October 3, 1964 (1964-10-03)– March 4, 1967 (1967-03-04)
Underdog, also known as The Underdog Show, is an American Saturday morning animated television series that ran from October 3, 1964, to March 4, 1967,[1] starting on the NBC network until 1966, with the rest of the run on CBS, under the primary sponsorship of General Mills, for a run of 62 episodes.[2][3] It is one of the early Saturday morning cartoons. The show went into syndication starting in 1969.
Underdog, Shoeshine Boy's heroic alter ego, appears whenever love interest Sweet Polly Purebred is being victimized by such villains as Simon Bar Sinister or Riff Raff. Underdog nearly always speaks in rhymingcouplets,[4] as in "There's no need to fear, Underdog is here!" His voice was supplied by Wally Cox. When appearing as Shoeshine Boy, he described himself as "humble, and loveable"; possibly a tongue-in-cheek reference to "mild-mannered reporter" Clark Kent from the opening narration of the Adventures of Superman television series.
History
In 1959, handling the General Mills account as an account executive with the Dancer Fitzgerald Sample advertising agency in New York, W. Watts Biggers teamed with Chet Stover, Treadwell D. Covington, and artist Joe Harris in the creation of television cartoon shows to sell breakfast cereals for General Mills. The shows introduced such characters as King Leonardo, Tennessee Tuxedo, and Underdog. Biggers and Stover contributed both scripts and songs to the series. When Underdog became a success, Biggers and his partners left Dancer Fitzgerald Sample to form their own company, Total Television, with animation produced at Gamma Studios in Mexico. In 1969, Total Television folded when General Mills dropped out as the primary sponsor, but continued to retain the rights to the series until 1995 and TV distribution rights, through NBCUniversal Television Distribution, to the present day.
Abroad and in syndication
The syndicated version of The Underdog Show consists of 62 half-hour episodes. The supporting segments differ from the show's original network run. The first 26 syndicated episodes feature Tennessee Tuxedo as a supporting segment. (Tennessee Tuxedo originally aired as a separate show and also has its own syndicated adaptation.) Thereafter, for most of the balance of the package, the middle segments include Go Go Gophers and Klondike Kat for three consecutive half-hours and Tennessee Tuxedo in the fourth. Commander McBragg is featured in the majority of episodes, replaced by three segments of The Sing-A-Long Family (in shows one-three, 28–30, and 55–57). The final two syndicated Underdog half-hours feature two one-shot cartoons that were originally part of an unsold pilot for a projected 1966 series, The Champion (Cauliflower Cabbie and Gene Hattree), with Commander McBragg appearing in show 61 and Go Go Gophers in show 62.
The syndicated series, as shown in the United States, is a potpourri of segments from previously aired versions of the show. Prior to a 1994 remaster, each episode included a "teaser" at the top of the show, asking viewers to stay tuned for a clip from "today's four-part story" (This originated from a 1969-1973 NBC Saturday morning rerun version of the show, though this bumper was also seen during CBS reruns in the preceding years.); however, outside of CBS-TV airings of the show, no more than two parts of the Underdog stories were ever shown in any half-hour program. There have also been different syndication packages bundled with both elements from Jay Ward’s The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle and Friends, and The Most Important Person short films. Prints of such would either be followed by a closing and credits or no credits at all. The closing (which showed the first portion of a variation of the Underdog theme showing a giant terrorizing the city with George S. Irving, the series narrator, saying, "Looks like this is the end! But don't miss our next Underdog Show!" in place of the theme music) followed by the end credits (re-edited from the cast credits for Underdog and Tennessee Tuxedo), originated from a 1969 repackaged syndicated series, Cartoon Cut-Ups, which originally featured Underdog, Tennessee Tuxedo, and Commander McBragg. As the Underdog, Rocky and Bullwinkle, and The Most Important Person segments are all now separately owned by different entities, the syndicated prints are no longer in distribution.
Most stories were split into 4 parts, but the first three were stand-alone stories:
"Safe Waif", the pilot, featured a rescue from a bank vault, but no villain. Underdog is shown causing major destruction while trying to help people.
"March of the Monsters", the first appearance of Sweet Polly Purebred, has giant robots running amok.
"Simon Says" is the first appearance of Simon Bar Sinister. "Simon says HOLD IT!" is the maniacal refrain, as Bar Sinister uses a weird camera to turn his victims into full-sized, two-dimensional photographs.
"Tricky Trap by Tap Tap" is the epilogue to the multi-part story "From Hopeless to Helpless" featuring Riff Raff; this episode was created due to story arcs not airing in their proper order (parts 2 & 3 of a story arc were shown in one half-hour show, then part 4 of the previous arc and part 1 of the next arc in another half-hour show).
Reruns of the show aired on Nickelodeon from 1992 to 1994, Cartoon Network from 1996 to 1999, Boomerang from 2002 to 2007, and on MeTV Toons since 2024.[5] However during its broadcasting on Cartoon Network and Boomerang, two notable episodes, "The Molemen" and "A New Villain", were not included on the channels’ schedule due to depicted dangerous elements subjected within the segments.[citation needed]
In 1995, Biggers, Stover, Covington, and Harris (with General Mills) negotiated a sale of their creations to Saturday Night Live producer Lorne Michaels' Broadway Video, who later sold the rights to Golden Books Family Entertainment in 1996. When Classic Media took over Golden Books in August 2001, it acquired the underlying rights to Underdog. In 2012, Classic Media was sold to DreamWorks Animation, and ultimately became the property of the series' current owners, Universal Television as a result of Comcast's acquisition of DreamWorks Animation in 2016. TV Guide ranked Underdog as number 23 on its "50 Greatest Cartoon Characters of All Time" list, IGN ranked it as number 74 on its Best 100 Animated Series list.
All episodes featured are broadcast copies syndicated by the Program Exchange, and do not represent what was originally broadcast on both NBC and CBS. Initially, episodes of Underdog featured episodes of Go Go Gophers, The Hunter (a segment of King Leonardo and His Short Subjects), and Aesop & Son (a segment of Jay Ward's The Bullwinkle Show); Klondike Kat was not included until the show moved to CBS in 1966, and Commander McBragg segments were not featured until it aired in syndication starting in 1969.
Episode #01
Underdog #1 (Episode 1: Safe Waif) (pilot cartoon; no on-screen title shown)
Tennessee Tuxedo #2 (The Rain Makers) (902, 972)
The Sing-A-Long Family #1 (Picnic) (Sing-A-Long Family cartoon titles are unofficial and do not appear on screen) (also appears in syndicated shows #328, 355)
Underdog #2 (Episode 2: The March Of The Monsters)
Episode #02
Underdog #3 (Episode 3: Simon Says)
Tennessee Tuxedo #4 (Telephone Terrors or Dial M For Mayhem) (904, 974)
The Sing-A-Long Family #2 (Skating) (also appears in syndicated shows #329, 356)
Underdog #32 (Episode 4: Tricky Trap By Tap Tap) (Note: Tricky Trap By Tap Tap is the epilogue of the four-episode serial From Hopeless To Helpless, which is featured later in the series in shows #315 and #316.)
Commander McBragg #33 (The Astronaut) (also appears in syndicated show #333)
Underdog #116 (A New Villain: Part 4)
Episode #59
Underdog #117 (Batty-Man: Part 1)
Go Go Gophers #25 (The Great White Stallion)
Klondike Kat #25 (The Island Hideout)
Commander McBragg #34 (Dam Break) (also appears in syndicated show #334)
Underdog #118 (Batty-Man: Part 2)
Episode #60
Underdog #119 (Batty-Man: Part 3)
Go Go Gophers #26 (Blankety-Blank Blanket)
Klondike Kat #26 (The Kat Napper)
Commander McBragg #35 (The Eclipse) (also appears in syndicated show #335)
Underdog #120 (Batty-Man: Part 4)
Episode #61
Underdog #121 (The Vacuum Gun: Part 1)
Cauliflower Cabbie (Introducing The Champion!)
Commander McBragg #36 (Ship Of The Desert) (also appears in syndicated show #336)
Underdog #122 (The Vacuum Gun: Part 2)
Episode #62
Underdog #123 (The Vacuum Gun: Part 3)
Gene Hattree (The Trap)
Go Go Gophers #27 (The Ironclad) (not The Unsinkable Iron Clad)
Underdog #124 (The Vacuum Gun: Part 4)
Superpowers
When he is not Underdog, he is incognito as Shoeshine Boy. Like Superman, when trouble calls, he hurriedly runs into a telephone booth (which would inexplicably explode upon his transmutation). On occasion, to replenish his powers, he would take an "Underdog Super Energy Pill". This pill was first introduced in episode 9. He keeps one of these pills inside a special ring he wears at all times. (Before taking one, he would often utter the words: "The secret compartment of my ring I fill / With an Underdog Super Energy Pill.") Several episodes, starting with RiffRaffville, show Underdog without his ring and being powerless, since he must take another pill as his super powers begin to fail ("Without my Energy Vitamin Pill / I grow weaker and weaker and weaker still.") and, as a result, he can die; but of course, this being a children's cartoon show, no one actually kills him, even when he is at their mercy. He tells everyone who will listen this secret of his super powers. When the series was syndicated in the 1980s and 1990s, the scenes of him taking his energy pill were edited out. In the recent release Underdog: The Ultimate Collection, the word "Energy" was replaced with "Vitamin".
Underdog is shown to have incredible superhuman powers. However, the number and scope of his superpowers are inconsistent from episode to episode, being subject not only to the conventions of superhero comics, but also to the conventions of humorous cartoons. In one episode, he easily moved planets, safely butting against them with his rear end. In another episode, his Super Energy Pill, diluted billions of times when added to a city's water system, was capable of giving normal humans who drank the water enough strength to easily bend thick steel bars. Among his many powers shown on the show are: super strength, super speed, supersonic flight, physical invulnerability, X-ray vision, super breath, cosmic vision, atomic breath, atomizing eyes, heat vision, ultrasonic hearing, a supersonic high-pitch hi-fi voice and a great calculating brain.
Other media
Books and comics
Underdog has also appeared in one Little Golden Book, Underdog and the Disappearing Ice Cream in 1975.
Charlton Comics produced a comic book that ran 10 issues from July 1970 to January 1972, mainly adapting stories from the cartoon.[6]
Gold Key Comics produced a comic book that ran 23 issues from March 1975 to February 1979. Unlike the Charlton run, these featured original stories.
Harvey Comics did a one-shot in 1993, and a five-issue series from November 1993 to July 1994. These issues reprinted comics from the Charlton Comics run.
American Mythology Comics produced a comic book that ran four issues from September 2017 to September 2018. It was followed by a Halloween ComicFest one-shot in 2019 and Underdog in Space which ran for one issue in 2020. Underdog: 1975 reprinted comics from the Gold Key Comics run.
Theme song
The show is also remembered for its title song, "Underdog", which was arranged and produced by Robert Weitz, with lyrics by Chester Stover, W. Watts Biggers, Treadwell Covington, and Joseph Harris.[7] Several notable covers of the theme song have been made. The original song was sung by Robert Ragaini. He explained, "As a struggling singer in New York, I'd gotten a job singing a theme song for a newly proposed TV cartoon series named 'Underdog'. I went to the studio, I think 'O.D.O.' on West 54th Street, sang as part of the backup group (ah-ooo, ah-ooo), then quickly sang the theme song over the track and left. I remember how pleased I was that I'd taken that mouthful of words and made them understandable. Oh yes, they paid me 50 dollars. No contract– I wasn't yet a member of SAG– and I was thrilled to get it. Until I heard it again, year after year. By then I'd become a successful jingle singer and I knew what I should have been making. When it came out as the music track of a Reebok commercial I filed a claim with the Screen Actors Guild, but of course I had no documentation. A friend did give me an Underdog T-shirt. I wore it once, but when a man I passed on West 14th Street started singing the song, I retired it."[citation needed]
Ted Kooshian's Standard Orbit Quartet included the song on their 2009 CD Underdog, And Other Stories...
An extended a cappella version was done by The Blanks on the TV program Scrubs during the episode titled "My Hero". They later recorded it on their 2004 album Riding the Wave.
The hip hop producer and Wu-Tang Clan member RZA sampled the show's theme song in the group's 1993 song titled "Wu-Tang Clan Ain't Nuttin To F' Wit", released on their debut album Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers).
The Underdog theme also was used in a commercial for the Reebok ZQuick shoes in 2014.
VHS releases
In 1990, generic companyUAV Corp. released Underdog in separate episodes, which went out-of-print in 1995. On June 14, 1996, Sony Wonder released Underdog on VHS in a four-volume collection. These sets were reissued on the same format on September 12, 2000, as each set, especially the DVD versions, included a coupon for the Underdog lithograph by the series’ creator, Joe Harris.
DVD releases
Sony Wonder released Underdog Collector’s Edition DVD on September 12, 2000, and again on August 6, 2002. These releases were discontinued in the mid-2000s. On July 24, 2007, Classic Media released Underdog on DVD in region 1 in a three-volume collection, following a previous three-volume set released in the late 1990s. Each volume features six digitally remastered and uncut, original broadcast episodes, each featuring two Underdog segments alongside additional cartoons from the Total TV library.
On February 21, 2012, Shout! Factory (under license from Classic Media) released a 9-disc Complete Series set containing new bonus material, including commentaries. According to Shout! Factory, "they're rebuilding the shows to their original television airing as best as they can".[8]
In 2005, Variety reported that a live-action Underdog motion picture was in development. As announced, the story introduces "a diminutive hound named Shoeshine [who] gets superpowers after a lab accident. When he's adopted by a 15-year-old boy, the two form a bond around the shared knowledge that Shoeshine is really Underdog."[9] Actor Peter Dinklage was cast to play Simon Bar Sinister, while Alex Neuberger was cast to play Underdog's human companion, Jack Unger. The movie started filming in Providence, Rhode Island, in March 2006 and was released on August 3, 2007. The film was distributed by Buena Vista Pictures Distribution. Shoeshine/Underdog, voiced by Jason Lee, was played by a golden beagle named Leo sporting a red sweater and a blue cape. The film got mostly negative reviews, but grossed $65.3 million worldwide.
Radio
In 1999, Biggers created a new episode of Underdog as a half-hour radio show narrated by veteran Boston newsman Tom Ellis with new original music composed by Biggers. Radio stations were asked to participate in Biggers' Victory Over Violence organization by airing the adventure in which the evil Simon Bar Sinister develops a Switchpitch baseball to turn positive people negative. His attempt to become king of Boston is foiled by Underdog (played by Biggers) and Sweet Polly Purebred (portrayed by Nancy Purbeck).
Revival
Instagram artists Elena and Olivia Ceballos revealed they pitched for an Underdog revival back in 2015 to DreamWorks Animation Television, since the parent company owns the Classic Media library, and eventually became part of NBCUniversal since 2016. The pitch included characters who were in the original show, along with some new ones. According to the artists, nothing went forward after the pitch.[10]
In July 2024, the Superprod Group announced a CGI-animated revival (separate and entirely different from the Ceballos twins' pitch) of Underdog to be co-produced by Superprod Animation and Red Monk Studio, under license from Classic Media (who Superprod previously co-produced Lassie for them). M6, Gulli and RAI were announced as broadcast partners, and that the series would air in a 2025 delivery window.[11][12][13] In June 2025, it was announced that the series would be called Underdog and the Canine Defenders[14], with Spanish entertainment company DeAPlaneta Entertainment joining as co-producer and that the series would premier in the Fall of that year.[15] Distribution rights are shared between the companies, with DeAPlaneta holding distribution for Spain, Portugal, and Central and Eastern Europe while Superights, the in-house distribution arm of Superprod Group, would handle the rest of the world. DeAPlaneta would also handle worldwide merchandising and brand rights for the revival, excluding the US and French/Italian-speaking territories.[16]
International broadcast
The series was broadcast in a handful of foreign markets. In Italy the series aired on Italia 1 in 2001. A separate theme song by Cristina D'Avena was used in the dub.[17] In the last few years of Pahlavi-era Iran it was broadcast by National Iranian Radio and Television.[18] The Japanese dub aired on Cartoon Network from 2000[19] to December 2002.[20] The series first aired in Brazil on Rede Tupi's stations in the mid-1970s; after the network's shutdown the series was bought by the nascent Sistema Brasileiro de Televisão. Redubs aired on Fox Kids and later Cartoon Network.[21] In Ukraine the series aired on commercial channel TET in 2010, as Песик-захисник.[22] The series aired on the Yorkiddin' block in the early 2000s in the Netherlands.[23]
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