#Ironman pool fence series#

Characters īenny gets a new pet, a devoted camera-loving nag. In the current DVD versions, however, only Platt gets writing credit due to a production error: the closing credits from Platt's episode were used for every episode, so Platt gets screen credit regardless of who wrote the actual scripts. Top Cat was conceived along the lines of a traditional, live-action situation comedy, and Hanna-Barbera recruited top sitcom writers of the day to furnish scripts, including Barry Blitzer (a Bilko veteran), Harvey Bullock, and Kin Platt. Ĭo-creator Bill Hanna said it was one of the wittiest and most sophisticated shows he produced with a rare appeal to audiences of all ages. This enforcement of the social order by police ensures that the cats will not escape their current living conditions. The gang faces a human police officer who frustrates their efforts and keeps them trapped in the alley. Top Cat's get-rich-quick schemes are efforts to escape to a better life. The cats may represent disenfranchised people confined to living in a poor environment.

#Ironman pool fence series#

Lehman says that the series can be seen as social commentary. Reruns later returned to Boomerang on April 4, 2023.Īnimation historian Christopher P. Reruns of the series aired on Cartoon Network from 1992 until 2004, and on Boomerang from 2000 to 2014 and again from November 26 to November 29, 2020. The show aired on Saturdays in 19 on ABC, and was then rerun in various Saturday morning slots on NBC from 1965 to 1969, and occasionally in the 1980s. The show was broadcast in black and white but was created in color. Hanna-Barbera created 30 half hour episodes of Top Cat. Top Cat aired on Wednesday nights in Prime Time from 8:30 to 9:00 pm. In some episodes, the flashback stops near the middle when the same scene plays. The story then continues from where it left off. Like The Flintstones, all the episodes feature a cold open, which is a small scene from the episode that takes place in medias res, and after that, a long flashback that leads to the scene begins with the series' theme song 'The Most Effectual Top Cat' and features Top Cat's misadventures that happen before the scene from the beginning plays. The gang constantly hatch get-rich-quick schemes through scams but most of them usually backfire, and a frequent plot thread revolves around the local police officer, Charles 'Charlie' Dibble (voiced by Allen Jenkins), ineffectually trying to either arrest them, evict them from the alley, get them to clean the alley, or stopping them using the policebox phone. During the original network run, the sponsor objected to the Silvers impersonation-insisting that he was playing Arnold Stang, not Phil Silvers-so in later episodes Stang modified the Top Cat voice, to a closer tone of his own voice. Additionally, Arnold Stang's vocal characterization was originally based on an impression of Phil Silvers's voice. Maurice Gosfield, who played Private Duane Doberman in The Phil Silvers Show, provided the voice for Benny the Ball in Top Cat, and Benny's chubby appearance was based on Gosfield's.

Top Cat and his gang were inspired by the East Side Kids, roguish, street-smart characters from a series of 1940s B movies, but their more immediate roots lay in The Phil Silvers Show (1955–59), a successful military comedy whose lead character (Sergeant Bilko, played by Silvers) was a fast-talking con artist. voiced by Arnold Stang impersonating Phil Silvers) is the leader of a gang of Manhattan alley cats living in Hoagy's Alley: Fancy-Fancy, Spook, Benny the Ball, Brain, and Choo-Choo. This was only the second cartoon series to premiere on prime time network television in the United States. Hanna-Barbera sold the cartoon to ABC based on a drawing of the main character. Top Cat was created as a parody of The Phil Silvers Show with Arnold Stang imitating Sgt Bilko's voice for the titular character.

The show also became very popular in Latin American countries (especially Mexico), and the United Kingdom.

The show was a ratings failure in prime time, but became successful upon its time on Saturday morning television. It aired in a weekly evening time slot from September 27, 1961, to April 18, 1962, for a single season of 30 episodes. Top Cat is an American animated sitcom produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions and originally broadcast in prime time on the ABC network. Left to right: Benny the Ball (foreground) Brain Officer Dibble (behind fence) Fancy-Fancy Top Cat Spook (foreground) Choo-Choo