The first successful, designed-for-television cartoon was not created for a TV network, but rather was released directly into syndication. Crusader Rabbit, created by Jay Ward (of Rocky and Bullwinkle fame) and Alexander Anderson, was first distributed in 1949. Network television cartooning came along eight years later. The networks' first cartoon series was The Ruff and Reddy Show, which was developed by the most successful producers of television cartoons, Bill Hanna and Joe Barbera. The Ruff and Ready Show was also the first made-for-TV cartoon show to be broadcast nationally on Saturday mornings; its popularity helped established the feasibility of Saturday morning network programming. Hanna-Barbera was also responsible for bringing cartoons to the prime-time network schedule--though its success in prime-time did not result in a trend. Hanna-Barbera's The Flintstones (1960) was prime-time's first successful cartoon series. It was also prime-time's last successful series until the premiere of The Simpsons in 1989.

    TV cartoons in the 1990s were dominated by the phenomenal success of Matt Groening's The Simpsons, which thrived after its series premiere in 1989 (first appearing in 1988, in short form, on The Tracey Ullman Show). Its ratings triumph was largely responsible for establishing a new television network (FOX) and launching one of the biggest merchandising campaigns of the decade. In 1990, Bart Simpson was on T-shirts across the U.S. declaring, "Don't have a cow, man!" And yet, despite the trappings of success, The Simpsons was often a sly parody of popular culture, in general, and television cartoons, in particular--as was to be expected from Groening, who established himself as the artist of the "Life in Hell" comic strip. The recurrent feature of "The Itchy and Scratchy Show," a cartoon within The Simpsons, allowed the program to critique violence in cartoons at the same time it reveled in it. And in one episode, The Simpsons retold the entire history of cartooning as if "Itchy and Scratchy" had been early Disney creations.

    Thumbnail of Yeardley Smith

    Yeardley Smith on her voice, auditioning for "Lisa Simpson," and why she doesn't do other characters on The Simpsons

    03:07
    Thumbnail of Chuck Jones

    Chuck Jones on "Bugs Bunny's" catch phrase "What's up, doc?"

    00:51
    Thumbnail of Fred Silverman

    Fred Silverman on developing the long-running Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! and on solving initial network resistance to the "scary" concept of kids in a haunted house by centering on a goofy dog

    03:43
    Thumbnail of June Foray

    June Foray on the longevity of The Bullwinkle Show

    01:49
    Thumbnail of Alex Anderson

    Alex Anderson on bringing Crusader Rabbit to television 

    03:03
    Thumbnail of John Debney

    John Debney on composing for animation, including The Flintstones and Scooby Doo

    06:59

    Alex Anderson

    Alex Anderson on animating Crusader Rabbit (Part 1)

    03:02

    Alex Anderson on Crusader Rabbit (Part 2)

    17:30

    Alex Anderson on animating Crusader Rabbit (Part 3)

    22:02

    Alex Anderson on The Bullwinkle Show (Part 1)

    06:26

    Alex Anderson on The Bullwinkle Show (Part 2)

    08:36

    Hank Azaria

    Hank Azaria on playing various characters on The Simpsons

    46:37

    Hank Azaria on playing various characters on The Simpsons (Part 2)

    07:20

    Rick Baker

    Rick Baker on his first job, working at Clokey Studios who produced Gumby and Davey and Goliath

    07:09

    Joseph Barbera

    Joseph Barbera on creating The Ruff & Reddy Show

    06:00

    Joseph Barbera on The Huckleberry Hound Show and The Yogi Bear Show

    13:46

    Joseph Barbera on producing limited animation, and on the then-current state of animation on television

    03:29

    Joseph Barbera on the creation and sale of The Flintstones, and on basing the show on The Honeymooners

    08:51

    Joseph Barbera on the creation of Top Cat, and on the workload at Hanna-Barbera in the 1960s

    02:53

    Joseph Barbera on the longevity of his partnership with William Hanna, and on the creation of "Pebbles Flintstone" on The Flintstones

    04:56

    Joseph Barbera on how the film studios reacted to television animators, on the differences between film and television animation, and on casting voices for shows like Hong Kong Phooey

    05:02

    Joseph Barbera on casting voices for Top Cat

    01:23

    Joseph Barbera on the creation of The Jetsons

    03:41

    Joseph Barbera on the creation of Jonny Quest

    02:46

    Joseph Barbera on the creation of Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!

    03:36

    Joseph Barbera on the then-current state of animation on television, and on the changing technology of animation

    04:48

    Joseph Barbera on the then-future of animation on television, and how animators are trained

    04:20

    Joseph Barbera on producing the ABC Afterschool Special "Cyrano"

    00:48

    Joseph Barbera on producing The Smurfs

    02:31

    Barbara Billingsley

    Barbara Billingsley on voicing "Nanny" on Jim Henson's Muppet Babies

    03:23

    Lucille Bliss

    Lucille Bliss on the creation of the animated show Crusader Rabbit by Jay Ward and Alex Anderson

    15:56

    Lucille Bliss on production on and the characters of the animated show Crusader Rabbit

    04:10

    Lucille Bliss on the popularity, recording, and legacy of the animated show Crusader Rabbit

    06:50

    Lucille Bliss on getting the role of "Smurfette" on The Smurfs

    05:04

    Lucille Bliss on the premise and plot of The Smurfs and on the show's theme song and popularity

    07:27

    Lucille Bliss on her character "Smurfette" on The Smurfs; on her favorite episodes, a typical production week, and the popularity of the show

    08:17

    Lucille Bliss on voice actors on The Smurfs; on the end of the series

    05:31

    Lucille Bliss on voicing a character on Invader ZIM

    03:06

    Allan Burns

    Allan Burns on interviewing at animation companies

    02:08

    Allan Burns on working on The Bullwinkle Show and promotions for the show and other Jay Ward Productions

    18:26

    Nancy Cartwright

    Nancy Cartwright on coming in to audition for "Lisa Simpson" of The Simpsons, then part of The Tracey Ullman Show, and leaving with the role of "Bart Simpson"

    09:31

    Nancy Cartwright on winning Emmys for, castmates of, and the legacy of The Simpsons

    12:58

    Nancy Cartwright on The Simpsons

    53:27

    Alf Clausen

    Alf Clausen on composing music and recording for The Simpsons (Part 1)

    28:11

    Alf Clausen on composing and recording for The Simpsons (Part 2)

    31:45

    Alf Clausen on composing and recording music for The Simpsons (Part 3)

    08:00

    Art Clokey

    Art Clokey on animated TV advertising campaigns he did for Coca-Cola

    05:32

    Art Clokey on creating and producing Gumby

    28:08

    Art Clokey on creating and producing Gumby

    22:46

    Art Clokey on creating and producing Davey and Goliath

    05:27

    Art Clokey on creating and producing Davey and Goliath

    04:04

    Art Clokey on the cultural impact of Gumby and its various returns

    20:22

    Art Clokey on later incarnations of Gumby and its legacy

    13:31

    Greg Daniels

    Greg Daniels on writing for The Simpsons

    29:50

    Greg Daniels on writing and being showrunner on King of the Hill

    20:51

    John Debney

    John Debney on composing for animation, including The Flintstones and Scooby Doo

    06:59

    Roy E. Disney

    Roy E. Disney on the formative years of the Disney company

    11:59

    Roy Disney on realizing the power of animation when seeing a rough scene from Snow White

    01:42

    Roy Disney on his preference for feature animation as opposed to animation for television

    03:53

    Roy Disney on becoming the head of Walt Disney Animation and some of the projects and technologies produced during his tenure

    14:29

    Dorothy C. Fontana

    Dorothy Fontana on being associate producer of Star Trek: The Animated Series

    09:38

    Dorothy Fontana on Star Trek: The Animated Series storylines

    02:07

    Dorothy Fontana on writing for various animated series, and on how the technology has changed

    02:07

    June Foray

    June Foray on meeting Jay Ward and voicing "Rocky" and "Natasha" on The Bullwinkle Show

    03:07

    June Foray on getting hired on Bugs Bunny to voice "Witch Hazel," and working with director Chuck Jones (and demonstrates voice)

    03:10

    June Foray on voicing "Rocky" and "Natasha" on The Bullwinkle Show

    21:18

    June Foray on voicing "Jokey" on The Smurfs

    03:19

    June Foray on being a favorite of Chuck Jones who cast her as "Cindy Lou Who" in How the Grinch Stole Christmas

    01:34

    Ron Friedman

    Ron Friedman on creating and writing G.I. Joe and The Transformers

    21:24

    Ron Friedman on writing for Marvel Action Universe and on creating Bionic Six

    08:49

    Ron Friedman on the legacy of his animation work, specifically G.I. Joe and The Transformers

    02:51

    Chuck Fries

    Chuck Fries on Screen Gems producing The Flintstones  created by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera

    05:18

    Jonathan Harris

    Jonathan Harris on doing various cartoon voice-overs, including for the series Freakazoid!

    04:49

    David Isaacs

    Ken Levine and David Isaacs on writing for The Simpsons

    05:34

    Al Jean

    Al Jean on writing for and becoming a showrunner on The Simpsons

    01:56

    Al Jean on writing and being showrunner on The Simpsons

    58:59

    Al Jean on writing and being showrunner on The Simpsons

    13:10

    Al Jean on creating and writing The Critic

    10:40

    Chuck Jones

    Chuck Jones on the creation of "Daffy Duck" and how "Bugs Bunny" got his name

    02:44

    Chuck Jones on the difference between Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck

    02:15

    Chuck Jones on the creation of Daffy Duck

    02:38

    Chuck Jones on 1971's Bugs Bunny show

    01:13

    Chuck Jones on How the Grinch Stole Christmas

    09:05

    Buz Kohan

    Buz Kohan on his early work writing for animation

    00:59

    Stan Lee

    Stan Lee on his involvement with the animated series Spider-Man and other cartoons

    01:37

    Stan Lee on creating an animated television series

    11:43

    Ken Levine

    Ken Levine and David Isaacs on writing for The Simpsons

    05:34

    Margaret Loesch

    Margaret Loesch on projects she wishes would have worked out and didn't during her time at Hanna Barbera

    02:10

    Margaret Loesch on what she learned about animation from Friz Freleng

    02:12

    Margaret Loesch on developing and selling The Smurfs

    09:18

    Margaret Loesch on working on Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!, and developing other shows at Hanna-Barbera

    03:33

    Margaret Loesch on developing The Gary Coleman Show

    01:57

    Margaret Loesch on developing the animated version of Fraggle Rock with Jim Henson

    04:32

    Margaret Loesch on developing G.I. Joe and The Transformers

    05:05

    Margaret Loesch on developing Jem and My Little Pony with girls in mind

    02:54

    Margaret Loesch on the legacy of the X-Men series

    02:34

    Chuck Lorre

    Chuck Lorre on what he learned from working in animation

    16:24

    Bill Melendez

    Bill Melendez on drawing the Warner Bros. characters (for theatrical short subjects and later re-purposed for The Bugs Bunny Show)

    02:01

    Bill Melendez on animating the Charlie Brown Specials

    21:28

    Bill Melendez on animating the Charlie Brown Specials

    26:00

    Bill Melendez on animating the Charlie Brown Specials

    28:50

    Bill Melendez on animating The Lion, the Witch & the Wardrobe

    02:19

    Bill Melendez on producing two Garfield Specials

    01:12

    Bill Melendez on producing The Cathy Specials

    00:53

    Bill Melendez on producing Frosty Returns

    01:17

    Lee Mendelson

    Lee Mendelson on producing A Charlie Brown Christmas

    06:46

    Lee Mendelson on producing the Charlie Brown Specials

    28:11

    Lee Mendelson on The Charlie Brown and Snoopy Show

    01:58

    Lee Mendelson on This is America, Charlie Brown

    02:30

    Lee Mendelson on producing Garfield

    06:45

    Lee Mendelson on producing The Cathy Specials, based on the comic strip by Cathy Guisewite

    01:24

    Lee Mendelson on then-current projects, including producing new Charlie Brown Specials, and on working with the Charles M. Schulz estate

    01:09

    Howard Morris

    Howard Morris on doing voiceover work for Hanna-Barbera for shows like The Jetsons and The Flintstones

    05:01

    Carroll Pratt

    Carroll Pratt on the challenge of providing laugh tracks for animated series

    01:20

    Phil Roman

    Phil Roman on animating Dr. Seuss' How The Grinch Stole Christmas

    10:59

    Phil Roman on animating Horton Hears a Who!

    00:52

    Phil Roman on animating Mister Magoo at UTA

    03:11

    Phil Roman on animating Jay Ward's George of the Jungle

    08:08

    Phil Roman on joining producer Bill Melendez to animate Charlie Brown Specials

    05:49

    Phil Roman on animating and producing the Charlie Brown Specials with Bill Melendez

    12:19

    Phil Roman on producing Garfield Specials

    14:00

    Phil Roman on how Film Roman producing The Simpsons

    17:51

    Phil Roman on producing Howie Mandel's Bobby's World cartoon series

    02:52

    Phil Roman on producing the PBS series Cro

    03:02

    Phil Roman on producing and animating The Critic starring Jon Lovitz

    01:37

    Phil Roman on producing Mortal Kombat and The Mask

    01:39

    Phil Roman on producing The Twisted Tales of Felix the Cat

    02:37

    Phil Roman on producing C-Bear and Jamal

    02:12

    Phil Roman on producing Bruno the Kid

    01:44

    Phil Roman on producing Mike Judge's King of the Hill

    02:47

    Haim Saban

    Haim Saban on how he came to move from producing music for animated shows into producing the shows themselves

    03:06

    Thomas W. Sarnoff

    Thomas W. Sarnoff on being "Gumby's godfather" and negotiating deals to bring Gumby to TV  

    03:53

    Sam Simon

    Sam Simon on producing and writing The Simpsons

    41:59

    Yeardley Smith

    Yeardley Smith on her voice, auditioning for "Lisa Simpson," and why she doesn't do other characters on The Simpsons

    03:07

    Yeardley Smith on The Simpsons

    01:02:50

    Yeardley Smith on The Simpsons

    38:10

    Yeardley Smith on production on The Simpsons during the COVID-19 pandemic, on politicians pulling "Lisa Simpson" into politics and The Simpsons staying relevant, and on how long she thinks The Simpsons will run for

    23:05

    Fred Steiner

    Fred Steiner on composing for various animated series

    01:19

    Ted Turner

    Ted Turner on purchasing Hanna-Barbera's library and creating the Cartoon Network

    01:59

    Dean Valentine

    Dean Valentine on reinventing ABC's Saturday morning lineup in the 1990s

    08:56

    Alan Young

    Alan Young on voicing characters in the animated series The Smurfs

    00:21

    All Genres