Cow and Chicken

From Free net encyclopedia

Template:Infobox television

Cow and Chicken is an American animated television series, created by David Feiss, first broadcast on the Cartoon Network from 1997 to 2001. The series shows the adventures of a cow, conveniently named Cow, and her brother Chicken (who is a chicken), who are often tormented by the Red Guy, a usually naked devil-like character who poses as various characters to scam them. Usually the Red Guy's pseudonyms are puns on his naked appearance (i.e. Dr. Hiney Bottoms, Officer Pantsoffski, Baron von Neinlederhosen, Ben Panced, Mrs. Bare-Derrier). Like Dexter's Laboratory, the original pilot appeared as an episode of the series What-A-Cartoon!. Before they got their own series, I Am Weasel was partially aired as an under-series. In the episode where Weasel finds out everyone's watching his life Cow and Chicken are seen watching both him and later Baboon's show being aired. This may be the reason why The Red Guy appears in both cartoons, with the same attributes.

Cartoons frequently have a bizarre scenario – in this case a brother and sister who are a chicken and a cow, but have human parents. Creators are faced with the question of whether and how to explain this scenario. Sometimes opening credits are cumbersome vehicles for an origin story. David Feiss approached this problem with gusto: an opening song goes Mama had a chicken/Mama had a cow/Dad was proud/He didn't care how. This is all that is ever offered in explanation, though there is one hint in that the children have a cousin Boneless, who is a boneless chicken (unable to walk or get up from the floor); one segment also showed the supposed ghosts of a pair of Cow and Chicken's ancestors, a male farmer and a female chicken. The episodes take the scenario and run with it with a manic energy that is also seen in cartoons like Ren and Stimpy. Many of the jokes use adult humor, thus making the show very controversial. Image:Cow and Chicken No Smoking Poster.jpg The series draws on the clichés of cartoons. For example, Cow has an alter-ego Supercow, who is a superhero with different chararactistics to her normal character (such as flight, and the ability to speak Spanish); and the Red Guy tries in vain to discover Supercow's secret identity even as he torments Cow. The children seem unable to enter water without inadvertently doing so in the proximity of a large and dangerous waterfall. The children's parents, who are called Mom and Dad, exist only from the waist down, and can be seen to stop at the waist (whenever their shadows appear, they are cut off at the waist). This is an obvious homage to Mammy-Two-Shoes of Tom and Jerry, who was Tom's African-American owner who was only seen from the waist down.

In some episodes, the missing upper bodies are used as a gag. For example in one episode, the cartoon "camera" accidentally zooms out too far, and shows Mom and Dad cut off at the waist. In another episode, Cow and Chicken search through a closet by throwing out everything inside, and for a small moment, the upper (human) bodies of Mom and Dad are visible as part of a discarded science project by cow.

A single actor, Charlie Adler, voiced all three of the leading parts. While this practice was commonplace in cartoons of the 1940s and 1950s, thanks to the talents of Mel Blanc, it is much rarer in work of the 1990s. Other actors provided supporting voices, however, including Dan Castellaneta (Earl), the voice of Homer Simpson.

Contents

[edit]

Voice Actors and their characters

[edit]

Characters

Image:Cow.JPGImage:Chicken.JPGImage:Red Guy.JPG

  • Cow: The main character and Chicken's sister
  • Chicken: Cow's brother and he is a bully
  • Red Guy: Cow and Chicken's arch nemesis
  • Flem: Chicken's best friend and he and his father both have glasses
  • Earl: Chicken's friend who's full name is Earhole.
  • Dad: Cow and Chicken's father (a not completely unseen character)
  • Mom: Cow and Chicken's mother (a not completely unseen character)
  • Teacher: Cow and Chicken's female teacher whose first name is unknown
  • Larry: The nerd at school
  • Principal: Cow and Chicken's principal
  • Grandma: Mom's mother and Cow and Chicken's grandmother
  • Black Sheep: Cow and Chicken's cousin.
  • Cousin Boneless: Cow and Chicken's cousin. A chicken who has no bones.
[edit]

Writers

  • Larry Huber
  • John Mclntyre
  • Nora Johnson
  • Greg Emison
  • Genndy Tartakovsky
  • Monte Young
  • Seth Macfarlane
  • Michael Ryan
  • Richard Pursel
  • Pat Ventura
  • David Feiss
  • Bill Burnett
  • Steve Marmel
  • Maxwell Atoms
  • Sherri Schrader
  • Pilar Feiss
  • Scott Morse
  • Jeff Kwitney
  • Victor Ortado
  • Vincent Davis
  • Gary Wilson
  • Fred Belford
  • Gordon Coulthart
  • Sami Rank
[edit]

Directors

  • Bill Reed
  • Robert Alvarez
  • Rumen Petkov
  • Monte Young
  • Bob Jaques
  • Frank Weiss
  • Brian Hogan
  • David Feiss
  • Ron Myrick
  • Robin Steele
  • Deane Taylor
  • Robin Steel
  • Michael Longden
  • David Brain
  • Joey Banaszkiewicz
[edit]

Titles in other languages

See also: I Am Weasel.

[edit]

External links

nl:Cow and Chicken pl:Krowa i Kurczak zh:鸡与牛 Template:Cartoon Cartoons

Retrieved from "http://www.netipedia.com/index.php/Cow_and_Chicken"