The Bad Life of Daniel

The Bad Life of Daniel is a American adult animated sitcom created by Sidney Sheldon and Richard Pryor for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series centers on an 14 year old teenage boy named Daniel Wyatt. All of the show's episodes currently premiere first on Fox although the first 12 seasons of the series aired on CBS before being moved to Fox after the station was founded in 1987. The show first originated with a TV movie titled The Wyatt Family, which aired on September 13, 1969 on CBS and was followed by Daniel's Bad Hair Day (1970), A Wyatt Halloween Special (1971), The Wyatt and the Horrible Thanksgiving (1972), and How to Find a Wyatt (1973) which lead up to a series due to the success of these specials. The series later premiered the next year on May 19, 1974.

The series was conceived by Sidney Sheldon after doing I Dream of Jeannie with the help of comedian Richard Pryor who was a fan of I Dream of Jeannie. Sheldon centered the show on a 14 year old teen boy named Daniel Wyatt. It had Jeff Wyatt, his wife Susan Wyatt, the main character Daniel Wyatt, his twin sisters Jenny and Menny Wyatt, his younger baby brother, Marty Wyatt, and his other brother, Alex Wyatt. Since its debut on May 19, 1974, 1243 episodes of The Bad Life of Daniel have been broadcast. It is the longest-running American sitcom, and the longest-running American scripted primetime television series, both in terms of seasons and number of episodes. The Bad Life of Daniel was renewed on February 6, 2019 for a forty-sixth and forty-seventh season. The former began airing September 29, 2019 and concluded on May 17, 2020 while the latter began on September 17, 2020. The series was conceived by Sidney Sheldon after doing I Dream of Jeannie with the help of comedian Richard Pryor who was a fan of I Dream of Jeannie. Sheldon centered the show on a 14 year old teen boy named Daniel Wyatt. It had Jeff Wyatt, his wife Susan Wyatt, the main character Daniel Wyatt, his twin sisters Jenny and Menny Wyatt, his younger baby brother, Marty Wyatt, and his other brother, Alex Wyatt.

A spin-off series, The Derrick Jackson Show, featuring Derrick Jackson, aired from November 28, 1999 to September 15, 2002.

The series while the series is critically praised by critics for it's unique animation and unique humor, it has also attracted criticism and controversy when it first premiered for its offensive content, violence, and writing at the time. Time named it the 20th century's best television series, and Erik Adams of The A.V. Club named it "television's crowning achievement regardless of format". On April 15, 1991, the Wyatt family was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. It has won dozens of awards since it debuted as a series, including 62 Primetime Emmy Awards, 45 Annie Awards, and 5 Peabody Awards. Daniel's exclamatory catchphrase "Jeepeezy" has been adopted into the English language, while The Bad Life of Daniel has influenced many other later adult-oriented animated sitcoms.

In 2013, TV Guide ranked The Bad Life of Daniel the Greatest TV Cartoon of All Time. On September 25, 2020, Fox announced that the show would continue through fiftieth season.

Setting
The Bad Life of Daniel takes place in the fictional version of Atlanta, Georgia. Pyror and Sheldon based this city on their experiences in Georgia, where they both stated that it's nice there.

Characters
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Development
Following the cancellation of Where's Huddles, William Hanna and Joseph Barbera confirmed that they'll do another animated series for adults.

Coming soon!

Writing
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Voice cast
Further information: List of The Bad Life of Daniel cast members and List of The Bad Life of Daniel guest stars

Other than Blanc and Pryor the cast members for this show were recast due to some contracts with the original voice actors as well as the unavailability of them as well.

Mel Blanc (1974-1990) and Jeff Bergman (1990-present) voices four of the main characters: Daniel Wyatt, Jeff Wyatt, Marty Wyatt, and Alex Wyatt. Daniel's voice is a slightly lower pitched Bugs Bunny. Alex's voice is based on one of Blanc’s teachers when he was in middle school. He also provides voices of various other recurring and one-time characters such as Wu Lee who is Daniel's Chinese Friend, Woody Woodpecker, Stan Streeter, Dank Hill, Frank Hill, Walter Simmons, Benny Hill, Bobby the Dog, Johnny Brown, the Strawberry man as well as most prominently those of the Wyatts' neighbor news anchor Phil Shakar, Susan's father, Lester Banks, and more.

Sidney Sheldon had a strong vision for these characters, he chose to get Blanc to voice them, believing it would be easier than for someone else to attempt it since he does a lot of voices. Blanc drew inspiration for the voice of Daniel from earlier Bugs Bunny shorts. Jeff based on the voice of British actor Laurence Olivier for his performance in the 1972 mystery thriller film Sleuth, then based Marty's voice on his Tweety voice but even more babyish. Alex's voice was a Brooklyn accented Yosemite Sam like voice (which Blanc also voiced) while being higher pitched in earlier seasons and later deepening due to Blanc aging. When Blanc died in 1989, he was replaced by Bergman by season 17 although some episodes after his death used recordings of his voice until the episode "Prom" which aired on October 28, 1990.

Michael Bell voices Carl Wickerson, Billie Dooberson, and other various characters. Carl Wickerson is based on his own normal speaking voice. As of 2020, he is the only original cast member whose still on the show since it first aired. Mel Blanc originally voiced these characters in the TV specials and the TV movie but in the series he understudy for Bell where he voiced his characters in some episodes where Bell was unavaliable to come in. In the film Daniel's Bad Movie, Carl Wickerson was voiced by Dee Bradley Baker and Billie Dooberson was voiced by Bill Farmer due to Bell being unable to attending voice recordings for the film.

Gary Owens (1974-1976), Mel Blanc (1976-1989), and Jeff Bergman (1990-present) primarily voices Devin Silverman and Jasper. Blanc voiced the character in the TV specials as well as the TV movies with a different interpretation on the characters than Owens with Devin sounding dopey and Jasper basically being his Barney voice except higher. Owens stated that he based Devin's voice on an impression of Piglet from Winnie the Pooh. Owens did the voices for the first two seasons where he later left due to his conflicts with other shows where Blanc later replaced him.

Jean Vander Pyl (1974-1999) and Tress MacNeille (2000-present) voices Jeff's wife Susan Wyatt, Daniel‘s ELA teacher Mary Moore, Susan's mother Josie Banks, Jennifer Bregit the Principal of Mel Blanc High School, Muriel Jones, and Officer Jenni Brown. Bea Benaderet originaly voiced these characters in the TV Movie The Wyatt Family but due to her death in 1968 she was subsequently replaced by Vander Pyl since the first TV Specials while doing the roles until her own death in 1999 where she was replaced by Tress MacNeille who is the current voice of her characters since the second half of Season 26.

Richard Pryor (1974-1998) and Godfrey (1998-present) voices one of the Wyatt family’s African-American neighbors, Derrick Jackson. He also voiced additional characters such as Richie, Leonard Hills, and more. After Pryor left the show in 1998, Godfrey started voicing his characters since Season 25.

Nicole Jaffe (1974-1986), Russi Taylor (1986-1997), Aaliyah (1997-2001), Tara Strong ("I Got a Girl, Bum", "Roger's Fun Land", and "Adventures with Terrorists" only) (2002), and Candi Milo (Daniel's Bad Movie, 2003-present) all voiced Jenny and Menny Wyatt. Nicole Jaffe first voiced these characters from 1974 until 1986 where all her voice roles were recast due to her retirement. Then Russi Taylor ended up voicing her characters until she left the show in 1997 due to her scheduling conflicts with fellow Fox animated show The Simpsons. Later, Sheldon decided to try a celebrity voice on his characters by getting the singer Aaliyah on the show. Aaliyah voiced these characters starting in season 24 which she became a fan favorite from her voicing acting until her death in 2001 from an plane crash. Her last episode voicing any of these characters before her death was "Ronald Goes Nuts" which aired on May 27, 2001 3 months days before Aaliyah's death. As a result of Aaliyah's death, all of her characters were temporarily retired or silent like in the Season 29 episode "Jeff Strikes Back" until the episodes "I Got a Girl, Bum", "Roger's Fun Land", and "Adventures with Terrorists" which aired on November 3, 2002, November 10, 2002, November 17, 2002, and November 24, 2002, while two episodes that had Aaliyah's voice were released posthumously which was "Danielman" that aired on December 8, 2002 and "The Great and Magnificent Daniel" which aired on January 12, 2003 both dedicated in her memory which was recorded a year before her death. On the episodes "I Got a Girl, Bum", "Roger's Fun Land", and "Adventures with Terrorists", Tara Strong voiced all of Aaliyah's characters in that episode since she already voiced some background characters in the same episode and also due to the fact that Aaliyah was unavailable at the moment. Later, Sheldon decided to cast Candi Milo, who previous voiced the characters in Daniel's Bad Movie has voiced them since the second half of Season 29. June Foray originally did the voices of these characters in the TV movie and the TV specials.

Rosalind Cash (1974-1995), Alison Sealy-Smith (1996-1999, Hey Daniel, Where is Mom?!), Cree Summer (1999-present) as Leelah Jackson and the twins Terry and Lerry who are the children of Derrick Jackson and Mary Ann Jackson. They were originally voiced by Diana Sands in the TV movie and TV specials prior to the series.

Diahann Carroll (1974-2015) and Cree Summer (2015-present) as Mary Ann Jackson, the wife of Derrick Jackson. Gloria Foster originally voiced her in the TV specials and TV movie.

Episodes often feature guest voices from a wide range of professions, including actors, athletes, authors, bands, musicians, and scientists. Many guest voices star as themselves. Mark Hamill was the first guest star on the show as he voiced Rock Harrison, who later became a recurring guest voice while being voiced by Bob Bergen in later appearances, while John Lennon was the first guest star to voice himself in the eighth episode of the series.

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Animation
Despite Xtranormal Animation Studios being involved for the series first forty-three seasons, it was not animated at that studio. Instead, for the first seventeen seasons, the series' was co-produced by Hanna-Barbera, while also being animated in association with Wang Film Productions in Taiwan, Mr. Big Cartoons in Australia, and Fil-Cartoons in the Philippines. Due to creative differences, the animation production went to Klasky Csupo for the eighteenth season and has stayed since due to Great American putting Hanna Barbera for sale to Turner. By the nineteenth season, the animation production was also at Film Roman, who stayed until 2011, when it was transferred to Fox Television Animation and recruited Bento Box Entertainment for co-animation.

The series began high-definition production in Season 35; the first episode, "Dammit Girl", aired February 15, 2009.

Music
For the first seasons, the music was written by Jack Elliott and Allyn Ferguson, with additional music from Hoyt Curtin. After that, Alf Clausen was hired to compose the music until the 2010s, when Bleeding Fingers Music composed the score for the series.

Broadcast
The self-titled pilot episode premiered on CBS at 8:00 PM. In 1987, CBS had cancelled the series after 13 seasons despite the series making high views which prompted the then new network, Fox to pick up the series for more episodes and has since aired on that channel. The series is rated either TV-Y7/TV-Y7-FV (only on BBToons), TV-PG, TV-14, or TV-MA (on Adult Swim, FXX, FX, Fox on Demand, DarkFox, and TBS only). In April 2017, FXX started airing the series with BET later on airing the series since August 14, 2020.

More coming soon!

United States

 * CBS (1974-1987)
 * Fox (1987-)
 * Animation Domination (2005-2014, 2019-)
 * Fox Sunday Night (2014-2019)
 * Syndication (1978-)
 * Gingo at Nite (1995-2002)
 * NightHouse (2002-)
 * USA Network (1998-2004)
 * USA Cartoon Express (1988-1995)
 * TBS (1979-)
 * TV Land (1999-2003)
 * Comedy Central (1992-1994, 2007-2009)
 * The Family Channel/Fox Family (1990-2000, edited for content)
 * Adult Swim (2001-present)
 * Boomerang (first 5 seasons only, 2012-2016, 2020-)
 * The CW Plus (2012-)
 * WGN America (1979-1982, 1995-1999, 2005-2010, 2013-2018)
 * G4 (2011-2014)
 * DarkFox (2010-present)
 * FX (1999-2007)
 * FXX (2017-)
 * BBToons (2020-, first five seasons only)
 * BET (2020-)
 * Univision (Latin American Spanish, 1999-)
 * Telemundo (Latin American Spanish, 1990-2004, 2008-15)

Canada

 * CBC Television (1974-)
 * CTV Throwback (2010-)
 * Citytv (1980-1995, 2017-)
 * CHCH-DT (2017-)
 * Télétoon (Télétoon la nuit) (2003-)
 * Teletoon at Night (2003-2019)
 * Super Channel (2008-10)
 * Global (1985-)
 * YTV (1995-2009)
 * CTV Comedy Channel (2000-)
 * MTV (2003-2012)
 * MTV2 (2004-2008)
 * IFC (2005-2007, time compressed)
 * Much (1998-)
 * NightHouse (2008-19)
 * Adult Swim (2012-)

Latin America & Brazil
More coming soon!
 * Fox Channel (1993-)

Spain

 * Cartoon Network
 * Canal+

coming soon!

Portugal
coming soon!

Germany

 * ARD1 (1975-1985)
 * ZDF (1985-1994)
 * ProSieben (1994-)

France

 * TF1 (1975-1986)
 * TV6 France (1986-1987)
 * M6 (1987-)

Russia

 * STS

United Kingdom & Ireland

 * RTÉ One (1975-)
 * RTÉ One +1 (1975-)
 * E4 (2010-)
 * MTV (2002-)
 * ITV (1975-1986)
 * Channel Four (1986-2008)
 * Sky One (1982-)
 * ITV4 (2012-, first 26 seasons only)
 * BBC Three (2008-2016)
 * Comedy Central Extra (2015-2020)
 * Sony Channel (2012-2018, 2020-)

Australia

 * ABC (1975-)
 * 9Go! (2020-)
 * Network 10 (1980-)
 * SBS (1995-2011)
 * Fox Classics (2016-)
 * WIN TV (1988-2013)
 * TVHits (2014-2019)

Italy
More coming soon!
 * Cine Sony (2017-2019)

Japan

 * NHK (1974-2007)
 * Fuji TV (1999-2002)
 * TV Tokyo (2019-)

Finland

 * MTV3 (1999-2004)
 * Nelonen (1997-present)

More coming soon!

Cancellation and Revival by Fox
On February 7, 1987, it was announced that CBS would cancel the series after 13 seasons, due to CBS no-longer having interest in the series burning off the remaining episodes of the 12th season. Initial reactions for the series cancellation was negative as most fans were angered that it was getting cancelled. The next day the then-new network, Fox, which was owned by the 20th Century Fox (the owner of 20th Century Fox Television), picked up the series for a 14th season which ended up premiering on November 29, 1987 and has since become the new and current home of first-run episodes of the series. As a result, the first episode of the fourteenth season was named "Daniel is Back" as a result of the campaign to get the series back.

Spin-offs
Spike Lee who was a big fan of the show decided to create a spin-off series titled The Derrick Jackson Show with Richard Pryor co-creating. The show was based on the Wyatt family's neighbor, Derrick Jackson. It first premiered on November 28, 1999 and lasted until September 15, 2002. It was cancelled after 3 seasons due to the low ratings it had compared to the main series despite positive reviews. A feature film titled The Derrick Jackson Movie was released on December 11, 1998, which is to date the only R rated film in the entire franchise, to being a box office success grossing $303.2 million on a $90 million budget while also becoming the highest grossing R rated animated film at the time.

Books
Coming soon!

Television film
Coming soon!

Theatrical films
The first theatrical film titled The Bad Life of Daniel Movie, produced by Xtranormal Animation Studios in association with Hanna Barbera and was distributed by 20th Century Fox and Columbia Pictures, it was released theatrically on July 4, 1979 to universal acclaim and grossed $90.2 million over a $9 million budget.

A sequel, titled Where Are You, Mr. Wyatt? was released in 1984, with all of the cast members reprising their roles. The film was a box office success grossing $86.2 million on a

The third film in the franchise, titled Oh Great Jeff Wyatt, was released on July 7, 1989, and featured the then-current cast members of the television series once again while marking Mel Blanc's final voice performance in film before his death as he died 3 days after the film's release. The film was a box office success albeit being the lowest grossing installment.

A fourth movie titled Daniel's Bad Movie produced by Xtranormal Animation Studios and distributed by 20th Century Fox and Columbia Pictures was released theatrically on July 29, 1994. The film's plot on Daniel going out across the world to clear his name and solve the mystery of who bombed his town after being framed. Like the previous films, the film opened to universal critical acclaim, grossing $223.2 million over a $54 million budget. Most of the show's voice actors reprised their roles except Russi Taylor, who was too busy on the show so she was replaced by Candi Milo while also being the first film that Mel Blanc didn't voice act in after his death in 1989 with his characters being voiced by mainly Jeff Bergman with additional background characters originally voiced by him performed by other voice artists such as Joe Alaskey and Noel Blanc.

A fifth film was made titled Hey Daniel, Where is Mom?! was released on January 30, 1998. It would be the last film made based on the franchise before 2018, due to the show writers making more of a focus on the series. It became the highest grossing film of the franchise at the time grossing $354.2 million on a $100 million budget.

A sixth film was released in 2018, 20 years after the last film to universally positive reviews with critics citing a nice return of the character's to the big screen. Unlike the series, the film was animated in computer animation with some traditionally animated sequences. It immediately became the highest grossing film of the franchise within a week and grossed $890.2 million worldwide against a $140 million budget.

A seventh film will be released in 2021.

Direct-to-video films
A Wyatt Christmas was released to DVD and VHS in 1997

Music
Collections of original music featured in the series have been released on the albums Songs in the Key of Atlanta, Go Danielle with The Bad Life of Daniel and The Bad Live of Daniel: Testify. Several songs have been recorded with the purpose of a single or album release and have not been featured on the show.

Coming soon!

Theme park attractions
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Other appearances in games
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Live performances
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Merchandise
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Home media
The pilot episode was released by Magnetic Video on August 9, 1977. CBS/Fox Video later released twenty videos of The Bad Life of Daniel between 1982 and 1995 with some of the earliest ones being out of print. From 1996 to 2004, 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment released several VHS tapes of the series, each containing four episodes of the series.

20th Century Fox Home Entertainment later released the TV movie on DVD for the first time in 2000 and the first ten seasons on DVD between 2000 and 2001. More coming soon!

As of April 2020, the entire series is available to stream on Hulu in the United States. Outside of the United States, it is available to stream on Netflix in Latin America, Prime Video in the United Kingdom, and Stan in Australia.