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 a year before the TV series and first premiered on CBS on April 22, 1973. 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, 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 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.

In 2013, TV Guide ranked The Bad Life of Daniel the Greatest TV Cartoon of All Time.

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

Mel Blanc (1974-1990) and Jeff Bergman (1990-present) voices four of the main characters: Jeff Wyatt, Marty Wyatt, Daniel Wyatt and Alex Wyatt. Daniel's voice is based on one of Blanc childhood friends in elementary named Oscar. 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, Green Lantern, Woody Woodpecker, Stan Streeter, Dank Hill, Frank Hill, 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 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 normal speaking voice however as show went on, the voice changed into a deep raspy Tigger-like voice minus the lisp due to Blanc aging. Stuart's voice was similar and based on the Tweety bird voice being higher pitched in earlier seasons. 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 1991.

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.

Gary Owens (1974-1991) and Jeff Bergman (1991-present) primarily voices Devin Silverman and Jasper. Gary Owens was the original voices and he stated that he did an impression of the character Buffalo Bill from the thriller film The Silence of the Lambs during his audition. Owens was doing the voices for 27 years then he announced that he'll quit the show to focus on being a DJ where Bergman who already was on payroll for voicing Looney Tunes and who is already the current voice of Mel Blanc's characters after his death, was hired to voice Owens’ characters as well.

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, Jennnifer Bregit the Principal of Mel Blanc High School, Muriel Jones, and Officer Jenni Brown. Jean Vander Pyl was cast after doing an impression of Marliyn Monroe. Vander Pyl did the roles until her 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 Phil LaMarr (1998-present) voices one of the Wyatt family’s African-American neighbors, Derrick Jackson. He also voiced additional characters such as Richie, Leonard Hills, After Pryor left the show in 1998, LaMarr started voicing his characters since Season 25.

Nicole Jaffe (1974-1986), Russi Taylor (1986-1997), Candi Milo (Daniel's Bad Movie), Aaliyah (1997-2001), Tara Strong ("I Got a Girl, Bum", "Roger's Fun Land", and "Adventures with Terrorists" only) (2002), and E.G. Daily (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 found E.G. Daily who auditioned for Aaliyah's roles because she impersonated Aaliyah's voices perfectly. After this, Sheldon hired her. Daily currently voices Jenny and Menny Wyatt since the episode "Fun Times in LA."

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 fourty-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 additional animation.

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.

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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)
 * 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)
 * 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
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 * Fox Channel (1993-)

Spain

 * Cartoon Network
 * Canal+

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Portugal
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Germany
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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)
 * WIN TV (1988-2013)
 * TVHits (2014-2019)

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

Japan
More coming soon!
 * NHK (1974-2007)
 * Fuji TV (1999-2002)
 * TV Tokyo (2019-)

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.

Books
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Television film
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Theatrical films
A movie titled Daniel's Bad Movie produced by Xtranormal Animation Studios and distributed by 20th Century Fox and Columbia Pictures was released theatrically on May 5, 1994 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. A sequel was made as well titled Daniel 2: Where is Mom?! released in 1997.

Music
Collections of original music featured in the series have been released on the albums Songs in the Key of Springfield, Go Simpsonic with The Simpsons and The Simpsons: Testify. Several songs have been recorded with the purpose of a single or album release and have not been featured on the show.

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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 show is available to stream on Disney+ and 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.