Дэви и Голиаф: Кукольный сериал о вере и дружбе

American animated television series

Davey and Goliath is a Christian clay animated children's television series, whose central characters were created by Art Clokey, Ruth Clokey, and Dick Sutcliffe, and which was produced first by the United Lutheran Church in America and later by the Lutheran Church in America. The show was aimed at a youth audience, and generally dealt with issues such as respect for authority, sharing, and prejudice. Eventually, these themes included serious issues such as racism, death, religious intolerance and vandalism. Each 15 minute episode features the adventures of a boy named Davey Hansen and his "talking" dog Goliath (although only Davey and the viewer can hear him speak) as they learn the love of God through everyday occurrences. Many of the episodes also feature Davey's parents John and Elaine, his sister Sally, as well as Davey's friends: Jimmy, Teddy, and Nathaniel in earlier episodes, and Jonathan, Nicky, and Francisco in later ones. In general, the characters find themselves in situations that have to be overcome by placing their faith in God. The only reference to Lutherans in the show was the theme song, an instrumental version of "A Mighty Fortress Is Our God", and the Luther rose displayed in the opening theme and end credits. as a Saturday feature, and lasted until 1965. By May 1961, it was reported that "Millions of children in cities and towns across the United States and Canada are talking about two new television stars, 'Davey and Goliath'." Davey's friends Nathaniel (in the 1960s episodes) and Jonathan (in the 1970s episodes) were some of the first black characters to appear as friends of a television show's white lead character. After its initial run, several 30 minute holiday themed episodes were created in the late 1960s. The series then resumed with some new characters in 1971 and continued until 1973. In 1975, a final 30 minute summer episode was created. In 2004, Joe Clokey and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the successor body to the LCA, produced a new special, Davey and Goliath's Snowboard Christmas.

In 1958, Franklin Clark Fry, president of the United Lutheran Church in America (ULCA), put aside $1 million to fund production of a future television program for children. Soon after, the ULCA contracted with Clokey Productions, Inc., headed by Gumby creators Art and Ruth Clokey, to create a new children’s show: Davey and Goliath. Scripts were written by children’s book author Nancy Moore in consultation with the church; Moore would go on to pen several episodes of the CBS Radio Mystery Theater in the 1970s and early 1980s. The ULCA and Art Clokey teamed up to make the first Davey and Goliath episode in 1960, called "Lost in a Cave", which would be the first shown in syndication in 1961. In this premiere episode, the figures were entirely clay (with some latex/rubber clothing showing visible seams) and the scenery was also mostly clay. The early voices included Hal Smith (who did a number of voices including Davey's father), Dick Beals (who was Davey's voice) and Ginny Tyler (who did the voice of Sally's and Davey's mother). These three did many other voices as well. After making "Lost in a Cave" in 1960, Clokey made "The Wild Goat", "Stranded on an Island" and "The Winner" in early 1961. In these episodes, the clay figures were now clothed with real cloth, and more model buildings and trees were added, making the episodes look somewhat more realistic. In 1961, the series of these four episodes began airing free on local television stations nationwide, ranging from ABC, NBC and CBS Network affiliates to independent stations. Occasionally, two or more stations in the same market aired the show, at several times. Many stations ran these episodes leading into network Saturday morning lineups. Other stations ran them in religious Sunday morning lineups between other evangelists' programs. By 1964, the show was airing in over 90% of U. S. television markets.

In 1965, Davey and Goliath returned to television when a 30 minute Christmas special called "Christmas Lost and Found" was aired. The episode was more overtly religious in nature and distanced itself from traditional Christmas figures such as Santa Claus and Rudolph, with religious Christmas songs included. This would also be the last episode featuring Dick Beals as the voice of Davey. In 1967, three 30 minute holiday specials were aired: "Happy Easter" in March, "Halloween Who Dun It" in October, and "The New Year Promise" in December. with the royalties from the commercial used to fund the production of the 2004 Christmas special entitled Davey & Goliath's Snowboard Christmas. The holiday special addressed both religious and racial diversity as Davey demonstrates his snowboarding expertise to two friends: Sam, a Jewish boy, and Yasmeen, a Muslim girl. During the course of the show, they get caught in an avalanche and end up in a cave. Goliath goes for help while Davey and his new friends find out that they really aren't all that different. The three children wind up learning of each other's holiday celebrations: Jewish Hanukkah, Christian Christmas and Muslim Eid.

The program had become a fixture on Saturday and/or Sunday mornings on TV stations (both religious and secular) across the country during the 1960s and 1970s. In the 1980s, commercial stations began gradually dropping the series. Religious stations picked it up in many markets and ran it in their blocks of Christian children's programs. By 1990, only a handful of commercial stations still aired the series. The show continued to air on CatholicTV Network until late in 2009, on Tri State Christian Television also until 2010 and still aired on a few local Christian television stations. On cable, the Odyssey Network ran the entire series commercial free from 1992 until 1999. Since the network's rebranding as the Hallmark Channel in 2001, they have only aired a few of the holiday specials with several commercial breaks, including the Snowboard Christmas special made in 2004. In 2008, iTunes began offering episodes as free downloads. By December of that year, more than 20 episodes had been made available. Nowadays, the episodes cost 99 cents each. Until the beginning of October 2018, the series was shown on Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN) Saturday afternoons, and during the week it was seen on the TBN owned Smile of a Child network, which is carried on digital subchannels of TBN affiliates.

Adult Swim's Moral Orel is a darker, adult oriented parody of Davey and Goliath. Though it is stylistically and thematically similar, the show's creator, Dino Stamatopoulos, claims Moral Orel had its genesis as a parody of Leave It to Beaver. MADtv spoofed Davey and Goliath in their fourteenth episode with "Davey and Son of Goliath", alluding to the Son of Sam serial killer who claimed a talking dog had instructed him to kill. The Simpsons featured a short, clay animated segment titled "Gravey and Jobriath". Gravey is portrayed as a religious extremist building a pipe bomb in order to destroy Planned Parenthood.

Series # Title Original airdate 14 "The Silver Mine" 1962 09 08 15 "Ten Little Indians [A. K. A. Ten Pin Alley]" 1962 09 22 16 "Boy Lost" 1962 10 06 17 "A Sudden Storm" 1962 10 20 18 "The Bell Ringer" 1962 11 03 19 "Not for Sale" 1962 11 17 20 "The Shoemaker" 1962 12 01 21 "The Runaway" 1962 12 15 22 "Officer Bob" 1962 12 29 23 "The Parade" 1963 01 12 24 "The Dog Show" 1963 01 26 25 "Down on the Farm" 1963 02 09 26 "The Waterfall" 1963 02 23

Series # Title Original airdate 27 "Happy Landing" 1963 09 14 28 "Editor in Chief" 1963 09 28 29 "Man of the House" 1963 10 12 30 "Bully Up a Tree" 1963 10 26 31 "The Big Apple" 1963 11 09 32 "The Bridge" 1963 11 30 33 "The Gang [A. K. A. The Jickets]" 1963 12 14 34 "The Lemonade Stand" 1963 12 28 35 "Hocus Pocus" 1964 01 11 36 "Good Neighbor" 1964 01 25 37 "A Dillar, A Dollar" 1964 02 08 38 "Rags and Buttons" 1964 02 22 39 "Jeep in the Deep" 1964 03 07

Series # Title Original airdate 40 "The Stopped Clock" 1971 09 11 41 "Who, Me?" 1971 09 25 42 "If at First, You Don't Succeed " 1971 10 09 43 "Finder's Keepers" 1971 10 23 44 "Kookaburra" 1971 11 13 45 "The Caretakers" 1971 11 27 46 "The Hard Way" 1971 12 11 47 "Rickety Rackety" 1971 12 25 48 "Help" 1972 01 08 49 "Boy in Trouble" 1972 01 22 50 "The Greatest" 1972 02 05 51 "Blind Man's Bluff" 1972 02 19 52 "Who's George?" 1972 03 04