Tooned In: The Heathcliff and Dingbat Show (1980)

As hinted at previously, this is one of the newest of MeTV Toons’ offerings, and I did not see that coming. Probably helped my surprise to not be in Facebook groups where people are constantly complaining about what is and isn’t on the schedule.

Incidentally, another big surprise is on its way : the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is also to be debuting for the channel some time this year. Which I REALLY did not see coming because of the Nickelodeon connection…apparently there’s two definite no-no libraries when it comes to MeTV Toons: Nickelodeon (probably only their originals, Nicktoons and such?) and a certain walking monopoly, whose identity is as easy as M-I-C, K-E….er, ABC. (Same difference) Correct me if I got this wrong.

So, Heathcliff. I really haven’t watched any of these since they were reran in 1980s syndication with Plastic Man’s series, and I honestly have never read the comics, so I won’t have a neurodivergent trivia spitting introduction about him. He’s basically the orange comic/cartoon cat that isn’t Garfield. In this, his first animated appearance, Heathcliff’s adventures are paired with those of Dingbat and the Creeps, a trio of funny monsters whose signature member is Dingbat, the vampire dog. In the second season, Heathcliff shared the show with Marmaduke the dog, another comic strip character, and one of questionable comedy value. But what most people probably remember was the 1984 Heathcliff series from DiC, which introduced the Catillac Cats and an earworm of a theme song.

The introduction plays, and I only noticed now that the Ruby-Spears Announcer (same guy who does the Thundarr the Barbarian intro) does a rhyming narrative about Heathcliff. Maybe because he delivers it in a total deadpan. By the way, I am obsessed with the Spanish language version, which dubs all the “HEATHCLIFF” yells with their narrator just casually speaking his name (“Lorde Gato”) as he reads the intro.

FOOTBALL FLUNKIES

We begin with a Dingbat and the Creeps short, where the monsters are football cheerleaders for the wimpy team. A briefing on our protagonists: Dingbat as we said before is a vampire dog, based on Bela Lugosi presumably, doubling down on the “BLAH BLAHs” and the Transylvanian accent (Dingbat has a vlery annoying vlerbal tic…). His sidekick is Spare Rib, a portly skeleton who can shape shift and talks like Curly Howard, not unlike Jabberjaw so I’m guessing this is Frank Welker? Their leader, despite the show being named for Dingbat, is Nobody, a bossy jack o’lantern who vaguely sounds like Jimmy Durante.

Back to the story…fear and injuries leave the Pussycats (not those ones, and I love me some Melody) with no players, so the Creeps have to fill in. Hilarity ensues, including Dingbat trying to eat part of Spare RIb, and turning into a bat to intercept the ball, only for it to be too heavy. If only he preceded his transformation by shouting BAT! It wouldn’t make a difference, but it would add some style…ask Laszlo Cravensworth and his friends. Anyway, the monsters’ antics win their team the game. And that’s pretty much it.

MILK RUN MAYHEM

Switching over to Heathcliff now. This is like a Secret Squirrel episode where every other character is Mel Blanc. So the neighborhood Milkman must complete his deliveries or be fired, not easy when Heathcliff exists to make his life hell. Hijinks and slapstick ensues. What I got out of this short? Heathcliff must have also been bitten by a radioactive spider, since he walks down walls like he was a friendly neighborhood superhero. The poor milkman (pretty much Blanc as Marvin Martian, by the way) falls down sewers and gets dumped into a landfill. He does finally get the milk bottle using a helicopter, and Heathcliff bemoans his luck by stating “But I never lose!” Since this ending doesn’t work for him, brother, he disguises himself as his boss and tricks the milkman into giving him the bottle and “giving Heathcliff as much milk as he wants.” Half of this was pratfalls, the other Heathcliff making one-liners and giggling.

One sidenote: 11-year-old me vaguely remembered this episode for Heathcliff saying he was going to have a “milk out”. Now I just learned what a Hawaiian luau was, so I thought it was a pun. Don’t ask.

LUMBERING LOONIES

But does it solve Dragon Breath?

The Creeps are camping, and Spare Rib, I kid you not, predates Rand Peltzer’s Bathroom Buddy with his own device that has a toothbrush, a can opener, and other devices. The Creeps’ Not Thing companion demonstrates it, and we find that it also chops firewood, but goes out of control on all the trees in the forest. Before I can think this was their very special environmental episode (and possibly beat The Christmas Raccoons to the deforestation angle by months), the Creeps are discovered by a local lumberer and immediately get a job. That’s right, most of these cartoons are based on the monsters needing work like they’re SNL Mr. T. The new hirees run afoul of Louie the French stereotype lumberjack and they try and sabotage each other. You guessed it, hilarity ensues. The Creeps barely miss their deadline and get fired, but they manage to bring in several logs as they do. Still, they don’t get rehired and are chased by Louie at the end, so…downer ending?

Question: who’s that Dolly Parton impersonator who voices some of the commercial outros on MeTV Toons?

THE GREAT CAT AND COP CHASE

Remember the other Heathcliff segment? It’s this, except Heathcliff steals a hot dog from Casey the cop and proceeds to interfere with his life. “Here we go again,” says Heathcliff. See, even he knows it too. He does the Spider-Man walk again, is this just a Heathcliff thing? The cop even falls in the landfill too. Slapstick, hijinks, etc. etc. It ends with Heathcliff agreeing to help Casey meet his quote by driving him away from his beat… to a fancy restaurant.

LOGO PLASTER ALERT: the Ruby-Spears logo is dubbed over with the 1994 “Comedy” Hanna-Barbera one from 1994. (the one with the portrait of characters flashing by as the Jet Screamer and El Kabong sounds play)

So yeah, this is a bare bones Saturday morning show.

Now what this could mean: possibly a Heathcliff gauntlet as each series passes, kind of what they do with the different Yogi Bear shows? So first this, and then the next season with Marmaduke has been confirmed once this finishes. So maybe they’ll end with the Catillac Cats? MeTV does have access to DiC shows, so that could be realized in full.

Maybe MeTV dipping more into the Ruby-Spears library? They do have Heathcliff and Mr. T as it is. Thundarr the Barbarian would be a prime get, as would Plastic Man and the companion series in his Comedy Adventure Show. Even lesser known shows and oddities such as Turbo Teen, and The Puppy’s Further/Greatest Adventures. Which you can still hear a reference to if you watch Scooby and Scrappy reruns from 1982. If you wondered what that strange theme song in the second half of the end credits was, that was the Puppy theme.

Wonder Woman is forcing me to tell the truth…Garfield does more by sleeping and eating!