Cow and Chicken was an animated television series, running from July 1997 to July 1999. Cow and Chicken are sister and brother, a cow and a chicken, with human parents. The creators were faced with the question of whether and how to explain this scenario. Sometimes opening credits are cumbersome vehicles for an origin story. David Feiss approached this problem in the series' opening title sequence:
This is all that is ever offered in explanation, although in one episode, their father threatens to send both Cow and Chicken back to 'the orphanage'.Cow and Chicken's extended family consists of various other types of animals, including Cousin Boneless, who is a boneless chicken (unable to walk or get up from the floor); Snail Boy, a snail; Cousin Black Sheep, a sheep; and Sow, an evil pig. They also have an uncle Longhorn Steer, who appears in "Professor Longhorn Steer". The episode "Happy Meat" also showed the ghosts of a pair of Cow and Chicken's ancestors, a male (human) farmer married to a female chicken. Friends and close associates include Chicken's two buds Flem and Earl, and a loud and obnoxious school teacher. And then of course, there's the Red Guy, who they run into frequently in various guises.Initially, the show included a Three Shorts format with two Cow and Chicken episodes and one of I Am Weasel. Later on, I Am Weasel was spun off into its own series.
Art Evolution: While the show was always pretty well animated, as the series progressed the color palette became richer and the line work was stronger. Compare the look of Season 1 and the look of Season 4 and you'll see the difference.
Butt Monkey: Chicken. Especially in the episode "P.E.". The bullies in the new class at Junior High first give Chicken, Flem & Earl a bad thrashing in dodgeball, then steal their clothes while they're in the shower, and finally reveal their nudity while the three are on a stage in front of a big audience. Talk about humiliation.
Dick Dastardly Stops to Cheat: Chicken once had no choice but to allow his cousin Snail to join his team for a relay race. Snail's adversaries fell into this trope. Chicken even told them they could just keep running.
Edited for Syndication: The episode, "Comet!" was edited in reruns to mute out the Dad yelling, "Divot!" (which sounds an awful lot like "Damn it!") when he hits the golf ball into the observatory.
Evil Is Petty: The Red Guy is supposed to be Satan, yet he has nothing better to do with his time than constantly mess with a cow and a chicken (and occasionally a weasel and a baboon).
Expy: Mom and Dad are all too similiar to Mr. and Mrs. Pipe, Cow is a lot like Stimpy, and Chicken has some visible likeness to Ren. Also, the Red Guy and how he changes jobs and roles depending on what is needed for the plot is very much like Mr. Horse. Granted, Dave Feiss worked on The Ren & Stimpy Show, and John Kricfalusi doesn't seem to mind how much influence he took from it, openly admitting he likes Cow and Chicken.
Many other ex-Ren and Stimpy artists also worked on the show, such as Bob Camp and Chris Reccardi.
Freudian Excuse: Red had a slew of these late in the series.
Gender Bender - "Which Came First?" revolves around Chicken being convinced that he is a girl because he laid an egg (when in reality, it was just a bird egg that the Red Guy put in Chicken's bed sheets overnight as a prank). Of course, Flem and Earl jumped the gender barrier once they find out Chicken's current gender identity.
Halfdressed Cartoon Animal: The Red Guy, who never wears pants. His aliases are always puns referring to his dress (Ben Pantzd) or his prodigious heinie (Mr. Derriere).
I Am Not Weasel - The Red Guy often thought Chicken was a duck or turkey and Cow as a moose, horse or antelope. Weasel from the Trope NamingI Am Weasel was often referred to by The Red Guy as a squirrel, a gerbil, a ferret and several other species of rodents, despite weasels not being rodents, I.R. Baboon got this treatment too. Being often mistaken for other species of primates
In the episode "Duck, Duck, Chicken" The Red Guy (as a door to door doctor) thought Chicken was a Duck and surgically altered him into a non-sapient one.
One episode had Chicken perform a magic trick and pull Weasel out of his hat. After being referred to as a squirrel, Weasel responds, "I am not a squirrel. I am Weasel!"
I Have Many Names: the Red Guy. Aka Baron von Nien Lederhosen. Aka Lance sackless. Aka Seargent Wedgie Aka just Red. Most of his aliases have to do with the fact that he hardly ever wears pants(the Seargent Wedgie thing was before he faught over The Dad for the mom, at the end of which he was flung into a tree, yanking his pants off. He then said he was happy his perpetual wedgie was gone, and thanked The dad by allowing him to have the mom with no competition from him.
One of their relatives being married to a normal sized, but talking snail.
Cow has some flings with human boys too, and Boneless Chicken attempts to date a human girl.
Inexplicably Identical Individuals - the Red Guy seems to have a lot of identical, er, "relatives," including a beige version of him known as "The Scab Fairy," who collects scabs for money the same way the Tooth Fairy (or in this show's case, the Molting Fairy) does.
Ho Yay- Flem and Earl who once spent an entire episode in a bathtub together. Naked.
One "I Am Weasel" episode ends with Weasel telling Baboon "We must never marry," and Baboon said they should only remain good friends. It Makes Sense in Context...barely.
There's a lot of gender-bending and Ho Yay in this series (not as much as Time Squad, but pretty close). And the many times that Dad has alluded to the fact that he used to be a woman (or that Mom is more of a man than he is).
Meatgrinder Surgery - Used for plastic surgery during a plastic surgery contest.
Missing Episode: Besides "Buffalo Gals", the pilot episode "No Smoking" showed Chicken going to Hell for smoking cigarettes. The Red Guy is openly referred to as The Devil here.
Potty Emergency - A very strange one on the episode, "Chicken in the Bathroom," where Mom and Dad burst in to give Chicken a bath because he's taking too long doing nothing and Cow's udders exploded from not being milked — which might sound plausible, since if cows aren't milked frequently, their udders can blow and cause internal infection (much like what happens when someone "holds it in" for too long and doesn't go to the bathroom to relieve himself/herself.) Except, like most mammals, cows don't create milk unless they've been pregnant. Such a fact has never stopped other jokes in this series, however.
Punny Name - the Red Guy's Running Gag: Ben Panced, Ivan Panced, Rear Admiral Floyd, Bunny the Flight Attendant, Mrs. Barederriere, Louie B. Bare, The Great Pantzini, Dr. Hineybottom, Cleo-Pantless, Red Hiney, Larry Lack-A-Pants, Tallulah Bottoms, Sir Pantceroff... yeah, we get it. He's not wearing pants.
Super Hero- Cow's alter ego, Supercow. When Chicken dons Supercow's costume, he becomes Wonder Wattle.
Clark Kenting- Parodied when anyone entertains the thought that Cow and Supercow could possibly be the same cow (being the only Sentient cows in the Universe no less) that idea is always shot down by the fact that Supercow speaks Spanish.
Why Do You Keep Changing Jobs?? - The Red Guy, although there may actually be many Red Guys (as seen in "The Molting Fairy," when it's revealed that the Red Guy has a beige brother who works as The Scab Fairy). And the warden of Folsom Prison made a cameo in a story where another Red Guy had more onscreen time and the two of them appeared together. I Am Weasel had a story where a female Red Guy had three Red Guy kids.
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