Family Dog - Intro

[@Mundane05]

10 episodes didn't stop it from having its own bad SNES game.

[@Martynde]

I played it without watching the cartoon. I didn’t like it. It was so bad but strangely never gets called out by youtubers who play bad videogames.

[@susanfit47]

6 years after the success of the original "Amazing Stories" episode "The Family Dog", a CBS series based on the episode was produced by Steven Spielberg and Tim Burton (director of movies such as "Pee-Wee's Big Adventure", "Beetlejuice", "Batman", "Batman Returns", "Edward Scissorhands", "Singles", The Nightmare Before Christmas etc) who was involved in the original episodes contributing the story's production and character designs). It was written by Dennis Klein ("All in the Family", "Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman", "Best of the West", "Buffalo Bill", "The Larry Sanders Show", "Bakersfield, P.D."), Sherri Stoner and Paul Dini and animated by Nelvana, but notably lacking the involvement of the original writer and director, Brad Bird. Because of the buzz surrounding the "Amazing Stories" episode, NBC announced later that year (in '87) they'd be turning "Family Dog" into a weekly series. My memory's fuzzy, but I think the regime at NBC changed soon after. Or possibly Spielberg was bitter over the cancellation of "Amazing Stories" and opted not to continue with the network. Whatever the reason, the show didn't immediately happen... but reports persisted that it was in the works. The once-unemployed Brad Bird found himself in high demand, eventually taking a job on a new show called :The Simpsons", which became an instant success for Fox (leading to a tidal wave of short-lived animated sitcoms), Burton was drawing crowds in theaters and his films were huge renters on home video so it was little wonder when CBS announced in May 1990 they'd be picking up the show -- continuously associating it with Burton’s and Spielberg's names. In early 1990, there was a newspaper-type ad for CBS with a huge picture of the Family Dog on the front, heralding "Steven Spielberg and Tim Burton present 'Family Dog!' Coming to CBS This Fall!'" Along with the pic of the pooch was a small story with some quotes from Spielberg and Burton describing the plot and genesis of the "Amazing Stories" episode. I wish someone held on to that paper. The series was scheduled to debut as a mid-season replacement on March 20, 1991 (and it was heavily promoted during the February 20, 1991 broadcast of the Grammy Awards), but the animation production wasn't completed in time for this premiere, ultimately it would be another 2+ years before "Family Dog" finally aired. Animation was having a renaissance at the time, "The Simpsons" garnering high ratings, MTV’s quirky "Liquid Television" in the works, and syndicated, weekday and Saturday morning children’s cartoons flooding the networks. Largely hyped due to the involvement of Spielberg, the series suffered various noted production delays that plagued the show. Further complicating matters, Burton was consumed with Edward Scissorhands and Spielberg was busy with Hook and numerous other projects, so neither was very hands-on with the initial production of Family Dog. Largely hyped due to the involvement of Spielberg, the series suffered various noted production delays that plagued the show. It did not get past its original network order of 13 episodes. Only 10 episodes were finished and sent back from the Wang Film Productions animation house in Taiwan, but the producers were dissatisfied with the results, so they halted production on the final 3 episodes and outsourced the 10 episodes to Nelvana for "fixes and completions", according to an Amblin rep. Unlike a film, trying to “fix” animation is a Herculean task which basically boils down to completely re-animating it. And presumably that’s exactly what happened. Family Dog became a money pit with a $650,000 per episode budget that swelled to around a million in the end (at a time when Saturday morning fare averaged $250,000 an episode). Presumably because time had passed, none of the original voice actors from the Amazing Stories outing returned. Also, after 3 episodes were recorded and animated, Character actor Fred Coffin and Molly Cheek (It’s Garry Shandling’s Show) were cast as the parents. There are conflicting reports as to when exactly this occurred, but at some point around episode three, Spielberg decided to replace Coffin. Speilberg and Burton decided to send the episodes to Nelvana in Canada, which was producing Burton’s Beetlejuice as a Saturday Morning Cartoon. Meanwhile, there was a merchandising craze surrounding "The Simpsons" - everything from T-shirts and toys to CDs, with a vast array of unauthorized knock-offs floating around. Anticipating the success of the series, someone signed a deal with Applause, Inc. to produce plush dolls of the titular character. Nintendo produced a video game of the same name for the Super NES 2 years later. There was the obligatory apparel and even dinnerware plastered with pics of the pooch. As the show’s debut was pushed back repeatedly, all of this merchandise wound up gathering dust in warehouses before finally being relegated to bargain bins. "Family Dog" was rescheduled with a launch in October ’91, but when it became clear that that was unfeasible, it remained on their mid-season replacement list for the ’91-’92 season, but it still didn't happen. Unfortunately, the show would hit another snag in early ’92... The series was part of a spate of attempts by major networks to develop prime time animated shows to compete with the surprise success of Fox's "The Simpsons", alongside ABC's "Capitol Critters" and CBS's own "Fish Police" which was based on an 1980's independent comic book series of the same name, paired with "Scorch", a goofy sitcom starring a dragon puppet (which was frequently likened to A.L.F.), flopped during half of the 1991-92 season. All 4 shows were canceled in their 1st season. In November 1992, the 10 completed and "fixed" episodes were finally handed over to CBS. It’s unclear whether the network was displeased with the show, distraught over the failure of "Fish Police", or merely annoyed at having to wait so long for the show after scheduling it (again and again), but CBS sat on the tapes for months, so the series was ultimately pushed back until 1993 as a summer replacement. Frederick Coffin was originally cast as the voice of Skip Binsford, but Spielberg decided to replace him with Martin Mull, after animation was completed on the 1st 3 episodes. But Burton and Spielberg were not happy with the quality of the finished show, so it was hidden away for a while after 10 episodes were shot (all episodes have a 1992 copyright date). In early June, 1993, CBS finally scheduled the show to air. New episodes that air on the networks from May to September are most generally being “burned off.” In other words, it was clear that CBS had given up on the show and had no intention of ordering more episodes. The June 23 release of the episode, unsurprisingly, coincided with June 11 release of Spielberg’s latest film, "Jurassic Park". Family Dog received minuscule promotion and aired in hour-long blocks on Wednesday nights for five weeks from June through July, 1993. Scheduled opposite reruns of "Unsolved Mysteries", "Beverly Hills, 90210", "The Wonder Years" and "Doogie Howser, M.D.", viewers simply didn’t tune in (or perhaps even know it was finally airing), with the first 2 episodes ranking #40 and #42 out of 94 shows in the weekly Nielsen Ratings. The show was animated and produced by Nelvana and Amblin Television, and major studios, Universal Television and Warner Bros. Television. In retrospect, "Family Dog" is often considered to be a landmark production that, combined with films such as Don Bluth's "An American Tail" (1986) and "The Land Before Time" (1988) and Disney films like "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" (1988), "Oliver & Company" (1988) and "The Little Mermaid" (1989), led to the Disney Renaissance, which had films such as "Beauty and the Beast" (1991), "Aladdin" (1992) and "The Lion King" (1994). Family Dog is also notable as Spielberg’s first animated project; he has followed up projects like Tiny Toon Adventures, Fievel’s American Tails, Animaniacs, Freakazoid!, Pinky and the Brain, Pinky, Elmira & the Brain, Toonsylvania, The Prince of Egypt, and CGI projects like Shrek. It comes fairly close in tone to being a "Beavis and Butt-head" knockoff. The animation harks back to the earliest days of "The Jetsons," and surely that's not intentional. On the 13 episodes initially ordered, only 10 completed production, meaning that Family Dog does have 3 “lost episodes” that has yet to uncover any information on. Perhaps to recoup some of their losses, several episodes were released on VHS in 1994, and the complete series was released in a laserdisc boxed set. And with that, "Family Dog" was all but forgotten by the studios. Warner Bros. owned a stake in the show and Cartoon Network merged with Warner Bros. in the mid-90s. No reruns there. Aside from DVD-Rs duped from the laserdisc set, which have been illegally sold on eBay and i-offer, the show’s hasn't been released on DVD yet. Not even the "Amazing Stories" episode is currently available, as Universal halted the American DVD release of season 2 due to lackluster sales of season 1. It's a doggone travesty. As of November 2019, Family Dog has yet to get an official DVD and/or Blu-Ray release by either Universal Pictures Home Entertainment or Warner Home Video.

[@purpledodecahedron7169]

Damn! You got the history!!

[@DjDizzy216]

I liked the short-lived Family Dog season, I had no idea it was a Spielberg project so this was a fascinating read.

[@JoeChillton]

Burton...Speilberg..and Brad Bird. Geniuses.

[@KizulEmeraldfire]

Wow. I remember seeing the intro to this show once a full two decades ago, for the first - and only - time. It's bugged me on and off all these years, because I could never remember what it was called. Then I was looking through Nintendo's Official Super NES Game Guide and noticed its game in there, and it finally clicked! :D It's so awesome to finally be able to satisfy my curiosity caused by a memory from when I was only four years old. Thank you! :)

[@Henry_Bean]

i remember seeing this on amazing stories when I was just a toddler!

[@laurarodrigues2634]

So nostalgic

[@cstefancic]

Love this show! Have the entire series on Laserdisc, not to mention a stuff toy of the dog :)

[@cindyrice9971]

Me too.

[@susanfit47]

Steven Spielberg and Tim Burton were both involved in the production of the Family Dog TV series. It was originally just a single episode from a show called Amazing Stories, and CBS wanted to adapt it to a TV series. The series was such a production nightmare that it was cancelled before the last 3 episodes could get their animation finished. Needless to say, the show was a flop for not just flawed production, but the reception was negative over being such a cruel concept. Because of the buzz surrounding the "Amazing Stories" episode, NBC announced later that year (in '87) they'd be turning "Family Dog" into a weekly series. My memory's fuzzy, but I think the regime at NBC changed soon after. Or possibly Spielberg was bitter over the cancellation of "Amazing Stories" and opted not to continue with the network. Whatever the reason, the show didn't immediately happen... but reports persisted that it was in the works. The once-unemployed Brad Bird found himself in high demand, eventually taking a job on a new show called :The Simpsons", which became an instant success for Fox (leading to a tidal wave of short-lived animated sitcoms), Burton was drawing crowds in theaters and his films were huge renters on home video so it was little wonder when CBS announced the joint Steven Spielberg-Tim Burton produced prime-time animated series in May 1990 they'd be picking up the show -- continuously associating it with Burton’s and Spielberg's names. CBS announced In early 1990, there was a newspaper-type ad for CBS with a huge picture of the Family Dog on the front, heralding "Steven Spielberg and Tim Burton present 'Family Dog!' Coming to CBS This Fall!'" Along with the pic of the pooch was a small story with some quotes from Spielberg and Burton describing the plot and genesis of the "Amazing Stories" episode. CBS ordered 13 episodes - a standard episode order for a new series - budgeted at $650,000 per episode. The series was scheduled to debut as a 1990-91 mid-season replacement on March 20, 1991 (and it was heavily promoted during the February 20, 1991 broadcast of the Grammy Awards), but the animation production wasn't completed in time for this premiere, ultimately it would be another 2+ years before "Family Dog" finally aired. Animation was having a renaissance at the time, "The Simpsons" garnering high ratings, MTV’s quirky "Liquid Television" in the works, and syndicated, weekday and Saturday morning children’s cartoons flooding the networks. Largely hyped due to the involvement of Spielberg, the series suffered various noted production delays that plagued the show. Further complicating matters, Burton was consumed with Edward Scissorhands and Spielberg was busy with Hook and numerous other projects, so neither was very hands-on with the initial production of Family Dog. It did not get past its original network order of 13 episodes. Only 10 episodes were finished and sent back from the Wang Film Productions animation house in Taiwan, but the producers were dissatisfied with the results, so they halted production on the final 3 episodes and outsourced the 10 episodes to Nelvana for many production problems, rewrites, and "fixes and completions", according to an Amblin rep. Unlike a film, trying to “fix” animation is a Herculean task which basically boils down to completely re-animating it. And presumably that’s exactly what happened. Family Dog became a money pit with a $650,000 per episode budget that swelled to around a million in the end (at a time when Saturday morning fare averaged $250,000 an episode). Presumably because time had passed, none of the original voice actors from the Amazing Stories outing returned. Also, after 3 episodes were recorded and animated, Character actor Fred Coffin and Molly Cheek (It’s Garry Shandling’s Show) were cast as the parents. There are conflicting reports as to when exactly this occurred, but at some point around episode three, Spielberg decided to replace Coffin. Spielberg and Burton decided to send the episodes to Nelvana in Canada, which was producing Burton's "Beetlejuice" as a Saturday Morning cartoon. Meanwhile, there was a merchandising craze surrounding "The Simpsons" - everything from T-shirts and toys to CDs, with a vast array of unauthorized knock-offs floating around. Anticipating the success of the series, someone signed a deal with Applause, Inc. to produce plush dolls of the titular character, video games, T-shirts, pajamas, slippers, beach towels, even children’s dinner wear--to retail stores. As the show’s debut was pushed back repeatedly, all of this merchandise wound up gathering dust in warehouses before finally being relegated to bargain bins. "Family Dog" was rescheduled with a launch in October ’91, but when it became clear that that was unfeasible, it remained on their mid-season replacement list for the ’91-’92 season, but it still didn't happen. Unfortunately, the show would hit another snag in early ’92... The series was part of a spate of attempts by major networks to develop eventually was lumped into a category of failed prime time animated shows to compete with the surprise success of Fox's "The Simpsons", alongside ABC's "Capitol Critters" and CBS's own "Fish Police" which was based on an 1980's independent comic book series of the same name, paired with "Scorch", a goofy sitcom starring a dragon puppet (which was frequently likened to A.L.F.), flopped during half of the 1991-92 season. All 4 shows were canceled in their 1st season. In November 1992, the 10 completed and "fixed" episodes were finally handed over to CBS. It’s unclear whether the network was displeased with the show, distraught over the failure of "Fish Police", or merely annoyed at having to wait so long for the show after scheduling it (again and again), but CBS sat on the tapes for months, so the series was ultimately pushed back until 1993 as a summer replacement. Frederick Coffin was originally cast as the voice of Skip Binsford, but Spielberg decided to replace him with Martin Mull, after animation was completed on the 1st 3 episodes. But Burton and Spielberg were not happy with the quality of the finished show, so it was hidden away for a while after 10 episodes were shot (all episodes have a 1992 copyright date). In early June, 1993, CBS finally scheduled the show to air. New episodes that air on the networks from May to September are most generally being “burned off.” In other words, it was clear that CBS had given up on the show and had no intention of ordering more episodes. The June 23 release of the episode, unsurprisingly, coincided with June 11 release of Spielberg’s latest film, "Jurassic Park". Family Dog received minuscule promotion and aired in hour-long blocks on Wednesday nights for five weeks from June through July, 1993. Scheduled opposite reruns of "Unsolved Mysteries", "Beverly Hills, 90210", "The Wonder Years" and "Doogie Howser, M.D.", viewers simply didn’t tune in (or perhaps even know it was finally airing), with the first 2 episodes ranking #40 and #42 out of 94 shows in the weekly Nielsen Ratings. The show was animated and produced by Nelvana and Amblin Television, and 2 major studios, Universal Television and Warner Bros. Television. In retrospect, "Family Dog" is often considered to be a landmark production that, combined with films such as Don Bluth's "An American Tail" (1986) and "The Land Before Time" (1988) and Disney films like "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" (1988), "Oliver & Company" (1988) and "The Little Mermaid" (1989), led to the Disney Renaissance, which had films such as "Beauty and the Beast" (1991), "Aladdin" (1992) and "The Lion King" (1994). "Family Dog" is also notable as Spielberg's first animated project; he has followed up projects like Tiny Toon Adventures, Fievel's American Tails, Animaniacs, Freakazoid!, Pinky and the Brain, Pinky, Elmyra & the Brain, Toonsylvania, The Prince of Egypt, and CGI projects like Shrek. It comes fairly close in tone to being a "Beavis and Butt-head" knockoff. The animation harks back to the earliest days of "The Jetsons," and surely that's not intentional. Of the 13 episodes initially ordered, only 10 completed production, meaning that Family Dog does have 3 “lost episodes” that has yet to uncover any information on. The entire series was released as a LaserDisc box set, and various episodes of the show were released on VHS around the same time. As of November 2019, Family Dog has yet to get an official DVD and/or Blu-ray release by either Universal Pictures Home Entertainment or Warner Home Video.

[@HDcreature]

This is some great animation.

[@Henry_Bean]

i suppose its not too bad for 1993

[@ViciousVic87]

oh man i used to watch this all the time...i cant believe i found it on youtube. i typed it in just to see if i could find it and i did awesome

[@susanfit47]

(C) 1992 Amblin Entertainment, Universal Studios and Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

[@GodaiGamer]

this must have been the one that I watched, cuz fish police and capitol critters are not familiar at all, but I know I've definitely seen this one

[@AnimationBliss]

I remembered this show (sort of). Too bad it got canceled too soon.

[@blind_t2]

Animation Bliss! Sick burn, but true!

[@SamSatan666]

I remember seeing this when i was about 6 or 7 yrs old, it was on the week ends maybe later in the evenings on sunday and i would try to look for the Three Stooges and it turns out that this was on so i watched because there was nothing else on. I have to say i really enjoyed it back then even though i knew it made no sense.

[@RodStewartfan1]

i luved this show too! that would be awesome if someone would upload the episodes!

[@Mattwav]

the show started out with an episode part of the anthology series Amazing Stories then seven years later after that episode aired it became it's own series

[@justaguyproductions3673]

Tim burton was a producer on this?!?

[@UmmYeahOk]

Dog looks just like Frankenweenie. Explains a lot.

[@pikminfan6778]

That's nothing, Steven Spielberg was a producer?!

[@Shewolf134]

OMG I have'nt seen this since I was a kid!!!

[@ILOVEVHS]

@MsRoadkill123 I hate to break it to ya, but it's not on DVD. There was some videotapes and a LaserDisc of the entire series, but they are rare.

[@mskiara18]

Man I miss this show T.T

[@MorganNye]

Ok maybe if they get Brad Bird to do a new series of this on Netflix would that make you happy

[@miekonekocosplay]

Omg, I still have quite a few Family Dog stuffed animals after all these years. It's a shame they canceled the show. =\

[@kassemir]

Wow Tim Burton executive producing, now I kinda wanna check it out.

[@julioignaciocuetopizarro711]

Para que les quede claro, esta es animacion para adultos.

[@BoogsterSU2]

@kassemir yeah now he loves dark movies more than this :P Also, I think this dog is where that skeleton dog came from, from his movie The Nightmare Before Christmas. What do you think?

[@Spawn3X5]

I recognize tim burton right away

[@bloodrunsclear]

Tim Burton was exec? Wacky, and I never even heard of this show. I forewarded here from Darknessthecurse's review of the Family Dog game!

[@glitterbitesback]

^_^ I loved this show when I was a toddler (I was an advanced 3 year old)! They should bring it back.

[@BoogsterSU2]

Guys, if you want to watch all Family Dog episodes, I actually found them via TVShack.cc. Look for "Family Dog" in the Television section and click it! (I founded them recently)

[@pinkpegasus1057]

Sparky!!!!!!!!!

[@Geek306]

This is early frankenweenie

[@harryboyd9902]

Created by brad bird

[@UpAllNightGaming]

tim burton :]

[@joshua_brown7064]

Corus