Trivia / Duckman

• Acclaimed Flop: While it was critically acclaimed since Day One, the ratings were pretty low, partially because it was on USA Network (which was still in its infancy at the time) and the content being far too edgy for the mid 90s. Thanks to a devoted cult following and acclaim, it managed to at least get four seasons before being cancelled for good.
• Acting for Two: While already doing Fluffy and Uranus, Pat Musick ends up also doing Charles after Dana Hill died.
• Alan Smithee: In "The One with Lisa Kudrow in a Small Role," a director slate reads Raymie Muzquiz (the actual director of the episode), with the name crossed out and "Alan Smithee" underneath it.
• Creator's Apathy: Jason Alexander only took the part because he assumed his role would have been a one-off thing, so he did a voice that he thought would be fine for a one time role. However, he grew to enjoy the show and his character, but nearly damaged his voice from trying to do the voice so much.
• Creator's Favorite: As mentioned, Jason grew to love the role and still fondly talks about the show to this day.
• Creator's Oddball: While this isn't the first adult animated project from Klasky-Csupo (having done the first three seasons of The Simpsons and the Music Video for Beastie Boys song "Shadrach"), this is easily their most adult work they've done before or since (the only adult work they've done since being the first season of Stressed Eric, and Immigrants, a compilation movie of the finished episodes of a show that would have been for Spike TV).
• Cross-Dressing Voices:
  • Brian Doyle-Murray plays Agnes Delrooney. Amusingly, he doesn't even attempt to sound like a woman at all.
  • Dana Hill (and her replacement Pat Musick) also count for the role of Charles. And E.G. Daily as Mambo.
• The Danza: Ben Stein had a recurring role as a psychiatrist named... Ben Stein.
• Dueling Dubs: There's two Latin American Spanish dubs: One dubbed in the U.S. in Miami, FL, and another one done in Mexico. The Mexican dub was done with the purpose of replacing the Miami dub, according with the people who worked in the Mexican one, since the exceutives of cable network channel which broadcasted the show in the region, Locomotion, hated the Miami dub due to the thick Cuban and Central American accents used by all the voice actors, and the lack of polish on that dub.
• Executive Meddling: The reason Bernice is Commuting on a Bus for most of the fourth season and is replaced by her Long-Lost Relative Beverly is that the network requested a Lighter and Softer character for Duckman's household. Not that it helped; thanks to Production Lead Time, the network cancelled the series after Beverly's first episode aired.
• In Memoriam: "Ajax & Ajaxer" was dedicated to Dana Hill.
• Keep Circulating the Tapes:
  • Not the show itself, but the Licensed Game Duckman: The Graphic Adventures of a Private Dick had very limited distribution and no rerelease, although Devolver Digital did express interest in possibly re-releasing it.
  • Played straighter with several episodes of the show that featured copyrighted music, which were either edited or had said music substituted on the DVD release. Thankfully, the parts that were edited for DVD release were supervised by Everett Peck to make sure the replacements were appropriate.
• The Other Darrin:
  • When Dana Hill (the original voice of Charles) died while in a diabetic coma, Pat Musick was hired to replace her.
  • In Duckman: The Graphic Adventures of a Private Dick, Jason Alexander is the only one who doesn't reprise his role. Instead, Duckman is voiced by Michael J. Gough, who is better known for his roles on the Winnie the Pooh franchise as Gopher and Spyro the Dragon as Big Bad Gnasty Gnorc. This is because the game had so much more dialogue to record than a typical episode of the show, and Jason was concerned that he would blow out his vocal cords from all the extra work.
• Recursive Adaptation: The animated series was adapted from an underground comic one-shot published by Dark Horse Comics and received its own short-lived Comic-Book Adaptation consisting of a main series lasting five issues as well as a three-issue miniseries titled The Mob Frog Saga.
• Referenced by...: In Infinite Craft, "Duckman" is a possible crafting recipe.
• Screwed by the Network: While USA treated the first three seasons fairly well (even though it did air on Saturday evenings, which is when TV ratings aren't really sky-high), most of season 4 aired in the wee hours of the morning. Is it any surprise it was canceled after that?
• Shrug of God: Co-developer/head writer Michael Markowitz refuses to say why Beatrice is still alive and says he won't reveal it unless the series gets revived, although he DID mention that the proper ending would have involved a government coverup of aliens and the truth about Roswell and Area 51: the 1947 aliens were evil, and formed the modern GOP in a 2015 tweet.
• What Could Have Been:
  • In the original draft, Duckman and Bernice were actually written as husband and wife, with Duckman as the Henpecked Husband. Beatrice wasn't his presumed deceased wife, she was originally written as his easy going sister-in-law. Beverly is actually the left over concept of Beatrice. Even when the idea was abandoned, one of the main twists that the writers were planning towards the end of the series was to have Duckman and Bernice end up together romantically.
  • "With Friends Like These" actually had the real Friends cast signed to essentially play themselves. They dropped out at the last second when NBC got cold feet about having the Friends stars mocking their own show.
  • A cameo appearance of Beavis and Butt-Head was planned for one episode. It was dropped because the episode prominently featured fire, and MTV was still embroiled in the controversy that ensued when Beavis and Butt-Head was blamed for a real-life mobile home fire.
• Word of Saint Paul: On the DVD's bonus features, E.G. Daily felt that Mambo wasn't quite as smart as Charles, due to a tendency to do something without thinking ahead. Pat Musick concurred, feeling Charles always demonstrated a little more sense than his brother.

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