+20: UPA at Its Wildest

'The Boing-Boing Show' — a groundbreaking series ahead of its time.

The Matador and the Troubadour (courtesy of Cartoon Modern)

Happy Thursday! Welcome to another issue of the Animation Obsessive newsletter. Today, our subject is one of the most groundbreaking TV cartoons ever made — The Boing-Boing Show.

Also known as The Gerald McBoing-Boing Show, this was a series that, logically, shouldn’t have reached the airwaves. It was UPA at its least commercial — wildly expensive, overambitious and focused on personal artistry. The show is often brilliant, and it set the stage for Rocky and Bullwinkle and TV animation to come.

The Boing-Boing Show claimed a lot of firsts. According to one historian, it was even “the first original animated series by one of the ‘Big Three’ networks (ABC, CBS and NBC).” It proved to be a commercial bomb, though, and still hasn’t had a complete release on home media or streaming. It remains deeply obscure and largely unrestored.

So, we’re rounding up several highlights from The Boing-Boing Show for you below — and telling the story of how a cartoon like this came to be.