The Deputy Dawg Show

The Deputy Dawg Show
Premiere	October 3, 1960
Finale	January 11, 1963
Creator	Larz Bourne
Network/Provider	first-run syndication
Style	30-minute animated comedy
Company	Terrytoons
Seasons	1
Episodes	34 (List of episodes)
Origin	USA

The Deputy Dawg Show is an animated comedy that aired in syndication. It was the first all-cartoon made-for-TV production of the Terrytoons studio and was distributed by its parent company, CBS Films.

Deputy Dawg was the loyal but none-too-bright canine lawman of a backwoods Tennessee precinct, Creekmud Junction. The animals that live in the nearby swamp tend to give Deputy Dawg a hard time. Most of the trouble stems from Muskie Muskrat and his predilection of stealing eggs from the Sheriff's henhouse. Three incidental characters would be spun off from this show into their own. A little green childlike space alien would become Astronut, Mischa Mouse would become Macon Mouse for the theatrical Possible Possum series, and the Long Island Duckling would become Duckwood. Elements in the show are Silly Sidney and Dinky Duck.

As successful as Deputy Dawg was on TV, it wasn't without controversy. It was depicted as a metaphor of the last vestiges of segregation and Jim Crow laws in the earliest days of the 1960s. Deputy Dawg, first colored a pale gray (later pure white), was the authority figure along with his Caucasian superior, the Sheriff. Muskie, painted brown, was a mirror image of African-Americans trying to outwit him. (It's been said that Muskie was originally to be Possible Possum, who was created later, but was changed to being a muskrat to keep from being confused with Walt Kelly's comic strip character Pogo Possum.) As Deputy Dawg made live appearances (with an actor in a Deputy Dawg suit), the audiences were highly segregated. Nevertheless, most of the TV audiences and show saturation was from the south, and the show's sponsor, Lay's Potato Chips, saw a massive rise in revenue thanks to the show.

In its original run, two Deputy Dawg cartoons were shown with features from theatrical Terrytoons films in the middle. In 1962, some Deputy Dawg cartoons were released to theaters. Some markets screened Deputy Dawg cartoons individually as part of locally hosted children's shows. The Deputy Dawg Show would be replayed on NBC in 1971 on Saturday mornings.

Cast

Actor	Character
Main Cast
Dayton Allen	All characters

Seasons

Season	Premiere	Finale				#
Syndication
Season One	October 1960	1961				34

In-Depth

• At a Glance: Additional information about the series

DVD Releases

There are no DVD releases for this show.