What was up with the Timon & Pumbaa TV series??

[BrianGriffinFan]

Does anyone have some background or behind the scenes info explaining the show?

[Elton John]

Timon and Pumbaa were popular characters so making a spinoff with them made sense business wise.

It was a goofball comedy, and not a good one.

[BrianGriffinFan]

Timon and Pumbaa were popular characters so making a spinoff with them made sense business wise.

It was a goofball comedy, and not a good one.

Well, that's your opinion.

My question is if there's any info on why the universe of the show is so different.

[Elton John]

Of course it's my opinion, whose opinion would it be? I'm not saying anybody is wrong for liking it....

[BrianGriffinFan]

Some of those episodes with the hyenas were the best stuff LK has given us, imo.

On the other hand, Timon is a monster to Pumbaa in the show. Just check out the parody of the song Stand by Me, in which he enjoys Pumbaa getting tortured, or the episode South Sea Sick, where he forced Pumbaa to keep pretending to be sick so he can torture him. If I didn't hate Pumbaa already, it would be painful to watch.

[TheLionPrince]

Does anyone have some background or behind the scenes info explaining the show?

Thanks to my trusty HighBeam Research account (which I got free from Wikipedia), I found a couple of press releases about the series, but nothing concerning the production and behind-the-scenes stuff. I thought it would be interesting to share what I found, anyway. Last but least, I copied and pasted the text since outside of one month free trial, HighBeam requests a subscription fee with a registered account.

HOLLYWOOD Disney will launch a half-hour weekly version of "The Lion King" on syndicated television this fall.

The animated series "Timon & Pumbaa," featuring the meerkat and the warthog from the hit film, will be part of "The Disney Afternoon" programming block on Mondays. It will air during the fourth half-hour slot of the two-hour children's programming bloc.

Released last June, "The Lion King" is approaching the $700 million mark worldwide, ranking it as 1994's biggest film and Disney's most successful movie yet.

Broadway actors Nathan Lane and Ernie Sabella will reprise their film roles as the voices of Timon and Pumbaa, said Disney TV Animation president Gary Krisel.

Disney has ordered 13 episodes, each comprised of two 11-minute segments.

Kings of the jungle: Coming to the television jungle this fall is "Timon & Pumbaa." The wise guy meerkat and smelly warthog from "The Lion King" are getting their own cartoon series on "The Disney Afternoon." But don't feel sorry for the rest of the "Lion King" gang. The movie is set for video release on March 3 for a limited time.

The real Pumbaa: "Hakuna Matata!" shouts Ernie Sabella into our ear. As the voice of warthog Pumbaa from "The Lion King," he can answer the phone like that. We talked to Ernie about "Timon & Pumbaa," a new CBS Saturday morning cartoon coming this fall. To Ernie, Pumbaa is "a hero. He has the patience to put up with Timon and the rest of the world. He takes it out on probably overeating. I can understand that one!" And how much of Ernie is Pumbaa? "Quite a lot," he laughs. "Although on the screen, Pumbaa is thinner!"

[BrianGriffinFan]

This show needs more love on these boards. I feel like everyone is against it or doesn't care.

[Elton John]

Well it's hard to find to watch anymore. It never got a proper dvd release that i know of. I'm hoping that it shows up on itunes in the near future since disney put a few of their late 80's to early 90's shows there.

I know I was a bit harsh towards the show but I haven't seen it since the 90's and i'm willing to give the show a second chance.

[BrianGriffinFan]

Well it's hard to find to watch anymore. It never got a proper dvd release that i know of. I'm hoping that it shows up on itunes in the near future since disney put a few of their late 80's to early 90's shows there.

I know I was a bit harsh towards the show but I haven't seen it since the 90's and i'm willing to give the show a second chance.

Well that's very thoughtful of you.

I'm just hoping it gets some more notice on the board. The admins have decided not to dedicate a thread to it and put it in the beyond section for now, but no one is talking about it in this section...

[moonsugar33]

I was only made aware of this show through some Wikipedia page a couple years ago, and I was interested, but to me The Lion King is about the lions, so I didn't think to investigate it.

I... have mixed feelings! I'm generally not so much a fan of goofy comedy, while I am a fan of that sketchy kind of 90's animation, but I'm also a fan of believability and not anthropomorphising animal characters excessively (referencing the human world, standing on two legs, houses having features that are human-designed and would be difficult for animals to use, like doorknobs) and staying true to canon/character.

I might check it out if I have a couple of afternoons free and see what I think.