Hanna-Barbera Studios: P-R: The Peter Potamus Show: The Peter Potamus Show

The Peter Potamus Show Production Information

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Production Notes:

Peter Potamus was a friendly purple hippo who traveled through time in a balloon with his companion, a monkey named So-So. By using their time compass, Peter and So-So could travel to the distant past of caveman days or to more recent colonial times. Like many time travelers, Peter and So-So were forced to rectify any detours along the recorded course of history. This gave kids the opportunity to learn about history while they watched, much like U.S. of Archie or Peabody and Sherman from The Adventures of Bullwinkle and Rocky.

Segments of Breezly and Sneezly accompanied the hippo's adventures. These were tales of Breezly the polar bear and his pal, Sneezly the seal, who always seemed to have a scheme to usurp the home and possessions of Colonel Fusby, an arctic explorer.

The third segment of the show starred Yippee, Yappee, and Yahooey, three musketeer-like dogs who stumbled their way through adventures while serving their King.

This show began its run in syndication as Peter Potamus and his Magic Flying Balloon, this third season moved the show onto network TV on ABC on January 2, 1966, and the name changed to The Peter Potamus Show.

This series was developed to help sell a new line of toys for Ideal (the series' sponsor), just as had been done with Hanna-Barbera's Magilla Gorilla. As with Magilla Gorilla, the syndicated program premiered over the same 151 markets.

Peter Potamus, again like Magilla Gorilla before him, never achieved the lasting fame of some of his Hanna-Barbera cartoon contemporaries, mainly because his show was a little “out there” in terms of story and characters. What the show lacked in familiarity it made up for in originality, and while Peter will never be as well known as Yogi Bear or Huckleberry Hound, he will be remembered fondly by those lucky enough to enjoy his travels.