Dennis the Menace (1986 TV series)

Dennis the Menace
Dennis and his friends: Ruff, Gina, Jay, Margret, and Joey.
Created by	DiC
Starring	Brennan Thicke Phil Hartman Maurice LaMarche Louise Vallance Jeanie Elias
Country of origin	United States
No. of episodes	78
Production
Running time	30min
Original release
Network	Syndication USA Network
Release	1986 – 1988

Dennis the Menace is an animated series based on the classic comic strip by Hank Ketcham. America's most well-known little terror, Dennis the Menace, gets into numerous scrapes and adventures with his dog Ruff and his friends Joey, Margaret, and Gina (with occasional appearances by African-American character Jay, and boy prodigy Peebee, characters created just for this series). Typical episodes involve some means of tormenting Dennis's hapless next-door neighbor, Mr. Wilson (though Dennis always means well), however there have also been some adventure stories. The series was produced by Canada-based animation studio DIC Entertainment, and was originally syndicated in the U.S. by The Program Exchange. The series' production is also credited to cereal company General Mills. Each half-hour show consists of three 6-7 minute shorts. The show later aired new episodes on CBS.

In 1992, The Program Exchange re-released the series with a different opening sequence (but containing the same theme song). This is the version that is still in circulation today among various local TV stations and cable networks, and which (as of January 2007 - ?) currently airs on Boomerang.

Broadcast History

• USA
  • Syndication (1986-1988)
  • CBS (1988; also aired new episodes)
  • USA Network (1996-1998)
  • FOX Family Channel (1998-1999)
  • Cartoon Network (2002)
  • Black Family Channel (2005)
  • Boomerang (2007-present)

• UK
  • Channel 4
  • Fox Kids (?-2003)
  • POP (2006-present)

Trivia

• For some years, Dennis the Menace was the "spokestoon" for Dairy Queen, appearing on their cups and wrappers. He has since been supplanted by DQ logos.