The Atom Ant/Secret Squirrel Show

The Atom Ant/Secret Squirrel Show was an hour-long Saturday morning cartoon produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions from 1965 to 1966 for NBC. Atom Ant and Secret Squirrel aired in reruns independently of each other for the first part of the 1966–1967 season: Precious Pupp and The Hillbilly Bears aired as segments on The Atom Ant Show, while Squiddly Diddly and Winsome Witch aired as segments on The Secret Squirrel Show before recombining into the hour-long format in the winter.

The Hillbilly Bears cartoon segments were later repeated during the second season of The Banana Splits Adventure Hour (1969–1970), and all 26 Atom Ant (containing Atom Ant, Precious Pupp, Hillbilly Bears) and 26 Secret Squirrel (containing Secret Squirrel, Squiddly Diddly, Winsome Witch) half-hour shows were syndicated as part of The Banana Splits and Friends Show, an umbrella title for a package combining episodes of several different Hanna-Barbera series (the other series included The Banana Splits Adventure Hour, The New Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, and The Adventures of Gulliver).

Reruns of the series formerly aired on Cartoon Network and Cartoon Network's sister channel Boomerang.

Atom Ant
Atom Ant (originally voiced by Howard Morris, then by Don Messick in later episodes) operated out of an anthill in the countryside, where he possessed such things as a mainframe computer and exercise equipment. His powers mostly consisted of the ability to fly, superspeed, incredible strength, and invulnerability. His catchphrase was "Up and at 'em, Atom Ant!"

He was often contacted by the police, who sent him out on an assignment. Some of these missions parodied those of Batman. The police force was constantly shown to be underfunded and inept, as they relied on Atom Ant to do all their police work. The only two police officers were the chief and deputy chief. The department only possessed one rusted patrol car. Atom Ant fights various villains including recurring ones like Ferocious Flea (voiced by Don Messick) and mad scientist Professor Von Gimmick.

Secret Squirrel
The adventures of a secret agent squirrel (voiced by Mel Blanc) who is assisted in his adventures by his fez-wearing sidekick Morocco Mole (also voiced by Paul Frees impersonating Peter Lorre). The pair fights crime and evil enemy agents using cunning and a variety of spy gadgets, including a machine gun cane, a collection of guns kept inside Secret's trench coat, and a variety of devices concealed in his fedora (which he almost never removes).

Secret Squirrel's shorts were a parody of the then-popular spy genre, with most of his shorts' elements satirizing those of the James Bond films. Secret Squirrel was also known as "Agent 000". Beginning in 1993, thirteen new Secret Squirrel cartoons appeared in between the 2 Stupid Dogs episodes, with the updated title, Super Secret Secret Squirrel and a new cast.

Squiddly Diddly
A cartoon about a friendly, sailor hat wearing, anthropomorphic squid (voiced by Paul Frees), more octopus than squid in appearance, who is captive in an aquatic park known as Bubbleland, and resides in a pool with his name on it. Squiddly Diddly is an aspiring musician who makes many attempts to escape and attain musical stardom but is constantly foiled by Bubbleland's administrator Chief Winchley (John Stephenson).

In some episodes Squiddly Diddly manages to escape but chooses to return to Bubbleland, considering the outside world to be too harsh. Other times Squiddly and Chief Winchley would have to work together to deal with those who were problematic to Bubbleland. The cartoons sometimes show people applauding Squiddly Diddly's musical talents but often depict terrified people who mistakenly believe that octopuses are hostile.

Precious Pupp
A cartoon about Precious Pupp (voiced by Don Messick), a large, mangy dog, and his elderly owner, Granny Sweet (voiced by Janet Waldo). Granny was a kindly woman with a passion for motorcycles, completely oblivious to the fact that her beloved, affectionate pet was something of a neighbourhood terror. He had a habit of slipping behind a victim quietly---sometimes in defense of their home, sometimes just for the fun of it---and jolting him with a ferocious series of barks. . . but never where or when Granny could catch him in the act. Unlike many cartoon animals, Precious didn't speak. His usual vocalism was an asthmatic-sounding, "wheezing" laugh used even more famously by Muttley, a Hanna-Barbera character introduced three years later in Wacky Races.

The Hillbilly Bears
A situation comedy (inspired by The Beverly Hillbillies) about the Rugg family of hillbilly bears consisting of Paw Rugg (voiced by Henry Corden), Maw Rugg (voiced by Jean Vander Pyl), Floral Rugg (also voiced by Jean Vander Pyl), and Shag Rugg (voiced by Don Messick).

The Hillbilly Bears played on a social stereotype of the "hillbilly", with a gun toting, mumbling father Paw Rugg who was always "feudin" ("feudin" was usually a lethargic operation, in which the protagonists fired the same bullet back and forth from the comfort of their rocking chairs) with the neighbors the Hoppers.

Paw Rugg's voice was a mumble, splattered with a few understandable words. Particularly in the first episodes, Paw Rugg's voice was incomprehensible; his speech improved with the later episodes. His wife Maw was a homemaker who appeared as the more levelheaded parent, The fur of his daughter Floral had lemon-colored fur (as opposed to the darker-colored fur of Maw, Paw and Shag) and Floral was the southern belle and most sophisticated member of the family while Shag was a troublemaker who looks up to his father.

Winsome Witch
A cartoon about a friendly, yet somewhat inept, witch named Winsome Witch (voiced by Jean Vander Pyl). Winnie's catch phrase when casting a spell was "Ippity - Pippity - Pow!" (when the magic spell conjures, the Jet Screamer entrance cue from The Jetsons, is heard). She often flies around on a broom that happens to be magically alive.

Cast

 * Mel Blanc - Secret Squirrel
 * Paul Frees - Morocco Mole, Squidly Diddly
 * Don Messick - Ferocious Flea, Precious Pupp, Shag Rugg, Atom Ant (in later episodes)
 * Howard Morris - Atom Ant
 * Janet Waldo - Granny Sweet
 * Henry Corden - Paw Rugg
 * Jean Vander Pyl - Floral Rugg, Maw Rugg, Winsome Witch
 * John Stephenson - Chief Winchley

Atom Ant
1. Up And Atom

2. Crankenshaft's Monster

3. Gem-A-Go-Go

4. Ferocious Flea

5. Rambling Robot

6. Nobody's Fool

7. Atom Ant Meets Karate Ant

8. Fastest Ant In The West

9. Mistaken Identity

10. How Now Bow Wow

11. Dragon Master

12. The Big Gimmick

13. Super Blooper

14. Wild, Wild Ants

15. Dina-Sore

16. Amusement Park Amazement

17. Bully For Atom Ant

18. Termighty Mean

19. Nine Strikes You're Out

20. Go West Young Ant

21. Knight Fight

22. Pteraducktyl Soup

23. Up In The Air Squares

24. Mouser-Rouser

25. Killer-Diller Gorilla

26. Rock-A-Bye Boo-Boo

Secret Squirrel
1. Yellow Pinkie

2. Wolf In Cheap Cheap Clothing

3. Scotland Yard Caper

4. Sub Swiper

5. Royal Run Around

6. Masked Granny

7. Robin Hood And His Merry Muggs

8. Five Is A Crowd

9. It Stopped Training

10. Wacky Secret Weapon

11. Cuckoo Clock Cuckoo

12. Catty Cornered

13. Leave Wheel Enough Alone

14. Not So Idle Idol

15. Gold Rushed

16. Double Ex-Double Cross

17. Capt. Kidd's Not Kidding

18. Tusk-Tusk

19. Bold Rush

20. Robot Rout

21. Hi Spy

22. The Pink Sky Mobile

23. Scuba-Duba Duba

24. Spy In The Sky

25. Ship Of Spies

26. Jester Minute

Squiddly Diddly
1. Way Out Squiddly

2. Show Biz Squid

3. The Canvas Back Squid

4. Nervous Service

5. Westward Ha!

6. Sea Grunt

7. Chief Cook And Bottle Washer

8. Squid On The Skids

9. Double Trouble

10. Squid Kid

11. Booty And The Beast

12. Clowning Around

13. Surprize Prize

14. Naughty Astronaut

15. The Ghost Is Clear

16. Lucky Ducky

17. Foxy Seal

18. Squiddly Double Diddly

19. Hollywood Folly

20. One Black Knight

21. Yo Ho Ho

22. Phoney Fish

23. Gnatman

24. Robot Squid

25. Jewel Finger

26. Baby Squidder

Precious Pupp
1. Precious Jewels

2. Doggone Dognapper

3. Bites And Gripes

4. Queen Of The Road

5. Crook Out Cook Out

6. Next Of Kin

7. Bowling Pinned

8. Poodle Pandemonium

9. Dog Tracks

10. Sub-Marooned

11. Lady Bugged

12. Test In The West

13. Bones And Groans

14. Butterfly Nut

15. Precious Bone

16. The Bird Watcher

17. Dog Trained

18. Girl Whirl

19. Oliver Twisted

20. Pup, Skip And Jump

21. A Grapple For The Teacher

22. Pot-Time Work

23. A Fiend In Need

24. Ski Sickness

25. Mascot Massacre

26. A.M. Mayhem

The Hillbilly Bears
1. Detour For Sure

2. Woodpecked

3. Anglers Aweigh

4. Stranger Than Friction

5. Goldilocks And The Four Bears

6. Going, Going Gone Gopher

7. Courtin' Disaster

8. Picnic Panicked

9. Judo Kudos

10. Just Plane Around

11. War Games

12. Bricker Brats

13. Slap Happy Grandpappy

14. Pooped Pops

15. Leaky Creek

16. My Fair Hillbilly

17. Rickety Rockety-Raccoon

18. Modern Inconvenience

19. Rabbit Rumble

20. Speckled Heckler

21. Whirly Bear

22. Saucy Saucers

23. Chipper Chirper

24. Gettin' Paws Goat

25. Buzzin' Cuzzins

26. Do The Bear

Winsome Witch
1. Have Broom Will Travel

2. Prince Of A Pup

3. Operation Broom Switch

4. The Hansel & Gretel Case

5. The Little Big League

6. Schoolteacher Winnie

7. Good Red Riding Hood

8. Winnie's Baby

9. How Now Cinderella

10. Have Broom Will Zoom

11. Winnie The Sheriff

12. Welcome Wagging

13. Shoo-Spy

14. Wolfcraft Vs. Witchcraft

15. Tallyho The Hunter

16. Witch Hitch

17. Ugly Duckling Trouble

18. Witch Witch is Witch

19. Good Little Scout

20. Potluck

21. Pussycat Man

22. Sheriff Winnie

23. Wee Winnie Witch

24. Sea Dogged

25. Wild Wild Witch

26. Hollywood Or Busted