''The Pink Panther Show'' is a showcase of animated shorts produced by

David H. DePatie David Hudson DePatie (December 24, 1929 – September 23, 2021) was an American film and television producer who was the last executive in charge of the original Warner Bros. Cartoons studio and the longest-living until his death. He also formed ...

and

Friz Freleng Isadore "Friz" Freleng (August 21, 1905May 26, 1995), credited as I. Freleng early in his career, was an American animator, cartoonist, director, producer, and composer known for his work at Warner Bros. Cartoons on the ''Looney Tunes'' and ...

between 1969 and 1978, starring the

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 ...

Pink Panther ''The Pink Panther'' is an American media franchise primarily focusing on a series of comedy-mystery films featuring an inept French police detective, Inspector Jacques Clouseau. The franchise began with the release of the classic film ''The Pi ...

character from the opening credits of the live-action films. The series was produced by Mirisch Films and DePatie–Freleng Enterprises, and was broadcast Saturday mornings on two American television networks: from September 6, 1969, to September 2, 1978, on NBC; and from September 9, 1978, to August 30, 1980, on ABC.

History

Format

When ''The Pink Panther Show'' first aired in 1969, it consisted of one cartoon featuring The Inspector, sandwiched by two

entries. Due to the number of shorts produced, two episodes feature a

cartoon sandwiched by two Inspector entries. The 30-minute show was then connected via

bumper Bumper or Bumpers may refer to: People * Betty Bumpers (1925-2018), American activist, First Lady of Arkansas, wife of Dale Bumpers * Dale Bumpers (1925–2016), American politician, governor of Arkansas and senator * Bumper Robinson (born 1974) ...

sequences featuring both the panther and Inspector together, with announcer

Marvin Miller Marvin Julian Miller (April 14, 1917 – November 27, 2012) was an American baseball executive who served as the executive director of the Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA) from 1966 to 1982. Under Miller's direction, the players ...

acting as an off-camera narrator talking to the panther. Bumper sequences consisted of newly animated segments as well as recycled footage from existing cartoons ''We Give Pink Stamps'', ''Reel Pink'', ''Pink Outs'' and ''Super Pink'', fitted with new incidental music and voice-over work from Miller. Pink Panther shorts that were produced after 1969 (starting with ''A Fly in the Pink'') were made for both broadcast and theatrical release, typically appearing on television first, and released to theaters by United Artists. A number of new series were created, including the very popular ''

The Ant and the Aardvark ''The Ant and the Aardvark'' is a series of 17 theatrical short cartoons produced at DePatie–Freleng Enterprises, originally released by United Artists and currently distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer from 1969 to 1971. Plot The cartoon se ...

'', ''

Tijuana Toads ''Tijuana Toads'' is a series of 17 theatrical cartoons produced by DePatie–Freleng and released through United Artists. Plot The series was about two toads, El Toro and Pancho, who live in the Mexican city of Tijuana. Throughout the carto ...

'' (a.k.a. Texas Toads), '' Hoot Kloot'', ''

Misterjaw ''Misterjaw'' is a 34-episode cartoon television series, produced at DePatie-Freleng Enterprises in 1976 for '' The Pink Panther Laugh and a Half Hour and a Half Show'' television series on NBC. Reruns continued on the Think Pink Panther Show o ...

'', '' Roland and Rattfink'', ''

The Dogfather The Dogfather was a series of 17 cartoons produced by DePatie–Freleng Enterprises and released between 1974 and 1976. It is the final theatrical cartoon series made by DePatie–Freleng. This cartoon ''The Dogfather'' is the same most of next '' ...

'' and two ''Tijuana Toads'' spinoffs: '' The Blue Racer'' and '' Crazylegs Crane''. ''The New Pink Panther Show'' and later shows featured newly animated bumper segments involving the Panther, the Ant and the Aardvark, Misterjaw, and the Texas Toads. By this time, due to the violent nature of some of the cartoons, they were re-edited for television by omitting the cartoon violent scenes from their broadcasts, in order to make them more family friendly. In 1976, the half-hour series was revamped into a 90-minute format, as ''It's the All New Pink Panther Laugh-and-a-Half Hour-and-a-Half Show Introducing Misterjaw''; this version included a live-action segment, where comedian

Lenny Schultz Lenny Schultz (born December 13, 1933) is an American retired comedian who performed during the 1970s on television and at comedy clubs in New York City. His madcap style of improvisational comedy influenced other comedians such as Gallagher, C ...

would read letters and jokes from viewers. This version performed poorly and eventually reverted to the original 30-minute version in 1977 as ''Think Pink Panther''. After nine years on NBC, the Pink Panther moved to ABC in 1978 and was retitled ''The All New Pink Panther Show'' and ''Pink Panther Encore'', where it lasted two seasons before leaving the network realm entirely. The tenth season featured 16 episodes with 32 new Pink Panther cartoons, and 16 featuring Crazylegs Crane: no bumpers were produced for ''The All New Pink Panther Show'', but 10 second "Stay tuned..." bumpers explaining an upcoming entry were produced for the first several episodes. The 32 ''All New Pink Panther Show'' entries were eventually released to theaters by United Artists.

Theme music

Henry Mancini Henry Mancini ( ; born Enrico Nicola Mancini, ; April 16, 1924 – June 14, 1994) was an American composer, conductor, arranger, pianist and flautist. Often cited as one of the greatest composers in the history of film, he won four Academy Award ...

composed "

The Pink Panther Theme "The Pink Panther Theme" is an jazz composition by Henry Mancini written as the theme for the 1963 film ''The Pink Panther'' and subsequently nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Score at the 37th Academy Awards but lost to the She ...

" for the live action films, which would be used extensively in the cartoon series as well. Doug Goodwin composed the show's opening title music while William Lava and Walter Greene composed music scores heard throughout the cartoons, many of which were variations on Mancini's "Pink Panther Theme".

Laugh track

By the time of the show's 1969 debut, fitting cartoon and children's shows with a laugh track was standard practice. In keeping with this standard, NBC added a laugh track to all seasons of ''The Pink Panther Show'', marking the first time in history that theatrical films were fitted with a laugh track for television broadcast (Season 2 utilized an inferior laugh track, utilizing isolated laugh clips from Season 1). This was an anomaly, as other theatrical cartoon series that were aired successfully on television (i.e. ''

Tom and Jerry ''Tom and Jerry'' is an American animated media franchise and series of comedy short films created in 1940 by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera. Best known for its 161 theatrical short films by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, the series centers on the ...

'', '' Woody Woodpecker'', ''

Looney Tunes ''Looney Tunes'' is an American animated comedy short film series produced by Warner Bros. starting from 1930 to 1969, concurrently with its partner series '' Merrie Melodies'', during the golden age of American animation. ...

'', ''

Popeye Popeye the Sailor Man is a fictional cartoon character created by Elzie Crisler Segar.syndication. Repackaging over the years has resulted in both theatrical and television versions of the entries being available. The exceptions were ''

'' and '' Crazylegs Crane'', which were produced specifically for television and never re-released theatrically, resulting in laughter-only versions. The U.S.-based

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 ...

occasionally airs versions with the laugh track intact, though these versions are more commonly found outside of the U.S. The Spanish language

requires that MGM supply them with laugh track-only versions of all shorts. The

Portuguese language Portuguese ( or, in full, ) is a western Romance languages, Romance language of the Indo-European language family, originating in the Iberian Peninsula of Europe. It is an official language of Portugal, Brazil, Cape Verde, Angola, Mozambique, ...

Boomerang, France-based Gulli, and

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

channels TV 4 and TV6 also broadcast certain entries utilizing laugh track versions.

Incarnations

Over its 10 years on various television networks, ''The Pink Panther Show'' had a variety of names: * ''The Pink Panther Show'' (1969–1970, also considered the umbrella title of the series) * ''The New Pink Panther Show'' (1971–1974) * ''The Pink Panther and Friends'' (1974–1976) * ''It's the All New Pink Panther Laugh-and-a-Half Hour-and-a-Half Show Introducing Misterjaw'' (1976–1977) * ''Think Pink Panther'' (1977–1978) * ''The All New Pink Panther Show'' (1978–1979) * ''Pink Panther Encore'' (1979–1980) * ''The Pink Panther Show'' (1980, Syndicated)

Syndication

United Artists Television syndicated ''The Pink Panther Show'' in 1980, complete with bumpers and laugh-tracked versions of the shorts. By 1982,

MGM Television MGM Television Worldwide Group and Digital (alternatively Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Television Group and Digital, commonly known as MGM Television and then-known as MGM/UA Television; common metonym: Lion) is an American television production/Bro ...

began syndicating some individual cartoons to local stations to air them as they saw fit. This format did not contain the series' bumpers nor the laugh track. The following series were included in MGM Television's syndication package: * '' The Pink Panther'' * '' The Inspector'' * ''

'' * ''

''/''Texas Toads'' * ''

'' (made-for-television series) The following series were not included in the MGM Television distribution package: * '' Roland and Rattfink'' * '' The Blue Racer'' * '' Hoot Kloot'' * ''

'' * '' Crazylegs Crane'' (made-for-television series) Most television stations aired the later package released in 1982, featuring the cartoon shorts by themselves, isolated from the show's original bumpers sequences. The laugh track was also silenced on all entries except for ''Misterjaw''.

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

-based

WGN-TV WGN-TV (channel 9) is an Independent station (North America), independent television station in Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, United States. Owned by Nexstar Media Group, it is sister station, sister to the company's sole radio property, talk ra ...

was one of the few stations to air the 1980 ''The Pink Panther Show'' syndication package. Conversely,

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

-based

WPIX WPIX (channel 11) is a television station in New York City. Owned by Mission Broadcasting, it is operated under a local marketing agreement (LMA) by Nexstar Media Group, making it a ''de facto'' owned-and-operated station and flagship of ...

featured a stripped-down version of the shorts, airing the entries without the laugh track, bumpers, or theatrical opening/closing credits.

Reruns

''The Pink Panther Show'' (1969–1971) and ''The New Pink Panther Show'' (1971–1974) has been remastered in its original format. It was previously shown on

BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream a ...

UK Gold Gold is a British pay television channel from the UKTV network that was launched in late 1992 as UK Gold before it was rebranded UKTV Gold in 2004. In 2008, it was split into current flagship channel Gold and miscellaneous channel, W, with clas ...

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, ...

(2000–2009) and

Cartoon Network Cartoon Network (often abbreviated as CN) is an American cable television channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. It is a part of The Cartoon Network, Inc., a division that also has the broadcasting and production activities of Boomerang, ...

(1993–2002). In the late 2000s, it aired in Canada on Teletoon Retro weekday mornings at 8:00am. Teletoon Retro showed all 32 episodes of ''The Pink Panther Show'' with the panther and the Inspector, all 17 episodes of ''The New Pink Panther Show'' with the panther and the Ant and the Aardvark, and select episodes of the first syndicated ''Pink Panther Show'' series (only those episodes with the middle cartoon being an Ant and Aardvark). Teletoon Retro then showed all 16 episodes of ''The All New Pink Panther Show'', with the panther and Crazylegs Crane. The laugh track is muted for most entries. The episodes shown on Teletoon Retro also featured remastered versions, while the wrap-around content was in rougher condition. The Inspector cartoon, ''Tour de Farce'', had the wrong title card, that for ''Reaux, Reaux, Reaux Your Boat''.

reran ''The Pink Panther Show'' from 1997 to 1999, and intermittently in 2006, 2009, and 2012. A " no-frills" version aired on

five days a week at 5:30am, 10am and 2:30pm;; the Boomerang version included four shorts and no bumpers, in the style of its other theatrical-short compilation shows. Until August 2009, Boomerang only featured shorts from ''The Pink Panther'', ''The Ant and the Aardvark'' and ''The Inspector''. The laugh track was present on several entries. Currently, the show remains intact on the Spanish Language Boomerang TV channel with most entries containing their original laugh track. The Pink Panther show aired on Boomerang from 2004 to 2012. In the Arab world, it was shown on Spacetoon from 2014 to 2017, due to Spacetoon airing The Pink Panther and low reception from Spacetoon viewers. The show also previously aired in its original format on

This TV This TV (also known as This TV Network and alternately stylized as thisTV) is an American free-to-air television network owned by Allen Media Broadcast Networks, LLC, part of the Allen Media Group division of Entertainment Studios. Originally f ...

on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 8:30am

Eastern Time The Eastern Time Zone (ET) is a time zone encompassing part or all of 23 states in the eastern part of the United States, parts of eastern Canada, the state of Quintana Roo in Mexico, Panama, Colombia, mainland Ecuador, Peru, and a small ...

(as part of its Cookie Jar Toons programming block) until September 22, 2011. The digital broadcast network Light TV ran the series when the network launched Christmas weekend 2016 until September 29, 2019. On June 1, 2020 to May 29, 2022, the show aired for the first time in Spanish on

Galavisión Galavisión is an American Spanish-language pay television network owned by TelevisaUnivision. The network is unrelated to the earlier Mexican channel of the same name, though both broadcast Televisa-produced programming. As of February 2015 ...

, known as ''El show de la Pantera Rosa''. MeTV currently reruns the show under the name Pink Panther's Party, during their Saturday morning block, ''Saturday Morning Cartoons'', from 7:30 am to 8:00 am ET/ 6:30 to 7:00 am CT following Popeye and Pals, which currently airs from 7:00 am to 7:30 am ET/ 6:00 am to 6:30 am CT. The show is collectively called Popeye and Pink Panther's Party, combining Popeye and Pals and Pink Panther's Party into a single show. Panthermobile

Cast

* Rich Little as Pink Panther *

Daws Butler Charles Dawson Butler (November 16, 1916May 18, 1988) was an American voice actor. He worked mostly for the Hanna-Barbera animation production company where he originated the voices of many familiar characters, including Yogi Bear, Huckleberry H ...

as Pug, Louie * John Byner as Charlie Ant, Blue Aardvark * Larry D. Mann as Blue Racer, Crazylegs Crane *

Frank Welker Franklin Wendell Welker (born March 12, 1946) is an American voice actor. He began his career in the 1960s, and holds over 860 film, television, and video game credits as of 2022, making him one of the most prolific voice actors of all time. With ...

as Crazylegs Crane Jr., Dragonfly * Paul Frees as Narrator, Texan hunter * Don Diamond as Toro *

Pat Harrington, Jr. Daniel Patrick Harrington Jr. (August 13, 1929 – January 6, 2016) was an American Emmy Award-winning stage and television actor, best known for his role as building superintendent Dwayne Schneider on the sitcom '' One Day at a Time'' (1975� ...

as The Inspector * Bob Holt as Hoot Kloot, Hoot Kloot's Horse, Dogfather * Arte Johnson as Misterjaw * Bob Ogle as Harry Halibut * Arnold Stang as Catfish * Lennie Weinrib as Roland, Rattfink * Paul Winchell as Fearless Freddy *

Don Messick Donald Earle Messick (September 7, 1926 – October 24, 1997) was an American voice actor. He was best known for his performances in Hanna-Barbera cartoons. His best-remembered vocal creations include Scooby-Doo, Bamm-Bamm Rubble and Hoppy in ...

as Sergeant Deux-Deux

Series overview

''The Pink Panther Show'' (1969–1970)

The first season of ''The Pink Panther Show'' (1969–1970) consisted of one ''The Inspector'' entry sandwiched by two ''Pink Panther'' entries. The show was "hosted" by The Pink Panther and The Inspector, seen during the opening sequence, which showed a boy driving the ''Panthermobile'' from the countryside to

Grauman's Chinese Theatre Grauman's Chinese Theatre (branded as TCL Chinese Theatre for naming rights reasons) is a movie palace on the historic Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6925 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, United States. The original Chinese ...

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywoo ...

. During the journey, images of animals mentioned in the song (

rhinoceros A rhinoceros (; ; ), commonly abbreviated to rhino, is a member of any of the five extant species (or numerous extinct species) of odd-toed ungulates in the family Rhinocerotidae. (It can also refer to a member of any of the extinct specie ...

, tiger, cats,

American mink The American mink (''Neogale vison'') is a semiaquatic species of mustelid native to North America, though human intervention has expanded its range to many parts of Europe, Asia and South America. Because of range expansion, the American mink i ...

) are seen alongside clips of the panther from ''Reel Pink'', ''Come On In! The Water's Pink'' and ''Put Put Pink''. Upon arrival, the Pink Panther and the Inspector then disembark from the Panthermobile and enter the famous theatre. In the ending credits, the Inspector climbs back into the Panthermobile, but leaves the Pink Panther behind, who is seen chasing after the car. The entries utilized for the second season featured complete original theatrical titles. With only two exceptions, the first and third cartoons of each episode were Pink Panthers, and second was an Inspector. In the two exceptions, the first and third cartoons were Inspectors, and the middle one was a Pink Panther. Unlike Season 1, a full laugh track was not used but rather an abridged version using isolated laughs from Season 1 edited onto the soundtrack by DFE (these inferior versions currently in circulation are marked with †).kevinmccorrytv.ca
/ref> Seasons 1 and 2 were repackaged as a single Season 1 in the 2000s.

Season 1 (1969–1970)

Season 2 (1970–1971)

''The New Pink Panther Show'' (1971–1974)

''The New Pink Panther Show'' (1971–1974) featured a new opening and closing sequence and theme song, pitting the attention-seeking Aardvark against the panther. The show's new title song, "Pantherly Pride", was written by Doug Goodwin and played over the opening sequence. This incarnation aired ''The Ant and the Aardvark'' during the 1971–1972 season. Later seasons swapped ''The Ant and the Aardvark'' with theatrical series' ''Roland and Rattfink'', ''Hoot Kloot'' or ''The Blue Racer'', as well as reruns of ''The Inspector''. Only eight new ''Pink Panther'' cartoons were produced over this three-year period (in Bold).

''The Pink Panther and Friends'' (1974–1976)

''The Pink Panther and Friends'' (1974–1976) followed the same format as ''The New Pink Panther Show''. The first Pink Panther entry was a new episode, while the second was a rebroadcast of an old entry. Bumpers featuring ''The Inspector'' and ''The Ant and the Aardvark'' connected the three entries. New series ''The Dogfather'' (originally produced for theatrical release) was also added to broadcasts, in addition to ''The Blue Racer'' or ''Hoot Kloot''.

''The Pink Panther Laugh-and-a-Half Hour-and-a-Half Show'' (1976–1977)

''The Pink Panther Laugh-and-a-Half Hour-and-a-Half Show'' was an attempt by DFE to revamp the traditional format of three entries airing in a 30-minute format. The show was expanded to 90 minutes, and included a live-action segment featuring comedian

reading letters and jokes from viewers. The show also featured two new made-for-television series, a first for the franchise: the ''Texas Toads'' (a redubbed version of the theatrical ''

'' series), and ''

''. New bumper sequences featuring both the Texas Toads and Misterjaw were created for the series. These new entries were aired in combination with rebroadcasts of ''The Pink Panther'', ''The Inspector'' and ''The Ant and the Aardvark''. ''The Pink Panther Laugh-and-a-Half Hour-and-a-Half Show'' did not do well in the ratings, so it lasted only one season.

''Think Pink Panther'' (1977–1978)

The final series broadcast on NBC, ''Think Pink Panther'' reverted to the traditional 30-minute format and consisted of rebroadcasts. No new cartoons were created for this show. The layout of the closing credits was based on ''The New Pink Panther Show.''

''The All New Pink Panther Show'' (1978)

''The All New Pink Panther Show'' (1978) was a new version of the series commenced after NBC's broadcast of the series ended its nine-year run. For its tenth season, ABC picked up the series and requested 32 new made-for-television ''Pink Panther'' shorts, along with 16 entries for the new ''Crazylegs Crane'' segment. A disco-flavored rendition of Henry Mancini's "Pink Panther Theme" was used for the opening and closing credits, with the closing credits featuring Pink Panther disco-dancing. "Stay Tuned" bumpers were produced for seven episodes as well."BBC Two Listings: The All New Pink Panther Show"
/ref>

''Pink Panther Encore'' (1979–1980)

For its 11th and final season, DFE repackaged pre-1978 entries for a total of 52 episodes. No new cartoons were created for this show.

''The Pink Panther Show'' (1980, syndicated)

United Artists Television syndicated a weekday 30-minute Pink Panther show in 1980, complete with bumpers and laugh-tracked versions of the shorts. A new opening sequence preceding the show featured Henry Mancini's "Pink Panther Theme" played under a segment from ''Pink Outs'' featuring the Pink Panther folding the backdrop into a square to be eaten. The closer featured the last few seconds of the theme played under a scene from ''Reel Pink'' featuring the panther water skiing. UATV created two versions of the syndication package. The first consisted of ''The Pink Panther'', ''Inspector'', ''The Ant and the Aardvark'' and ''Texas Toads'' entries sourced from film elements utilized during the program's original network run. The second version consisted of ''The Pink Panther'', ''The Ant and the Aardvark'' and ''Misterjaw'' entries sourced from new prints of the original film negatives and transferred to videotape, resulting in sharper images. As ''The Pink Panther'' and ''The Ant and the Aardvark'' entries were sourced using theatrical prints (sans laugh track), a new, less invasive laugh track being employed on sitcoms at the time was added to the soundtrack for consistency to match the made-for-television ''Misterjaw'' entries and bumper sequences that retained their respective laugh-tracked soundtracks. The second version also incorporated several of the made-for-television ''Pink Panther'' entries from ''The All New Pink Panther Show''. Pre-1978 ''Pink Panther'' and ''Ant and the Aardvark'' entries featured shorter opening titles with introduction music from either ''The New Pink Panther Show'' (1971–1974) or ''The All New Pink Panther Show'' (1978–1979). Closing credits featuring the Pink Panther disco dancing from ''The All New Pink Panther Show'' closed out the episodes.

Version 1

Version 2

Spanish versions

Other versions of ''The Pink Panther Show'' have been seen and aired only in Spanish.

References

External links

* * * Charles Brubaker'
DePatie-Freleng Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pink Panther Show, The 1969 American television series debuts 1980 American television series endings 1960s American animated television series 1970s American animated television series 1980s American animated television series 1960s American anthology television series 1970s American anthology television series 1980s American anthology television series American children's animated anthology television series American children's animated comedy television series American television series with live action and animation Animated television series about mammals English-language television shows Television series by DePatie–Freleng Enterprises Television series by United Artists Television