One day, as Ogden O. Ostrich took his head out of the ground, he took a look at the world and everything else around him and declared it a magical place. Together with his partners Sheldon S. Cargo and the mute Holey Moley, travel the world in a van broadcasting on the underground station "Channel Umptee-3", educating everyone on the wonders of the world and everyday things normally taken for granted. But an evil box manufacturer led by Stickley Rickets ("The Frumps" as the CU-3 team calls him) want to take those "Umptee-doodies" off the air, believing that they are a threat to his business.
Channel Umptee-3 was an Edutainment Show that aired on Kids' WB! from 1997 to 1998; legendary TV producer Norman Lear helped create the show. Unfortunately, some real-life Frumps got wind of it and it was yanked after 13 episodes.
This show provides examples of:
- Attention Deficit... Ooh, Shiny!: Ogden has a habit of switching topics at the last second.
- Big Bad: Stickley, the stuffy old Corrupt Corporate Executive who hates anything even remotely fun.
- Clown Car: The Umptee-3 van apparently holds a whole crew of extras for their broadcasts.
- Do Not Touch the Funnel Cloud: Played straight on "The Weather Show" when a tornado strikes.
- The Eponymous Show: Not for the show as a whole, and the examples don't name characters, but certain episodes are named "The [topic of the episode] Show" (specifically "The Music Show", "The U.F.O. Show", "The Fear Show", "The Weather Show", and "The Lying Show").
- Expository Theme Tune: The theme song has Ogden explain the television station, what moved him to start it, and how Stickley wants to shut it down.
- Half-Dressed Cartoon Animal: Ogden wears a sports jersey with the number 0 and sneakers, but no pants. And no tailfeathers, either.
- I Am Not Weasel: One of the promo spots for the show had Jim Cummings mistaking Ogden for a chicken.
- Informed Species: Ogden is an ostrich, but, like the above trope states, his head is drawn to look like a chicken, or better yet, the Road Runner.
- Meaningful Name: The "Umptee" part of the name comes from "umpteen", a fictitious and incredibly large number, as there are an "umpteen" number of subjects that Ogden can find interesting.
- Motor Mouth: Ogden on occasion, being an ostrich and all.
- Ostrich Head Hiding: According to the station's backstory, Ogden the ostrich lived his life with his head in the ground like the other ostriches. When he took it out and looked around, he saw that The World Is Just Awesome and decided to share it with everyone through a TV show.
- Portable Hole: Holey Moley can use his hole to travel anywhere and any place.
- "Stop Having Fun" Guys: In-universe; this is basically how the Frumps operate.
- Token Good Teammate: Stickley's wife, Pandora.
- The Voiceless: Holey Moley is never heard speaking.
