Channel Umptee-3

Channel Umptee-3 (also known simply as Umptee-3) is a Saturday morning animated television series created by Jim George and produced by Norman Lear.^[1] It aired on The WB as part of the Kids' WB programming block from 1997 to 1998.^[2][3] The one-season cartoon was designed to teach children to appreciate the wonders of everyday things, such as sleep and water. The title is derived from the fictitonal number "umpteen". It was also the last television series that Lear was involved in as an executive producer (and the last to feature an original story) until the 2017 revival of One Day at a Time.

Channel Umptee-3
Also known as	Umptee-3
Genre	Comedy
Created by	Jim George
Developed by	Jim George Norman Lear John Baskin
Directed by	Chris Headrick Don Jurwich Mike Peraza David Schwartz Bob Seeley
Voices of	Gregg Berger Greg Burson Alice Ghostley Jonathan Harris Rob Paulsen David Paymer Neil Ross Susan Silo
Theme music composer	Jim George
Opening theme	"Channel Umptee-3 Theme" performed by Rob Paulsen, David Paymer, and Jonathan Harris
Ending theme	"Channel Umptee-3 Theme" (instrumental)
Composer	Walter Murphy
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	13
Production
Executive producers	Jim George Norman Lear John Baskin Richard Raynis Everett Peck
Producers	Jeff Kline Peggy George Bob Seeley
Running time	21 minutes
Production companies	Adelaide Productions Act III Productions Enchanté George Columbia TriStar Television
Original release
Network	The WB (Kids' WB)
Release	October 25, 1997 (1997-10-25) – February 20, 1998 (1998-02-20)

Format

Ogden Ostrich, Holey Moley (a mole), and Sheldon S. Cargo (a snail) drive around the world in a van with their own underground pirate television station.^[4] Channel Umptee-3, which exists between other channels and is broadcast from a mobile station, tries to focus on a specific topic in each episode, but is normally diverted from it and shifted onto another topic; e.g., one episode started out discussing cats, but quickly segued into the subject of ownership (which was the real topic of that show). Meanwhile, "The Frumps" (i.e., Stickley Rickets and his henchmen) would try to shut the station down or increase their own power, but whatever plan they came up with would fail.

The show made great use of stock footage, as did the earlier WB show Freakazoid! Also, the show sometimes made references to well-known films and TV shows; e.g., the episode "Yours, Mine, and Ours" included references to Cats, Harvey, Star Wars, Dragnet, and The People's Court, and the title was that of a classic film.

Characters

The Umptees

• Ogden O. Ostrich (Rob Paulsen) – An excitable yellow ostrich who first came up with the idea for a television program to show everyone that "the world is a magical place" after pulling his head out of the ground one day and looking at the world around him. At the start of every episode, Ogden comes running up the camera yelling "Hey!" over and over.
• Holey Moley – A pantomime character. He is a large mole who carries a number of portable holes that allow him and his friends to go anywhere.
• Sheldon S. Cargo (David Paymer) – A large pink snail whose shell is fitted with a unicycle-like wheel to help him get around. Sheldon is the serious, professional member of the team; he tries his best to hold the show together, despite Ogden's almost hyperactive behavior. His name is derived from the French word "escargot".
• Professor Edwin I. Relevant (Greg Burson) – The station's resident expert on everything. Ogden and the others turn to Professor Relevant for information on the day's topic in almost every episode.
• Test and Polly (Neil Ross and Susan Silo) – two newscasters who work for Channel Umptee-3.

The Frumps

• Stickley Rickets (voiced by Jonathan Harris) – The elderly president of a corporation that produces boxes. Because the "Umptee-doodies" (as he calls them) encourage people to take things out of boxes and look at them in a new way, he sees them as a threat to his business. So he constantly plots to shut them down and "put them in a box, where they belong."
• Pandora Rickets (voiced by Alice Ghostley) – Stickley's wife. She isn't nearly as obsessed as her husband where the Umptees are concerned. Pandora even likes to watch some of the shows, although she does not want Stickley to find out. Her name is derived from "Pandora's box".
• Ed and Bud (voiced by Neil Ross and Gregg Berger) – Two black-suited henchmen who carry out Stickley's orders and are almost never successful. Ed is the taller one, and Bud is the shorter, balding one.

Other voices

Other voice actors who appeared on the show included:

• Charlie Adler
• Susanne Blakeslee
• Jeff Bennett
• Liz Georges
• Jason Graae
• Maurice LaMarche
• Pat Musick
• Julie Payne
• Patrick Pinney
• Roger Rose
• Tara Charendoff
• Laura Summer
• Ron Taylor
• Frank Welker

Crew

• Mark Evanier – Voice Director

Episodes

No.	Title	Topic(s)	Original release date
1	"The Music Show"	Music	October 25, 1997 (1997-10-25)
2	"Umptee Sunrise"	The sun	November 1, 1997 (1997-11-01)
3	"The U.F.O. Show"	UFOs and extraterrestrial life	November 8, 1997 (1997-11-08)
4	"What's So Funny"	Laughter and humor	November 15, 1997 (1997-11-15)
5	"The Now Voyagers"	Time	November 22, 1997 (1997-11-22)
6	"Just Add Water"	Water	December 6, 1997 (1997-12-06)
7	"Perchance to Dream"	Sleep and dreams	December 19, 1997 (1997-12-19)
Ogden is determined never to sleep again because of a nightmare he'd had, and his friends try to explain to him that everyone needs to sleep.
8	"Sale of the Century"	Money	January 2, 1998 (1998-01-02)
9	"The Fear Show"	Fear	January 9, 1998 (1998-01-09)
10	"The Weather Show"	Weather	January 16, 1998 (1998-01-16)
11	"Yours, Mine, and Ours"	Ownership	February 6, 1998 (1998-02-06)
The Umptees win an award in the form of a huge chocolate bunny, and Ogden and Sheldon argue over whether to eat it or display it; this leads to some information about ownership from Professor Relevant. Meanwhile, Stickley's men steal Holey Moley's portable hole, because Stickley believes that there's a fortune inside of it.
12	"The Lying Show"	Truth and lies	February 13, 1998 (1998-02-13)
13	"Words Are Weird"	Words	February 20, 1998 (1998-02-20)

Episode status and Streaming

Due to the short run and general obscurity of Channel Umptee-3, only four episodes and the intro music were initially preserved after its initial airing.^[5] Originally, the second, third, tenth and twelfth episodes were posted to YouTube, but they were blocked worldwide by Sony Pictures, leading them to be posted elsewhere, ultimately on the Internet Archive.

Currently, Sony Pictures Television has the full rights to Channel Umptee-3, and has the option to provide the series for streaming content providers. As of 2025^[update], the full series (with the exception of one episode, The Fear Show) is now available to watch on-demand for free via the streaming platform Roku Channel, marking the first time Channel Umptee-3 has been available to watch after it's initial network run.