The Ruff and Reddy Show (found early NBC Hanna-Barbera animated series; 1957-1960)

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Title card.

Status: Found

Date found: 18 Jun 2021

Found by: RuffNReddy

The Ruff and Reddy Show (also titled as Ruff and Reddy) is the first television production by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera, the creators behind the Tom and Jerry series of theatrical short films.[1] The show features the adventures of Ruff the Cat and Reddy the Dog, each episode was part of a longer thirteen-episode story arc, with each series having four story arcs in total.[2]

It was produced by H-B Enterprises, formed after MGM closed its production studio in 1957.[3] under significantly lower budgetary constraints than the previous MGM productions.[4] It is one of the earliest original animated television programs and pioneered the use of limited animation techniques within television production[5] and although it was only a modest success [6] the show would pave the way for the studios more famous creations, such as The Huckleberry Hound Show which was released a year after Ruff and Reddy's first season.[7]

Broadcast History

The show debuted on December 14th, 1957 on NBC alongside live-action puppetry segments hosted by Jimmy Blaine.[8] Afterwards it was re-run on NBC as part of the Captain Bob Cottle Show until 1964 and then syndicated to local children's television shows across the USA.[9] Later, in the 1980s, it was broadcast as part of the USA cable network's Cartoon Express although only briefly due to audiences at the time not embracing the characters.[10]

The final two broadcasts were briefly on Cartoon Network in the early 1990s and on Boomerang sometime around 2002.

Home Video and Availability

A small selection of episodes was released as Animal Follies on VHS and Laserdisc as part of the Hanna Barbera Personal Favorites Collection,[11][12] and on VHS in the UK as Ruff and Reddy: Crowds in the Clouds. The first episode was announced to be part of the Best of Warner Brothers: Hanna Barbera 25 Cartoon Collection,[13] but was omitted, along with several other cartoons, from the final release.[14].

For many years only clips and select episodes of the show were available through unofficial YouTube, DailyMotion, and Internet Archive uploads. The show has never been officially released on DVD or via streaming platforms.

On June 18th, 2021, Internet Archive user RuffNReady (most likely made to preserve the show) uploaded all 156 episodes to the site via various TV broadcasts from the early 2000s.

External Links

See Also

References