Duckman

Duckman: Private Dick/Family Man
Genre
Created by Everett Peck
Based on Duckman
by Everett Peck
Developed by
Starring
Country of origin United States
No. of seasons 4
No. of episodes 70 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)
Producer(s)
Running time 22.23 minutes
Production company(s)
Distributor CBS Television Distribution
Release
Original network USA Network
Original release March 5, 1994 (1994-03-05) – September 6, 1997 (1997-09-06)

Duckman: Private Dick/Family Man (commonly known as Duckman) is an American adult animated sitcom that aired on the USA Network from March 5, 1994 through September 6, 1997.[1] It was created and developed by Everett Peck.[2] The sitcom is based on characters created by Peck in his 1990 one-shot comic book Dark Horse. [3][4] Anivision and its parent Sunwoo Entertainment animated the series and was produced by Klasky Csupo and Reno & Osborn Productions for Paramount Television. It marks Klasky Csupo's second adult-oriented television series after the first three seasons of The Simpsons on the Fox Broadcasting Company. Years later after it came out, Peck went on to create Squirrel Boy on Cartoon Network from 2006 to 2007.

Premise

Left to right: Duckman, Bernice, Ajax, Gecko, Charles, Mambo, "Grand-Ma-Ma" and Cornfed.

The series centers on Eric T. Duckman (voiced by Jason Alexander),[5] a widowed, lewd, self-hating, egocentric anthropomorphic duck who lives with his family in Los Angeles (as mentioned in the episode "Bev Takes a Holiday") and works as a private detective. The tagline of the show, seen in the opening credits, is "Private Dick/Family Man" ("dick" is a triple entendre).

Main characters include Cornfed (voiced by Gregg Berger), a pig who is Duckman's Joe Friday–esque business partner and best friend, Ajax (voiced by Dweezil Zappa), Duckman's eldest, mentally-slow teenage son; Charles (voiced by Dana Hill and later Pat Musick) and Mambo (voiced by E. G. Daily), Duckman's Conjoined twin child genius sons whose heads share a body; Bernice (voiced by Nancy Travis), Duckman's sister-in-law and the identical twin of Beatrice who is a fanatic fitness buff and hates Duckman with a passion; Grandma-ma (voiced by Travis), Duckman's comatose, immensely flatulent mother-in-law; Agnes Delrooney (voiced by Brian Doyle-Murray), Grandma-ma's doppelgänger who kidnaps her and poses as her for several episodes; Fluffy and Uranus (voiced by Pat Musick), Duckman's two Care Bear-esque teddy-bear office assistants.

Recurring characters include George Herbert Walker "King" Chicken (voiced by Tim Curry), a supervillain who schemes to ruin Duckman's life; Beatrice (voiced by Travis), Duckman's first wife who was believed to be killed in an accident; Beverly (voiced by Travis), Beatrice and Bernice's long-lost sister; and Gecko, Duckman's pet dog.

In the final episode, four couples (Dr. Stein/Dana Reynard, Duckman/Honey, King Chicken/Bernice, Cornfed/Beverly) get married – the last three in a joint ceremony. The kids, Fluffy and Uranus, and a number of characters from previous episodes are in attendance. As the ceremonies draw to a close, Beatrice (Duckman's supposedly deceased wife) appears and shocks the entire crowd. When Duckman asks how she can still be alive, Beatrice indicates Cornfed always knew. Cornfed says, "I can explain." The show then ends with "To be continued...?" superimposed on the screen. In regards to this cliffhanger, Duckman writer Michael Markowitz offered the following shortly after the series came to an end: "We never formally planned Part II... and I'll never tell what I personally had in mind. I'm hoping to leave it to my heirs, for the inevitable day when Duckman is revived by future generations."[6] On August 13, 2015, Markowitz posted on his Twitter page in response to a question from a fan about the cliffhanger, "Was then (& now) an #XFiles fan (bride in ep was Dana Reynard, a Mulder-Scully hint) so involved gov't coverup of aliens".[7]

Production

The series consists of 70 episodes that aired on Saturday nights from 1994 to 1997 on the USA Network. In the United Kingdom it aired on Sky 1 and in Canada it is a former program on MTV2 and Teletoon. The initial showrunners were Peck, Reno and Osborn, and the show was produced in association with Paramount Network Television. The animation was produced by Klasky Csupo.[8] In later years, the show running duties went to David Misch and Michael Markowitz. Creator and executive producer Everett Peck was with the show for its entire run. Producer Gene Laufenberg was with the show for most of its run. Scott Wilk and Todd Yvega created original music for the series, including the theme.[9] The first season also featured excerpts from Frank Zappa's published catalog.

Guest stars/additional voices

The show regularly featured high-profile guest stars and additional voices, including:[10]

Comic books

Between 1994 and 1996 various comic books were published by Topps based on the TV series. [11]

Video game

In May 1997, a point-and-click adventure computer game, Duckman: The Graphic Adventures of a Private Dick, was released for Microsoft Windows. In it, Duckman has become a famous detective, and a television series based on him is about to debut, but someone is pushing Duckman out of his own life, and replacing him with a bigger, better, heroic Duckman. The player's goal is to help Duckman get rid of the impostor and reclaim his rightful place.

Episodes

SeasonEpisodesOriginally aired
First airedLast aired
113March 5, 1994 (1994-03-05)June 11, 1994 (1994-06-11)
29March 11, 1995 (1995-03-11)May 8, 1995 (1995-05-08)
320January 6, 1996 (1996-01-06)July 6, 1996 (1996-07-06)
428January 4, 1997 (1997-01-04)September 6, 1997 (1997-09-06)

Home media

In January 2008, TVShowsonDVD.com reported that Duckman would be coming to region 1 DVD.[12] Details followed in May, when it was announced that the first release in the series would be the first two seasons, 22 combined episodes on three discs, on September 16, 2008.[13] The final two seasons, 48 episodes, were released on a seven-disc set on January 6, 2009.[14] Both DVD sets were released by CBS DVD/Paramount Home Entertainment. With the DVD releases, many episodes were edited to remove copyrighted music and as a result they differ somewhat from the aired TV episodes. The Complete Series was released on February 6, 2018.[15]

Title Season(s) Episode count Release date
Volume 1: The Complete First and Second Seasons 1, 2 22 September 16, 2008
This three-disc release contained the entire first two seasons.
Volume 2: The Complete Third and Fourth Seasons 3, 4 49 January 6, 2009
This seven-disc release contained the entire final two seasons.
The Complete Series 1-4 71 February 6, 2018
This ten-disc release contained the entire series.

Reception

In January 2009, IGN listed Duckman as the 48th best in the Top 100 Best Animated TV Shows.[1] The show was critically acclaimed.[16][17][18]

Episodes "T.V. or not to Be", "Noir Gang", and "Duckman and Cornfed in Haunted Society Plumbers" were nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program in 1994, 1996, and 1997, respectively.[19]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "Top 100 animated series". IGN. Retrieved October 19, 2010.
  2. ↑ "Duckman: Seasons Three and Four". DVD Talk. Retrieved August 22, 2010.
  3. ↑ https://www.lambiek.net/artists/p/peck_everett.htm
  4. ↑ Mendoza, N.F. (March 5, 1995). "WITH ON EYE ON... : 'Duckman's' Dweezil Zappa is a dude who just wants to have fun--a lot". The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved November 10, 2010.
  5. ↑ "Duckman - Seasons One & Two". DVD Talk. Retrieved August 22, 2010.
  6. ↑ "To Be DIScontinued! - The Hall of Unresolved TV Cliffhangers: 1996-2000". Members.tripod.com. 1998-09-21. Retrieved 2015-03-07.
  7. ↑ "Twitter page of Michael Markowitz". twitter.com. 2015-08-13. Retrieved 2017-03-05.
  8. ↑ "The rugrats' real mom and dad". Business Week. Archived from the original on December 7, 2010. Retrieved August 28, 2010.
  9. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on May 23, 2011. Retrieved January 14, 2008.
  10. ↑ "Duckman - All Seasons". TV.com.
  11. ↑ https://www.lambiek.net/artists/p/peck_everett.htm
  12. ↑ "Duckman DVD news: Plans Announced for Duckman". TVShowsOnDVD.com. Archived from the original on April 2, 2015. Retrieved March 7, 2015.
  13. ↑ "Duckman DVD news: Announcement for Duckman - Seasons 1 and 2". TVShowsOnDVD.com. May 28, 2008. Archived from the original on October 17, 2015. Retrieved March 7, 2015.
  14. ↑ "Duckman DVD news: Update about Duckman - Seasons 3 & 4". TVShowsOnDVD.com. September 14, 2008. Archived from the original on April 2, 2015. Retrieved March 7, 2015.
  15. ↑ "Duckman - 'The Complete Series' on DVD from CBS/Paramount: Date and Package Art Look for all 4 seasons to come together in one set in early February". TVShowsOnDVD.com. November 13, 2017. Archived from the original on November 14, 2017. Retrieved November 13, 2017.
  16. ↑ O'Connor, John J. (1996-03-09). "TELEVISION REVIEW - 'Madison County' Spoof From a Cartoon Duck". NYTimes.com. Retrieved 2015-03-07.
  17. ↑ Hiltbrand, David. "Picks and Pans Review: Duckman". People.com. Retrieved 2015-03-07.
  18. ↑ Winistorfer, Andrew. "Duckman: Seasons Three and Four". PopMatters. Retrieved 2015-03-07.
  19. ↑ "Duckman". Emmys. Retrieved 2016-09-29.
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