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I'm surprised no one mentioned that the fictitious "Duck Factory" studio was purportedly inspired by the true-life animation studios of Jay Ward, which brought us Rocky & Bullwinkle, Mr.Peabody & Sherman, Dudley Do-Right, etc. Ward was an infamous penny-pincher who worked his staff under almost sweat-shop conditions. Although he always pleaded poverty, Ward managed to squirrel away a sizable fortune for himself. (Which is the set up for this show's pilot.) To his defense, Ward surrounded himself with some of the best writers and voice artists in the business, most of whom were thrilled to work with him. Their enduring product speaks for itself.

I loved this show from the first episode -- I thought it was laugh-out-loud funny. I'm a big Teresa Ganzel fan, and also thought Jack Gilford was a treasure. Who knows what might have happened with even minimal support from the network? Perhaps in some people's view it suffered from too much inside humor, but as I remember it, the humor didn't require a great deal of industry knowledge to understand.

I had completely forgotten Jim Carrey starred on this show -- proof that back then, he could play comedy that wasn't over the top. Teresa Ganzel, though, provide my most enduring memories of "The Duck Factory" -- her "dumb blonde" shtick was the best this side of the late Carol Wayne.

In summary, there have been many inferior shows that lasted on air longer.

The basic concept was earnest, young art school grad Jim Carrey lands his dream job at a venerable animation studio only to find the crazy people who work there are running the place into the ground and it is up to him to be the responsible grown up who keeps it all together. See the irony? One of the greatest physical comics ever, a man who is himself a living cartoon character, is locked into a straight-man role, while everyone else on the show is supposed to be a lunatic. Carrey is such a good actor that when he emerged a decade later as a wild man on "In Living Color," I was absolutely amazed. It didn't help anything that this show took the time slot of the truly inspired "Buffalo Bill" show with, oh, you know, Dabney Coleman, Gina Davis...

I remember seeing "The Duck Factory" on NBC as a teenager( makes two who saw it). I had an interest in voice-work and animation, plus curious to see what Don Messick looked like.

The show was OK, from what I remember, but felt NBC did not really give it a chance. Typical of shows that are actually good but the almighty dollar, and ratings, rules so it was cut.

What I remember about The Duck Factory, is that The Today Show had Jim Carrey on to promo the show. He was shy, not like he is now. One of the things they showcased, was his ability to do impressions simply by changing his face. He did Henry Fonda from On Golden Pond, simply by putting on a fishing hat. He looked dead on, just using his rubber face.

I liked the show, but it just didn't stick around long enough to catch on. And I always wondered what happened to Jim Carrey, since Today touted him as a budding superstar. When he reemerged on In Living Color, I understood why he was a little prickly at being tagged "an overnight success." He clearly spent a lot of years trying to climb back up after Duck Factory.