Cow and Chicken

Cow and Chicken is an American animated comedy television series created by David Feiss for Cartoon Network, and the third of the network's Cartoon Cartoons. It follows the surreal adventures of two talking animal siblings, Cow and Chicken. They are often antagonized by the Red Guy, a cartoon version of the Devil who poses as various characters to scam them.
The original pilot appeared as an episode of the animation showcase series What a Cartoon!. The popularity of the original short allowed Hanna-Barbera to give it the green light for a full series, which premiered on July 15, 1997. Originally, Cow and Chicken was attached to another segment called I Am Weasel, which was later spun-off into its own half-hour series on June 10, 1999. The series was produced by Hanna-Barbera Cartoons. It was nominated for two Emmy Awards.
=== Development[edit] ===
David Feiss first created Cow and Chicken as a story for his daughter. Feiss was an animator who had worked with Hanna-Barbera and related projects since 1978.
Years later, Feiss was called to submit ideas for What a Cartoon!, a series of various animated shorts from numerous creators and writers, created by Hanna-Barbera president Fred Seibert. Feiss submitted three ideas to executive producer Larry Huber, one of which was Cow and Chicken. Cow and Chicken premiered on What a Cartoon! in 1995. Later, Hanna-Barbera decided to turn Cow and Chicken into a full series, following many letters from fans asking for more.
=== Voice actors[edit] ===
A single actor, Charlie Adler, voiced the three leading roles of Cow, Chicken, and the Red Guy. Supporting voices included Candi Milo and Dee Bradley Baker as Mom and Dad, and Dan Castellaneta and Howard Morris as Earl and Flem.
Guest stars included Feiss, Will Ferrell, Carlos Alazraqui, Tom Kenny, Jill Talley, Dom DeLuise, Michael Gough, Mark Hamill, Jess Harnell, Pamela Adlon, and many others.
== Episodes[edit] ==
Main article: List of Cow and Chicken episodes
Season	Season	Episodes	Episodes	Originally aired 	Originally aired
Season	Season	Episodes	Episodes	First aired 	Last aired
 	Pilot 	Pilot 	Pilot 	November 12, 1995	November 12, 1995
 	1 	13 	13 	July 15, 1997 	October 7, 1997
 	2 	13 	13 	May 16, 1998 	August 8, 1998
 	3 	13 	13 	August 15, 1998 	November 7, 1998
 	4 	13 	13 	April 26, 1999 	July 24, 1999
Cow and Chicken has a total of 52 episodes in 4 seasons that were produced from July 1997 to July 1999. Each half-hour contains 2 Cow and Chicken and 1 I Am Weasel segment. Cow and Chicken premiered as a full half-hour on July 15, 1997. The series ran for 52 episodes through 1999. As a supporting segment, the show included a cartoon called I Am Weasel; this segment was spun off as an independent series that premiered on June 10, 1999. Typically, an episode would consist of two seven-minute Cow and Chicken shorts playing back-to-back, then followed by a seven-minute I Am Weasel short before the end credits. The exception to this structure was episode 105 ("The Ugliest Weenie"), which had the Weasel short ("I Are Big Star") play in-between the two Cow and Chicken shorts, possibly because said shorts were one storyline.
=== "Buffalo Gals" controversy[edit] ===
The second season segment "Buffalo Gals", first paired with "Cow and Chicken Reclining", was banned by Cartoon Network after receiving one letter of complaint from a parent about the episode's liberal visual and verbal innuendo about the titular biker group being lesbians. In the segment, the Buffalo Gals break into people's homes to chew on the carpet, a biker named Munch Kelly has a carpet swatch for a calling card, and when Dad freaks out over the Buffalo Gals in the house, Mom says, "They're not after you." In addition, the Buffalo Gals play softball and talk about pitching and catching. Although it was only shown on air once,[citation needed] it was replaced by "Orthodontic Police" in future airings, including on Netflix streaming and reruns on Boomerang. The episode was also discussed on an installment of Rob Paulsen's Talkin' Toons special featuring Cow and Chicken creator David Feiss and voice actor Charlie Adler when an audience member asked why "Buffalo Gals" only aired once.
== Awards and nominations[edit] ==
Year	Award 	Category 	Nominee(s) 	Result
1996	Annie Award 	Best Animated Short Subject 	
* Hanna-Barbera
* for "No Smoking"	Won
1996	Primetime Emmy Award	Outstanding Animated Program (For Programming One Hour or Less) 	
* Buzz Potamkin, Larry Huber, David Feiss, Pilar Menendez, and Sam Kieth
* for "No Smoking"	Nominated
1997	Annie Award 	Best Individual Achievement: Storyboarding in a TV Production 	
* Nora Johnson
* for "Orthodontic Police"	Won
1998	Annie Award 	Outstanding Individual Achievement for Music in an Animated Television Production 	
* Bill Burnett and Guy Moon
* for "The Ugliest Weenie, Part 2"	Nominated
1998	Annie Award 	Outstanding Individual Achievement for Producing in an Animated Television Production 	Vincent Davis 	Won
1998	Annie Award 	Outstanding Individual Achievement for Storyboarding in an Animated Television Production	
* Maxwell Atoms
* for "The Karate Chick"	Nominated
1998	Golden Reel Award 	Best Sound Editing — Sound Effects 	Greg LaPlante 	Nominated
1998	Golden Reel Award 	Best Sound Editing — Television Animated Series 	Cartoon Network	Nominated
1998	Golden Reel Award 	Best Sound Editing — Television Animation — Music 	Cartoon Network	Nominated
1998	Primetime Emmy Award	Outstanding Animated Program (For Programming One Hour or Less) 	
* Davis Doi, Vincent Davis, David Feiss, Steve Marmel, Richard Pursel, and Michael Ryan
* for "Free Inside!/Journey to the Center of Cow"	Nominated
1999	Annie Award 	Outstanding Individual Achievement for Voice Acting in an Animated Television Production 	
* Charlie Adler
* as Cow	Nominated
1999	Golden Reel Award 	Best Sound Editing — Television Animated Series — Sound 	Cartoon Network	Nominated
1999	Golden Reel Award 	Best Sound Editing — Television Animation — Music 	Cartoon Network	Nominated
== Other media[edit] ==
Chicken made a cameo near the end of the Cartoon Planet episode "Tom Foolery".
Cow makes a cameo in the beginning of The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy episode "Herbicidal Maniac" giving General Skarr fertilizer.
During the Mad episode "Once Upon a Toon", Cow and Chicken are among the classic cartoon characters reunited in a spoof of ABC's Once Upon a Time.
The two main characters, Cow and Chicken, made cameo appearances as aliens in Ben 10: Omniverse. They were the second Cartoon Network characters to make cameo appearances in the Ben 10 franchise, Billy from The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy being the first. Adler reprised his roles for the cameo.
In the OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes episode "Crossover Nexus", Chicken and I.M. Weasel (with Michael Dorn reprising his role as Weasel for a speaking cameo) made cameo appearances as two of the Cartoon Network heroes that were summoned by Strike, and also Cow (as SuperCow) appears as one of the Cartoon Network heroes that Ben Tennyson (Ben 10) shapeshifts into.
=== Home media[edit] ===
Cow and Chicken: Season 1, a two-disc set featuring the complete first season which contains 13 complete episodes, was released by Madman Entertainment in Australia (Region 4 PAL) on September 12, 2007. Season 2 came out on February 10, 2010, by the same company in Australia. The entire series got partially released on DVD in Thailand as 4 season sets, containing Thai and English audio, with the segment "Buffalo Gals" banned from these releases.
The video game Cartoon Network Racing contains the episodes "Black Sheep of the Family" and "Child Star" (PS2 version only) as unlockable extras.
All 4 seasons were released on iTunes and Amazon as of August 16, 2018.
Title 	Format	DVD Region	Country 	Distributor 	Release date 	Ref.
Cartoon Cartoons: Cow and Chicken	VHS 	N/A 	United States	Cartoon Network 	1998 	
Cow and Chicken: Season 1 	DVD 	4 	Australia 	Madman Entertainment	September 12, 2007	
Cow and Chicken: Season 2 	DVD 	4 	Australia 	Madman Entertainment	February 10, 2010 	
American releases
* Cartoon Network Halloween: "Cow with Four Eyes"
* Cartoon Network Christmas: "Me an' My Dog"
=== Video games[edit] ===
Cow, Chicken, and the Red Guy are playable characters in the game Cartoon Network Racing. The PlayStation 2 version includes Flem and Earl as playable characters.
Cow/Supercow, Chicken, and the Red Guy are playable characters in the kart racing video game Cartoon Network Speedway, which released in North America on November 17, 2003.
In the video game FusionFall, one of the character items is based on Cow and Chicken. Cow and Chicken's cousin, Boneless Chicken, can also be seen on a billboard in the game. Though not in the game, Cow is seen as Supercow as a statue at Mt. Neverest.
== See also[edit] ==
* I Am Weasel
* Cartoon Cartoons
* List of works produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions
* The Ren & Stimpy Show
Category:Cartoon Network
Category:1990s
Category:First 1999
Category:Last 1999
Category:Cartoon Network Crossovers Nexus
Category:Cartoon Crossovers Nexus The Movie