''The Duck Factory'' is an American
sitcom
A sitcom, a Portmanteau, portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troup ...
produced by
MTM Enterprises
MTM Enterprises (also known as MTM Productions) was an American independent production company established in 1969 by Mary Tyler Moore and her then-husband Grant Tinker to produce ''The Mary Tyler Moore Show'' for CBS. The name for the producti ...
that aired on
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters ...
from April 12 until July 11, 1984. It was
Jim Carrey
James Eugene Carrey (; born January 17, 1962) is a Canadian-American actor, comedian and artist. Known for his energetic slapstick performances, Carrey first gained recognition in 1990, after landing a role in the American sketch comedy t ...
's first lead role in a Hollywood production. It was also the only time when
Don Messick appeared in live-action, although he also voiced a cartoon character in the sitcom as well. The show was set at a small independent animation studio, and was co-created by
Allan Burns
Allan Pennington Burns (May 18, 1935January 30, 2021) was an American screenwriter and television producer. He was best known for co-creating and writing for the television sitcoms ''The Munsters'' and ''The Mary Tyler Moore Show''.
Early life ...
and
Herbert Klynn
Herbert Klynn (November 11, 1917 – February 3, 1999) was an American animator at UPA from 1944 to 1959 eventually rising to the role of Vice President and Production Chief. He worked on various Mr. Magoo cartoons and Gerald McBoing-Boing cart ...
. It won two
Emmy Awards
The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...
.
Background
Burns had started his career as a writer/animator for ''
The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show
''The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle and Friends'' (commonly referred to as simply ''Rocky and Bullwinkle'') is an American animated television series that originally aired from November 19, 1959, to June 27, 1964, on the ABC and NBC tele ...
'' and ''
George of the Jungle'', before turning to live action and co-creating ''
The Mary Tyler Moore Show
''The Mary Tyler Moore Show'' (also known simply as ''Mary Tyler Moore'') is an American television sitcom created by James L. Brooks and Allan Burns and starring actress Mary Tyler Moore. The show originally aired on CBS from 1970 to 1977. ...
''; Klynn had worked in various production capacities on ''
Mr. Magoo'' and ''
Gerald McBoing-Boing
''Gerald McBoing-Boing'' is an animated short film about a little boy who speaks through sound effects instead of spoken words. It was produced by United Productions of America (UPA) and given wide release by Columbia Pictures on November 2, 195 ...
'', amongst many other cartoons.
Overview
The premiere episode introduces Skip Tarkenton (Carrey), a somewhat naive and optimistic young man who has come to Hollywood looking for a job as a cartoonist. When he arrives at a low-budget animation company called Buddy Winkler Productions, he finds out Buddy Winkler has just died, and the company desperately needs new blood. So Skip gets an animation job at the firm, which is nicknamed "The Duck Factory" as their main cartoon is "The Dippy Duck Show".
Other Duck Factory employees seen regularly on the show were man-of-a-thousand-cartoon voices Wally Wooster (played by real-life cartoon voice artist
Don Messick); cynical, sometimes lazy comedy writer Marty Fenneman (played by real-life comedy writer
Jay Tarses); veteran artist and animator Brooks Carmichael (Jack Gilford); younger storyboard artist Roland Culp (Clarence Gilyard); sarcastic editor Andrea Lewin; and hard-nosed, penny-pinching business manager Aggie Aylesworth. Buddy Winkler Productions was now owned by Buddy's young, ditzy but good-hearted widow, Mrs. Sheree Winkler (
Teresa Ganzel
Teresa Ganzel is an American actress and comedian.
Career
Ganzel was a recurring cast member of ''The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson'' as the Matinee Lady in the "Tea Time Movie" skits. She has often played stereotypical ditzy blonde bimb ...
), a former topless ice dancer who had been married to Buddy for all of three weeks before his death.
Production
Seen in some episodes were clips from various "Dippy Duck" shows the Buddy Winkler crew were working on—sometimes fully animated, sometimes in pencil sketch or
animatic form. The opening and closing credits were also animated. Series co-creator Klynn was also credited as the show's "creative animation consultant", while production of the actual animated material was done by Ted and Gerry Woolery for which each won an Emmy.
Show history
''The Duck Factory'' lasted thirteen episodes; it premiered April 12,
1984
Events
January
* January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888.
* January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeast As ...
. It was directed primarily by
Gene Reynolds
Eugene Reynolds Blumenthal (April 4, 1923 – February 3, 2020) was an American screenwriter, director, producer, and actor. He was one of the developers and producers of the TV series ''M*A*S*H''.
Early life
Reynolds was born on April 4, 1923, ...
,
Rod Daniel
Rollin Augustus "Rod" Daniel III (August 4, 1942 – April 16, 2016) was an American television and film director, active from the late 1970s to the early 2000s. His films include the 1985 Michael J. Fox comedy film '' Teen Wolf'', which was a c ...
, and Victor Lobel, who each did three episodes.
The show initially aired at 9:30 on Thursday nights, directly after ''
Cheers
''Cheers'' is an American sitcom television series that ran on NBC from September 30, 1982, to May 20, 1993, with a total of 275 half-hour episodes across 11 seasons. The show was produced by Charles/Burrows/Charles Productions in association w ...
'' (at the time, not yet a top ten hit; ''Cheers'' finished the 1983/84 television season in 34th place). The show replaced ''
Buffalo Bill
William Frederick Cody (February 26, 1846January 10, 1917), known as "Buffalo Bill", was an American soldier, bison hunter, and showman. He was born in Le Claire, Iowa Territory (now the U.S. state of Iowa), but he lived for several years ...
'' on
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters ...
's schedule.
Jay Tarses, an actor on ''The Duck Factory'', had been the co-creator and executive producer of ''Buffalo Bill'', which had its final network telecast on Thursday, April 5, 1984.
Episodes of ''The Duck Factory'' were shown out of the producers' intended order by NBC, leading to significant continuity problems with the series. Most notably, the eighth episode (in which Skip is promoted to being the producer of "The Dippy Duck Show", much to the resentment of the show's staff) was shown as episode 2. As broadcast, succeeding episodes ping-ponged between Skip being the show's producer, and Skip being the show's low-ranking apprentice animator, with no explanation as to the reason for the constant change of status. As well, what the producers had intended to air as the second episode (and which set up the continuing premise of the series) was shown as the thirteenth; Mrs. Winkler was the receptionist in second episode as broadcast, but then in the fourth episode she ''becomes'' the receptionist, etc.
The show changed timeslots in June, moving to Wednesdays at 9:30. The last original episode of ''The Duck Factory'' was broadcast on July 11,
1984
Events
January
* January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888.
* January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeast As ...
.
Cast
*
Jim Carrey
James Eugene Carrey (; born January 17, 1962) is a Canadian-American actor, comedian and artist. Known for his energetic slapstick performances, Carrey first gained recognition in 1990, after landing a role in the American sketch comedy t ...
as Skip Tarkenton
*
Jack Gilford
Jack Gilford (born Jacob Aaron Gellman; July 25, 1908 – June 4, 1990) was an American Broadway, film, and television actor. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for ''Save the Tiger'' (1973).
Early life
Gilfo ...
as Brooks Carmichael
*Nancy Lane as Andrea Lewin
*
Jay Tarses as Marty Fenneman
*
Don Messick as Wally Wooster
** Messick also voiced Dippy Duck
*
Julie Payne as Aggie Aylesworth
*
Clarence Gilyard Jr as Roland Culp
*
Teresa Ganzel
Teresa Ganzel is an American actress and comedian.
Career
Ganzel was a recurring cast member of ''The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson'' as the Matinee Lady in the "Tea Time Movie" skits. She has often played stereotypical ditzy blonde bimb ...
as Mrs. Sheree Winkler
Episodes
US television ratings
Home media
In 1995, at the height of Carrey's career, two
VHS videocassettes were released in the United States by MTM Home Video, one containing the first three episodes, the other the last three episodes.
Amazon.com: The Duck Factory - Premiere Episodes VHS
/ref> The two volumes were released in the United Kingdom in 1997 (Pictured above), slightly expanded to the first four and the last four episodes of the series (which had never been broadcast in the UK).
References
External links
*
First episode posted by The Museum of Classic Chicago Television on YouTube
All episodes on Internet Archive
{{DEFAULTSORT:Duck Factory, The
NBC original programming
1984 American television series debuts
1984 American television series endings
1980s American sitcoms
1980s American workplace comedy television series
American television series with live action and animation
Animated television series about ducks
Television series about television
Television series by MTM Enterprises
Television shows set in Los Angeles