''The Shnookums and Meat Funny Cartoon Show'' is a half-hour American animated

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 produced by

Walt Disney Television Animation Disney Television Animation (DTVA), formerly known as Walt Disney Pictures Television Animation Group and Walt Disney Television Animation, is the television animation production arm of Disney Branded Television, a sub-division of the Disney Ge ...

and aired in 1995 as a spin-off of the show ''

Marsupilami ''Marsupilami'' is a comic book character and fictional animal species created by André Franquin. Its first appearance was in the 31 January 1952 issue of the Franco-Belgian comics magazine '' Spirou''. Since then it appeared regularly in the ...

'', a spinoff itself of ''

Raw Toonage ''Disney's Raw Toonage'' is a half-hour American Disney animated series that aired on CBS on September 19, 1992. The show was cancelled on December 5 after 12 episodes had been broadcast. '' Bonkers'' and ''Marsupilami'' were spun off from this ...

''. The show represents Disney's attempt to do a more "edgy" cartoon in the vein of

Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (often shortened to Nick) is an American pay television television channel, channel which launched on April 1, 1979, as the first cable channel for children. It is run by Paramount Global through its List of assets owned by Param ...

's ''

The Ren & Stimpy Show ''The Ren & Stimpy Show'' (also known as ''Ren & Stimpy'') is an American animated television series created by Canadian animator John Kricfalusi. Originally produced by Spümcø for Nickelodeon, the series aired from August 11, 1991, to Decemb ...

'' and ''

Rocko's Modern Life ''Rocko's Modern Life'' is an American animated television series created by Joe Murray for Nickelodeon. The series centers on the surreal life of an anthropomorphic Australian immigrant wallaby named Rocko and his friends: the eccentric steer ...

''. Unlike other

Disney Afternoon The Disney Afternoon (later known internally as the Disney-Kellogg Alliance when unbranded), sometimes abbreviated as TDA, was a created-for-syndication two-hour programming block of animated television series. It was produced by Walt Disney Tel ...

cartoons, ''Shnookums & Meat'' only aired once a week, usually Mondays. Only thirteen episodes were produced. Shnookums and Meat have a cameo appearance in the end credits for the 2022 film '' Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers''.

Premise

This animated series actually follows three segment series.

Shnookums & Meat

This segment involves a cat named Shnookums (voiced by

Jason Marsden Jason Christopher Marsden (born January 3, 1975) is an American actor, director, producer and YouTuber, who has done numerous voice roles in animated films, as well as various television series and video games. He has been the official voice of ...

) and a dog named Meat (voiced by

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 ...

) who do not get along very well. Their owners are unseen

stock characters A stock character, also known as a character archetype, is a fictional character in a work of art such as a novel, play, or a film whom audiences recognize from frequent recurrences in a particular literary tradition. There is a wide range of st ...

only viewed from the neck down and named (appropriately enough) Husband & Wife (voiced by

Steve Mackall Stephen James "Steve" Mackall (born December 9, 1959) is a Canadian-American voice actor, voice-over announcer, comedian, director, screenwriter and songwriter. He was known as the voice of NBC's Must See TV, and performed voice of the lead cha ...

and

Tress MacNeille Teressa Claire MacNeille (née Payne; born June 20, 1951) is an American voice actress, whose credits include voicing Dot Warner on the animated television series ''Animaniacs'', Babs Bunny on ''Tiny Toon Adventures'', Chip and Gadget Hackwrench ...

). Husband is always referring to their home as their "

domicile Domicile may refer to: * Home, a place where someone lives * Domicile (astrology) In astrology, a planet's domicile (or less commonly house, not to be confused with the astrological house system) is the zodiac sign over which it has rulership ...

" before the two leave their pets in charge while they are away.

Pith Possum: Super Dynamic Possum of Tomorrow

A spoof of the ''

Batman Batman is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger, and debuted in Detective Comics 27, the 27th issue of the comic book ''Detective Comics'' on ...

'' comics, with the

superhero A superhero or superheroine is a stock character that typically possesses ''superpowers'', abilities beyond those of ordinary people, and fits the role of the hero, typically using his or her powers to help the world become a better place, ...

Pith Possum (voiced by

Jeff Bennett Jeffrey Glenn Bennett (born October 2, 1962) is an American voice actor who voiced Johnny Bravo in the Johnny Bravo, eponymous television series, Dexter's Dad in ''Dexter's Laboratory'', Brooklyn in ''Gargoyles (TV series), Gargoyles'' and List o ...

) and his sidekick Obediah the Wonder

Raccoon The raccoon ( or , ''Procyon lotor''), sometimes called the common raccoon to distinguish it from other species, is a mammal native to North America. It is the largest of the procyonid family, having a body length of , and a body weight of ...

(voiced by

Patric Zimmerman Patric Laine Zimmerman (born October 10, 1954 in Los Angeles, California) is a retired American voice actor. Career Due to Daws Butler's death in 1988, he voiced Elroy Jetson in the 1990 film ''Jetsons: The Movie''. He also did the voices of Au ...

) fighting crime in Possum City when called by the

gorilla Gorillas are herbivorous, predominantly ground-dwelling great apes that inhabit the tropical forests of equatorial Africa. The genus ''Gorilla'' is divided into two species: the eastern gorilla and the western gorilla, and either four or fi ...

Commissioner Stress (voiced by

Brad Garrett Bradley Henry Gerstenfeld (born April 14, 1960), known professionally as Brad Garrett, is an American actor and stand-up comedian. Possessing a distinctive deep voice, he has appeared in numerous television and film roles in both live-action and ...

) and the

monkey Monkey is a common name that may refer to most mammals of the infraorder Simiiformes, also known as the simians. Traditionally, all animals in the group now known as simians are counted as monkeys except the apes, which constitutes an incomple ...

Lieutenant Tension (voiced by

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 ...

). Pith Possum's true identity is lowly tabloid copyboy Peter Possum. Pith Possum fights various enemies with his recurring one being a mad

lumberjack Lumberjacks are mostly North American workers in the logging industry who perform the initial harvesting and transport of trees for ultimate processing into forest products. The term usually refers to loggers in the era (before 1945 in the Unite ...

named Dr. Paul Bunion (voiced by

Jim Cummings James Jonah Cummings (born November 3, 1952) is an American voice actor. Since beginning his career in the 1980s, he has appeared in almost 400 roles. Cummings has frequently worked with The Walt Disney Company and Warner Bros., including as th ...

). Pith Possum (even when in his true identity) also has developed a crush on a female human reporter named Doris Deer (voiced by

April Winchell April Terri Winchell (born January 4, 1960) is an American actress, writer, and radio host. She is prehaps best known as the second and current voice of Clarabelle Cow, having voiced the character since 1996. Early life Winchell was born in 1 ...

) who mostly loves Pith Possum more than his true identity. It was stated in the first episode that Pith Possum was an ordinary lab opossum until he gained ultra opossum-like abilities upon an experiment gone wrong. The titles of the episodes are completely unrelated to their contents but rather (usually) over the top titles always using the word 'dark' or 'darkness' and often with the words 'black' and 'night' (e.g., ''The Phantom Mask of the Dark Black Darkness of Black'', ''Return of the Night of Blacker Darkness'', ''Return of the Dark Mask of Phantom Blackness'', etc.).

provided the narration in most episodes.

Tex Tinstar: The Best in the West

A parody of

Wild West The American frontier, also known as the Old West or the Wild West, encompasses the geography, history, folklore, and culture associated with the forward wave of American expansion in mainland North America that began with European colonial ...

serials involving the

cowboy A cowboy is an animal herder who tends cattle on ranches in North America, traditionally on horseback, and often performs a multitude of other ranch-related tasks. The historic American cowboy of the late 19th century arose from the '' vaquer ...

Tex Tinstar (voiced by

), his

horse The horse (''Equus ferus caballus'') is a domesticated, one-toed, hoofed mammal. It belongs to the taxonomic family Equidae and is one of two extant subspecies of ''Equus ferus''. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million y ...

Here Boy, and Tex's friends Smelly Deputy Chafe (voiced by

Charlie Adler Charles Michael Adler (born October 2, 1956) is an American voice actor and voice director. He is known for his roles as Buster Bunny on ''Tiny Toon Adventures'', Ed and Bev Bighead on ''Rocko's Modern Life'' and Ickis on ''Aaahh!!! Real Monst ...

), Percy Lacedaisy (voiced by

Corey Burton Corey Gregg Weinberg (born August 3, 1955), known professionally as Corey Burton, is an American voice actor. He is the current voice of Captain Hook, Ludwig Von Drake, Dale and others for The Walt Disney Company, Shockwave on '' The Transforme ...

), and Floyd the Insane

Rattlesnake Rattlesnakes are venomous snakes that form the genera ''Crotalus'' and ''Sistrurus'' of the subfamily Crotalinae (the pit vipers). All rattlesnakes are vipers. Rattlesnakes are predators that live in a wide array of habitats, hunting small anim ...

(voiced by

) who always get into trouble when pursuing a group of outlaws called the Wrong Riders consisting of Wrongo (voiced by

), Ian (voiced by

in a homage to

Paul Frees Solomon Hersh "Paul" Frees (June 22, 1920November 2, 1986) was an American actor, comedian, impressionist, and vaudevillian. He is known for his work on Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Walter Lantz, Rankin/Bass, and Walt Disney theatrical cartoons during ...

' character Inspector Fenwick from ''

Dudley Do-Right Dudley Do-Right is a fictional character created by Alex Anderson, Chris Hayward, Allan Burns, Jay Ward, and Bill Scott, who appears as the main protagonist of "Dudley Do-Right of the Mounties", a segment on ''The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show.'' ...

''), and Clem. The end of each episode ends in a cliffhanger for next week (not unlike the Wild West serials or "

Rocky and Bullwinkle ''The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle and Friends'' (commonly referred to as simply ''Rocky and Bullwinkle'') is an American animated television series that originally aired from November 19, 1959, to June 27, 1964, on the ABC and NBC tele ...

").

narrated each installment in a Western accent.

Episodes

Cast

as Chafe, Pearl (in "Dark Quest for Darkness") *

as Pith Possum/Peter Possum, Tex Tinstar *

as Ian, Percy Lacedaisy, Krusty Rustknuckle, Ultra Guy Man Dude (in "The Light of Darkness") *

as Narrator, Dr. Paul Bunion, Mr. Kane, Ralph Bear (in "Return of the Night of Blacker Darkness"), Supper Squirrel (in "Dark of the Darker Darkness"), Caped Cod (in "The Light of Darkness") *

as Commissioner Stress, Wrongo, Super Water Buffalo (in "Son of the Cursed Black of Darkness"), Shirley Pimple (in "Bride of Darkness"),

Santa Claus Santa Claus, also known as Father Christmas, Saint Nicholas, Saint Nick, Kris Kringle, or simply Santa, is a Legend, legendary figure originating in Western Christianity, Western Christian culture who is said to Christmas gift-bringer, bring ...

(in "Jingle Bells, Something Smells") *

as Lieutenant Tension, Floyd the Insane Rattlesnake, Polite Coyotes,

Easter Bunny The Easter Bunny (also called the Easter Rabbit or Easter Hare) is a folkloric figure and symbol of Easter, depicted as a rabbit—sometimes dressed with clothes—bringing Easter eggs. Originating among German Lutherans, the "Easter Hare" orig ...

Imposter (in "Phantom Mask of the Dark Black Darkness of Black"), Al Dog (in "Return of the Night of Blacker Darkness"), Spidey (in "Bride of Darkness"), Power Weasel (in "The Light of Darkness"), Bat Guy (in "The Light of Darkness") *

Bill Kopp William Kopp is an American animator, writer and voice actor. Career Kopp studied animation at the California Institute of the Arts. In 1984, he won a Merit Award from the Student Academy Awards for ''Mr. Gloom''. In 1985, he won a Student Acade ...

as Polite Coyote *

as Husband *

as Wife, Burglar (in "Kung-Fu Kitty"), Cat Girl (in "Step-Ladder to Heaven"), Dog Girl (in "Step-Ladder to Heaven") *

as Shnookums *

as Meat, Flea (in "Bugging Out!"), Elves (in "Jingle Bells, Something Smells"), Fish Monster (in "Something's Fishy"), TV Announcer (in "Night of the Living Shnookums"), Panicking Dog (in "Step-Ladder to Heaven"), Supervisor (in "Step-Ladder to Heaven") *

as Doris Deer, Registration Lady (in "The Light of Darkness"), Wowee Woman (in "The Light of Darkness") *

as Obediah the Wonder Raccoon

Production

''Shnookums and Meat'' was created and written by

, who also created ''

Toonsylvania ''Toonsylvania'' is an American animated television series, which ran for two seasons in 1998 on the Fox Kids, Fox Kids Network block (usually placed in a block called "The No Yell Motel" that contained other scary kids' shows such as ''Goosebumps' ...

'' and ''

Mad Jack the Pirate ''Mad Jack the Pirate'' is an American animated comedy-adventure television series. The show was created by Bill Kopp and was directed by Jeff DeGrandis (who previously worked together on '' Toonsylvania''). On American television, the show was br ...

''. The show was directed by

Jeff DeGrandis Jeffrey Maxwell DeGrandis (born December 1, 1957) is an American animator, director, and producer. Currently he's Executive Producer at Warner Bros Animation on "Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz." Jeff has served as Supervising Producer on ''Dora the ...

. Kopp was the voice of Eek! The Cat and Yuckie Duck from ''

The What-A-Cartoon! Show ''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 ...

'' on

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, Car ...

. The idea for a series starring a cat and dog was pitched to Kopp and DeGrandis by

Greg Weisman Greg Weisman (born September 28, 1963) is an American novelist, writer, producer and voice actor. He is best known as the creator of the animated series '' Gargoyles'', ''The Spectacular Spider-Man'' and ''Young Justice''. Early life and career ...

, a development executive at Walt Disney Television Animation who was also developing '' Gargoyles'' at the time. Disney previously reached out to Carbunkle Cartoons (one of the animation studios that worked on ''

'') to work on the show's animation. but was denied due to their unwillingness to put up the same amount of money that they get from Spumco.

Segments on "Marsupilami"

''Shnookums and Meat'' originated as a segment on Disney's 1993 series ''Marsupilami''. Five episodes were shown on that series, and were later run again as part of the actual ''Shnookums and Meat'' series in 1995. These episodes were: *"Kung-Fu Kitty" *"I.Q. You, Too" *"Night of the Living Shnookums" *"Something's Fishy" *"Jingle Bells, Something Smells"

Broadcast history

The series aired on

The Disney Afternoon The Disney Afternoon (later known internally as the Disney-Kellogg Alliance when unbranded), sometimes abbreviated as TDA, was a created-for-syndication two-hour programming block of animated television series. It was produced by Walt Disney T ...

on Mondays between January 2 to March 27, 1995 in the timeslot normally occupied by '' Bonkers''. Reruns were later shown on

Toon Disney Toon Disney was an American multinational pay television channel owned by Disney Channels Worldwide, a subsidiary of Disney-ABC Television Group. The channel's target audience was children ages 2–11, and children ages 6–13 during the Jetix ...

. The Tex Tinstar segments were shown out of order on the

Disney Channel UK Disney Channel was a British and Irish television kids channel owned and operated by The Walt Disney Company (UK) Ltd. It was aired from 1 October 1995, to 30 September 2020. A one-hour timeshift service called Disney Channel +1 was available o ...

in 2003 to fill the then frequently gapped schedule. The show last aired on Friday, July 6, 2007, on Toon Disney during the Mega Jam block. Following the launch of the

Disney+ The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment Entertainment is a form of activity that holds the attention and interest of an audience or gives pleasure and deligh ...

video on demand streaming service in November 2019, ''Shnookums and Meat'' along with ''

Aladdin Aladdin ( ; ar, علاء الدين, ', , ATU 561, ‘Aladdin') is a Middle-Eastern folk tale. It is one of the best-known tales associated with ''The Book of One Thousand and One Nights'' (''The Arabian Nights''), despite not being part of ...

'' (based on the 1992 film of the same name) are the only Disney Afternoon series not seen yet on the platform.

Reception

Critical Reception

Reviewing the series for ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

'', Scott More found the main ''Shnookums and Meat'' segments to be the weakest, preferring ''Tex Tinstar'' and especially ''Pith Possum'', singling out Jeff Bennett's voice work on both segments for praise. Kenneth M. Chanko of the ''

New York Daily News The New York ''Daily News'', officially titled the ''Daily News'', is an American newspaper based in Jersey City, NJ. It was founded in 1919 by Joseph Medill Patterson as the ''Illustrated Daily News''. It was the first U.S. daily printed in ta ...

'' gave the series a positive review, stating that, while not up to the same standard as series like Warner Bros. Animation's ''

Animaniacs ''Animaniacs'' is an American animated comedy musical television series created by Tom Ruegger for Fox Broadcasting Company's Fox Kids block in 1993, before moving to The WB in 1995, as part of its Kids' WB afternoon programming block, unti ...

'' or Nickelodeon's ''Rocko's Modern Life'', he considered it "a hoot and a half". Evan Levine of the Newspaper Enterprise Association noted that his son liked it, and felt that it had good animation and clever humor, saying, "kids may enjoy the freewheeling mix of physical comedy and silliness." As of May 1995, it was reported that ''Shnookums and Meat'' had a rating of 4.1/16 among kids 2–11, 4.3/18 among kids 6–11, and 1.7/13 among teenagers. Kopp had claimed in an interview with ''Animato!'' that these numbers would've been enough to justify a renewal on a competing network, citing

Fox Kids Fox Kids (originally known as Fox Children's Network and later as the Fox Kids Network; stylized as FOX KIDS) was an American children's block programming, programming block and branding for a slate of international children's television channel ...

as an example. Despite this, it was quietly cancelled after only one season; it was removed from the Disney Afternoon lineup at the start of the 1995–96 television season.

Comparisons

Martin "Dr. Toon" Goodman of ''

Animation World Magazine 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 anim ...

'' described ''The Shnookums and Meat Funny Cartoon Show'' as one of two ''

'' "clones", with the other one being ''

2 Stupid Dogs ''2 Stupid Dogs'' is an American animated television series created and designed by Donovan Cook and produced by Hanna-Barbera Cartoons. It originally ran from September 5, 1993, to May 15, 1995, on TBS as a part of their ''Sunday Morning in Fr ...

''.Cartoons Aren't Real! Ren and Stimpy In Review
" ''Animation World Magazine''. Issue 5.12. March 2001. Retrieved on June 3, 2010.

References

External links

* *
The Shnookums and Meat Funny Cartoon Show at Retrojunk
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shnookums and Meat Funny Cartoon Show, The 1990s American animated television series 1990s American anthology television series 1995 American television series debuts 1995 American television series endings American animated television spin-offs American children's animated anthology television series American children's animated comedy television series Animated television series about cats Animated television series about dogs The Disney Afternoon Disney Channel original programming English-language television shows First-run syndicated television programs in the United States Television series by Disney Television Animation