# Buzz Potamkin

Marshall "Buzz" Potamkin (November 22, 1945 – April 22, 2012) was an American television producer and director known for founding his own television advertisement production studio, Perpetual Motion Pictures aka Buzzco Associates, and helping to establish Southern Star Productions. Along with advertisements, Potamkin focused on producing made-for-television animation, beginning with several television films based on the Berenstain Bears series of children's books. He went on to produce series for Turner Entertainment and, more specifically, Cartoon Network, including every episode of Cartoon Network's animated showcase series, What a Cartoon!, a project developed for aspiring animators to make pilot shorts that the network could choose to develop into full-fledged series.
Over the course of his 36-year career in animation, Potamkin was nominated for 3 Primetime Emmy Awards, 2 Daytime Emmy Awards, and 1 CableACE Award.

## Career

Potamkin is known for founding Perpetual Motion Pictures (later called Buzzco Associates) with Candy Kugel and Vincent Cafarelli in 1968, which led to the production of hundreds of television advertisements, including the Hawaiian Punch series, MTV's "Top of the Hour" (the moon man), and MTV's "I Want My MTV" campaign. He also established the companies Southern Star Productions, Visionary Media, and Project X and produced the animated specials The Berenstain Bears' Christmas Tree in 1979 and Cartoon All-Stars to the Rescue in 1990, among others.
After working at The Walt Disney Company for a short period in 1991, Potamkin was hired by Fred Seibert as Hanna-Barbera Cartoons' Executive Producer & Head of TV, where he oversaw all the studio's output and produced shorts for Cartoon Network's What a Cartoon! series through 1996.
Potamkin died from pancreatic cancer on April 22, 2012, and was survived by his wife Rosie.

## Filmography

| Year | Work | Credit | Notes |
| 1979 | The Berenstain Bears' Christmas Tree | Producer | TV movie |
| 1980 | The Berenstain Bears Meet Bigpaw | Producer | TV movie |
| 1981 | Strawberry Shortcake in Big Apple City | Producer | TV short |
| 1981 | The Berenstain Bears' Easter Surprise | Producer | TV movie |
| 1982 | The Berenstain Bears' Comic Valentine | Producer | TV movie |
| 1983 | The Berenstain Bears Play Ball | Producer | TV movie |
| 1983 | Deck the Halls with Wacky Walls | Producer | TV movie |
| 1985 | ABC Weekend Special | Supervising producer | Episode "The Velveteen Rabbit" |
| 1985 | The Berenstain Bears Show | Producer/director | TV series |
| 1985–88 | CBS Storybreak | Supervising producer | TV series |
| 1986–87 | Teen Wolf | Executive producer | TV series |
| 1988 | Mad Scientist | Producer | Video short |
| 1989 | Marvin: Baby of the Year | Producer/director | TV short |
| 1990 | Fox's Peter Pan & the Pirates | Executive producer | TV series |
| 1990 | Cartoon All-Stars to the Rescue | Producer | TV short |
| 1992 | The Addams Family | Executive producer | TV series |
| 1993 | SWAT Kats: The Radical Squadron | Executive producer | TV series |
| 1993 | The Halloween Tree | Executive producer | TV movie |
| 1993–95 | 2 Stupid Dogs | Executive producer | TV series |
| 1993–96 | Captain Planet and the Planeteers | Executive producer | TV series |
| 1994 | Scooby-Doo! in Arabian Nights | Executive producer | TV movie |
| 1994 | A Flintstones Christmas Carol | Executive producer | TV movie |
| 1995–97 | What a Cartoon! | Executive producer | TV series (shorts) |
| 1995 | Daisy-Head Mayzie | Executive producer | TV short |
| 1995 | Aaron's Magic Village | Producer | (U.S. version) |
| 1995 | Jonny Quest vs. The Cyber Insects | Executive producer | TV movie |
| 1996 | Dexter's Laboratory | Executive producer | TV series |
| 1996 | Big Bag | Executive producer | TV series |
| 1996–97 | The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest | Executive producer | TV series |
| 1997; 2004 | Johnny Bravo | Executive producer | TV series |
| 1997; 2004 | South Park | Producer/directed | TV series, uncredited |
| 1998 | Buster & Chauncey's Silent Night | Producer/director | Video |

## Accolades

| Year | Award | Category | Work | Shared with | Result |
| 1986 | Daytime Emmy Awards | Outstanding Animated Program | CBS Storybreak | Paul Bogrow, Steve Lumley, Allan Stevens, and Chris Cuddington | Nominated |
| 1988 | Daytime Emmy Awards | Outstanding Animated Program | CBS Storybreak | Paul Bogrow and Gordon Kent | Nominated |
| 1995 | CableACE Awards | Children's Special or Series - 6 and Younger | Daisy-Head Mayzie | Audrey Geisel, Christopher O'Hare, and Margot McDonough | Won |
| 1995 | Primetime Emmy Awards | Outstanding Animated Program (for Programming One Hour or Less) | Daisy-Head Mayzie | Audrey Geisel, Christopher O'Hare, Tony Collingwood, and Dr. Seuss | Nominated |
| 1995 | Primetime Emmy Awards | Outstanding Animated Program (for Programming One Hour or Less) | Dexter's Laboratory | Genndy Tartakovsky and Larry Huber for "Changes" | Nominated |
| 1996 | Primetime Emmy Awards | Outstanding Animated Program (for Programming One Hour or Less) | Cow and Chicken | Larry Huber, David Feiss, Pilar Menendez, and Sam Kieth for "No Smoking" | Nominated |