Tortellini Western

Tortellini Western
Genre	Western Comedy
Created by	Larry Schwarz
Written by	Mike Yank
Directed by	Sergei Anskov
Voices of	Gary Littman Larry Schwarz Michelle Newman
Composer	Sean Lahey
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of episodes	13
Production
Executive producers	Larry Schwarz Sergei Anskov Sean Lahey
Animator	Dagan Moriaty
Editors	Kramer O’Neil Susie Hwang
Running time	3 minutes
Production company	Animation Collective
Original release
Network	Nicktoons
Release	18 April 2004 (2004-04-18) – 2008 (2008)

Tortellini Western is a flash-animated western-comedy series created by Larry Schwarz, and was produced by his production company, Animation Collective. ^[1]

The series premiered on the Nicktoons channel on 18 April 2004 (along with other series, Leader Dog), with reruns airing on Nicktoons Network until 2008. 13 episodes were produced.

Plot

The shorts revolved around an Italian family who've recently immigrated to Palermo, Montana (named after their hometown of Palermo, Italy) due to a shortage of much-needed pasta. The setting takes place in the American "Old West".

Characters

Main characters

• Giovanni (Gary Littman) - A young boy who loves going on adventures, who often tries to achieve his goals, but things don't always go as planned. He absolutely loves the delicious pasta his grandma makes. While his grandparents are usually the only family shown, his parents do appear in the show.
• Grandma (Michelle Newman) - Giovanni's loving grandmother, whose known for her amazing pasta-making skills, which her grandson enjoys very much.
• Grandpa (Larry Schwarz) - Giovanni's grandfather, who can sometimes cause trouble for Giovanni's plans.

Recurring characters

• Buck - Buck is Giovanni's rival or enemy in the show.
• Dances - She is Giovanni's friend, and she is Native American.
• Towns People - These are the citizens of Palermo, Montana, a made-up town. They often watch the funny situations that the Ruggiero family gets into.

Episodes

No.	Title	Original release date	Prod. code
1	"Some Like This Pot"	April 18, 2004 (2004-04-18)	101
Giovanni tries to find his Grandma's special pasta pot, only to discover that his arch-nemesis Buck has it!
2	"Cattlefield Earth"	2004 (2004)	102
Wild cattle are running everywhere, and Giovanni tries his best to calm them down.
3	"No Small Heat"	2004 (2004)	103
Giovanni finds a way to deal with a super hot heat wave.
4	"Pony Express Yourself"	2004 (2004)	104
When the mailman gets sick, Giovanni steps in to deliver the last bit of mail.
5	"Cacti Fighter"	2004 (2004)	105
Giovanni tries to cut the lawn, which contains a lot of cactus.
6	"Das Boot"	2004 (2004)	106
Giovanni keeps stepping in cow pies, which are not fun to step in.
7	"Montana Tea"	2004 (2004)	107
Giovanni sees a man selling oil to earn money and decides to try it himself, but accidentally hits the sewage line instead.
8	"Of Thee I Sing"	2004 (2004)	108
Giovanni gets stung by a dangerous scorpion, and Grandma and Grandpa rush to find a cure for him.
9	"Golden Stumblers"	2004 (2004)	109
During a gold rush, Giovanni tries his luck at finding gold.
10	"Lasso Miserables"	2004 (2004)	110
Giovanni has a tough time learning how to use a lasso properly, and Buck challenges him to a match.
11	"Up in Smoke Signals"	2004 (2004)	111
Giovanni sees smoke signals in the sky and thinks an army of dinosaurs and mummies is about to attack!
12	"All’s Well That Ends Well"	2004 (2004)	112
Giovanni gets stuck in a well while trying to get water. He calls for help, but instead, cows fall into the well with him!
13	"A Bull-Marked Kid"	2004 (2004)	113
A bull chases Giovanni, but it's not because it's angry; it just wants Giovanni's pasta!

Reception

The series of animated shorts was quick to receive harsh criticisms over the show's apparent overuse of crude toilet humor. As well as the cheap animation style, poor voice acting, audio quality, and bland writing. Others complained about how the rather lackluster and underperforming shorts were receiving considerable air-time more frequently than shorts that had far better overall reception and quality, such as Edgar & Ellen and The Presentators.

Despite Tortellini Western having been one of the most frequently aired animated short series on the Network during the time period. Only eleven out of the thirteen shorts have been recovered. This could be due to the fact that Nicktoons was not a commonly owned channel at the time.

External links

• Tortellini Western at IMDb

References

1. "Nicktoons Serves Up Traditional Style Toons Leader Dog & Tortellini Western". Animation World Network. Retrieved 26 July 2025.