The Ten Worst Cartoon Characters of all Time - Number 8

We're now at number eight in our listing of the ten worst cartoon characters of all time.   I've received a few emails and messages giving me your suggestions for worst cartoon character, so now may be a good time to post one of the rules I just made up for this little venture.   To qualify as Worst Cartoon Character, the cartoon character must actually star in a series of cartoons.  So this leaves out sidekicks and supporting characters.   As annoying as The Great Gazoo might be, he does not qualify.   Neither do characters from full-length animated films.  You need to appear is a series of films to qualify   More rules may be posted as I think them up.

Now, onto my choice for the number eight Worst Cartoon Character of all Time:

10. Baby Huey
9.  Squiddly Diddly
8.  Buzzy, the Funny Crow

It's pretty sad when you have to have "funny" as part of your billing so that audiences will understand that you are supposed to be funny.  Buzzy the Crow starred in a series of cartoons for Paramount / Famous studios, the studio that brought senseless cartoon violence to a peak.  Buzzy was not only pointless and violent but he was also offensive to boot.   His voice, an imitation of Eddie "Rochester" Anderson, has been pointed out as an example of black stereotypes in cartoons.   In recent years, his voice has been dubbed over to remove the black dialect.   

A Buzzy Book

Every Buzzy cartoon follows the same format:  the dumb cat (usually Katnip) has some ailment or habit that he needs to kick.  It could be smoking, baldness, hiccups, insomnia - all of these were tastefully dealt with in a Buzzy cartoon.  The cat researches a cure and finds that every book recommends eating fresh crow meat to remedy his condition (does the FDA know about this?).  So, the cat will try and catch Buzzy, who then offers the cat his own home remedy in exchange for his life.  Violence ensues.  And as i mentioned in my previous post about Baby Huey, there was nothing subtle or sophisticated about the violence in a Paramount cartoon.  The biggest problem with these cartoons is that your sympathy is on the wrong character from the start of the film.  You feel for the cat, so all the violence that befalls him makes you hate that darn bird all the more.

Buzzy began his screen life in 1947 and made several films through the late 40's and early 50's.   He was eventually features on merchandise and in the Harvey comic books as a back feature. 

Here is an example of a typical Buzzy Cartoon.   Black Stereotypes, smoking and violence,,,  Yeah, I doubt you'll see this one on TV anytime soon.  It also has a gimmicky ending that had been cut from TV prints, now re-introduced for your enjoyment (I use the term loosely).