The Cartoon Network rolled out its first new Canadian-produced show around this time, I could be wrong, but it was the first one done outside the Hanna-Barbera production teams all else went through. The show’s creator, Danny Antonucci, cut his teeth with them back in the Seventies before returning to Canada where he’d eventually start his own company making ads and bumpers for MTV. Then following the success of Beavis & Butt-head, the network OK’d his rather boring and pointless The Brothers Grunt. I had watched it once and thought it really sucked! It appeared to be an excuse to use a cartoon to wrap around more boring music videos minus the stinging insults Beavis & Butt-head made.
Allegedly someone made a bet with Antonucci to make a kid-friendly show and I’m glad he took it on for the Eddies were its genesis. Their journey to TV wasn’t fast nor quick. Since he had an in with the MTV networks, the cartoon was first pitched to Nickelodeon in 1996. Antonucci chose not to go forward with them because they wouldn’t let him have creative control so he defected to their rival the Cartoon Network…the rest is history. The antics of the Eddies in their cul-du-sac of Peach Creek would air throughout the Aughts. Most were about getting money to buy jawbreakers through Eddy’s ridiculous schemes. It had to be set in the past, I can’t recall any period in my lifetime when a Canadian quarter could buy a good-sized piece of candy.
What I loved most about the show was how it reflected the dynamics, the environment and the personalities of what my neighborhood in Springfield, IL was like from 1979-82. It was far from identical yet all the characters were relatable as they represented traits I and the other kids had. Which one am I closest to back in those salad days? I have to go with Edd, aka Double D, minus his obsession with cleanliness. I was dorky, risk averse, somewhat easily frightened and could be easily pummeled by a Kevin (or Sarah) while being too shy to say I liked Nazz. It’s easy to imagine Edd being an avid D&D fan too.
Thus it’s no surprise that the characters are based upon Antonucci’s childhood in Toronto! In interviews he says all three Eddies are him with touches of Rolf since he was the child of Italian immigrants. Obviously, he remembered what childhood was like when you’re not quite a teenager (can’t easily earn money) while simultaneously being too old for toys and “baby stuff.”
If you’ve never seen Ed, Edd & Eddy, I highly recommend checking it out for it’s one of the few things Zaslav hasn’t shit on by removing it from HBO Max…yet. Otherwise, they only live on through rentals or direct digital purchases.
Thanks for making this show Danny and bringing elements of my “ideal” childhood to life.