Total Television

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:

• Cocoa Puffs commercials (1960-1969)
• King Leonardo and His Short Subjects (1960–1963)
  • The King & Odie (1960-1964)
  • The Hunter (1960–1964)
  • Twinkles the Elephant (1960–1961)
  • Tooter Turtle (1960–1961)
• Tennessee Tuxedo and His Tales (1963–1966)
  • The Sing A Long Family (1960's)
• Underdog (1964–1967)
  • Commander McBragg (1964–1966)
  • Go Go Gophers (1964-1966)
• The Beagles (1966–1967)
• Klondike Kat (1966–1967)
• Gene Hattree (1964) (pilot)
• Cauliflower Cabby (1964)
• The Colossal Show (1960's) (pilot)

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).

• Animation in the United States in the television era

• "Whatever Happened to Total TeleVision productions?," Hogan's Alley #15, 2009

• Arnold, Mark (2009). Created and Produced by Total TeleVision productions: The Story of Underdog, Tennessee Tuxedo and the Rest. BearManor Media. ISBN 9781593933456.
• Arnold, Mark (2021). TTV Scrapbook. BearManor Media. ISBN 9781629337784.

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