Dibble Sings Again

To raise the money he owes Big Gus, Top Cat convinces shower-singer Dibble that, under his management, he could become a singing star. He secures the policeman a spot on a television show, but once at the studio Dibble mistakes the filming of "The Unattachables" for a real crime and realizes that police work, not singing, is his true calling. Losing his manager's fee from Dibble, Top Cat tries the same scam on Gorilla, the collection agent sent by Big Gus.

Teaser Sequence: At a building fire, Top Cat, Spook and Choo-Choo are pushing a piano. Top Cat plays a few keys on the piano and Dibble pops out singing "Camptown Races." The fire chief tells them to move along and says to one of the firefighters to get them out of there and he sprays a singing Dibble in the face with water.

Top Cat, Spook, Benny the Ball, Choo Choo, Fancy-Fancy, Officer Charlie Dibble, Sarge, Gorilla The Gangster, Firemen, TV Executives, Director, Actors, Man With Cigar

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.