The Colossal Show was a planned series by Total Television Productions sometime in 1964. It was intended for NBC who bought the series after the pilot pitch, however they decided to back out of it for a reason that was never known. The only thing that came from this planned show was a comic produced by Gold Key in 1969.
Allegedly, the animation for the pilot (which according to former TTV worker Mark Arnold, might still exist, but he doesn't know where it is) was likely done by Terrytoons, or someone else.
Summary[]
According to Arnold, he said that the series was the "typical" TTV comedy stuff, but taking place in a Roman setting. Arnold stated each weekly episode, a guest character would appear on the show doing a celebrity impression, with a Jack Benny impression being the character on the pilot episode. The main character (whose name isn't known) was an imitation of Phil Silvers.
Trivia[]
- Additional failed TTV projects were Parrot Playhouse, Spoofs and Saddles; which was a takeoff on Gunsmoke, and Noah's Lark; about a billionaire that built a spaceship with people on board that set out to different planets and was claimed by Arnold to be "different kind of animation totally from anything we’d done."
- Changing times were primary reasons why it was tough selling a new show, as sponsors seldomly bought shows at that point, it was networks themselves that bought them. And TTV's sponsor, General Mills, was no longer with them. Networks also preferred stuff from big "factory" animation studios that made things in-house, unlike TTV that primarily outsourced their animation. Also another key reason was TTV hadn't really been getting themselves out and developing contracts and such, unaware that it would eventually affect them sales-wise.