productions. These segments first appeared in 1963 on the animated series ''Tennessee Tuxedo ...
'' (1963–1965)
*''Go Go Gophers
''Go Go Gophers'' is an animated series set in the Old West that appears as a 4-5 minute long segment within 48 episodes of the ''Underdog'' TV series. It was then spun off as a separate series on CBS that aired from September 14, 1968 to Septembe ...
'' (1964-1966)
*''Klondike Kat ''Klondike Kat'' was a cartoon produced by Total Television and originally aired as part of '' The Beagles'' on CBS-TV in 1966, and later found in the U.S. syndicated ''Underdog'' and ''Tennessee Tuxedo'' cartoon series, in between episodes as an a ...
'' (1963–1965)
*''Tennessee Tuxedo and His Tales
''Tennessee Tuxedo and His Tales'' is an animated television series that originally aired Saturday mornings on CBS from 1963 to 1966 as one of the earliest Saturday morning cartoons. It was produced by Total Television, the same company that prod ...
'' (1963–1966)
*'' The Beagles'' (1966–1967)
*''The Sing A Long Family'' (1962)
*''Tooter Turtle
''Tooter Turtle'' is a cartoon about a turtle that first appeared on TV in 1960, as a segment of the ''King Leonardo and His Short Subjects'' program. "Tooter Turtle" debuted on NBC, on Saturday, October 15, 1960, and ran for 39 original episodes t ...
'' (1960–1962)
*''Twinkles the Elephant'' (1960–1967)
*''Underdog
An underdog is a person or group in a competition, usually in sports and creative works, who is largely expected to lose. The party, team, or individual expected to win is called the favorite or top dog. In the case where an underdog wins, the ...
'' (1964–1967)
*''Gene Hattree'' (1964)
*''Cauliflower Cabby'' (1964)
*''The Colossal Show '' (1964)
Much of Total Television's library for post-network syndication was handled by The Program Exchange
The Program Exchange was a syndicator of television programs. It was founded as DFS Program Exchange in 1978, which became elongated to the DFS-Dorland Program Exchange from 1986 to 1987. From 1986 to 2008, it was a division of Saatchi & Saatchi ...
, until the company shut down in 2016. The rights are currently owned by DreamWorks Classics
Classic Media, LLC, doing business as DreamWorks Classics, is an American entertainment company owned by DreamWorks Animation, which is a subsidiary of Universal Pictures and a division of Comcast's NBCUniversal. It was founded as Classic Medi ...
/DreamWorks Animation
DreamWorks Animation LLC (DWA, also known as DreamWorks Animation Studios and simply known as DreamWorks) is an American animation studio that produces animated films and television programs and is a subsidiary of Universal Pictures, a division ...
(via Universal Pictures
Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Ameri ...
and NBCUniversal
NBCUniversal Media, LLC is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate corporation owned by Comcast and headquartered at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, United States.
NBCUniversal is primari ...
).
Notes
External links
"Whatever Happened to Total TeleVision productions?," ''Hogan's Alley'' #15, 2009
Further reading
* Mark Arnold (historian);
American animation studios
Television production companies of the United States
Defunct mass media companies of the United States
Entertainment companies based in New York City
Entertainment companies established in 1959
Mass media companies established in 1959
Mass media companies disestablished in 1969
1959 establishments in New York (state)
1969 disestablishments in New York (state)
DreamWorks Classics
General Mills
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