Animal Crack-Ups

*Animal Crack-Ups*
Animal Crack-Ups
Genre	Game Show
Based on	Wakuwaku Dōbutsu Land
Written by	Todd Thicke
Presented by	Alan Thicke
Voices of	Susan Blu
Theme music composer	Alan and Todd Thicke; Gary Pickus;
Ending theme	"Animals Are Just Like People Too" by Alan Thicke
Country of origin	United States
Production
Executive producer	Vin Di Bona
Producers	ABC Productions; Vin Di Bona Productions;
Running time	30 minutes
Original release
Network	ABC
Release	August 8, 1987 –; September 1, 1990

Animal Crack-Ups is an ABC game show which aired in primetime from August 8 to September 12, 1987, after which it aired on Saturday mornings from September 12, 1987, to December 30, 1989, and again from June 2 to September 1, 1990.^[1] It was produced by ABC Productions in association with Vin Di Bona Productions (both companies also produce America's Funniest Home Videos) and hosted by Alan Thicke, who was on Growing Pains at the time. The program was based on a Japanese Tokyo Broadcasting System Television series, Wakuwaku Dōbutsu Land (わくわく動物ランド).

The show's theme song was "Animals Are Just Like People Too", created by Thickovit music (Alan and Todd Thicke and Gary Pickus).^[2]

Gameplay[edit]

Four celebrities competed. Host Thicke introduced a video clip about an animal; at some point, the video was paused and Thicke asked a question about the clip. The celebrities give their answers, after which the remainder of the clip was played, revealing the answer.

Any celebrities giving the correct answer received a point; score was kept by placing a stuffed animal (a monkey in the first season, a hedgehog in later seasons) in front of the celebrity's podium. Co-host Debbie Bartlett provided the stuffed animals. The celeb with the most toy animals/points won the game and $2,500 for their favorite animal charity. If a tie occurred, the money was split between the charities.

On segues to two commercial breaks, a hedgehog puppet named "Reggie the Hedgie" (voiced by Susan Blu, performed by Lisa Sturz) gave animal facts to the home viewers and read home-viewer mail.

International versions[edit]

Country	Name	Host(s)	TV station	Year aired
Japan (original version)	わくわく動物ランド Wakuwaku Dōbutsu Land	Various	TBS Television	1983–1992
Argentina	Waku Waku	Héctor Larrea	Azul Televisión/Canal 9	1999–2000
Brazil	TV Animal	Angélica Eliana Gugu Liberato Beto Marden Roberta Peporine	SBT	1988–1992 1995–1996 2009–2010
Chile	Maravillozoo	Javier Miranda (1995-1999) Paulina Nin (2000) Antonio Vodanovic (2001-2002)	Canal 13	1995–2002
Netherlands	Waku Waku	Rob Fruithof (1988-1996) Sybrand Niessen (1996-2000) Paula Udondek (2000-2001) Sosha Duysker (2022-)	Nederland 1 NPO Zapp (NPO 3)	1988–2001 2022–
Portugal	Arca de Noé	Fialho Gouveia Ana do Carmo Carlos Alberto Moniz	RTP2 RTP1	1990–1993 1994–1995
Spain	Waku Waku Jimanji Kanana	Consuelo Barlanga Nuria Roca Rosa García Caro	TVE-1 La 1	1989–1991; 1998–2001 2003

References[edit]

^ Hyatt, Wesley (1997). The Encyclopedia of Daytime Television. Watson-Guptill Publications. pp. 24–25. ISBN 978-0823083152. Retrieved 22 March 2020.
^ Library of Congress. "Animals are just like people too : Theme from Animal crack-ups." Copyright registration PAu001011105.

External links[edit]

This article about a television game show produced in the United States is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

[Daytime-1] Hyatt, Wesley (1997). The Encyclopedia of Daytime Television. Watson-Guptill Publications. pp. 24–25. ISBN 978-0823083152. Retrieved 22 March 2020.

[2] Library of Congress. "Animals are just like people too : Theme from Animal crack-ups." Copyright registration PAu001011105.

[1]

[2]

v t e Children's programming on the American Broadcasting Company in the 1980s
First-run animated series	The World's Greatest SuperFriends (1979–80) The Plastic Man Comedy/Adventure Show (Mighty Man and Yukk Fangface Rickety Rocket) (1979–80) Spider-Woman (1979–80) Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo (1979–80) Captain Caveman and the Teen Angels (1977–80) Super Friends (1980-82) The Fonz and the Happy Days Gang (1980–82) Richie Rich (1980–84) Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo (shorts) (1980–82) Thundarr the Barbarian (1980–82) The Heathcliff and Dingbat Show (1980–82) Laverne & Shirley in the Army (1981–82) Goldie Gold and Action Jack (1981–82) Pac-Man (1982–84) The Little Rascals (1982–84) Mork & Mindy/Laverne & Shirley/Fonz Hour (1982–83) The Scooby & Scrappy-Doo/Puppy Hour (1982–83) The Puppy's Further Adventures (1982–84) Monchhichis (1983–84) Rubik, the Amazing Cube (1983–84, 1985) The Littles (1983–86) Super Friends: The Legendary Super Powers Show (1984–85) Mighty Orbots (1984–85) Turbo Teen (1984–85) Dragon's Lair (1984–85) Wolf Rock TV (1984) The New Scooby and Scrappy-Doo Show/The New Scooby-Doo Mysteries (1983–85) Adventures of the Gummi Bears (1985–90) Ewoks (1985–87) Droids (1985–86) The Super Powers Team: Galactic Guardians (1985–86) The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo (1985) Pound Puppies (1986–88) The Care Bears Family (1986–88) The Flintstone Kids (1986–89) The Real Ghostbusters (1986–91) My Pet Monster (1987–88) The Little Clowns of Happytown (1987-88) Little Wizards (1987-88) The New Adventures of Beany and Cecil (1988) The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (1988–1991) A Pup Named Scooby-Doo (1988–91) Beetlejuice (1989–92)
First-run live-action series	ABC Weekend Special (1977–97) American Bandstand (1957–87) Animals, Animals, Animals (1976–81) Kids Are People Too (1978–82) Menudo on ABC (1983–85) ABC Funfit (1985) ABC Fun Facts (1988)
Rebroadcasts	The Best of Scooby-Doo (1983–84) The Bugs Bunny Show (1985–2000) Scary Scooby Funnies (1984–85) Scooby's Mystery Funhouse (1985–86) Pink Panther and Sons (1986) The Wuzzles (1986–87)
Related	Animation in the United States in the television era Modern animation in the United States

v t e Children's programming on the American Broadcasting Company in the 1990s
First-run animated series	A Pup Named Scooby-Doo (1988–91) Adventures of the Gummi Bears (1989–90) The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (1988–1991) Slimer! and the Real Ghostbusters (1986–91) Beetlejuice (1989–92) The Wizard of Oz (1990–91) Little Rosey (1990–91) New Kids on the Block (1990–91) Darkwing Duck (1991–93) Hammerman (1991–92) The Pirates of Dark Water (1991–92) Wild West C.O.W.-Boys of Moo Mesa (1992–94) Goof Troop (1992–93) The Addams Family (1992–95) Cro (1993–95) Tales from the Cryptkeeper (1993–95) Sonic the Hedgehog (1993–95) Free Willy (1994–95) ReBoot (1994–96) Bump in the Night (1994–96) The New Adventures of Madeline (1995) Dumb and Dumber (1995–96) What-a-Mess (1995–96) Brand Spanking New Doug (1996–2001) Mighty Ducks: The Animated Series (1996–97) The Oz Kids (1996) Gargoyles: The Goliath Chronicles (1996–97) Jungle Cubs (1996–97) Nightmare Ned (1997) 101 Dalmatians: The Series (1997–98) Recess (1997–2004) Pepper Ann (1997–2000) Science Court (1997–2000) Hercules (1998–99) Mickey Mouse Works (1999–2001) Sabrina: The Animated Series (1999–2001)
First-run live-action series	Animal Crack-Ups (1987–90) ABC Weekend Special (1977–97) Land of the Lost (1991–92) CityKids (1993–94) Fudge (1995) Hypernauts (1996) Bone Chillers (1996–97) Flash Forward (1996–97)
Rebroadcasts	The Bugs Bunny and Tweety Show (1985–2000) DuckTales (1997)
Related programming and topics	Disney's One Saturday Morning Cartoon All-Stars to the Rescue (1990) Modern animation in the United States