Duckman: One of The Smartest Shows Ever on Television

In 1996, I was 11 years old. I was miserable and bored in school, I was always being made fun off because I was different, and I didn't have a lot of friends. But I loved cartoons, and that's something I've always held onto. We had gotten Cartoon Network not too long ago, and at that time, it's safe to say there were nearly 100 different animated shows to choose from over a week.

But during this impressionable time in a persons life, I stumbled upon USA Network and a show that they had on at the time. The show was Duckman and it may have done more to help me get through life than school could have at the time.

The show is about an anthropomorphic duck detective named Duckman. Duckman is a widower who lost his wife a year earlier from when the first episode starts. He lives an existence where he, like you, constantly questions why he is and having to deal with both the heartache of losing his wife, raising two sons, one who is an idiot and the other a seimies-genius, a sister-in-law who was a twin of his wife, and a job he hates. His only relief in life is a friend and co-worker names Cornfed, a sort of strait-man when put in contrast to Duckman's insane personality.

The episodes of the show are some of the greatest, most involved ideas I've ever seen presented on TV ever, animated or not. In fact, the fact that they used a cartoon to simplify these incredibly complex ideals while NOT dumbing down the entire concept to an infitile level is amazing and showed that there was a sense of self-awareness that could be done without insulting the process, the show, and most importantly, the viewer. This is a concept that seems to be lost today in a world where "irony" is king and we seem to value that over the quality of telling a good and interesting story.

How deep is this show? One episode called "Psyche" deals with Duckman living with the fact that he can't get laid and why that is. Shallow concept? Not really. In his pursuit for a woman, he literally has two fall into his lap after discussing with Cornfed his problem. The two voluptuous women come in dressed as sexy as possible and ask Duckman to "show us how to get a man without them being so focused on our hot, sexy bodies." Duckman, faced with the fact he has two incredibly hot chicks wanting to have sex with him.... runs away. Yes, you read that right, he runs away. In turn, he watches TV and decides to see a Dominatrix Sex Psychologist (which, in a lot of ways, is basically what a dominatrix is) to help him fix his problems. She hypnotizes him and he goes into his mind where he is forced to deal with the fact that he has a problem getting close to women because of his guilt over not wanting to be unfaithful to his dead wife. He defeats this guilt, gets his confidence back, and returns to work where the women decide they want Duckman even more. When confronted... the guilt begins to awaken again and the episode ends.

All within 25 minutes and presenting it in a great and entertaining way. It's a problem that a lot of men deal with... to a degree. We may not all have dead wives, but we all have, at one point in our lives, the moment similar to Duckman where we ask ourselves, "Why I can't I meet a woman? What's wrong with me?" We all seek answers and the show gave a fairly simple solution that tends to be accurate: To determine what your problem is, you need to realize where this sense of self-guit and lack of confidence comes from. The rest is up to you.

The show also delt with a lot more subjects; the idea of a perfect world ("a truly perfect world is an imperfect one"), trying to find a purpose in life and a reason to be, being a respected parent... this was a cartoon for adults in the truest since of the term. It ran from 1994 to 1997, and the last few season wasn't shown in America. During a time we, as a nation, were mired in a sense of over-consumption and greed turning into a depression and obsessed with discussion about sex, both in our entertainment and our president, we turned away from a show that offered a decent solution and a chance to discuss them. To me, this was a lot like South Park in terms of dealing with topics and had a more timeless nature to it.

It's a great show, and if you can, please check it out. The entire series is being released on DVD and the first two seasons are available in one box set.

Check out this clip: It's basically the best example of the show. George Carlin as a Duck? Yep.