History WesternAnimation / TheCompletelyMentalMisadventuresOfEdGrimley

Ed Grimley is an overly-optimistic HollywoodNerd, with his highly unfashionable sense of style, questionable speech patterns and odd obsessions, such as playing the triangle and watching ''Series/WheelOfFortune'', who gets into strange adventures and takes everything that happens around him, no matter how weird, with good nature and aplomb.

In this adaptation, Grimley lives in an apartment in a converted Victorian house with his goldfish Moby and pet rat Sheldon, upstairs from his cantankerous landlord Leo Freebus (Creator/JonathanWinters) and his much nicer wife Deidre (Andrea Martin). Other recurring characters included Ms. Malone (Cathrine O'Hara), an attractive, yet airheaded amateur actress with whom Ed is infatuated, and her [[NoIndoorVoice loudmouthed]] kid brother, Wendell (Danny Cooksey).

The show only lasted one season, mostly due to the Writers' Guild strike of 1988 and the fact that it was [[DuelingShows created to compete]] with the then-ratings powerhouse ''Series/PeeWeesPlayhouse''. Short unsuccessfully proposed moving the show to prime-time for a second season, as he felt the show's humor appealed more to adults than children. The show later [[VindicatedByReruns did reasonably well in reruns]] on Creator/CartoonNetwork and its sister station Creator/{{Boomerang}} and was even released on DVD twice in 2014: the first episode "Tall, Dark & Hansom" is available on the ''Saturday Morning Cartoons: 1980s'' Volume 1 DVD set and the entire 13-episode series is also on DVD as part of Warner Archive's "Hanna-Barbera" Collection.

* AndYouWereThere: Invoked in "Blowin' In The Wind" as part of its WholePlotReference to ''Film/TheWizardOfOz''. Of course, the one person she doesn't recognize is Ed, who frowns when she points to him.

* SuddenlyVoiced: Moby, who in the sketches was simply an empty goldfish bowl that Short would stick his hand in and pretend to get bitten.

The show only lasted one season, mostly due to the Writers' Guild strike of 1988 and the fact that it was [[DuelingShows created to compete]] with the then-ratings powerhouse ''Series/PeeWeesPlayhouse''. Short unsuccessfully proposed moving the show to prime-time for a second season, due to all of the ParentalBonus humor. It later [[VindicatedByReruns did reasonably well in reruns]] on Creator/CartoonNetwork and its sister station Creator/{{Boomerang}}.

* WholePlotReference: "Blowin' In The Wind" is a weird example: it's ''Film/TheWizardOfOz''... from the perspective of the people [[AllJustADream waiting for Dorothy to wake up]].

* ToonTranformation: The opening has a live-action Ed (in stop-motion animation) getting out of bed and putting on a cartoon Ed Grimley outfit.

''The Completely Mental Misadventures Of Ed Grimley'' was a short-lived Creator/HannaBarbera series from UsefulNotes/TheRenaissanceAgeOfAnimation based on Creator/{{SCTV}} and ''[[Series/SaturdayNightLive SNL]]'' alumnus Martin Short's [[AnimatedAdaptation popular sketch character]]. Along with the ''Coneheads'' and ''David S. Pumpkins'' specials in 1983 and 2017, respectively, it's one of only three animated adaptations of a character from either of these sketch shows and remains the only one to have been made into a children's series.

The show had two other segments: the live-action ''Count Floyd's Scary Stories'', featuring fellow "{{SCTV}}" alum Joe Flaherty as the [[DepravedKidsShowHost bumbling vampire host of a children's show]] who told supposedly scary stories, most of which made no sense; and the animated Amazing Gustav Brothers, two scientist brothers (played by Winters and Creator/CharlieAdler) who would attempt, sometimes successfully, to [[{{Edutainment}} tie in a science lesson to the main story]].

''The Completely Mental Misadventures Of Ed Grimley'' was a short-lived Creator/HannaBarbera series from TheRenaissanceAgeOfAnimation based on Creator/{{SCTV}} and ''[[Series/SaturdayNightLive SNL]]'' alumnus Martin Short's [[AnimatedAdaptation popular sketch character]]. Along with the ''Coneheads'' and ''David S. Pumpkins'' specials in 1983 and 2017, respectively, it's one of only three animated adaptations of a character from either of these sketch shows and remains the only one to have been made into a children's series.

%%* TheRenaissanceAgeOfAnimation

In this adaptation, Grimley lives in an apartment in a converted Victorian house with his goldfish Moby and pet rat Sheldon, upstairs from his cantankerous landlord Leo Freebus (JonathanWinters) and his much nicer wife Deidre (Andrea Martin). Other recurring characters included Ms. Malone (Cathrine O'Hara), an attractive, yet airheaded amateur actress with whom Ed is infatuated, and her [[NoIndoorVoice loudmouthed]] kid brother, Wendell (Danny Cooksey).

* {{Expy}}: The Gustav Brothers' mother, played by JonathanWinters, is clearly based on his famous Maude Frickert character.

* AnimatedAdaptation: Of Martin Short's recurring character from ''SCTV'' and ''Series/SaturdayNightLive''. As mentioned above, it's one of only three cartoon versions of a sketch character from either of these shows, the others being the Coneheads and David S. Pumpkins, but is currently the only one to be an animated series rather than a one-off special.
* BerserkButton: Ed seems to have a certain distain for dogs.

* AnimatedAdaptation: Of Martin Short's recurring character from ''SCTV'' and ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'', to date the only time a character from one of these shows has been adapted this way.

* SuddenlyVoiced: Moby, who, in the sketches, was simply an empty goldfish bowl that Short would stick his hand in and pretend to get bitten.

''The Completely Mental Misadventures Of Ed Grimley'' was a short-lived Creator/HannaBarbera series from TheRenaissanceAgeOfAnimation based on Creator/{{SCTV}} and ''[[Series/SaturdayNightLive SNL]]'' alumnus Martin Short's [[AnimatedAdaptation popular sketch character]], notable for being the only time either of these adult late-night sketch shows have ever had a recurring character turned into a children's cartoon series. [[note]] NBC had produced a ''Coneheads'' animated special in 1983, but it was never turned into an actual series. [[/note]]

* MusicalEpisode: "Good Neighbor Ed."
* NoIndoorVoice: Wendall.

* TheRenaissanceAgeOfAnimation

The show had two other segments: the live-action ''Count Floyd's Scary Stories'', featuring fellow "{{SCTV}}" alum Joe Flaherty as the [[DepravedKidsShowHost bumbling vampire host of a children's show]] who told supposedly scary stories, most of which made no sense; and the animated Amazing Gustav Brothers, two scientist brothers (played by Winters and CharlieAdler) who would attempt, sometimes successfully, to [[{{Edutainment}} tie in a science lesson to the main story]].