Shark Bytes

Thanks for the note Mr Ellison, and the show of course.

Hi

Thanks for all the nice things you say about the show.
I created it with my partner Paul Sutherland way back in 1958 and it played under the title of 'Tales of the Riverbank. First shown by the BBC in England then world wide.
Keep on watching....

Dave Ellison.

The show never jumped the shark because it was wonderfully consistent. No adventure was more outlandish or pressed the limits of tolerance more than any other. Every episode was just as believable/unbelievable as the last. Once you bought into the premise, it never disappointed. Considering the show has been running on-and-off since 1959, keeping Hammy from jumping the Shark is a real accomplishment. Much of that is due to the fact that the show never outstayed its welcome. It produced a few dozen solid episodes, went into hiatus, and re-emerged fresh and ready to go again years later. Many a good show has overstayed its welcome and wound up Jumping The Shark in the process. They could have learned something from Hammy.

When the show went into re-release, and Matty mouse became Martha Mouse, because it was politically incorrect to have a kids show without any female lead characters. Yes, shows now need to take that into account, but leave the shows sone back in *less enlightened* times alone. Unless you want to start seeing All in the Family episodes where Archie is digitally changed into a lesbian hindu woman.

This show was great fun as a child, and...well as an adult. But if you are a REAL fan, you'll remember that the white mouse was MATTY and is now MARTHA. Matty had a sex change? How strange.

This kid's show is HILARIOUS... I wonder about the rodent handler though... There was one time that he turned the hose (was it supposed to be a firehose?) on Hammy and GP, and the force from the water blew them right out of the frame. Bizarre, absolutely bizarre..

This show is on crack. I always stayed up all night long and I would watch this show just before I went to bed. Somehow they glued some rats into little cars and boats and whatever. Then they would give them horrible voice overs. I have never taken drugs before but I felt out of it after watching this.

Hammy Hamster never jumped! This is probably one of the best shows on TV. My boyfriend and I try to stay up and watch it as much as we can. One of the only problems we have is that Martha Mouse is really a rat and she's kind of a bitch to Hammy. Other than that, the show is awesome; proven by when Hammy decided he wanted to be a painter...damn, his tiny little pictures were cute. It did take me a while to get used to GP, but we've grown to love him. Well, I also think Granny Rabbit is annoying, but it's all about Hammy anyway.

This show never jumped the shark - I loved watching it before Saturday morning cartoons - but I remember seeing one where there was this big hamster circus inside a big top. They must have had DOZENS of hamsters, mice and other rodents sitting in this little seats watching the show. What I wanted to know, even at the age of six, was...HOW DID THEY GET THEM TO SIT STILL IN THEIR SEATS? The only logical answer...they must have been glued there.

This is the funniest show ever!!! It's now called Once Upon A Hampster and appears on Animal Planet around oh...6:30 AM. I love this show. Hammy, GP, and the rest of em rule!!!! This is funny to watch if you ever stay up all night and you'll feel like you're high just watching this. It's so stupid....it's funny.

We're talking "All-together Morris" here. The All-Together Morris episode featured GP and the rest of the rodents forming a rock band. Definitely early inspiration for budding rock musicians.