The Duck Factory

Did You Know?

• Allan Burns began his career as a writer/animator for The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show and George of the Jungle before co-creating The Mary Tyler Moore Show.
• Herbert Klynn had worked on Mr. Magoo and Gerald McBoing-Boing among many other cartoons.
• The animated material for the show was produced by Ted and Gerry Woolery, for which each won an Emmy.

Overview

The premiere introduces Skip Tarkenton, a naive young man seeking work as a cartoonist in Hollywood. He arrives at Buddy Winkler Productions, a low-budget animation studio, just after Buddy Winkler's death. The company, nicknamed "The Duck Factory" for its main cartoon "The Dippy Duck Show," hires Skip. Regular employees include voice artist Wally Wooster (Don Messick), comedy writer Marty Fenneman (Jay Tarses), animator Brooks Carmichael (Jack Gilford), storyboard artist Roland Culp (Clarence Gilyard), editor Andrea Lewin, and business manager Aggie Aylesworth. The studio is owned by Buddy's widow, Sheree Winkler (Teresa Ganzel), a former topless ice dancer married to Buddy for three weeks.

Show history

The Duck Factory ran for thirteen episodes, debuting on April 12, 1984. Most episodes were directed by Gene Reynolds, Rod Daniel, and Victor Lobl, each handling three. It aired Thursdays at 9:30 p.m., following Cheers, which ranked 34th for the 1983–84 season. The show took over the time slot from Buffalo Bill; Jay Tarses, a cast member on The Duck Factory, had co-created and executive produced Buffalo Bill, which ended its network run on April 5, 1984. NBC aired episodes out of the intended sequence, creating major continuity problems. The first episode ended on cliffhangers that were never resolved because the episode meant to follow it was not broadcast. Instead, the eighth episode in the planned order—where Skip gets promoted to producer—aired second. Later episodes jumped back and forth between Skip as producer and Skip as a junior animator, with no explanation for his shifting role. Mrs. Winkler appeared as the receptionist in the second broadcast episode, then again in the fourth. The intended second episode, which established the series’ ongoing premise, was held until the thirteenth and final broadcast, making its plot and character relationships baffling given what had already aired. The show moved to Wednesdays at 9:30 p.m. in June, and its last original episode aired on July 11, 1984.