This animated series actually follows three different cartoon scenarios along with a few other
segments.
Shnookums and Meat![]
This segment involves a cat named Shnookums (voiced by Jason Marsden) and a dog named Meat (voiced by Frank Welker) who did not get along very well. Their owners are unseen stock characters only viewed from the neck down and named (appropriately enough) Husband & Wife (voiced by Steve Mackall and Tress MacNeille). Husband is always referring to their home as their "domicile" before the two leave their pets in charge while they are away.
Pith Possum: Super Dynamic Possum of Tomorrow[]
A spoof of the Batman comics (not unlike Darkwing Duck, only more extreme in its spoofing) with Pith Possum (voiced by Jeff Bennett) and his sidekick Obediah the Wonder Raccoon (voiced by Patric Zimmerman) fighting crime in Possum City when called by Commissioner Stress the Gorilla (voiced by Brad Garrett). Pith Possum's true identity is lowly tabloid copyboy Peter Possum. Pith Possum fights various enemies with his recurring one being a mad lumberjack named Dr. Paul Bunion (voiced by Jim Cummings). Pith Possum (even when in his true identity) also has developed a crush on a female human reporter named Doris Deer (voiced by April Winchell). It was stated that Pith Possum was an ordinary lab opossum until he gained ultra opossum-like abilities upon an experiment gone wrong. The titles of the episodes are completely unrelated to their contents but rather (usually) over the top titles always using the word 'dark' or 'darkness' and often with the words 'black' and 'night' (e.g., The Phantom Mask of the Dark Black Darkness of Black, Return of the Night of Blacker Darkness, Return of the Dark Mask of Phantom Blackness, etc.)
Tex Tinstar: The Best in the West[]
A parody of Western serials involving the cowboy Tex Tinstar (voiced by Jeff Bennett), his horse Here Boy, and Tex's friends Smelly Deputy Chafe (voiced by Charlie Adler), Percy Lacedaisy (voiced by Corey Burton), and Floyd the Insane Rattlesnake (voiced by Jess Harnell) who always get into trouble when pursuing a group of outlaws called the Wrong Riders consisting of Wrongo (voiced by Brad Garrett), Ian (voiced by Corey Burton in an homage to Paul Frees character Inspector Fenwick from Dudley Do-Right), and Clem. The end of each episode ends in a cliffhanger for next week (not unlike the serials or "Rocky and Bullwinkle").
Shnookums and Meat originated as a segment on Disney's 1993 series Marsupilami. Five episodes were shown on that series, and were later run again as part of the actual Shnookums and Meat series in 1995. These episodes were:
"Kung Fu Kitty"
"I.Q. You Too!"
"Night of the Living Shnookums"
"Something's Fishy"
"Jingle Bells, Something Smells"
Broadcast history[]
The show aired on The Disney Afternoon on Mondays between January 2, 1995 and March 27, 1995 in the timeslot normally occupied by Bonkers. Reruns were later shown on Toon Disney. The Tex Tinstar segments were shown out of order on the Disney ChannelUK in 2003 to fill the then frequently gapped schedule. The show last aired on Friday, July 6, 2007, on Toon Disney during the Mega Jam block.
Similar series[]
Martin "Dr. Toon" Goodman of Animation World Magazine described The Shnookums and Meat Funny Cartoon Show as one of two The Ren & Stimpy Show "clones", with the other one being 2 Stupid Dogs.