Shark Bytes

I grew up watching re-runs of this great show (I was only one when the original went out of production). It's always been one of my favorite memories from childhood -- Tennessee and Chumley were wonderful characters that taught me to keep trying, no matter what the odds.

Don Adams will always be missed.

This show never jumped; 'Tennessee Tuxedo will not fail', he didn't. Yeah, this show was predictable: Stanley Livingston tells Tennessee and Chumley not to mess up the zoo/his latest thing, they do, they go to Mr Whoopee, but they come back, and mess up anyway, and get caught by Livingston, and they get beaten up or whatever. But it was entertaining, and funny. I mean, I wonder if you could get away with threating to 'Skin someone alive' on a children's cartoon today?

I hope this show doesn't have cheesey remake movie though, (they have already done Underdog, made by the same people). Wonder what Chumley would look like in CGI though?

I don't know why nobody has even ever mentioned this..(surprised) but..RIP Don Adams! The voice of Tennessee Tuxedo, Inspector Gadget, live action Maxwell Smart passed on and no one has mentioned it here? "Tennessee Tuxedo..will..not..fail!"

This was and is not only my all-time favorite cartoon, but one of my favorite shows of any type. The opening theme still makes me laugh, and I can remember many of the show's lines nearly 40 years later ("You dim-witted walrus! Now we'll have to wind it up all over again!"). One thing I never understood though. In many of the episodes, Tennessee and Chumley were trying to develop a plan to escape from the zoo. But in every show, they seemed to have no problem strolling out of the zoo to visit Mr. Whoopee. Go figure!

The best thing about TT was the "Mr. Whoopee" segment. I learned everything from how a telephone worked to sculpture making. It really was a great way to learn complicated things so simply. Anyway, my favorite episode was the one where TT, Chumley and their friends formed a folk group and weren't allowed to play at Stanley Livingston's concert because they didn't have a hit record. It was hilarious when they brazenly tried to get a record contract without any experience (they kept getting thrown out of the offices), but it was even funnier when they finally got to play and Stanley had to eat his hat for giving in and letting them perform. That Livingston... what a nimrod. And does anyone notice that over the course of the show, his head changed from round to sort of rectangular? With that long beak of his, he kind of reminded me of an anvil. "Abra-cadabra/change-o-range-o-ree..."

"Tennessee Tuxedo", from the same stable as my lifelong favorite "Underdog", was really one of the more educational vintage cartoons. Not only did it feature a couple of great comic actors as lead voices- Don Adams, of course, plus Larry Storch as Mr. Whoopee- it offered a quick-and-witty science or other lesson too! Invariably, Tennessee and Chumley would try to do something we humans would do (make a record, forecast the weather, build a house), fumble it, and go to Mr. Whoopee and his 3-D blackboard for the answers. In the days when educational kids' TV meant "Mr. Wizard" and "Wonderama", "Tennessee Tuxedo" fit in with its "Jay Ward-lite" touch in both writing and animation. Plus, the penguin got Adams' voice well-known and probably got him the "Get Smart" gig! Even supporting characters like "Tooter Turtle" and "Commander McBragg", both of which had a funny history lesson inside, were in the same mold. An underrated, animated treat!

Okay, the animation was pretty cut rate and the comedy was sub-par compared to Bullwinkle, but this show is still somewhat fun to watch. I remember one of the local stations in Corpus Christi would show it at 6:30 am on Saturdays. It was like a Saturday morning bonus! In addition to the network cartoons, I could get up extra early and watch the simple minded Tennessee Tux. Plus, Commander McBragg was always cool.

I only watched it as re-runs, but don't think it lived up to its potential. I remember whenever they would go to Professor Whoopee and his lame 3DBB. they would screw up what he told them but achieve the good results. and what about 'The World Of Commander McBragg'? jeez was that annoying. note to future animators - don't have multiple shows in the context of one show, it only worked on Bullwinkle.

Great show. Never missed it by that much!