Voting Station

Manimal

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TV Series

The Resume

    (September 30, 1983-December 17, 1983)
    Aired on NBC
    Starred Simon MacCorkindale as Dr. Jonathan Chase
    Premise: Dr. Chase fights crime using his ability to turn himself into any animal he chooses

Why Manimal might be annoying:

    It was cancelled after eight episodes due to low ratings and hefty production costs.
    It was part of a disastrous season in which NBC debuted nine new series in the fall and not one lasted a full year.
    Dr. Chase theoretically could change into any animal, but he usually went with either a hawk or a black panther, so footage from the expensive and time-consuming transformation sequences could be reused.
    When he did not become a hawk or panther, the transformation usually happened conveniently offscreen.
    He always ended up properly dressed after transforming back to a human, even if it happened while he was unconscious and regardless of how badly his clothes had been ripped when he became an animal.
    One critic described the show as 'synonymous with television at its most ridiculous.'

Why Manimal might not be annoying:

    The transformation scenes were advanced for the time, having been designed by Oscar-winner Stan Winston.
    The show provided plenty of material for David Letterman's monologues, so at least someone at NBC benefited from it.
    The Jonathan Chase character was resurrected for an episode of the series 'Night Man.' (1998)
    If you have the DVD, you could make a decent drinking game out of hawk/panther/other critter.

Credit: C. Fishel


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    For 2024, as of last weekly ranking, Out of 1 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2023, Out of 10 Votes: 40.0% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 5 Votes: 20.0% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 17 Votes: 70.59% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 2 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 4 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2018, Out of 5 Votes: 40.0% Annoying
    In 2017, Out of 9 Votes: 22.22% Annoying
    In 2016, Out of 13 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2015, Out of 6 Votes: 83.33% Annoying
    In 2014, Out of 8 Votes: 62.50% Annoying
    In 2013, Out of 18 Votes: 55.56% Annoying
    In 2012, Out of 26 Votes: 50.0% Annoying