Dan Redican
A full length original tragic-comic opera with sends up a great political leader whose downfall was his colossal ego.
Puppets Who Kill is a Canadian television comedy programme co-produced by The Comedy Network. It premiered in Canada on the Comedy Network in 2002, and in Australia on The Comedy Channel in 2004. In Puppets Who Kill, Rocko the Dog, Cuddles the Comfort Doll, Buttons the Bear, and Bill the Dummy are four live, anthropomorphic puppets with a history of delinquency and recidivism. Canadian courts sent each of them to a halfway house for puppets, operated by a man named Dan Barlow.
The Chimp Channel is an American comedy television series which aired on TBS Superstation in 1999. Based on the Monkey-ed Movies interstitials that TBS aired one year prior, it is the network's first original sitcom. The short-lived series primarily consists of costumed chimpanzees and orangutans, voiced by human actors, parodying popular television shows, movies, and advertising as well as stars and personalities within the industry. The Chimp Channel marked the first all-simian series since ABC's Saturday morning Lancelot Link, Secret Chimp, which ended in 1972.
Orphan Mary Katherine Gallagher, an ugly duckling at St. Monica High School, has a dream: to be kissed soulfully. She decides she can realize this dream if she becomes a superstar, so her prayers, her fantasies, and her conversations with her only friend focus on achieving super-stardom.
After years of sailing the sea, Noah Tomten, a retired sea captain, owns an antique toy store called Notions Oddities Doodads and Delights of Yesterday, a variety of toys, from a weasel living inside of a jack in the box to a dog pretending to be a superhero, along with his pet lobster. Two of his grandkids, Kate and Truman, as well as Kate's friend DJ, come to visit him from time to time.
Freaky Stories is a Canadian television series, which was originally broadcast by YTV in English and Canal Famille in French. It is an animated show about urban legends hosted by two animatronic puppets, Larry de Bug, a cockroach, and his gooey sidekick, Maurice the maggot in Ted's Diner - a 1940's era diner setting staffed by Rosie the waitress. The series, described as "a Twilight Zone for kids," centers around the kind of myths and legends that are told as scary campfire or bedtime stories. Every episode always starts with and finishes with the phrase: "This is a true story, and it happened to friend of a friend of mine." and by the words of Larry, "Just because they never happened, doesn't mean they ain't true." Animation styles and musical scoring varied within each half-hour episode, incorporating 20 different looks in the first season alone. The short stories and changing styles were specifically designed to keep viewers' attention span. Series creator Steve Schnier successfully pitched his concept of modern urban legends to YTV in 1991. In 1994, Steve teamed with executive producer John Delmage. The resulting Freaky Stories pilot premiered during YTV's "Dark Night 3" Halloween block on October 28, 1995, and the series itself premiered as a one-hour special as part of "Dark Night 5" on October 24, 1997. While most episodes were finished on digibeta, the pilot was shot on film using traditional animation techniques but completed on video. The subsequent series was digitally inked, painted and composited.
Groundling Marsh was a Canadian children's television series featuring puppets. The show was produced by Portfolio Film & Television Inc., Children's Television Workshop and J.A. Delmage Productions. It included songs and animated segments, and enjoyed a certain amount of success and popularity at during its time. The only merchandise produced for the show were videos and they are now exceptionally rare and no longer produced. In the United States, it aired on PBS and the Disney Channel. It received funding from the International Production Fund, formerly the Maclean Hunter Television Fund. This series premiered October 1, 1995. Groundling Marsh was nominated at the 12th Annual Gemini Awards for Best Preschool Program or Series. John Pattison was also nominated for a Gemini for the episode "Bah Hegdish". The show had its series finale on November 28, 1997. The show is still seen on Bell Media-owned educational station CTV Two Alberta in Canada.
The Jim Henson Hour is a short-lived television series that aired on NBC in 1989. It was developed as a showcase for The Jim Henson Company's various puppet creations, including the popular Muppet characters. Only nine of the twelve episodes produced managed to air on NBC before the low-rated program was cancelled. Two later aired on Nickelodeon in 1992 and 1993, and the final episode never aired in the US, but it did air in the UK in 1990.
Four on the Floor was a sketch comedy series which aired on CBC Television in 1986. Consisting of only 13 episodes, the series was a showcase for The Frantics, a comedy troupe consisting of Paul Chato, Rick Green, Dan Redican and Peter Wildman. In the U.K., it aired in Channel 4's traditional Friday night comedy slot, 10 June-2 September 1988. The introduction was voiced by Dan and Rick alternating each line, with video clips and sound effects interspersed in the opening. Although the series was quickly cancelled due to CBC budget constraints, it was an important influence on later Canadian sketch comedy, such as The Kids in the Hall.
