Fox Family Channel: Morning Scramble

In the late 90's I worked on a kid's show called The Morning Scramble for the FOX Family Channel which had been the Family Channel a year before and is now known as the Disney Family Channel...still with me? OK, when it was FOX, the Morning Scramble was an interstitial show in the AM between cartoons hosted by Mati Moralejo and puppet characters.

The set was designed by Wayne White, production designer of Pee Wee's playhouse, Beakman's World and Shining Time Station. I was first hired to make some of the unique set dressing needed. Working with Wayne was one of the best professional experiences I've ever had. It got better when asked to stay on as the day to day art director once Wayne's job was done. It was a dream job. Everyday I had to design and make some crazy and fun things.

Foamcore, hot glue, acrylic. Click image to enlarge.


Foamcore, hot glue, acrylic. Click image to enlarge.


Click image to enlarge.

Cereal boxes became a usual prop for segments and gags. Because we could not see or say brand names the show producer, Marrisa, made up some funny fictional product names. Captain Fructose was one. At first he was just a generic superhero character I painted on a box. Over time Marrisa began to write Capt. Fructose cereal into the shows as our host's "favorite" breakfast food. I got to develop him, even making an action figure for one gag.

One bit needed a Capt. Fructose comic book. Even though the details of each page would never be seen, I went ahead and drew a small adventure for the fun of it. Far from my best work. It was drawn in haste with magic marker and no concern for punctuation or spelling (as usual). Reminds me of the comics I did for classmates in grade school.

Click pages to to enlarge.






2 comments:

  1. Oh, man, I COVET that toaster and microwave! I hear that PeeWee's Playhouse is on track to make it to the Big Screen, what a great show that was.
    Love the comic strip, esp. the part where Capt. Fructose "poinks" the loop off his head to use as a weapon. Sound FX always make it come alive!
    Your cereal bowl made me want to show you this RISD grad's lamp: http://ideaka.com/lights3.html

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  2. My fave is the page with CF zooming through the air (and his secret hideout labeled at the bottom).

    :-) :-)

    -- Vicki in Michigan

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