The Super 6

American animated television series

The Super 6 is an animated cartoon series which was produced by DePatie–Freleng Enterprises and Mirisch Rich Television Productions in 1966, and shown on the NBC television network from 1966 to 1969. This was DePatie–Freleng's first vehicle for Saturday morning. Only one season of the show was produced, but NBC ran the series for three years in the same timeslot. The show was a superhero spoof which featured six diverse characters working for Super Services Inc., offering "heroes for hire" under the supervision of the cranky Super Chief. Each episode consisted of three five to six minute segments, with the introductory segment featuring Super Bwoing and the last featuring one of the other five heroes. The middle segment featured the unrelated The Brothers Matzoriley. The Super 6 theme song was performed by Gary Lewis & the Playboys.

This character appeared in the smallest number of segments of any of the other members of the Super 6. After his first appearance, however, his name was changed from "Whammo" to "Zammo". According to Friz Freleng in a [1982] interview, the name change occurred when Wham O, creators of such toys as the Super Ball, filed a legal grievance against DePatie Freleng over trademark infringement. Reportedly, the first commercial to air after the first televised "Captain Whammo" segment was, ironically, for the Super Ball.

This third segment was unrelated to the Super 6, and starred a bizarre, three headed character known collectively as "The Brothers Matzoriley" a parody in name, of The Brothers Karamazov. They were "Siamese triplets" who were Three Stooges style bumblers, always looking for a new job. Their names (Weft, Wight and Wong) were a play on "left", "right" and "wrong", respectively. Although occupying one body, each head had its own distinct personality, one head (Weft) being that of a tough guy with a Brooklyn accent, another (Wight) being a wimpy coward with a very nervous delivery, and the middle head (Wong) being a smart alecky Chinese, who dispensed absurd parodies of Confucius proverbs beginning with "Confusion say ". All three personalities were of a broad, stereotypical nature. A prototype version of the Brothers Matzoriley first appeared in the credits of A Shot in the Dark. Another version appeared in The Great De Gaulle Stone Operation (the first short in The Inspector series). In the cartoon, the brothers steal a precious diamond in the oddest ways from the Inspector. In a comic plot twist ending, they wind up winning the day after the Inspector accidentally drinks a glass of water with the diamond in it. The brothers (disguised as a nurse) steal it after a surgeon removes it during an emergency operation. In The Great De Gaulle Stone Operation, the first head was a suave British type (Pat Harrington Jr. was the original voice for the left head) and the third head had a Soviet Russian accent (Paul Frees was the voice of the right head, as well as the middle Chinese head). In contrast to their depiction in The Super Six, they had different voices, but similar personalities although the middle Chinese head bore some resemblance to the version that would later appear in The Super 6.

The series was broadcast by NBC from September 10, 1966 to January 21, 1967. NBC continued to air reruns until August 31, 1969. 20 episodes (each containing three cartoons) were made. TGG Direct (under license from MGM Home Entertainment) has released the entire series on DVD.