The Chuck McCann Show

The Chuck McCann Show page compiled by Kevin Butler

“The Chuck McCann Show!”
Local:WPIX TV Ch.11 NYC
Weekday afternoons:Monday September 9,1963-Friday July 31,1965
Returned:Local:WNEW TV Ch.5 NYC
Weekday afternoons and Saturday mornings:
Tuesday September 7,1965 -Friday September 2,1966
Saturday October 9,1965-Saturday April 30,1966

• Host/Performer:Chuck McCann
• Head Pupeteer/Comedy Asistant:Paul Ashley

After seeing the success of his sunday morning comedy/ variety kids tv show”Let’s Have Fun!”..the station execs at Ch.11 decided to have Chuck McCann host his own weekday afternoon series.

The Chuck McCann Show

Set against the backdrop of a cartoon village..McCann and Ashley would perform character comedy and puppet skits and interview guest performers and personalities..who would visit the set.

The series was also the first NYC based kids tv show to screen reruns of”The Beatle Bailey,Barney Google & Snuffy Smith and Krazy Kat” tv cartoons that were created and produced for national tv syndication by Paramount/Famous Studios and by Gene Deitch and Al Brodax.

The program would also feature reruns of The Universal and Republic movie serials.

“The Chuck McCann Show”became a hit with NYC’s young viewers and it remained on WPIX TV’s weekday afternoon scheduale..until the series was dropped following the Friday July 31,1965 broadcast.

McCann and Ashley left Ch.11 and moved to WNEW TV Ch.5 ..where they revived”The Chuck McCann Show” for Ch.5’s weekday afternoon and saturday morning timeslots.

The series backdrop would change..to a junk shop inside of an office building.The duo would perform comedy and puppet skits and introduce reruns of “The Space Angel” and”Sinbad,Jr.”TV Cartoons and”Casper The Friendly Ghost”Movie cartoons.(The WNEW TV Ch.5 NYC version of “The Chuck McCann Show”was the first NYC based children’s program to screen reruns of “The Sinbad,Jr”tv cartoons that were produced first by Sam Singer and Telefeatures,Inc. and later by Hanna and Barbera Productions)

McCann and Ashley revived the characters of”Little Orphan Annie”,”Dick Tracy”(Although the characters’ names were changed to “Little Annie Dump” and “Dick H.Dump”),”Dragon Lady’s Mama” and”Wobbles The Silent Tramp Clown”..McCann would introduce a new character to the program”The Great Bombo Dump”(A bumbling magician and escape artist..whose illusions never worked in a skit titled “You Wanted It? You Got It!” a parody of ABC TV’s 1950’s freak show “You Asked For It!”)

“The Chuck McCann Show” aired on Ch.5 from Tuesday September 7,1965 and Saturday October 9,1965..until the station execs closed down Chuck and Paul’s junk shop following the Friday September 2, 1966 broadcast.