The Woody Woodpecker Show

The Woody Woodpecker Show
Premiere	October 3, 1957
Finale	September 3, 1977
Creator	Walter Lantz
Network/Provider	ABC, NBC, syndication
Style	30-minute animated comedy
Company	Walter Lantz Productions, Universal Studios
Seasons	1
Episodes	26
Origin	USA

For the current Woody Woodpecker Show airing on MeTV, see Saturday Morning Cartoons.

The Woody Woodpecker Show is an ABC animated series featuring the iconic star of Walter Lantz Studio's cartoons which were released to theaters by Universal Pictures and United Artists.

Walter Lantz, who started in the animation industry in 1918, came up with Woody in 1941 after he and his wife Grace Stafford heard a woodpecker during their honeymoon. The woodpecker appeared in an Andy Panda cartoon, "Knock Knock", and this woodpecker was garish, buck-toothed and unattractive. Even Universal wanted to get rid of him, but Lantz pressed on as the Woodpecker--named Woody soon after--made a splash with audiences. He is readily identified by his famous "Ha-ha-ha-HAAAA-ha!" laugh.

Mel Blanc was Woody's voice at the start, and by the late 1940s, Lantz was auditioning for a new voice. Anonymously, his wife Grace auditioned, and won the role.

Woody's TV show started in 1957, airing Wednesday afternoons at 5:30 p.m. during ABC's afternoon block of kids shows. It went syndicated after that and then had two runs on NBC, first in 1971 and again in 1976. It went syndicated again afterwards starting in 1978. A new syndicated package with a new opening made available in 1990. Universal Studios themselves created a new Woody cartoon show for FOX in 2002, designing him as he looked in the mid-to-late 1940s.

DVD and Blu-ray Releases

DVD

Title	Release Date	#
Complete Series: Region 1 (USA)
Woody Woodpecker and Friends: Vol. 1	July 24, 2007	3
Woody Woodpecker and Friends: Vol. 2	April 15, 2008	3
Woody Woodpecker Favorites	March 10, 2009	1

External Sites

• The Woody Woodpecker Show on IMDb