Channel Frederator Blog

The Screening Room was a public television program that aired in the Boston area back in the 1970s. Its purpose was to give exposure to independent filmmakers. It lasted ten years, and during that time, host Robert Gardner interviewed some of my favorite animators, back when they were dewy and young and full of enthusiasm.

In the past, it was very expensive to buy or rent copies of obscure programs like this. But now, in the age of digital downloads, the cost has come down to a reasonable level. It’s $6.99 for a 24-hour rental or $15.99 to buy an individual episode. So, on the verge of entering the New Year of 2009, let’s time travel back to the days of polyester shirts and cel-vinyl. You can watch a short sample of each show for free on its respective Amazon page:

George Griffin (1976)

John and Faith Hubley (1973)

Derek Lamb (1973 and 1975)

Caroline Leaf and Mary Beam (1975)

Jan Lenica (1973)

Suzan Pitt (1975)

John Whitney, Sr. (1972)

After the jump, a few screen grabs of AWESOME 70s fashion! [Read more…]

Last week on The Sarah Silverman Show, Sarah gave birth to a demon baby. How did she do it? With the help of stop motion animation. To watch a behind-the-scenes video go here. (Ignore that fact that there are multiple references to “stop animation”.)

The Chiodo Brothers (Killer Clowns From Outer Space) worked on the demon baby construction. Doug Tennapel (Earthworm Jim, Catscratch) also helped with the project. You get to see some glimpses of the original animatic. They also show how they made Doctor Dick Van Paten’s face melt with the help of low-budget tips from Indy Mogul, which offers instructions on using the crayon-wax-and-heat-gun method.

After the jump, a visit to the toy-packed Chiodo Brothers Studio. That Charles Chiodo sure is a good “drawer”!

[Read more…]

Mark Mayerson has posted a great news clip he found from a CBC news story from 1961. In the clip, we see Joe Barbera and William Hanna walk the reporter through the stages of production from the initial layout to the final audio mix. One interesting note is that even though the news clip (and the cartoons at the time) were broadcast in black & white, the cartoons were all produced in color. Joe mentions that when everyone gets to see the cartoons in color, it will be really exciting. I would have to agree.

 -Floyd Bishop

Maybe there’s hope yet for Hank Hill. Variety is reporting that  ABC may pick up “King of the Hill”, now that Fox has decided not to order any new episodes of the series. According to Variety:

Fox’s decision not to order any new episodes of “King of the Hill,” meanwhile, came just three days before the animated laffer posted its best ratings in a year, averaging a 4.3 rating/10 share in adults 18-49 on Sunday night.

Oops!

-Floyd Bishop

Fox has cancelled “King of the Hill”. Above is the pitch trailer Mike Judge used to help sell the show, animated by Heart of Texas Productions back in 1996.

Mike’s new series, “The Goode Family”, will debut on ABC midseason.

-Floyd Bishop

Long before he wished that he had Jessie’s girl, Rick Springfield was the star of his own cartoon, called “Mission:Magic”. The show was produced by Filmation, and was supposed to cement Rick’s place as a teen idol.

The cartoon was a strange premise: a teacher uses a cat sculpture and a magic chalkboard to transport her and her students to another dimension, where they meet Rick Springfield travel through time and space, solving mysteries along the way.

The show aired  in the US from 1973 through 1975, even though there were only 16 episodes created.

-Floyd Bishop

The current economic crisis may be a bit tough to figure out. ABC News showed a great cartoon, created by Odd Todd, to illustrate the crisis in simple terms. You may remember Odd Todd from his very popular “Laid Off” cartoon.

While the economy has been better, and the stock market hasn’t had a great couple of days, at least an independent animator is making some money, and helping the rest of us put things in perspective at the same time.

-Floyd Bishop 

Tonight’s airing of “The Simpsons” will mark the start of it’s 20th season on the air. This ties the record held by “Gunsmoke”. The series is still going strong in the eyes of Emmy voters, picking up it’s 10th Emmy for Outstanding Animated Series.

To put the longetivity into perspective, I was in 8th grade when the series started after a run of hilarious short segments on “The Tracey Ullman Show”. I’ll be 33 this year. That’s an impressive run.

Watch America’s favorite yellow family when they start their new season tonight on Fox, 8 ET/PT.

-Floyd Bishop

Adam Koford over at Drawn! has posted a great link to Alex Toth art. While some of it has been seen elsewhere, there are some great unpublished pieces. It would be great to see artwork of this caliber in a modern television series.

-Floyd Bishop

Anime News Network is reporting that  Cartoon Network is ending Toonami tonight, after a run of 11 years. While the programming block has been showing only Naruto recently, some other featured titles included Voltron, Robotech, Sailor Moon, Dragon Ball, Ronin Warriors, G-Force: Guardians of Space, Blue Submarine No. 6, Tenchi Muyo!, Cardcaptors, Zoids, .hack//SIGN, Yu Yu Hakusho, Rurouni Kenshin, The Big O, Outlaw Star, Yu-Gi-Oh!, Cyborg 009, Duel Masters, Astro Boy, Gundam, Rave Master, Zatch Bell, One Piece, Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo, Pokémon, MÄR, The Prince of Tennis, Megaman Star Force, Bakugan Battle Brawlers, and Blue Dragon.

The 2002 live-action Spider-Man film will run instead of Toonami on September 27.

-Floyd Bishop