Top 10 “What a Cartoon!” Shorts that Never Got a Full Series, According to IMDB

Once upon a time, in the faraway era of the mid ‘90s, a show premiered that would give rise to animated series that would shape Cartoon Network for the next two decades. The What a Cartoon! Show was an anthology of animated shorts by some of the greatest up-and-coming minds of animation at the time. It would introduce the world to such classics as Johnny Bravo, Dexter’s Laboratory, Cow and Chicken, The Powerpuff Girls, and a slew of other shows that made Cartoon Network a legitimate threat to Nickelodeon’s Nicktoon lineup.

With only a handful of these shorts being optioned for full series, a lot of really good projects never made it past the pilot stage, and have been lost to animated obscurity. The following is a list of the ten most popular What a Cartoon! Show shorts that were NOT made into series after their initial runs.

10 Yoink! Of the Yukon (1995)

Yoink! of the Yukon was a plucky blue dog who strove to keep the peace with his affectatious Mountie owner in the harsh wastelands of Canada. Barring the myopic view of what Canada was actually like in the 1990s, Yoink featured the voice acting talents of Rob Paulen and Charlie Adler, as well as top-notch animation.

Created jointly by Jerry Eisenberg, Don Jurwich and featuring one of the more memorable, catchier theme songs of the list, Yoink! of the Yukon was an enjoyable attempt that had legs beyond an 11-minute short. Unfortunately, viewers were not interested in discovering its terrain any further.

9 Larry & Steve (1997)

Larry & Steve chronicles the fast-paced misadventures of Steve, a well-read talking dog, and Larry, a bumbling middle-aged man who had to repeat kindergarten twelve times. A lot is crammed into the 7-minute short; after Larry rescues Steve from the dog pound, Larry insists they go to the nearest store to properly furnish his hovel of an apartment, and unabashed hilarity ensues.

Both Larry and Steve are voiced by the creator of the short Seth MacFarlane; while Larry & Steve did not survive beyond the What a Cartoon! phase, it was retooled and eventually turned into the successful primetime animated series Family Guy. All’s well that ends well!

8 Kitchen Casanova (1996)

A unique-looking animation whose style is like nothing else on the list, Kitchen Casanova was a bizarre yet hilarious short about a man’s attempt to impress his date with his culinary prowess. Looking like something that would be more at home in Cartoon Network’s O Canada anthology than What a Cartoon! Show, what starts as an innocent dinner date quickly goes awry, and somehow ends in an intense, ritualistic feeding frenzy.

Unfortunately, viewers were not enthralled enough to want to explore the further goings-on in this man’s sordid life, and Kitchen Cassanova was relegated a one-night stand.

7 Hard Luck Duck (1995)

Produced and created by one half of Hanna-Barbera (indeed, one of the last cartoons to be made by William Hanna), Hard Luck Duck benefits from solid animation and a stellar voice cast; Brad Garrett, Jim Cummings, and the late great Russi Tayor all star in this animated short.

While Hard Luck Duck captured the vibe and feel of classic Hanna-Barbera cartoons of old, the cute little duckling who lived in an alligator’s mouth and was relentlessly pursued by a hungry creole fox didn’t resonate enough with viewers to warrant more episodes.

6 Mina and the Count: Interlude with a Vampire (1995)

Mina and the Count follows a vampire during his nightly quest to satiate his unholy bloodlust; little does know he’d meet his match in an adorable 7-year -old girl. Funny and cute, and with the vocal stylings of Star Wars’ Mark Hamill as the Count, this was the only short to get a chance on both Nickelodeon AND Cartoon Network.

Unfortunately, both attempts proved fruitless for creator Rob Renzetti, and only three episodes about this dynamic duo were produced (the other two were part of Nickelodeon’s Oh Yeah! Cartoons lineup). While Mina and the Count was not a success, Renzetti would eventually find luck with his other creation My Life as a Teenage Robot, which would go on to become a Nicktoon for three seasons.

5 Mr. Monkeyman (1996)

Van Partible was the creator of Johnny Bravo, one of several animated shorts to be greenlit for a series on Cartoon Network, along with Dexter’s Laboratory, Powerpuff Girls, and Cow and Chicken. Therefore, It would be easy to forget about his other animated offering, Jungle Boy. A little bit The Jungle Book meets George of the Jungle, the pint-sized protagonist ruled the jungle with a little iron fist, always one step ahead of King Raymond the gorilla.

While the animation was superior to Johnny Bravo, the humor didn’t land as well and wasn’t as edgy, and thus it quickly slipped out of people’s collective memories.

4 Pizza Boy in No Tip (1996)

A short created by Robert Alvarez, Pizza Boy emulates the same frenetic pace as many similar styled What a Cartoon! Show shorts (ie. George and Junior, Yuckie Duck, Sledgehammer O’Possum). Arguably the short with one of the most messed-up conclusions, Pizza Boy went all-in on the basic plot of a pizza boy trying to deliver a pizza a far distance in only 30 minutes or less.

The greatest tragedy of this short and with Alvarez, in general, is that of the 25 shows he had involvement with, none of his creations moved on; only 2 of the shows where he was animation director made it past a pilot.

3 Pfish and Chip in Blammo the Clown (1997)

Yes, the P is silent. Pfish and Chip was one of the few properties to get two shorts under the What a Cartoon! Banner (some others were Dexter’s Laboratory, Yuckie Duck, Powerpuff Girls, Sledgehammer O’Possum). Created by Butch Hartman, Pfish and Chip are two anthropomorphic cops that work in the bomb squad of edge city.

Another fast-paced humor-filled short chockful of zany slapstick, while the shorts didn’t land Pfish and Chip a series, it did allow Hartman to eventually get his foot in the door with Nickelodeon’s Oh Yeah! Cartoons, and from there The Fairly Oddparents became a popular Nicktoon on the network.

2 O. Ratz: Rat in a Hot Tin Can (1995)

A rat apparently with the same eye affliction as Bill the Cat from Bloom County, O. Ratz Rat in a Hot Tin Can tells the tale of a city rat struggling to keep warm in the dead of winter. There is some delightful banter between O. Ratz and his partner in crime, an insect by the name of Dave D. Fly.

That said, the short is not a laugh out loud riot, and many of the jokes boil down to the realization there is a rat present punchlines in lieu of straight slapstick. Its high score is likely bolstered by the involvement of legendary comedian Harvey Korman on the project; Korman passed in 2008.

1 The Adventures of Captain Buzz Cheeply in ‘A Clean Getaway’ (1995)

It’s baffling how this short passed the censors, even more baffling how it never got the due it deserved. Taking a page from the old serial space epics and even acting as a blueprint to Futurama, which would come out 3 years later, The Adventures of Captain Buzz Cheeply doesn’t cheapen itself by trying to cater to children.

While the more adult aspects of the humour may have worked for Johnny Bravo, it wasn’t enough to grant this hilarious short a chance at a series. Creator Meinhart Hansen never found success with Buzz Cheeply, but he still remained active in the industry; moving from animation to more grown-up projects, eventually working on 2016’s Academy Award-winning movie Arrival.

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