Garbage Pail Kids (TV series)

Synopsis

The show's characters, Split Kit, Elliot Mess, Terri Cloth, Patty Putty, and Clogged Duane, are gross-looking children with abilities to help others. In the first two episodes, they have normal alter-egos, and can transform into their "Garbage Pail" identities; later episodes show them exclusively in their Garbage Pail identities.

The show also features parodies of popular films of the era such as the Indiana Jones films, Superman, Conan the Barbarian, King Kong, and The Fly. It also features segments between stories, such as "Garbage Pail Groaners" (jokes) and "Would We Lie to You?" (facts).

Cast

Main

• Tara Strong – Patty Putty (episodes 1–13), Still Jill (episode 3), Carly Cuts (episode 5) (credited as Tara Charendoff)
• Cree Summer – Clogged Duane (episodes 1–13), Trashed Tracy (episode 1), Squishy (episode 2), Plain Jane (episode 3), Heartless Hal (episode 10) (credited as Cree Summer Francks)
• Noam Zylberman – Split Kit (episodes 1–13), Idaho Spud (episode 3), The Sturgeon General (episode 3)
• Michael Fantini – Elliot Mess (episodes 1–13), Clint Hardwood (episode 2), Colonel Corn (episode 3)
• Alyson Court – Terri Cloth (episodes 2–5, 7–13), Belle Button (episode 2), Lois Lamebrain (episode 7), Fay Hooray (episode 8)
• Len Carlson – Announcer (episodes 1–13), Dan Rattle (episodes 1 and 4)

Episodes

DVD release

Paramount Home Entertainment released Garbage Pail Kids: The Complete Series on Region 1 DVD on April 4, 2006.

Controversy

CBS directly produced the series and ordered an entire season, heavily promoting it in the run-up to the 1987–88 season. However, it was abruptly pulled a few days before its debut, and (just like Little Muppet Monsters) was replaced with an extra half-hour of Muppet Babies, which was expanded to 90 minutes in order to fill the timeslot after Garbage Pail Kids was pulled from the schedule.

CBS removed the series from their schedule, following protests from Action for Children's Television, the National Coalition on Television Violence, and the Christian Leaders for Responsible Television (a part of the American Family Association). The reasons given were that the series ridiculed the disabled and glorified violence, along with the claim that the program was effectively a program-length commercial for the Garbage Pail Kids trading cards.

Some advertisers, such as Nabisco, McDonald's and Crayola also pulled out, either due to pressure from interest groups, or because they were unable to pre-screen the series from advanced tapes.

A few CBS affiliates, such as WIBW-TV in Topeka, Kansas, KOTV in Tulsa, Oklahoma, WBNS-TV in Columbus, Ohio, KHOU-TV in Houston, Texas and KREM-TV in Spokane, Washington made known they would not carry the series on their stations, notifying CBS of their pre-emptions weeks in advance of the debut.

Despite not airing in the United States, the series did air internationally, including in Spain, Italy, France, Germany, and the United Kingdom, among other countries.

References

References

1. Garron, Barry. (September 16, 1987). "CBS cans controversial 'Garbage Pail Kids' show". [[The Kansas City Star]].
2. Hall, Steve. (September 16, 1987). "'Wise Guy' too much of a blast, while 'Oldest Rookie' likable". [[The Indianapolis Star]].
3. "Spokane Chronicle – Google News Archive Search".
4. "Why Were There No Cartoons???". Geocities.com.