THE
AMAZING LIVE SEA-MONKEYS
(CBS,
September 19-November 28, 1992)
Terry’s
Creations, Inc., Some Assembly Required, Inc.
Rob LaBelle – Dave
Peter Pitofsky – Bill
Sean Whalen – Aquarius
Howie Mandel – The Professor
 |
| One of the many Sea-Monkeys ads. |
Sea-Monkeys were simple brine shrimp. Brine shrimp are typically harvested for fish food and could remain in a suspended state in dry conditions. Von Braunhut’s Sea-Monkeys came in a packet full of what looked like white powder that kids could pour into a bowl and bring the Sea-Monkeys to life. Of course, they hardly resembled the almost human-like depiction seen in the comic ads designed and illustrated by Joe Orlando. Despite the constant disappointment of what arrived when kids received their Sea-Monkeys, that hasn’t stopped the tiny creatures from getting a devoted fanbase.
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| The Professor explaining one of his biological experiments. |
One owner of Sea-Monkeys was comedian Howie Mandel. One of his daughters followed in his footsteps, requesting the tiny creatures since all her friends had them as well. Suddenly, an idea for a TV show centered around Sea-Monkeys came to him, imagining it to have the potential to be bigger than Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Mandel was able to sell the idea to CBS based on the success FOX was enjoying with his previous series, Bobby’s World. Mandell teamed up with the Chiodo Brothers to create the make-up effects for the Sea Monkeys based on Orlando’s drawings, as well as the variety of special effects that would be employed to turn it into a live-action cartoon.
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| The Sea Monkeys: Bill, Dave and Aquarius. |
Mandel played The Professor, a mad scientist who lived and worked in his lighthouse lab complete with stereotypical German accent. During one of his experiments, he enlarged three Sea-Monkey brothers—Dave (Rob LaBelle), Bill (Peter Pitofsky) and Aquarius (Sean Whalen)—who ended up becoming his roommates and assistants. Their misadventures were usually caused by their general ineptitude, and the fact that The Professor often left them alone and unsupervised (ironic since that was a lesson utilized in the first episode). Their best friend was Sheila Brentwood (Eliza Schneider), who was also their next-door neighbor and lived with her uptight parents (Jim Jansen & Patch Mackenzie). She liked to hang out with the Sea-Monkeys because their uniqueness countered her parents’ stuffiness, and possibly because her parents didn’t really care for them. The Sea-Monkeys also had the unique ability to project water from their fingers.
 |
| Sheila visiting to escape her parents. |
The Amazing Live Sea-Monkeys debuted
on CBS on September 19, 1992. It was developed by Bradley Kesden and Skip Shepard, who also served
as story editors and episode writers. Other writers included Melvin Barenboim,
Jennifer Feucht, Tug Barnes, Dan
Clark, Mary Ghiorsi, Scott
Sedita, Terry Vennuzzi and Michael
Davis. Chuck Cirino, Inc. provided the
music. The series utilized a blend of slapstick and absurd humor. Typical
stories featured The Professor heading off to some kind of function outside of
the lighthouse after doing something to set the events of the story in motion,
and The Sea-Monkeys ended up causing a mess they had to somehow clean-up before
he got home. The Sea-Monkeys would often break the fourth wall, morph their
heads into other people/creatures, zip off-screen to return with a random item
for a gag, or perform a split-second quick change. There would also be the
occasional genre or pop culture parody.
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| Aquarius imagining himself as a spy, ala James Bond. |
Unfortunately, Mandel’s predication of the Sea-Monkeys becoming bigger than the Ninja Turtles was way off the mark. The show performed abysmally in the ratings, failing to justify the hefty price tag the special effects were incurring (well over the proposed amount). CBS cancelled the series after just 11 episodes. It remained on CBS’ schedule for the remainder of the season. Interestingly enough, it ended up being replaced by another series starring Schneider: Beakman’s World.
“Octopotomus R’ Usamus” (9/19/92) – When the Sea Monkeys hydrate one of The Professor’s animal experiments as a pet for Aquarius, it ends up causing trouble at the Brentwoods.
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