| Type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Animation |
| Founded | 1959 |
| Founder | Treadwell D. Covington W. Watts Biggers Chester "Chet" Stover Joe Harris |
| Defunct | 1969 |
| Successor | Library: DreamWorks Classics |
| Headquarters | New York, New York, USA |
| Products | Television shows Television commercials |
| Owner | Dancer Fitzgerald Sample |
Total Television was an American animation studio founded in 1959 by Buck Biggers, Chester "Chet" Stover, [1] Joe Harris, [2] [3] and Treadwell D. Covington. [3] They were executives in the advertising agency Dancer Fitzgerald Sample who had the account for the General Mills food corporation. Total was formed to create cartoon characters encouraging children to buy General Mills breakfast cereals and other products. The company mostly created cartoons for television networks such as NBC. Underdog , King Leonardo and His Short Subjects , and Tennessee Tuxedo and His Tales were among the most popular series made by the studio.
Animation for Total Television was originally sourced from TV Spots, but would switch to being produced by Gamma Productions as King Leonardo and His Short Subjects entered its second season (around 1961). [4]
Notable works under the Total Television banner include:
Much of Total Television's library for post-network syndication was handled by The Program Exchange, until the company shut down in 2016. The rights are currently owned by DreamWorks Classics/DreamWorks Animation (via Universal Pictures and NBCUniversal).
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King Leonardo and His Short Subjects is a 1960–1963 American Saturday-morning animated television series that aired on NBC, sponsored by General Mills. It was created by Total Television and is among the first Saturday-morning cartoon programs.
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Joe Harris may refer to:
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The Beagles is a Saturday morning animated television series that aired on CBS from September 10, 1966, to September 2, 1967. The show was produced by Total Television, which created King Leonardo and His Short Subjects, Tennessee Tuxedo and His Tales, and Underdog. The show was cancelled by CBS after one season, despite finishing in the top 10 for Saturday mornings. It then went into reruns on ABC from September 9, 1967, to September 2, 1968. It was also the last animated series produced by Total Television before it was dissolved in 1969.
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Tennessee Tuxedo and His Tales is an animated television series that originally aired Saturday mornings on CBS from 1963 to 1966 as one of the earliest Saturday morning cartoons. It was produced by Total Television, the same company that produced the earlier King Leonardo and the later Underdog, and primarily sponsored by General Mills. A co-sponsor was Pillsbury's Funny Face Drinks. The title is a play on the “tuxedo” dinner jacket worn as formal wear.
Joseph Benjamin Harris III was an American illustrator and storyboard artist. He is best known for creating the Trix Rabbit, the cartoon mascot for General Mills' Trix breakfast cereal, who debuted in 1959. He also penned the Trix rabbit's memorable commercial tagline, "Silly rabbit! Trix are for kids", which is still utilized in General Mills' advertising campaign, as of 2017. Additionally, in 1959 Harris, Chet Stover, and W. Watts Biggers co-founded Total Television, which produced Saturday morning cartoons. Harris created some of Total Television's best known characters and series, including King Leonardo and His Short Subjects (1960–1963), Klondike Kat (1963–1965), and Tennessee Tuxedo and His Tales (1963–1966). His best known character creation aside from the Trix Rabbit was Underdog, the canine star of the animated series, Underdog, from 1964 to 1967.
Events in 1918 in animation.
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