Top Cat (TV series)


 * This article is about the TV series. For the main title character, see Top Cat (character). For other uses, see Top Cat.

Top Cat is an American animated television sitcom produced by Hanna-Barbera (H-B) for ABC. It ran from 1961 to 1962, airing 30 episodes that spanned one season. It was the second prime-time animated series geared towards adults, although its accessibility for the whole family allowed it to be aired on Cartoon Network and Boomerang in their heydays.

An anthropomorphic group of alley cats led by Top Cat try and get by in life by regularly scamming the citizens of Manhattan. Acting as a foil to their schemes is beat cop Officer Dibble.

The entire series has been released on DVD.

Music
The music was composed by Hoyt Curtin.

Opening Theme Lyrics Top Cat! The most ineffectual, Top-Cat! Whose intellectual, Close friends get to call him T.C. Provided it's with dignity.

Top Cat! The indisputable, leader of the gang. He's the boss, he's the quip, he's the championship! He's most tip top, Top Cat!

Yes, he's the chief, he's the king, but above everything, He's most tip top, Top Cat!

Top Cat!

Release
Dates are in order of release:


 * United States: September 27, 1961 at 8:30 pm on ABC
 * United Kingdom & Ireland: May 16, 1962 at 5:10 pm on BBC TV

Cast

 * Arnold Stang as Top Cat
 * Maurice Gosfield as Benny the Ball
 * Marvin Kaplan as Choo Choo
 * Leo De Lyon as Brain and Spook
 * John Stephenson as Fancy Fancy
 * Allen Jenkins as Officer Dibble

Legacy
While the series proved to be a ratings failure, it found better success on Saturday morning television and all or some of the characters appeared in crossover productions of H-B, such as Yogi's Ark Lark and Yogi's Treasure Hunt. They also starred in their own 1988 TV movie, Top Cat and the Beverly Hills Cats. Top Cat also proved to be a big hit in Mexico, and two official theatrical films were animated in the country, later translated and dubbed into the English-language films Top Cat: The Movie and Top Cat Begins.

In the 1990s, Turner Entertainment commissioned a 20-part talk show hosted by Top Cat in the form of interstitials for Cartoon Network's international market. Top Cat's first two guests were David Hasselhoff and Carl Lewis. Sadly, all 20 seem to have not survived for the internet to watch.

In the 2000s, Top Cat and his gang had a guest appearance in the Adult Swim spoof, Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law, and there was also a failed attempt by Warner Bros. Animation to do a new Top Cat TV series. The main characters looked the same except for wardrobe changes, except for Officer Dibble who was given a radically new design, and there was also a new girl in Top Cat's gang called Roxy.

In 2021, Top Cat, Benny the Ball, Choo Choo, Brain, Spook and Fancy Fancy have made several guest appearances in the HBO Max web TV series, Jellystone! This series not only presents new personalities for each of the gang, but Choo Choo, Brain and Spook (named Spooky) are also girls for this series.

In popular culture

 * In the Lucifer episode "Yabba Dabba Do Me," a young Jimmy Baines watches Top Cat.