Beyond The Animated TV Grave is a sub-series of Beyond The TV Grave, and takes a look at short-lived prime time adult animated series that aired on ABC, CBS, or NBC. This fourth edition is the fourth and final to focus on a Hanna-Barbera show: 1992’s Fish Police, which made it just halfway through its six episode order on CBS before its cancelation.
Background
Fish Police was the second adult animated series to premiere in a world that included The Simpsons, making its debut a month after ABC’s Capitol Critters. Whereas Capitol Critters was ABC’s attempt to capitalize off the success of The Simpsons, Fish Police was CBS’s attempt. Like Capitol Critters, Fish Police came from Hanna-Barbera, Inc. The production company also produced the early 1960s hit The Flintstones, along with short-lived 1960s series that gained traction on Saturday morning cartoon schedules like The Jetsons and Top Cat (in the mid 1980s, The Jetsons had also received a second batch of episodes produced for syndication). Fish Police also overlapped with fellow Hanna-Barbera production Capitol Critters in that both starred anthropomorphic creatures.
Fish Police was a midseason replacement on CBS’s 1991-92 TV schedule. It aired Fridays at 8:30 pm, and was the first regularly scheduled program in the time slot since Princesses had been pulled from the schedule in October. Fish Police premiered alongside another new series, Scorch, a sitcom starring a puppet dragon. If you’re unfamiliar with Scorch, it’s because it lasted no longer than Fish Police.
Synopsis
Fish Police is based on a comic book series of the same name, which was in circulation from 1985 through 1991. As the title suggests, Fish Police focused on various species of anthropomorphic fish. It starred the voice of John Ritter as Inspector Gil, a detective who solves crimes in a crime-ridden underwater city. He works for the disgruntled Chief Abalone and has an antagonist in Biscotti Calamari, a slimy crime boss. Inspector Gil has a love interest in on-again off-again girlfriend Pearl White, a diner owner voiced by Megan Mullally. However, he has a secondary love interest in Angel Jones, who sings at the club owned by Biscotti Calamari.
Fish Police actually had a similar premise to a French children’s cartoon: Sharky & George, which premiered in 1990 and aired 52 episodes across two seasons. Both series take place in underwater cities and focus on various fish detectives. While Sharky & George was popular enough to be re-dubbed in various different languages and aired in much the world, it never made its way to the United States. Fish Police did not have much at all in common with The Simpsons, the show its success it was meant to capitalize off of, other than the fact it was animated and geared toward an adult audience.
Ratings & Cancelation
Fish Police premiered on Friday, February 28, 1992 to a
7.2 Household rating and a 13 share. On the bright side, it held 100% of its lead-in, Scorch, and improved upon the final three of the five episodes of the previous time slot occupant. It was also higher than anything ABC’s Capitol Critters had scored outside of weekday previews. On the down side, Fish Police also tied its lead-in as the lowest-rated program of the night. Ratings declined steeply for Fish Police in its second week, where it notched just a
6.0 Household rating. It was the lowest-rated original program of the night, and dipped considerably from the already-low 6.9 rating achieved by its lead-in. It would then rise slightly the following week to a
6.4 Household rating, still out of a 6.9 lead-in.
This slight rise would prove to be too little, too late. Fish Police was canceled after its March 13 airing alongside Scorch and 10 pm drama Hearts Are Wild. It was replaced first by the NCAA Basketball tournament and later by former lead-out Tequila & Bonetti, neither of which performed any better.
Fish Police’s swift cancelation was notable given just how much was at stake for the future of adult animation. Fish Police was one of two adult animated series CBS picked up in the early ‘90s. In a piece with the Los Angeles Times the day Fish Police premiered, CBS’s senior vice president of programming Peter Tortorici expressed the intention for those shows to serve as a test for the genre’s appeal on the network. Tortorici described animation as ‘expensive’ and ‘risky,’ meaning CBS was not willing to wait for these shows to potentially grow an audience over time. .
Aftermath
Fish Police would become Hanna-Barbera’s final adult animated series. The remaining three episodes did end up airing in Europe, and the series did air briefly on Cartoon Network. While it eventually became available on HBO Max, it has since been pulled from the streaming service. All six episodes are still available to stream on Internet Archive. If you are thinking about streaming the episodes, Steve Moncuse, the creator of the Fish Police comic series, would ask that you not.
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