ONE SEASON WONDERS: Capitol Critters

On Wednesdays, I take a look at a series that lasted one season or less. Here is a look at Capitol Critters!

CAPITOL CRITTERS

January 28, 1992 - March 14, 1992

ABC
7 episodes

Starring: Neil Patrick Harris, Charlie Adler, Patti Deutsch, Jennifer Darling, Dorian Harewood, Bobcat Goldthwait, Frank Welker

Created by: Nat Mauldin and Steven Bochco & Michael Wagner

Plot: An animated series about a young mouse, Max (Harris) who moves to Washington D.C. after his family is killed by exterminators. He lives with his cousin, Berkeley (Darling) who lives in the White House with a rat, Jammett (Adler) and his mother, Trixie (Deutsch) among others while avoiding the Presidential cats (Welker).

Brief Pilot Review:

For being an animated sitcom, this one started very dark. We saw a sweet family scene and within a minute or two, almost the entire family was being gassed to death by exterminators. It certainly didn't put the series on a happy footing and I really don't understand why they felt the need to include that scene. We could have found out that Max lost his family without actually seeing it happen. It also wasted valuable time the episode could have spent establishing its premise better. Aside from one early caricature of then-President George H.W. Bush, there was very little through much of the episode that indicated how this show would look as a weekly series.

The characters and voice actors were fine. I'm not much of an animation person and therefore don't have as much discretion when it comes to critique but I thought the young Neil Patrick Harris (still in his Doogie Howser M.D. days) was solid in the main role. Although it ran the risk of being corny, I think we needed to see more interaction with the White House than the chase through the Oval Office. I read that later episodes dealt with hot button issues of the day and I would have been interested to see how they incorporated topics like that into such a bizarre premise. But the set-up to the premise was just overbearing and they couldn't get there in the pilot. They even chose to do another gassing scene later in the pilot. I just don't understand the thinking here.

What Went Wrong:

In the early 1990s, attempts at primetime animated sitcoms were all the rage for the first time since the heyday of The Flintstones in the 1960s. And there was one reason for that - The Simpsons. FOX's iconic show had debuted in December 1989 and revolutionized that young network. Pretty soon all the networks were trying their own hand at an animated show (because of course that's what happens anytime there's a breakout hit on TV). Some of them came from decent auspices. This one was from Steven Bochco of Hill Street Blues and L.A. Law fame. Others included Family Dog from Steven Spielberg's production company and Fish Police. Animation didn't get a second hit in primetime until King of the Hill came around and to this day its still only been FOX that has had success with it.

Capitol Critters launched on a Tuesday night as a lead-in to the State of the Union address, which was fitting given the premise. I wonder if they would have tied more directly to that had they known that's when they were going to premiere. It was then used as the lead-off show for ABC's newly branded "I Love Saturday Night" - an attempt to capitalize on the success of TGIF. Also in the lineup with Critters were three long time veterans of the network - Who's the Boss, Growing Pains and Perfect Strangers. All three shows were once massive hits but all were at the end of their runs and the lineup tanked quickly. Capitol Critters was off the air by the middle of March. The remaining episodes that were unaired eventually saw the light of day on Cartoon Network in 1995.

Tomorrow: A look at Season 2 (Part 1) of Perfect Strangers!

Next Wednesday: A One Season Wonder look at Rachel Gunn M.D.!