The Deputy Dawg Show

SOME HAVE REFERRED to TV animation as being "Illustrated Radio" and that label would surely be a fitting and true description of the state of the art, video division. Short cut "limited" animation, stock background music and briefly set running times are all elements of the sub-genre.

IN THE CASE of DEPUTY DAWG, those elements are all present; making the series a veritable a highly rated candidate for "Limited Animation's Poster Boy".

WHENEVER WE VIEWED a typically scripted episode, we were rudely reminded that this indeed was no FANTASIA., not even a HUCKLEBERRY HOUND. The "Limited Animation" process, that had been popularized by United Productions of America or UPA for short, was now being developed to the Nth Degree.

SO JUST HOW did the series attain its multi-year run in syndication? SIMPLY BY USE of short, happy little story lines added to the upbeat and peppy harmonica music; which rendered the audience to be relaxed and giggly.

TO OUR WAY of thinking, there was one final puzzle part to come into play in a major way. That last element is the voice characterizations. In this case we have to tip our fedora to Actor/Comedian/Voice-Over man supreme, Dayton Allen. Whenever DD was on the trail of some desperado, he would be accompanied by his deputy, a Possum (I think).

BUT IT WAS his voice that set him apart. It was a good impersonation of Comedian, Frank Fontaine's long running "Crazy" Guggenheim" from THE JACKIE GLEASON Show.

When i was about 8 years old my father bought me and my brothers a video of Deputy Dawg. I remember he had some sidekick who i think was some kind of blind beaver and he used to say "its possible, its possible, its possible..." in this funny way and that has stuck with me to this day.

The only episode that sticks out in my mind is when they had a "do-it-yourself" speedboat delivered and just remember laughing so hard watching it.

Im sure if it was played on T.V. today it would win a whole new generation of young (and old) fans.

I loved this whenever we had a rare chance to see it on the Tellee

It's really a shame this happens to be one of those shows that just gets lost in time and swept under the cartoon carpet.

I believe it's because either no one owns the copyright anymore that we don't see a proper retail release of these shows. I see them pop up from time to time on those cheap dollar store collections, but they are often very bad quality and several generations in as far as quality goes.

This show deserves more. Just ask Adam Sandler or Jim Carey, both of whom list Deputy Dawg as their favorite cartoon of all time. Well, you can add me to that list as well.

If one were to Google around they might find some of the shows available, but come on... someone snatch up the rights to this and release a proper, remastered box set already!!

I used to watch Deputy Dawg cartoons on the Hobo Kelly Show in the early 60's in Los Angeles and it remains one of my favorite cartoons of all time. I'll try to answer some of the questions posed by the other reviewers and clear up a few misconceptions. First of all, the cartoon was not from the 50's. It ran from 1962 to 1963. The character who said "It's possible. It's possible" was Muskie Muskrat. The "blind" character was Vincent Van Gopher, who could see much better in the dark underground. The raccoon was not named Roger. His name was Ty Coon. Oh, and the cartoon character who would always say "Oh me, oh my" was the hyena named Hardy Har Har from Lippy the Lion & Hardy Har Har. Also, Snuffles was the floating dog from the cartoon Quick Draw McGraw. Lastly, I was able to purchase 53 Deputy Dawg episodes, which is about half of the total made, from a seller on EBay. They were bootleg copies but the quality was quite good, especially considering the series was made fifty years ago. A complete remastered box set would be awesome!