Woody Woodpecker

The Woody Woodpecker Show was a long-running 30-minute American television series mainly composed of animated cartune escapades of the world-famous woodpecker and other Walter Lantz characters, including Andy Panda and Chilly Willy released by Walter Lantz Productions. The series was revived and reformatted several times, but has remained popular for nearly four decades and allowed the studio to continue making theatrical cartoons until 1972 when it shut down. It also kept the Walter Lantz/Universal "cartunes" made during the Golden Age of American animation a part of the American consciousness. The Woody Woodpecker Show was named the 88th best animated series by IGN.
==Show Description==
*Movie theater owners in the 50's were finding that they could release features with reissued cartoons, or no cartoons at all, and the audiences would still come. Because of the practice, the theatrical cartoon business was suffering and losing money. By 1956 there were only seven animation producers in the short-subjects business, and by the end of the decade that number would dwindle down to three. Walter Lantz and his distributor, Universal Pictures, knew that the only way to subsidize the rising costs of new shorts was to release their product to television. Norman Gluck from Universal's short-subjects department made a deal with the Leo Burnett Agency to release some older Lantz product on television. Burnett handled the Kellogg's cereal account, and Lantz soon met with the Kellogg's people to sign the contract. Lantz admitted that he was only working in the medium because he was "forced into TV" and "cartoons for theaters would soon be extinct."
The Woody Woodpecker Show debuted on ABC on the afternoon of October 3, 1957. The series was seen weekly on Thursday afternoons, replacing the first half hour of the shortened Mickey Mouse Club. Lantz integrated his existing cartoons with new live action footage, giving the show an updated look that satisfied both viewers and Lantz himself. The live action & animation segments created for the show, called ‘A Moment with Walter Lantz’, featured an informative look at how the animation process for his “cartunes” worked as well as how the writers came up with stories and characters. The live-action segments were directed by Jack Hannah, who was fresh from the Disney Studio where he had done similar live-action/animation sequences for the Disney show.
After the initial year on ABC, The Woody Woodpecker Show was syndicated until 1966. The “A Moment with Walter Lantz” segments were eventually replaced with "Woody's Newsreel" and "Around The World with Woody" which used footage of Universal Newsreels and featured voice-over commentary by Walter Lantz and Woody Woodpecker. In 1970, the show reappeared on network television, with 26 additional episodes assembled by Lantz for NBC. The show ran on NBC until September 2, 1972, which is the same year the Walter Lantz Productions studio shut down. The show was revived again on September 11, 1976. 1976 show featured cartoons from 1940 to 1965. The show ended its network run on September 3, 1977. Local stations continued to air The Woody Woodpecker Show for the next several years.
In 1984, Lantz sold everything outright to MCA/Universal. Though Lantz did remain active in overseeing how Universal handled his characters (for merchandise, TV, home video, theme parks, limited edition cels, etc.) up until his death in 1994.
In 1987, MCA/Universal and The Program Exchange returned the show to television with a new 65 episode package for syndication. This Woody Woodpecker Show featured a complete overhaul of the series format. Gone were the newsreels, "Around the World" segments, and live action scenes with Walter Lantz. New commercial bumpers were added and a new opening sequence was created. This one featured Woody and several other popular Lantz characters running amok and finished with Woody pecking the show logo and laughing. Episodes of this Woody Woodpecker Show typically consisted of two Woody cartoons bookending another Lantz cartoon (typically a Chilly Willy cartoon). The series continued airing in syndication until 1995. Cartoon Network picked up rerun rights in 1996 and aired The Woody Woodpecker Show for one year, after which the series disappeared from television.
After Cartoon Network dropped The Woody Woodpecker Show, Universal decided to give most of the Lantz characters a redesign. The redesign led to The New Woody Woodpecker Show, which ran from 1999 to 2002, with Billy West now voicing Woody, as part of the Fox Kids Saturday morning lineup and to date is the last Woody Woodpecker series.
==Episode List==
Premiere Date	Premiere Time	Ep No.	Name
 	 	1 	Lotsa Luck / Chilly Willy: Project Reject / The Dizzy Acrobat
 	 	2 	Sioux Me / Chilly Willy: Lighthouse Keeping Blues / Janie Get Your Gun
 	 	3 	For the Love of Pizza / Chilly Willy: Operation Shanghai / Hypnotic Hick
 	 	4 	Dumb Like a Fox / Andy Panda: The Bandmaster / Who’s Cookin’ Who?
 	 	5 	Little Woody Riding Hood / Inspector Willoughby: Hi-Seas Hi Jacker / Fodder and Son
 	 	6 	Drooler's Delight / Chilly Willy: Hot and Cold Penguin / The Snoozin’ Bruin
 	 	7 	To Catch a Woodpecker / Maw and Paw / International Woodpecker
 	 	8 	Wet Blanket Policy / Chilly Willy: Chilly and the Looney Gooney / The Barber of Seville
 	 	9 	Belle Boys / Chilly Willy: Chilly's Cold War / Little Skeeter
 	 	10 	Canned Dog Feud / Andy Panda: Crazy House / Gold Diggin' Woodpecker
 	 	11 	The Tree Medic / Chilly Willy: Salmon Loafer / Pistol Packin’ Woodpecker
 	 	12 	The Coo Coo Bird / Chilly Willy: Chiller Dillers / Bunco Busters
 	 	13 	Woody Meets Davy Crewcut / Windy and Breezy: Truant Student / Woody Dines Out
 	 	14 	Wacky-Bye Baby / Inspector Willoughby: Phoney Express / Woody's Kook-Out
 	 	15 	Puny Express / Chilly Willy: Polar Pests / The Tenant's Racket
 	 	16 	Roamin' Roman / Andy Panda: Nutty Pine Cabin / Horse Play
 	 	17 	Calling All Cuckoos / Andy Panda: Dog Tax Dodgers / Woody and the Beanstalk
 	 	18 	Smoked Hams / Inspector Willoughby: Hyde and Sneak / Rough Riding Hood
 	 	19 	Voo-Doo Boo-Boo / Chilly Willy: Yukon Have It / The Screwball
 	 	20 	Heap Big Hepcat / Chilly Willy: Teeny Weeny Meany / Chili Con Corny
 	 	21 	Fowled Up Falcon / Andy Panda: Crow Crazy / The Nautical Nut
 	 	22 	Woody's Knight-Mare / Maggie and Sam: The Talking Dog / The Bird Who Came to Dinner
 	 	23 	Dopey Dick the Pink Whale / Andy Panda: Under the Spreading Blacksmith Shop / Hi-Rise Wise Guys
 	 	24 	Saddle-Sore Woody / Andy Panda: Mousie Come Home / Musical Moments from Chopin
 	 	25 	Secret Agent Woody Woodpecker / Chilly Willy: Deep Freeze Squeeze / Feudin' Fightin-n-Fussin'
 	 	26 	Shutter Bug / Chilly Willy: South Pole Pals / Square Shootin' Square
 	 	27 	Ski for Two / Chilly Willy: Little Televillain / Watch the Birdie
 	 	28 	The Great Who-Dood-It / Chilly Willy: Operation Cold Feet / Romp in a Swamp
 	 	29 	Helter Shelter / Maw and Paw: Pig in a Pickle / Hassle in a Castle
 	 	30 	The Mad Hatter / Inspector Willoughby: Rough and Tumbleweed / Misguided Missile
 	 	31 	All Hams on Deck / Inspector Willoughby: Coming-Out Party / Well Oiled
 	 	32 	Alley to Bali / Andy Panda: The Poet and Peasant / Wrestling Wrecks
 	 	33 	Socko in Morocco / Windy and Breezy: Three Ring Fling / Rocket Racket
 	 	34 	Get Lost! Little Doggy / Chilly Willy: Sleepy Time Bear / Ship A'hoy Woody
 	 	35 	Solid Ivory / Chilly Willy: Chilly's Hide-A-Way / Science Friction
 	 	36 	Busman's Holiday / Chilly Willy: Robinson Gruesome / Convict Concerto
 	 	37 	Greedy Gabby Gator / Chilly Willy: Pesty Guest / Coo Coo Nuts
 	 	38 	Astronut Woody / Maw and Paw: Paw's Night Out / Real Gone Woody
 	 	39 	Hot Diggity Dog / Chilly Willy: Hot Time on Ice / Banquet Busters
 	 	40 	Wild and Woody! / Chilly Willy: Airlift a La Carte / Born to Peck
Category:Shows