The Pink Panther Show

It is a classic. Out of definitions or verdicts. Its music, its characters, its great humor are more than virtues but , front to contemporary animations, a sort of happy refuges. A pink panther. A lot of stories. Simple, absurde, deep unrealistic. But so charming. Short - a huge hero. British, strange but ...lovely.

I loved watching The Pink Panther Show as a child, and I still have a lot of nostalgia for it. The animation and stories are quite simple, but this simplicity works. The animation holds up surprisingly well, and the scenarios are funny without being corny and predictable. There is minimal dialogue, which is not a bad thing at all, as the visual gags are consistently hilarious. The theme tune is a classic, even if people haven't seen the show, they know the theme tune. The characters are great, there aren't many, but it is better like that. My favourites are Pink Panther, obviously and the bumbling Inspector Clousseau. Overall, delightful and one of my childhood favourites. 10/10 Bethany Cox

I have fond memories of watching this show,and this cat was the coolest ever! Way better than his counterparts Heathcliff and that lazy cat Garfield. This was produced by David DePatie and the great Friz Freleng whom in some of the theatrical shorts directed several of the segments for film and television. Pink had a style that was so unique and the way he carried it by using non-verbal tactics to outwit his opponents was something to see. Especially with those characters he had to put up with and the situations he encountered along the way and prevail it with the greatest of ease. However,there were several theatrical shorts or cartoon shorts made for television that would accompanied The Pink Panther which included,"The Ant And The Aardvark","The Inspector","Hoot-Kloot","The Blue Racer","The Texas Toads","Tijuana Frogs","Misterjaw",and so on. However out of all of them,"The Inspector"(based on the theatrical films of Inspector Clouseau)were absolutely hilarious to boot, as the Inspector tries to captured or chased his man down and the results are hilarious one right after the other voiced to perfection by actor Pat Harrington,Jr.(who was also Scheider on the television series,"One Day At A Time")and also Marvin Miller and sometimes by Mel Blanc and June Foray. The other one was a all time favorite,but incredibly funny,and I do mean downright hilarious as hell,"The Ant And The Aardvark". This was a great cartoon with the Aardvark always getting the end of the stick by chasing the Ant down for a snack and then always in some predicament the Aardvark would get into some situation with several animals and always getting beat up in the process for a square meal and its hilariously funny and these were the cartoons,which by the way were the equivalent of Friz Freleng's own Sylvester and Tweety cartoons that had its audience laughing hard and simply a comedical riot within itself one right after the other. However,stage actor John Byner's dead on impression of comedian Jackie Mason made this work brilliantly. "Hoot-Kloot",was a theatrical and TV short about a dimwitted sheriff and his bright horse getting into some predicament or another. Can you believe that this was based on Rod Steiger's character from "In The Heat Of The Night"?

The other one was based on the successful movie "Jaws",so producer Friz Freleng,along with his business associate David DePatie created a theatrical and also a television short intitled "Misterjaw". Only one theatrical release short was produced but the rest of it was made for television and it was just as funny but at times stale and boring with the mean old shark getting into a funny situation one right after the other. The voice-over for Misterjaw was by Arte Johnson of "Laugh-In" fame,and he was also the other voices for a lot of Freleng-DePatie cartoons. Catch him on Cartoon Network!!!

NOTE:Speaking of "The Pink Panther",this was Friz Freleng's most successful animated cartoon second to Bugs Bunny. The character was based on the original movie "The Pink Panther" which was directed by Blake Edwards,but it was Friz Freleng and his animation department that brought it to life along with the original theme music from composer Henry Mancini,which was also used in segments by composers William Lava,Walter Greene,and Douglas Goodwin. The theatrical shorts and the cartoons made for television ran every Saturday Morning throughout the entire decade of the late-1960's and throughout the 1970's. It was shown on all three major television networks,first it was on CBS,then went to NBC(where The Pink Panther Show ran for 11 years,and it was during his stay at NBC where he had his own two hour cartoon show which was mostly seen on Saturday Mornings and also shown on Saturday evenings as well),and later on over at ABC(where new animated segments were produced for television)where the show came to an end during the late-1970's,but came back to NBC in the mid-1980's where DePatie-Freleng teamed up with Hanna Barbera for a new version titled,"Pink Panther And Sons",which this time around audiences finally got to hear the Pink Panther verbally.

Spun off from the opening titles of the hit movie with Peter Sellers and starting out as a series of theatrical cartoons, The Pink Panther came to TV in 1969 and became a long running cartoon hit for NBC. It ran under a number of titles for seven years until ABC gave the panther another life but it lasted only one season.

What I liked the most about the show were the Pink Panther cartoons. Done completely without dialogue (with a couple of exceptions), the episodes relied on sight gags and visual humor and to me that was one of the keys to the show's success.They were also very funny. There was one character who appeared in almost every episode, a little white man that my brother sometimes referred to as "Thing." Here's one mystery that's probably never been solved. What was the name of the little white guy in the Pink Panther cartoons? There were also a number of supporting segments throughout the show's tun. The two that were my favorites were "The Ant and the Aardvark" and "Misterjaw." To me, "The ant and the Aardvark" was a variation on tom and Jerry and the Road Runner cartoons as the aardvark tried to catch one ant for a meal. John Byner showed his versatility as a voice-over artist by portraying both characters. As for "Misterjaw", which capitalized on the success of the movie "Jaws", Arte Johnson, using pretty much the same voice as the military character on "Laugh-IN" was outstanding as the title character. His sidekick, Catfish was voiced by the same guy who voiced "Top Cat" in the 60s, Arnold Stang.

I also remember "The Inspector", a pint-sized version of Seller's Clouseau character. Pat Harrington Jr. did well as the inspector and it showed his ability to handle the French accent.

Later in the run, NBC made history when it expanded The Pink Panther to 90 minutes. Although this version wasn't a success, it started a trend for longer cartoon shows when ABC expanded Scooby-Doo to two hours and CBS expanded "The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Hour to 90 minutes.

The one constant that went through each of the Pink Panther cartoons was the theme composed by Henry Mancini. It added a jazzier touch to the show's soundtrack. I had a lot of memories of watching The Pink Panther on Saturday mornings and it got me, like many other fans to "Think Pink."

When I was little I watched this show all the time. I don't think that there is a single element that doesn't work. The animation and music are great. The stories are creative and fun. This show is funny and entertaining for pretty much anyone, not just children.