In a satellite and cable TV universe where originality is a sure-fire formula for obscurity, "Sitting Ducks" was one of the brightest spots on the Cartoon Network schedule. Now banished indefinitely, it's poised to become a home video classic.
"Sitting Ducks" strikes just the right balance between cuteness for the children and sophistication for grown-ups. The friendship between Bill, an amiable self-assured duck who lives in Ducktown and Aldo, a towering 'gator from neighboring Swampwood is at the heart of the series. And what heart!
Bill and Aldo's friendship begins in an unlikely manner (without divulging too much, one was hoping to eat the other) but grows into a partnership that offers no end of comic possibilities. Aldo, we find out over time, is not just another mindless green duck-eating machine but often displays wisdom, ingenuity and even morality.
The series' setting of Ducktown is populated with an assortment of other feathered folks who are as quirky as Bill and Aldo's friendship, including Dr. Cecil, a general practitioner and aspiring dentist in a burg where not a single citizen has a tooth! To him, Aldo is a godsend, a king-size chance to ply his long unused dental craft.
The cuteness of the series is pierced from time to time by the dangers of alligators and ducks living at each other's doorsteps. Though a truce exists between Swampwood and Ducktown, 'gators regularly plot to make a meal out Ducktown's citizens. In an episode poking fun at reality TV, a duck cameraman is eaten (off-camera) by alligators. In another, Aldo is trying to curb his appetite for duck by wearing duck hormone patches prescribed by Dr. Cecil. The patches give him a hankering for duck fare. When he chomps a fly right out of the air, the insect's dying cry reverberates all the way to the next spoken line. There are also a few instances of potty humor but that's probably what sold the show to Cartoon Network.
Though "Sitting Ducks" has gone dark on cable and satellite TV, it shines brighter than ever on home video.
