Today, the season doesn’t seem complete without at least one viewing of the iconic Christmas television special, Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas. That’s why it’s so hard to believe that when it was in production, the team bringing the beloved book to the screen couldn’t find a sponsor. Legendary animator Chuck Jones, who […]
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A Real “Who’s Who!” : The 55th Anniversary of TV’s “How the Grinch Stole Christmas”
December 23rd, 2021 
Michael Lyons 
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Dumb and Dumber: “Beavis and Butt-Head Do America,” 25 Years Later
November 24th, 2021 Michael Lyons Something unexpected happened in movie theaters during December of 1996. The latest big-budget family film or potential Oscar contender, prevalent during this season, were pushed aside in favor of a pair of famous animated, teenage lazy slackers, who spent the majority of their time on their couch, watching TV, tossing out the phrases: “Cool!” and […]
Tags: A Killer Story: The 70th Anniversary of “Rooty Toot Toot”
November 13th, 2021 Michael Lyons The debut of the short subject Rooty Toot Toot seventy years ago this month is as much a groundbreaking moment for animation as the first full-length feature, animated shows on prime-time TV, and the advent of computer-generated imagery. It tells a darkly comedic tale that would seem daring even for live-action films of the time, […]
Creature Feature: The 20th Anniversary of “Monsters, Inc.”
November 8th, 2021 Michael Lyons “Since the very first bedtime, all around the world, children have known that once their mothers and fathers tuck them in and shut off the light, that there are monsters hiding in their closets, waiting to emerge. But what they don’t know is: it’s nothing personal, it’s just their job.” – From the original teaser […]
A Hallowed Halloween Treat: Fifty-Five Years of “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown”
October 30th, 2021 Michael Lyons The success of A Charlie Brown Christmas in December of 1965 was both a success and a challenge. The now-iconic Christmas special was a tremendous hit for CBS. Another popular special, Charlie Brown’s All-Stars, followed in the spring of 1966. The network soon approached producer Lee Mendelson and Peanuts creator Charles “Sparky” Schulz about making […]
Bowl-ed Over: Celebrating 50 years of the Monster Cereal Commercials
October 27th, 2021 Michael Lyons Like welcome friends returning for an annual visit, The Monster Cereals come back each Halloween Season. Count Chocula, Franken Berry, and Boo Berry, along with the later Fruit Brute and Yummy Mummy, have been a “nutritious part of any well-balanced breakfast” since General Mills first introduced the sugary cereals in 1971. For those who have […]
Hidden Haunts: Seldom Seen Halloween TV Specials
October 23rd, 2021 Michael Lyons Like the candy collected by trick or treaters that’s been cast aside, you know, the lollipops passed over in favor of a Fun Size Milky Way candy bar, several animated Halloween specials have not reached the pop-culture heights of It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown. But, as we make our way through spooky season, if […]
“Ears” to a Disney Masterpiece: “Dumbo’s” 80th Anniversary
October 20th, 2021 Michael Lyons There’s a scene in director Steven Spielberg’s oft-maligned comedy film 1941, where a hardened General, played by Robert Stack, goes into a movie theater that’s showing Dumbo. The staunch General’s joy at walking into the theater, his singing along with one of the film’s songs and his tears at watching a certain sequence are all […]
First in Flight: The 80th Anniversary of The Fleischer Studio’s “Superman” Cartoons
October 12th, 2021 Michael Lyons Superman has been in the conversation a lot lately. This spring brought us the highly anticipated Zack Snyder’s Justice League, (which came about thanks to a fan campaign) and this February, the CW network debuted the series, Superman & Lois. Not surprisingly, as we live in a world of the comic book shared universe TV […]
Creepy, Kooky and Cartoony: Addams Animated Adventures on TV
October 8th, 2021 Michael Lyons “They might be scary, weird, creepy, and macabre, but The Addams Family is our secret envy. If only our family dinners could be so much fun!” So said author H. Kevin Miserocchi in his 2010 book, The Addams Family: An Evilution. There is so much truth in what Mr. Miserocchi writes. How else can one […]
Cereal Killers, Part III: Fifty Years Ago, on Saturday Morning
September 29th, 2021 Michael Lyons As a kid, Saturday mornings were our time. The rest of the week seemed to belong to adults – teachers and parents -who filled our lives with homework and chores. But, Saturday mornings? Oh, they were beautiful! The house was quiet. Clad in our pajamas for much longer than we should be, we would sit […]
Cereal Killers, Part II: Forty Years Ago, on Saturday Morning
September 22nd, 2021 Michael Lyons Saturday mornings were a hallowed place for kids. For four to five hours, we had a respite from the weekly “grind” that the school week seemed to be. And, while our parents would dare to sleep in and we would avoid having to mow the lawn, we could pour ourselves a bowl of sugar that […]
Cereal Killers, Part I: Thirty Years Ago, on Saturday Morning
September 17th, 2021 Michael Lyons Ah, back-to-school time. That time of year when, for many kids, the dreamy summer gives way to the dreaded return of days filled with spiral notebooks and nights filled with hair-pulling homework. For several generations, there was relief for this experience that upended so many kids’ lives. That was because the new school year also […]
Kidding Around: The 80th Anniversary of 1941’s Orphans’ Benefit
August 24th, 2021 Michael Lyons At one time, re-makes at Disney were rare. Today, we are used to seeing and expecting a new live-action version of the studio’s classic animated films. In the studio’s early days, Walt and his artists were more focused on original output. This makes the 1941 Mickey Mouse short subject, Orphans’ Benefit, even more of a […]
Barnyard Bluster: 75 Years of Foghorn Leghorn
August 20th, 2021 Michael Lyons In his most famous quote, actor Konstantin Stanislavski once said: “There are no small parts, only small actors.” As hard as it is to imagine, this is true of none other than Foghorn Leghorn. The loud, overbearing, blustery rooster made his first appearance seventy-five years ago this month in the 1946 Warner Bros. Cartoon short, […]
