From The TV IV
| The Dick Tracy Show
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| Premiere
| 1961
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| Finale
| 1962
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| Airs
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| Creator
| Based on the Dick Tracy comic strip by Chester Gould
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| Network
| syndication
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| Style
| 5-minute animated crime/adventure/comedy shorts
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| Company
| United Productions of America
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| Episodes
| 130
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| Seasons
| 1
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| Origin
| USA
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The Dick Tracy Show is a series of animated shorts based on the Dick Tracy comic strip created by Chester Gould.
The 130 shorts in this series, produced by United Productions of America, focus on the titular police detective and his subordinate sidekicks Hemlock Holmes (a Cockney-accented police bulldog, named for Sherlock Holmes and whose voice is patterned loosely after film actor Cary Grant), Joe Jitsu (a stereotypical Oriental detective patterned after fictional detective heroes Charlie Chan and Mr. Moto), Go Go Gomez (another stereotype, this time a Mexican police detective and a master of disguise, based on Mel Blanc creation Speedy Gonzales) and Heap O'Calorie (an overweight uniformed officer based on movie comedian Andy Devine) as they take on such Dick Tracy villains as The Mole, Flattop, Pruneface, Itchy, Mumbles, B-B Eyes and Stooge Villa in their quest to keep law and order. While Tracy and the villains he battles come directly from the comic strip, Tracy's deputies were created specifically for the series. Also, unlike the more serious-minded and often violent comic strip, the show focuses more on humor and punning by the deputy characters and tones down the violence, altering it to a more TV- and kid-friendly slapstick form.
Although the show is titled The Dick Tracy Show, Tracy's squad of detectives are the primary focus in each short, while Tracy himself only makes three brief appearances per short—in the beginning, to fill in one of his men on the latest criminal caper involving two of Tracy's rogues' gallery; in the middle, when Tracy gets an update from one of the heroes via two-way radio on his progress in the case; and at the end, when Tracy congratulates the spotlighted detective on busting the bad guys.
The Dick Tracy Show was created for syndication, frequently for airing on locally-hosted morning and afternoon kids' shows in many markets in North America. DreamWorks Classics (formerly Classic Media) now owns the rights to the series, although it has not aired on television in recent years due to the racial and ethnic stereotypes of Joe Jitsu and Go Go Gomez. The entire series is available on DVD from DreamWorks Classics.
Cast
Seasons
| Season | Premiere | Finale | #
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| Syndication
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| Season One | 1961 | 1962 | 130
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DVD Releases
External links
