''Garbage Pail Kids'' is an American

animated series An animated series is a set of animated works with a common series title, usually related to one another. These episodes should typically share the same main characters, some different secondary characters and a basic theme. Series can have eith ...

which was produced in 1987, based on the ''

Garbage Pail Kids ''Garbage Pail Kids'' is a series of sticker trading cards produced by the Topps Company, originally released in 1985 and designed to parody the ''Cabbage Patch Kids'' dolls, which were popular at the time. Each sticker card features a Garbage P ...

'' trading cards, produced and directed by Bob Hathcock and co-written and developed by

Flint Dille Flint Dille (born November 3, 1955) is an American screenwriter, game designer and novelist. He is best known for his animated work on ''Transformers'', '' G.I. Joe'', '' An American Tail: Fievel Goes West'', and his game-writing, '' The Chronicl ...

. Due to controversial themes, it did not air in the United States. However, it did air in certain countries around the world, including in Europe and the Caribbean.

Synopsis

The series stars the characters Split Kit, Elliot Mess, Terri Cloth, Patty Putty, and Clogged Duane as gross looking kids with abilities to help others. In the first two episodes, they have normal alter-egos, which transform into their "Garbage Pail" identities; later episodes show them exclusively in their Garbage Pail looks (it is never explained if their Garbage Pail personae became permanent). The show also features

parodies A parody, also known as a spoof, a satire, a send-up, a take-off, a lampoon, a play on (something), or a caricature, is a creative work designed to imitate, comment on, and/or mock its subject by means of satiric or ironic imitation. Often its sub ...

of popular movies of the era like the '' Indiana Jones'' series, '' Superman'', ''

Conan the Barbarian Conan the Barbarian (also known as Conan the Cimmerian) is a fictional sword and sorcery hero who originated in pulp magazines and has since been adapted to books, comics, films (including '' Conan the Barbarian'' and '' Conan the Destroyer'') ...

'', ''

King Kong King Kong is a fictional giant monster resembling a gorilla, who has appeared in various media since 1933. He has been dubbed The Eighth Wonder of the World, a phrase commonly used within the franchise. His first appearance was in the novelizat ...

'', and '' The Fly''. It also has segments between stories, such as "Garbage Pail Groaners" (jokes) and "Would We Lie To You?" (facts).

Cast

Main

* Tara Charendoff – Patty Putty (episodes 1–13), Still Jill (episode 3), Carly Cuts (episode 5) * Cree Summer – Clogged Duane (episodes 1–13), Trashed Tracy (episode 1), Squishy (episode 2), Plain Jane (episode 3), Heartless Hal (episode 10), *

Noam Zylberman Noam Zylberman (born June 30, 1973) is an Israeli-born Canadian voice actor. Early life Zylberman was born in Haifa, Israel to Jewish parents. His family relocated to Canada when he was two years old. He attended Arlington Middle School and ...

– Split Kit (episodes 1–13), Idaho Spud (episode 3), The Sturgeon General (episode 3) * Michael Fantini – Elliot Mess (episodes 1–13), Clint Hardwood (episode 2), Colonel Corn (episode 3) * Alyson Court – Terri Cloth (episodes 2–5, 7–13), Belle Button (episode 2), Lois Lamebrain (episode 7), Fay Hooray (episode 8) *

Len Carlson Len Carlson (September 2, 1937 – January 26, 2006) was a Canadian voice actor who has voiced various characters on many animated television series from the 1960s onward, an occasional live-action TV actor, and a Kraft Canada TV pitchman duri ...

– Announcer (episodes 1–13), Dan Rattle (episodes 1 and 4)

Episodes

DVD release

Paramount Home Entertainment Paramount Home Entertainment (formerly Paramount Home Media Distribution, and originally Paramount Home Video) is the home video distribution arm of Paramount Pictures, a division of Paramount Global. The division oversees PPC's home entertainme ...

released ''Garbage Pail Kids: The Complete Series'' on DVD in Region 1 on April 4, 2006.

Controversy

The

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

television network directly produced the series, and ordered an entire season, heavily promoting it in the run-up to the 1987–88 season. However, it was abruptly pulled a few days before its debut, and (just like ''

Little Muppet Monsters ''Little Muppet Monsters'' is a Saturday morning television series featuring the Muppets that aired three episodes on CBS in 1985. The first season of '' Muppet Babies'' did so well in the ratings, that CBS decided to expand the series from a h ...

'') was replaced with an extra half hour of '' Muppet Babies'', which was expanded to 90 minutes in order to fill the time-slot after ''Garbage Pail Kids'' was pulled from the schedule. CBS removed the series from their schedule, following protests from

Action for Children's Television Action for Children's Television (ACT) was founded by Peggy Charren, Lillian Ambrosino, Evelyn Kaye Sarson and Judy Chalfen in Newton, Massachusetts, USA, in 1968 as a grassroots, nonprofit child advocacy group dedicated to improving the quali ...

, the National Coalition on Television Violence, and the Christian Leaders for Responsible Television (a part of the American Family Association). The reasons given were that the series ridiculed the disabled and glorified violence, along with the claim that the program was effectively program-length ads for the toys and cards of the ''Garbage Pail Kids''. Some advertisers, such as

Nabisco Nabisco (, abbreviated from the earlier name National Biscuit Company) is an American manufacturer of cookies and snacks headquartered in East Hanover, New Jersey. The company is a subsidiary of Illinois-based Mondelēz International. Nabisco's ...

McDonald's McDonald's Corporation is an American multinational fast food chain, founded in 1940 as a restaurant operated by Richard and Maurice McDonald, in San Bernardino, California, United States. They rechristened their business as a hambur ...

and

Crayola Crayola LLC, formerly the Binney & Smith Company, is an American manufacturing company specializing in art supplies. It is known for its brand ''Crayola'' and best known for its crayons. The company is headquartered in Forks Township, Pennsylva ...

also pulled out, either due to pressure from interest groups, or because they were unable to pre-screen the series from advanced tapes. A few CBS affiliates, such as

WIBW-TV WIBW-TV (channel 13) is a television station in Topeka, Kansas, United States, affiliated with CBS and owned by Gray Television. The station's studios are located on Commerce Place (next to the interchange of I-70, I-470, US 40, US 75 and K-4) ...

Topeka, Kansas Topeka ( ; Kansa: ; iow, Dópikˀe, script=Latn or ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of Kansas and the seat of Shawnee County. It is along the Kansas River in the central part of Shawnee County, in northeast Kansas, in the Central U ...

; KOTV in

Tulsa, Oklahoma Tulsa () is the second-largest city in the state of Oklahoma and 47th-most populous city in the United States. The population was 413,066 as of the 2020 census. It is the principal municipality of the Tulsa Metropolitan Area, a region with ...

and

KREM-TV KREM (channel 2) is a television station in Spokane, Washington, United States, affiliated with CBS. It is owned by Tegna Inc. alongside CW affiliate KSKN (channel 22). Both stations share studios on South Regal Street in the Southgate ne ...

Spokane, Washington Spokane ( ) is the largest city and county seat of Spokane County, Washington, United States. It is in eastern Washington, along the Spokane River, adjacent to the Selkirk Mountains, and west of the Rocky Mountain foothills, south of the Cana ...

made known they would not carry the series on their stations, notifying CBS of their pre-emptions weeks in advance of the debut. Despite not airing in the United States, the series did air in numerous other countries, including

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

, and the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

, among others.

References

External links

*
Retro Junk – ''Garbage Pail Kids''
{{Children's programming on CBS in the 1980s 1987 American television series debuts 1988 American television series endings 1980s American animated television series American children's animated comedy television series Animated television series about children Animation controversies in television English-language television shows Television controversies in the United States Television series by CBS Studios Television series based on works Works based on trading cards Television series created by Flint Dille