Billy the Silly Hamster (1989 TV series)

Billy the Silly Hamster is a Hopelandian animated television series based on the comic strip Billy the Silly Hamster by Kenffrey Hillsford and run on IBS Saturday mornings from February 1989 to June 1996, with reruns airing until 1998 in its first run, followed by a second run in 1998 on Toonhouse, the run was cut short due to the shutdown of the channel. Nine seasons of the series were produced.
In addition to the segments featuring Billy, the series also included segments featuring the characters from Flossie, a comic strip Hillsford was drawing concurrently with BTSH when the BTSH series premiered on television.
A total of 200+ (?) episodes were made, each consisting of two BTSH segments and one Flossie segment. All episodes have been released in Hopeland on seven DVD sets by IBS Home Entertainment. The first season aired in a half-hour format. Starting with the second season, it switched to an hour-length format, showing two episodes each week. During the last season, while the series was still an hour long, the second half-hour of the show featured either an episode from the previous season or one of the primetime. On May 25, 2016, the IBS Corporation acquired the worldwide distribution rights to Billy the Silly Hamster and its specials, two years before buying the property.
==Characters==
===Billy the Silly Hamster===
====Regular characters====
*Billy: A human-sized anthropomorphic hamster who is constantly hyperactive. He is known for his quirky, goofy personality, and his catchphrase "What could possibly go wrong?". Billy sometimes makes cameo appearances in Flossie.
*Howard: Billy's "owner and possible brother". He is often annoyed by some of Billy's antics
*Keith: Introduced some time before production for the series started as a character for the show. Billy's closest animal friend is a Keithlandian beaver (of supposed Maganan/Hakki ancestry). He seems to have bad grades and makes terrible life decisions.
*Paisley: Billy's love interest, a Sarian-accented cat
====Minor characters====
*Nolan: Billy's merhamster "father". Known as the "King of the Hamster Realm", hidden in the underwater world, his appearance is a take on King Triton from The Little Mermaid. Main character in the Sea Buddies side strips of BTSH that was introduced in 1990.
===Flossie===
====Regular characters====
====Minor characters====
==Episodes==
==Production==
==Episode segments==
An average episode ran like this
==Reception==
==Home media==
==Broadcast==
===Hopeland===
The series ran at 10am in its first season, achieving surprisingly good ratings throughout 1989.
By the mid-1990s, IBS decided to end first-runs on its network as part of a general revision of its lineup.
===Elsewhere===
The series didn't reach the United States until 1991, when the first season made it to syndication packages across 120 television markets, as was the norm with most Hopelandian animated series. The series also had a quick run on Cartoon Network, lasting for a few months in 2000.
The series was syndicated to at least 100 countries and territories. In some countries its airing was like this:
*Armandina: Canal 13
*Eumoritown: EBC Television
*Ferntrench: FTV
*Flarland: Channel Thirteen/K-Zone
*Great Scorria: TV2
*Iragua: Huiche Televisión
*Karasa: TM Television, K-TV
*Keithland: Global → Teletoon
*Lenapore: Channel 5 → Premiere 12
*Northulia: Network Ten
*Pakifas: Voice of Pakifas Television/Television Pakifas
*Port Merwin: PMBC Television
*South Bulungi: K-TV (M-Net)
*United States of Sierra: First-run syndication