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Duckman was an animated sitcom developed by Jeff Reno & Ron Osborn, based on characters created by Everett Peck in his Dark Horse comic. The series consisted of 70 episodes airing from 1994 to 1997 on the USA Network. The initial showrunners were Reno & Osborn, and the show was produced by Paramount Television. The animation was produced by Klasky Csupo, a company owned by Gabor Csupo and Arlene Klasky, though Csupo and Klasky themselves had little day-to-day involvement in the show. In later years, the showrunning duties went to David Misch and Michael Markowitz. The music for first season episodes was composed and performed by Frank Zappa.
The series followed the adventures of a dim-witted and lascivious private detective duck who lived with his family and sister in-law named Bernice (an identical twin to his wife). Duckman's wife, Beatrice, died before the show began. In a surprise twist, it's revealed that Bernice and Beatrice had a triplet named Beverely which in one episode, Duckman aimlessly chased after believing his dead wife had returned from the grave.
The title character, whose mysterious first name was later revealed to be Eric, was voiced by Jason Alexander, most famous as Seinfeld's George Costanza. Other characters included his two sons, Charles and Mambo, whose heads shared the same body (voices: Dana Hill (until her untimely death), followed by Pat Musick, and Elizabeth Daily respectively); his eldest teenage son, Ajax (voice: Dweezil Zappa), and his mildly Joe Friday-esque business partner, an amazingly talented pig named Cornfed (full name: Willibald Fievel Cornfed) (voice: Gregg Berger). Nancy Travis voiced the characters of triplet sisters Bernice, Beverly, and Beatrice, Duckman's two sisters-in-law, and (supposedly) deceased wife, respectively.
Other characters on the series included Fluffy and Uranus (voice: Pat Musick), Duckman's two teddy-bear-like office assistants who, despite being constantly killed, maimed, or otherwise tortured, always kept an attitude surprisingly like that of the Care Bears; Grandma-ma, Duckman's apparently comatose and immensely flatulent mother-in-law; and King Chicken (voice: Tim Curry), Duckman's arch-nemesis.
The show regularly featured high-profile guest stars, including David Duchovny, Heather Locklear, Burt Reynolds, Carl Reiner, Lisa Kudrow, Leonard Nimoy, Ben Stiller, Ben Stein, Janeane Garofalo, and Dan Castellaneta as Homer Simpson.
Duckman's catch phrases included "What the hell are you starin' at?", "Hommina hommina how wah." and his trademark scream of "Dwah!".
In the final episode, many characters get married and as the ceremonies draw to a close, Beatrice (Duckman's deceased wife) appears and shocks the entire crowd. Cornfed reveals he knew that Beatrice was alive all along. This plot twist is never resolved and has thus created a cliffhanger.
Writer Michael Markowitz noted (in Sep 1998): "We never formally planned Part II... and I'll never tell what I personally had in mind. I'm hoping to leave it to my heirs, for the inevitable day when Duckman is revived by future generations. Ah, the Spandex suits they'll wear, the hovercrafts they'll fly!"