Smurfs, The

The Smurfs (also known as simply Smurfs, and syndicated as Smurfs’ Adventures) is an American animated television series that aired on NBC from September 12, 1981 to August 25, 1990. Made by Hanna-Barbera, it is based on the Belgian comic series by the same name, created by Belgian cartoonist Peyo (who also served as Story Supervisor of this adaptation) and aired for 256 episodes with a total of 421 stories. The Smurfs secured their place in North American pop culture in 1981, when the Saturday morning cartoon The Smurfs, produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions in association with SEPP International S.A., aired on NBC. The series became a major success for the network and one of the most successful and longest running Saturday Morning Cartoons in television history, spawning spin-off television specials on an almost yearly basis. The characters included Papa Smurf, Smurfette, Brainy Smurf, the evil Gargamel, his cat Azrael, and Johan and his friend Peewit.

The Smurfs was nominated multiple times for Daytime Emmy awards, and won Outstanding Children’s Entertainment Series in 1982–1983.The show enjoyed continued success until 1990, when after nearly a decade of success, NBC changed the format of the show and removed the smurfs from the forest and the smurf village, and then cancelled it due to decreasing ratings. In addition. NBC executives prepared a Today weekend program for Saturdays, which came later on and led to the elimination of Saturday morning children’s shows. The show continued through Aug 25 1990 on the NBC network. The show continued to air on the USA network until 1993, followed by the Cartoon network until 2003. Smurfs is still broadcast on the Boomerang station throughout the Unites States.

 

© Jumped The Shark. 2012. All rights reserved. View Disclaimer. Website by Website Design Edinburgh.