The Smurfs (TV series)

History

In 1976, Stuart R. Ross, an American media and entertainment entrepreneur who saw the Smurfs while traveling in Belgium, entered into an agreement with Editions Dupuis and Peyo, acquiring North American and other rights to the characters, whose original name was "les Schtroumpfs". Subsequently, Ross launched the Smurfs in the United States in association with a California company, Wallace Berrie and Co., whose figurines, dolls and other Smurf merchandise became a hugely popular success. NBC President Fred Silverman's daughter, Melissa, had a Smurf doll of her own that he had bought for her at a toy shop while they were visiting Aspen, Colorado. Silverman thought that a series based on the Smurfs might make a good addition to his Saturday-morning lineup.

The Saturday morning cartoon The Smurfs, produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions in association with SEPP International S.A. (from 1981 to 1987) and Lafig S.A. (in the years 1988 and 1989), debuted on NBC in 1981. The series became a major success for the network and one of the most successful and longest running Saturday morning cartoons in television history, spawning spin-off television specials on an almost yearly basis. The characters included Papa Smurf, Smurfette, Brainy Smurf, the evil Gargamel, his cat Azrael, and Johan and his friend Peewit. The Smurfs was nominated multiple times for Daytime Emmy Awards, and won Outstanding Children's Entertainment Series in 1982–1983.

In 1989, NBC changed the format of the show, removing some of the Smurfs from the forest and omitted the Smurf village. These changes were adopted to a lost in time format similar to The Time Tunnel. The show was cancelled because of decreasing ratings due to viewers being displeased with the change. In addition, NBC executives prepared a Today weekend program for Saturdays as well as programmings for teenagers such as Saved by the Bell, which came later on and led to the elimination of Saturday morning animated children's shows. The show continued through 2 December 1989 on the NBC network.

Production

Outsourced production work was done by Wang Film Productions/Cuckoo's Nest Studios and, only for the Season 7, by Toei Animation.

Use of classical music

The Smurfs was noted for its frequent use of classical music as background music or themes for particular events. Notable works found in the Smurfs include:

Syndication

The show was formerly distributed by Worldvision Enterprises (now CBS Television Distribution). It is now distributed by Warner Bros. Television Distribution, as Time Warner is the current owner of all Hanna-Barbera properties, having inherited them in their 1996 merger with Turner Broadcasting. Some episodes are available through the online video service In2TV.

Region 1

Warner Home Video released the complete first season on DVD in two volume sets in 2008. Despite high sales of both sets, no further seasons have yet been released. Warner Home Video later released a series of three single disc releases of The Smurfs in 2009, each containing 5 episodes from the second season. A two-disc DVD was set to be released in 2011 to tie into the theatrical film with 10 episodes culled from the entire run of the series, but included episodes from the second season instead. Another DVD with both Smurfs Christmas specials was released later that year. It is unknown when Warner Archive will release the rest of the show's complete seasons (as part of the Hanna-Barbera Classics Collection series).

Region 2

Fabulous Films and Arrow Films have released the first five seasons on DVD in the UK. The company has also released the film The Smurfs and the Magic Flute on Blu-ray and DVD, as well as several compilation DVDs, containing themed specials from the show.

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment has announced the release of the full Series in 9 Season Sets on DVD in Germany, with German sound only, beginning in August 2011.

Region 4

Magna Home Entertainment has released various best-of volume collections on DVD.

In popular culture