Those Animated Rascals

For those not in the know, I happen to be a die-hard fan of the animated Little Rascals series, and I must say, it was a very memorable two years of my childhood worth waking up on Saturday mornings to from 1982 to 1984, despite having aired on the Always Being Cancelled network.

The show was co-produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions and KingWorld Productions, the latter of which were the owners of the Little Rascals branding until 2006 or 2007, after which CBS Television Distribution took over the ownership rights after KingWorld folded.

The animated series did air pretty much on ABC non-stop, maybe except for one nationwide pre-emption due to planned news coverage, or the Tournament of Roses Parade coverage.  Other than that, nothing would stop the show before its demise, not even the Sarajevo Olympics nor the Los Angeles Summer Olympics in 1984.

However, the really sad thing about the show, is that after ABC cancelled the series in 1984, no home video release ever saw the light of day, nor did Cartoon Network, Boomerang or USA Network's Cartoon Express block air reruns of the series.  It's sad, but there must be a valid reason why.  There are two possible reasons as to why the series will never see the light of day in the U.S. ever again.  One of the possible reasons points to ownership conflict between CBS Television Distribution and other companies who share the ownership of the series.  If all parties agreed to release the animated series on DVD, that may make for one hell of an expensive DVD set, as each of the owners would have to receive a certain portion of the profits, plus each of the real life actors' estates (since all but one are deceased) and/or the surviving real life actors (the actor who played Woim is the only character whose original real life actor is still alive as of this post) would have to clear their character's appearances.

Which brings us to the second possible reason:  The original character who played Porky filed a lawsuit against Hanna-Barbera Studios for using his likeliness without his consent at some point possibly during the second season, which, along with low ratings, may have been the reason for this series' demise.  It's a pity, because it was a great cartoon show, and I was a die-hard fan of the series, even if I was part of the minority.

The series did, however, air in various countries since ABC cancelled the series, particularly in Europe.  As of this post, the series has been airing on Boomerang in Germany since October 2011, and it did air on other German networks in years past.  The series also enjoyed a seven-year run on Cartoon Network UK & Ireland from 1993 to 2000, and over the years, it also aired in Latin America, Atlantic Canada, France, Singapore, and on Australia's Seven Network.  But the sad thing about it is, in virtually all of those countries, they only aired on one network, and never seen again.  Who knows where the animated Rascals will travel to next on their world travels.

And you can forget about a DVD release.  Warner Archive confirmed in April 2016 that the series is not cleared for a home video release.  So it looks like our only hope is for episodes to appear on YouTube or any site eventually.