The Missing Heir

When the gang realizes Benny fits the description of a missing heir they take him to palatial Ridgely Place to collect his inheritance, unaware that the butler, Chutney, and his dog, Griswald, who are next in line for the money, are planning to do away with Benny. Dibble saves Benny from a series of near-fatal mishaps and arrests the butler (who is really Machine Gun Chutney), after which the genuine heir appears. Hoping to cash in, Top Cat lets the heir, a cat named Catwaleder, join the gang, hut then discovers that the heir has given away all his money.

Teaser Sequence: Choo-Choo is reading from a newspaper that reads "The fortune left to the missing heir is rumored to be in the neighborhood of a million dollars". Top Cat tells Benny that's a fancy neighborhood and Benny says "I'm hungry". Top Cat gets angry with his "hungry" remark and swats Benny with his hat. Top Cat says to himself: "Hey, what am I doing! I just struck a millionaire". He apologizes to Benny and calls him "sir". Benny tells Top Cat he doesn't have to call him "sir". He prefers being called "B.B." Choo-Choo continues to read that the fortune will be divided by the butler Chutney and his dog, Griswold. Top Cat grabs the newspaper and reads that the deadline for the missing heir to claim the fortune is at noon. Top Cat asks Brain what time is it and Brain is saying that the little hand is straight up and the big hand is on the nine, but Top Cat says forget it and grab the millionaire (Benny) and that they can make it there on time.

Top Cat, Spook, Benny the Ball, Choo Choo, The Brain, Spook, Fancy-Fancy, Officer Charlie Dibble, Machine Gun Chutney, Griswald, Big Lady Cat

Top Cat has the distinction of being one of the few animated series to debut in prime time. After one season, it was moved to Saturday mornings, and was met with huge success.

Essentially, Hanna-Barbera took Phil Silvers' popular character from the hit prime-time sitcom Sgt. Bilko and turned him into a cat. T.C. and the gang (Benny, Choo Choo, Fancy-Fancy, Spook, and The Brain) lived on the streets of Manhattan and were always in search of a free lunch, figuratively and literally. Their main obstacle was Officer Dibble, who had an extreme dislike for the crafty cat and his schemes, especially when they involved using the police phone for personal calls. The Sgt. Bilko connection was strengthened by the fact that Maurice Gosfield, who played Doberman on the sitcom, voiced Benny, T.C's right hand cat.

Like The Flintstones, Top Cat was written for adults and children alike, since it was initially shown during the family hour on a weeknight. This particular programming effort made the scripts stronger than your average cartoon, relying less on overused cartoon cliches and more on character. Unfortunately, T.C. didn't do well in prime time, but when he and the gang moved to Saturday mornings, the show found a loyal audience, who still remember it fondly.

The name of this show became "Boss Cat" when it ran in the United Kindgom to avoid confusion with a British cat food called Top Cat.

The plot of this episode is similar to the T.V. movie "Top Cat and The Beverly Hills Cats."