The Deputy Dawg Show

Deputy Dawg was, without doubt, Mississippi's laziest lawman. The only thing that could rouse him was the shenanigans of Musky the Muskrat, Ty Coon, Pig Newton and Vince van Gopher. And whenever he found those pesky varmints unlawfully at large in other folks' chicken coops and melon patches he'd spring into action with a cautionary "just a cotton pickin' moment!" The only human cartoon in the series was DD's boss, the white moustachioed sheriff who just about put up with his incompetent underling. 

The Deputy Dawg Show began in October, 1960, on only a few dozen stations in the USA. But it quickly caught on, and was soon popular across the whole of America. Most of the character voices (based on stereotypical southern characteristics) were supplied by Dayton Allen, a prolific Hollywood voice actor who voiced many Terrytoons characters in television and theatrical shorts in the 1950s and 1960s. The show gave a professional animation debut of Ralph Bakshi of 'Fritz the Cat' fame. 

Shown in the UK from 1963. Dagnabit!

Published on December 7th, 2018. Written by Laurence Marcus for Television Heaven.