Here's Boomer | |
---|---|
Genre | Children/Family Adventure/Drama |
Created by | Don Balluck A. C. Lyles Leon Tokatyan Diana Bell Tokatyan |
Written by | Lowell Ganz Edward Pomerantz Arthur Silver Sandy Veith |
Directed by | Claudio Guzmán Herbert Kenwith Paul Leaf Victor Lobl Sigmund Neufeld, Jr. |
Theme music composer | Edward Leonetti Zoey Wilson |
Composer | David Michael Frank |
Country of origin | United States |
Original language | English |
No. of seasons | 2 |
Production | |
Executive producers | A. C. Lyles Daniel Wilson |
Producer | Fran Sears |
Running time | 22–24 minutes |
Production companies | A. C. Lyles Productions Daniel Wilson Productions Paramount Television |
Original release | |
Network | NBC |
Release | March 14, 1980 – August 14, 1982 |
Related | |
|
Here's Boomer is an American adventure/drama television series produced by Paramount Television that premiered on the NBC network on March 14, 1980. [1] A television film called A Christmas for Boomer aired on December 6, 1979, and served as the pilot. [2] A spin-off of the live-action series The Red Hand Gang , the show follows the adventures of the titular stray dog, "Boomer" and ran for two seasons, ending its run on August 14, 1982, with the final original episode, "Flatfoots," airing on July 3 of that year.
The series followed the adventures of Boomer, a stray dog that traveled around helping people in trouble. The part of Boomer in all of the shows was played by a four-year-old mongrel named Johnny, who was trained by Ray Berwick. [3] [4] One early title considered for the series was Here's Johnny, after the dog who played the part, but was rejected owing to the use of that catch-phrase on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson . [5]
Johnny reportedly earned $3,500 a week while appearing on the series, [5] and had a stunt dog who stood in for him on some of his more difficult tricks. [2]
When the series was set to return in the fall of 1980, viewers were to hear Boomer's thoughts the same way viewers had heard Jackie Cooper's dog's thoughts on The People's Choice in the 1950s. [6] However, Boomer's thoughts were only heard in one episode aired as a special on December 7, 1980. When the series returned with new episodes in 1981 the gimmick was dropped and viewers could no longer hear Boomer. [7]
The premise of Here's Boomer was similar to that of the Benji films and television specials of the 1970s and 1980s. In real life, both Johnny and Higgins, the dog who first played Benji, were abandoned or lost mixed-breed dogs who were adopted from animal shelters by animal trainers in California. [5] [8] On screen, both played the parts of stray dogs who were smart, friendly, and loving of their human and animal friends.
The show bore a similarity to the Canadian TV series The Littlest Hobo , which was running at the same time on CTV Television Network in Canada and in syndication in the U.S. [9] Both series are about a vagabond dog who helps people in trouble only to go on his way at the end of the episode, and both series even used similar title sequences involving split screens. The only significant difference between the shows was the breed of the dog in each show (London, the star of The Littlest Hobo, was a German Shepherd).
The series featured a different cast each week. Guest stars include:
Year | Award | Category | Recipient | Result | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1980 | Young Artist Award | Best TV Series for Family Entertainment | Here's Boomer | Nominated | [10] |
Best Young Actress in a Television Series | Natasha Ryan | Nominated |
On March 15, 2019, CBS Home Entertainment released both seasons on DVD in Region 1. [11] [12]
The year 1963 involved some significant events in television. Below are lists of notable TV-related events.
Rugrats is an American animated television series created by Arlene Klasky, Gábor Csupó, and Paul Germain for Nickelodeon. The series focuses on a group of toddlers, most prominently—Tommy, Chuckie, Angelica, and the twins Phil and Lil, and their day-to-day lives, usually involving life experiences that become much greater adventures in the imaginations of the main characters.
Creature Comforts is a British adult stop-motion comedy mockumentary franchise originating in a 1989 British humorous animated short film of the same name. The film matched animated zoo animals with a soundtrack of people talking about their homes, making it appear as if the animals were being interviewed about their living conditions. It was created by Nick Park and Aardman Animations. The film later became the basis of a series of television advertisements for the electricity boards in the United Kingdom, and in 2003, a television series in the same style was released. An American version of the series was also made.
John Orson Whitaker, Jr. is an American actor notable for several film and television performances during his childhood. The redheaded Whitaker played Jody Davis on Family Affair from 1966 to 1971. He also originated the role of Scotty Baldwin on General Hospital in 1965, and played the lead in Hallmark's 1969 The Littlest Angel, and portrayed the title character in the 1973 musical version of Tom Sawyer.
Higgins was an American dog actor, one of the well known animal actors during the 1960s and 1970s. He is most remembered for his roles in the original Benji film, and the uncredited dog from Petticoat Junction, two of the most popular roles he played during a 14-year career in show business.
Frank Inn, born Elias Franklin Freeman, was an American animal trainer. He trained several animals for television programs and movies, including the dogs in the Benji series and the cat Orangey. He also trained the dog in Honey, I Shrunk the Kids.
Lassie is an American television series that follows the adventures of a female Rough Collie dog named Lassie and her companions, both human and animal. The show was the creation of producer Robert Maxwell and animal trainer Rudd Weatherwax and was televised from September 12, 1954, to March 25, 1973. The eighth longest-running scripted U.S. primetime television series, the show ran for 17 seasons on CBS before entering first-run syndication for its final two seasons. Initially filmed in black and white, the show transitioned to color in 1965.
"Simpsons Tall Tales" is the twenty-first and final episode of the twelfth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on May 20, 2001. In the episode, Homer refuses to pay a five dollar airport tax to fly to Delaware, which forces the family to ride in a livestock car of a train instead. There they meet a singing hobo who tells three tall tales which include Homer as Paul Bunyan, Lisa as Connie Appleseed and Bart and Nelson as Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn respectively.
The Littlest Hobo is a Canadian television series based upon a well-known 1959 movie of the same name directed by Charles R. Rondeau. The series first aired from 1963 to 1965 in syndication, and was revived for a popular second run on CTV, spanning six seasons, from October 11, 1979, to March 7, 1985. The concept of the show was that of "an ownerless dog".
Jim Henshaw is a Canadian actor, screenwriter and film and television producer.
Simon Oakland was an American actor of stage, screen, and television.
Wilfred is an Australian comedy television series created by Adam Zwar, Jason Gann and Tony Rogers based on their award-winning 2002 short film. The story follows the lives of the eponymous dog Wilfred, his owner Sarah, and her boyfriend Adam, who sees Wilfred as a man in a dog suit. It was directed by Tony Rogers, produced by Jenny Livingston and stars Gann, Zwar and Cindy Waddingham.
The Red Hand Gang is an American live-action Saturday morning television series that aired on NBC from September 10 to November 26, 1977. The show featured five crime-solving pre-teens and their dog Boomer, who lived in the inner city. The group was so named because its members left red hand prints on fences to mark where they had been.
Benji, Zax & the Alien Prince is a live-action children's science fiction television series created by Joe Camp, the creator of the Benji film series. The series was produced by Hanna-Barbera and Mulberry Square, and it aired Saturday mornings on CBS in 1983 with repeats airing in the United States and internationally for a number of years through the 1980s. In the show, the dog Benji helps an alien prince and his droid evade various henchmen sent by a dictator to capture the prince.
Regular Show is an American animated sitcom created by J. G. Quintel for Cartoon Network. It ran from September 6, 2010, to January 16, 2017, over the course of eight seasons and 245 episodes. The series follows the lives of two 23-year old friends, Mordecai and Rigby, who work at a local park as groundskeepers. Their coworkers are Skips, Muscle Man and Hi-Five Ghost. Other characters include Pops and the duo's boss Benson. The duo spend their days slacking off and avoiding work to entertain themselves by any means, which leads to surrealistic, extreme, and supernatural misconduct.
Littlest Pet Shop is a Flash-animated musical children's television series produced by DHX Media and Hasbro Studios. The series is based on the Littlest Pet Shop and Blythe toylines by Hasbro and was broadcast on Discovery Family from November 10, 2012 to June 4, 2016. It centers on Blythe Baxter, a teen girl who, after moving into an apartment in a city named Downtown City, gains the ability to communicate with animals. Located below her apartment is the eponymous pet store where Blythe works and talks to a group of pets who regularly reside at a daycare in the shop. Worried that a corrupt rival business might drive their shop out of business, it is up to Blythe to drive business into the store with her pet fashion designs.
"Food Chain" is the seventh episode of the sixth season of the American animated television series Adventure Time. The episode was written, storyboarded, and directed by Japanese anime director Masaaki Yuasa in cooperation with creative director Eunyoung Choi, and guest stars Regular Show storyboard artist Minty Lewis as Erin the caterpillar.
Dorothy Mae Johnson was an American actress and print model. Starting her career as a beauty queen, she was best known for acting on television and in motion pictures during the Golden Age of Hollywood as a starlet during the 1950s. Dorothy Mae Johnson won the 1955 Miss Oregon beauty pageant and was first runner-up in the 1956 Miss America pageant. The United States Marine Corps chose her to be their official Miss Leatherneck.
Charles "Chuck" Shamata is a Canadian actor.
Super Why! is a CGI-animated superhero preschool television series created by Angela C. Santomero and developed by Santomero and Samantha Freeman Alpert for PBS Kids. Santomero and Alpert additionally serve as executive producers alongside Steven DeNure and Anne Loi. The series was produced by Santomero and Alpert's New York City-based production company Out of the Blue Enterprises in association with Decode Enterprises for the first season and DHX Distribution for the second and third seasons. Animation was by Toronto-based C.O.R.E. Toons, Gallus Entertainment and DHX Media. The opening and closing theme songs were written by composers and lyricists Steve D'Angelo and Terry Tompkins, with D'Angelo also providing lead vocals for both. The background score for seasons 2 and 3 was composed by Lorenzo Castelli and Jeff Morrow.