Season 1

The first season of American animated television series ***The Angry Beavers*** was created by Mitchell Schauer. The season first aired on April 19, 1997 with the episodes "Born to be Beavers" and "Up All Night" and ended on September 28, 1997 with the episodes "Ventriloquist Daggy" and "Food of the Clods."

## Plot

The series revolves about Norbert and Daggett Beaver, two beaver brothers who have left their parents and home to become bachelors in the forest near the fictional town of Wayouttatown, Oregon. Their many adventures spark them to release their ugly sides very often, drawing in the name *Angry Beavers*.

## Production

*The Angry Beavers* was the brainchild of Mitch Schauer, and was co-developed by Keith Kaczorek. Prior to the series, Schauer was originally an assistant storyboard artist for other Nickelodeon shows, such as *The Ren & Stimpy Show*, *Rocko's Modern Life*, and *Hey Arnold!*. Schauer also storyboarded 8 episodes of the 1992 *Addams Family* television series. During his time as producer of the Warner Bros. animated series *Freakazoid!* in 1995*,* Gunther-Wahl Productions Inc. (Schauer's employer at the time) requested three ideas for animated series, as the studio had the opportunity to pitch a show to Nickelodeon. One of the three ideas that Schauer presented was an early concept for *The Angry Beavers*. Schauer wasn't even present for the pitch meeting, his ideas being pitched for him by the production company instead. Of the three ideas, network producer Mary Harrington was intrigued by the Beavers. *The Angry Beavers* was inspired from Schauer's early years in Oklahoma when he was homeless and often spotted beavers in a nearby river. The initial concept of the show centered on two bad-tempered, politically incorrect beavers that hated anything that was a fad, cause, or just popular in the media. "I tend to develop things that are counterculture", stated Schauer. "I like to buck whatever is popular at the time or considered society's way of doing things, because you get more interest when you stand outside the box". Schauer was against making the beavers cute, as a response to many of the "soft, safe" character designs at the time. Ironically, many fans of the series found Norbert, Daggett, and even Treeflower to be such. Mitch also cited cartoons such as *The Pink Panther*, *The Flintstones*, and *Rocky and Bullwinkle* as primary influences for the show.

Richard Steven Horvitz and Nick Bakay were chosen as voice actors for main beavers Daggett and Norbert, respectively. Gunther-Wahl held auditions for over 300 different actors, but Schauer settled on the two because they embodied the two beavers' characters perfectly, also being impressed by their chemistry upon being introduced to one another. He recalled the two frequently going off-script while recording, which he encouraged, considering their improvisation leading to some of the series' best moments. Schauer was influenced by classic Hollywood director Howard Hawks for the show's ad-libbing and overlapping of dialogue.

The series was officially greenlit on February 12, 1996, and writing on the first season began the following month on March 24, 1996. The first public announcement of the series was on May 11, 1996 directly after that year's Kids Choice Awards ceremony. "Born to be Beavers" was the first episode written, with it being written by Mitch Schauer. As with most other Nickelodeon and other television shows, the order in which the episodes of the series were produced was slightly different than the packaging and airing order. For the full list of episodes in production order, go to this page.

The original pilot for the series "Snowbound" (being produced in Winter 1993 and finished in Autumn 1994), was later retooled into an official episode with some changes; an extended runtime of 11 minutes instead of 9, a redesign of the beavers' dam, and most notably the design and voice changes of Norbert and Daggett, who were originally voiced by Mitchell Whitfield and Kevin Meaney respectively. The episode was also given the production code “AB-104”.

During production of the series, Schauer and the crew began to learn more about real world beavers and implemented their traits into the show's storylines, considering himself to have become a "beaver expert" by the end of its run. Traits adapted into the show include their endlessly growing incisors (“Long in the Teeth”), tail slapping (“Slap Happy”), and scent glands (“Another One Bites the Musk”). During his time at Nickelodeon, Schauer gifted Harrington a personally signed log that was bitten by a beaver, though he later admitted in 2017 that he bit it himself.

There was often tension between Schauer and Nickelodeon, with the channel imposing seemingly arbitrary restrictions on the show's content. An example includes "Go Beavers!" where they rejected a scene that would have featured a blimp crashing into an audience of people, while a scene in the same episode featuring out of control zambonis that wipe into and supposedly kill a crowd of people didn't meet any objections.

## Trivia

* This season spanned five months and nine days, from April 19 to September 28, 1997.
* Despite this season airing in 1997, it takes place from April 18, 1996 to December 21, 1996.
	+ "Born to Be Beavers" and "Up All Night" take place exactly a year before they aired.
	+ "Food of the Clods" is the last episode of Season 1 to air, despite it not being the last one to take place.
	+ "I Dare You" is the last episode of Season 1 to take place, despite it not being the last one to air.
* ”You Promised” takes place in two different years. The first half of the episode takes place in 1996, while the second half takes place in 1997.
* This is the only season where the crew member's names don't have any puns in them during the end credits.
* This season started production in March 1996 and finished production in late 1997.
	+ 1996 is also when most of this season takes place.
* In this season, the title cards all have “The Angry Beavers starring in:” at the very top of the screen. Starting with the following season, this was removed.