Imagine the 1955-1959 CBS prime-time nighttime sitcom The Phil Silvers Show(aka You'll Never Get Rich)redone as an animated cartoon using alley cats in New York City and you have a good idea of what this cartoon was like. Top Cat(T.C. to his feline cohorts)was the Sergeant Bilko equivalent,the one who masterminded the scams,including pool and pinochle games to get the best things in life for free. His activities,especially when they involved using the police telephone on a pole in his alley often drew the wrath of Officer Dibble(Allen Jenkins),but the gullible cop was always too thoroughly fooled by T.C.'s cons to be able to capture and put the latter behind bars. His five followers had rather distinct personalities,although Benny,the short rotund blue cat,did seem to be his most diligent follower and the ironically named Brain,had the most trouble in following orders leaving T.C. and some of the pals to make sure he kept up with the orders that he was told to do not to mention staying one step ahead of Officer Dibble in the process. Interestingly enough,Maurice Gosfield,who was the voice of Benny,had a similar role on The Phil Silvers Show as Privare Duane Doberman.
Believe or not,this Hanna-Barbera production attracted some major names who auditioned unsuccessfully to voice a cat. Such names as Herschel Bernardi, Stubby Kaye, Ken Murray, Jack Oakie,and Jesse White. Additionally,the regular Hanna-Barbera stock player Daws Butler(who was also the voice of Yogi Bear,Huckleberry Hound,and several other classic cartoon H-B characters)was set to do the voice of T.C. when other commitments forced him to withdraw. As a replacement actor Arnold Stang was hired on the spot as the voice of T.C. throughout the series' entire run. TOP CAT however,was Hanna-Barbera's second animated series to be shown in prime-time after the runaway success of their first prime time venture "The Flintstones". However,from the first episode,TOP CAT was a smash hit with not only adults but with children since it was aimed at adult audiences(just like The Flintstones). The series ran for one season in prime time on ABC-TV,producing 30 episodes. However,the series didn't do very well in the ratings,but it managed to do excel well in its time slot. When TOP CAT premiered on ABC-TV on September 27,1961 the series premiered opposite NBC's The Joey Bishop Show and CBS' rebroadcast of Robert Young's family comedy series Father Knows Best. As for the original episodes,TOP CAT was basically filmed in color,but the network's original broadcast ran the entire 30 episodes in black and white. However,the series ran originally in prime time from September 27,1961 until September 26,1962. Then ABC-TV switched the series from prime time to Saturday Mornings where it ran from October 6,1962 thru March 30,1963,and this time the network broadcast all 30 episodes repeated in color. Then the show switched networks,this time over to NBC-TV where the episodes were repeated on Saturday Mornings from April 3,1965 thru May 10,1969 and again as part of the Peacock Network's Saturday Morning schedule during the summer of 1970.
Question: Why was TOP CAT never again shown on Saturday Mornings when other Hanna-Barbera shows like The Flintstones and The Jetsons,not to mention their first action-adventure series Jonny Quest were recycled in repeated episodes for the next three decades??? After TOP CAT ended its Saturday Morning run in 1970,the series was again shown that same year for repeated episodes in syndication and after that the series was never heard from again.....until 1996,when Ted Turner's Cartoon Network resurrected a series that has been in hiatus for the last three decades was brought back for a new generation for those who had never seen the show. The repeated episodes can be seen on a regular on Boomerrang from Cartoon Network. TOP CAT was the floor plan for a other shows that featured a cast of crafty cons(and this show premiered in 1961,some four years before Hogan's Heroes),not to mention crafty conning animals that wheel and deal and suckered out their human counterparts....The TOP CAT formula was be used again some ten years later in 1971 for the short-lived H-B series "Help!It's The Hair Bear Bunch!",that featured another cast of conning animals-these time around dealing with a group of conning bears in a wonderland zoo instead of a bunch of cunning alley cats in New York City.
Believe or not,this Hanna-Barbera production attracted some major names who auditioned unsuccessfully to voice a cat. Such names as Herschel Bernardi, Stubby Kaye, Ken Murray, Jack Oakie,and Jesse White. Additionally,the regular Hanna-Barbera stock player Daws Butler(who was also the voice of Yogi Bear,Huckleberry Hound,and several other classic cartoon H-B characters)was set to do the voice of T.C. when other commitments forced him to withdraw. As a replacement actor Arnold Stang was hired on the spot as the voice of T.C. throughout the series' entire run. TOP CAT however,was Hanna-Barbera's second animated series to be shown in prime-time after the runaway success of their first prime time venture "The Flintstones". However,from the first episode,TOP CAT was a smash hit with not only adults but with children since it was aimed at adult audiences(just like The Flintstones). The series ran for one season in prime time on ABC-TV,producing 30 episodes. However,the series didn't do very well in the ratings,but it managed to do excel well in its time slot. When TOP CAT premiered on ABC-TV on September 27,1961 the series premiered opposite NBC's The Joey Bishop Show and CBS' rebroadcast of Robert Young's family comedy series Father Knows Best. As for the original episodes,TOP CAT was basically filmed in color,but the network's original broadcast ran the entire 30 episodes in black and white. However,the series ran originally in prime time from September 27,1961 until September 26,1962. Then ABC-TV switched the series from prime time to Saturday Mornings where it ran from October 6,1962 thru March 30,1963,and this time the network broadcast all 30 episodes repeated in color. Then the show switched networks,this time over to NBC-TV where the episodes were repeated on Saturday Mornings from April 3,1965 thru May 10,1969 and again as part of the Peacock Network's Saturday Morning schedule during the summer of 1970.
Question: Why was TOP CAT never again shown on Saturday Mornings when other Hanna-Barbera shows like The Flintstones and The Jetsons,not to mention their first action-adventure series Jonny Quest were recycled in repeated episodes for the next three decades??? After TOP CAT ended its Saturday Morning run in 1970,the series was again shown that same year for repeated episodes in syndication and after that the series was never heard from again.....until 1996,when Ted Turner's Cartoon Network resurrected a series that has been in hiatus for the last three decades was brought back for a new generation for those who had never seen the show. The repeated episodes can be seen on a regular on Boomerrang from Cartoon Network. TOP CAT was the floor plan for a other shows that featured a cast of crafty cons(and this show premiered in 1961,some four years before Hogan's Heroes),not to mention crafty conning animals that wheel and deal and suckered out their human counterparts....The TOP CAT formula was be used again some ten years later in 1971 for the short-lived H-B series "Help!It's The Hair Bear Bunch!",that featured another cast of conning animals-these time around dealing with a group of conning bears in a wonderland zoo instead of a bunch of cunning alley cats in New York City.