Oggy and the Cockroaches

Synopsis

The show centers on Oggy, an anthropomorphic blue cat, who would prefer to spend his days contentedly watching television and eating - if not for the three roaches in the household: Joey, Dee Dee and Marky (named after members of the punk group Ramones). The trio seems to enjoy making Oggy's life miserable, which involves mischief ranging from (in most cases) plundering his refrigerator to such awkward things like hijacking the train Oggy just boarded. Oggy usually finds creatures accompanying him to the end of the episode, such as crabs, clams, a horse, a very technologically advanced child, a puppy, and an octopus. However, it's not always Oggy who wins.

The cartoon relies on slapstick humour, much like its "ancestor", Tom and Jerry, only amplifying the level of extremities up a notch. While traditional slapstick cartoon characters prefer dropping anvils and pianos on each other, this show sometimes uses buses or submarines. Despite these, however, most gags are easily accessible and enjoyable for younger viewers. Since dialogue is kept to a minimum, the humour is entirely visual.

Album

An album, Oggy et les Cafards : Le Show du Chat, was released in France on CD and for digital download on 6 September 2010.

CD drama

A CD drama, Oggy et les Cafards Volume 1, was released in France on CD and for digital download in October, 2012. It contains narrations of five episodes by Anthony Kavanagh.

Comics

A French comic series is adapted from the cartoon, first started out in 2010. It is published by Dargaud, written by Diego Aranega, drawn and colourised by Frévin, also known as Sylvain Frécon.

Media information

Five DVDs came out in 2003 within the United States, with 12 episodes each. In 2005, several VHS's were released in NYC.

On 8 October 2008, a French DVD boxset of the complete first series plus the pilot and the episode Working Cat, is available. On 6 September 2010, three French DVD boxsets of the complete first series, of the complete second series and of the complete third series are available. On July 2011, a French DVD boxset containing all episodes from seasons 1, 2 and 3 became available and later on few days the most channel programs and videos viewed from India Hyderabad uppal centre city the program had been become an focus and exhausted channel.

Magazine

A magazine version, called Oggy et les Cafards, le mag came out in France in 2009 (2 issues), then again in 2011.

Film

The film Oggy and the Cockroaches: The Movie (originally Oggy et les Cafards, Le Film) was released to theatres on August 7, 2013.

Broadcast

Oggy and the Cockroaches originates in France where it aired on networks France 3, Canal+, and Gulli.

It aired in Australia on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's ABC1 and ABC3 networks, in Canada on YTV and Vrak.tv (now Vrak), in Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and South Korea, Cartoon Network Asia and Disney Channel Asia aired the series

It also aired in India on Nickelodeon from 2009 until 2012 when it was moved to Cartoon Network. However, the network removed all airing from older episodes of the series, just focusing on premieres, while Nickelodeon started broadcasting the show on its older episodes. Later, the series was also picked up by Sonic Nickelodeon, making three channels to air Oggy simultaneously.

In Israel, Oggy and the Cockroaches aired on Arutz HaYeladim. It has aired in Malaysia on numerous channels, including TV3 and formerly NTV7, despite having aired in that country on Cartoon Network and Disney Channel.

Super RTL aired Oggy and the Cockroaches for the area of Germany. Alter Channel also aired the series in Greece, with Jetix following suit. However, as of 2009, Jetix has ceased operations, and as of December 2011, Alter Channel also has ceased operations as well. As such, Oggy and the Cockroaches currently no longer airs in Greece.

In the United States, Oggy and the Cockroaches initially aired on FOX as part of the network's Fox Kids programming block on its affiliates from 1998 until 1999. and even aired on CBS. The program did not return to television in the United States until February 2015 when it launched on Nickelodeon for the first time in 16 years. The show aired using certain episodes of Season 4 until its last episode (High-Rise Nightmare) was aired on March 20, 2015. Reruns of the show aired on Nicktoons until the show was taken off the air on May 2015 and has not aired since. However, the series remains available on Netflix for streaming in the US, albeit only episodes of Season 1 are available, due to the current contract with Nickelodeon for the rights of Season 4. This contract is due to expire somewhere in early 2017.

Oggy and the Cockroaches started streaming through Rovio's toons.tv service on December 2013 and continued to stream on the service until November 2015, when it was removed along with other Xilam related shows such as Hubert and Takako and Zig and Sharko.

Controversy

On March 14, 2015, TMZ reported that a young viewer pointed out a brief image of a woman's breasts, shown in the episode "(Un)happy Camper!", which was broadcast on Nickelodeon in the United States on the same day, with some parents complaining about the incident to the network.

Xilam responded by replacing the offending picture with a picture of a beach.

Additional seasons

Season 5 is planned for release in Autumn 2017 with two more seasons coming later.

Video game

A video game for the Game Boy Advance based on the television show was planned, but it was cancelled. The game was developed by Xilam and published by Telegames.