Duckman

He wasn’t a superhero. He wasn’t cute. He was just a duck like any duck. He ran his private detective agency, looked after his children, and scratched his tail feathers when required. If you didn’t watch late night television in the mid to late 90′s, you wouldn’t have even known he existed.

What the bejeezus was it all about?
Duckman was a loveable, but excessively cranky rogue duck who longs for a more innocent time. He lives with his deceased wife’s sister, of who hates him and is desperate to ensure that Duckman doesn’t ruin his own children’s lives. When not at home, Duckman is a PI for hire, accompanied by his pig-assistant Friday.

As evident from its production-style, Duckman was a Klasky Csupo production and a by-result of an era where Klasky Csupo were the kings of animation. With Rugrats and (approximately) fifty other Nickelodeon programs in production, this was obviously their attempt to crack prime-time television. It failed.

Surely something made it memorable?
While the show featured Klasky-Csupo regulars like EG Daily and Kath Soucie, the series was best known for Jason Alexander and Nancy Travis voicing the series leads. Beyond that, there are simply memories of awkward animation.

Did at least one episode stick out?
In a flashback episode, we witness the true love that blossomed between Duckman and his wife. At the same time, we understand that Duckman (a travelling nude photographer) stole his soon-to-be wife away from a very sweet and kind man named Robert (voiced by David Duchovny).

Why the heck is it consigned to the depths of forgotten telly lore?
Duckman can politely be referred to as an ‘also-ran’. While there was very little that was inherrently bad about it, there was also nothing good about it. The production look was perhaps a little too ugly for television. Even in an animated world where Beavis & Butthead and Ren & Stimpy were both riding their waves of success. The difference between them was simply that the other shows were unique and simply funnier.