Sniz & Fondue is a series of animated shorts originally appearing on the first three seasons of the animation-anthology series KaBlam! on the American cable television network Nickelodeon.
Premise
The series is about the day-to-day lives and zany hijinks of two ferret roommates, Sniz and Fondue. Sniz is hyperactive and playfully impulsive, traits that result in trouble for himself and his roommate, Fondue. Sniz sports a lime-green Mohawk haircut. Fondue is generally nervous as a result of Sniz's rambunctiousness, which results in him being on his guard. Fondue sports a blue chef's hat. They live with two other roommates, Snuppa and Bianca.
Production
Created by Mike R. Brandon (credited as Michael Pearlstein at the time of the cartoon's premiere), Sniz & Fondue was inspired and derived from characters of his short-lived comic series for a small comic book publishing company Northstar called "Puppy Action!". He later received a phone call from Linda Simensky, the head of Nickelodeon's programming at the time, who had found the first issue of "Puppy Action!" and asked him if he'd be interested in creating a pilot for a potential series. So, he produced the 1992 pilot "Psyched for Snuppa" by Stretch Films and Jumbo Pictures, under the self-proclaimed disliked direction of John R. Dilworth, creator of Cartoon Network's Courage the Cowardly Dog. Although the pilot was passed by Nickelodeon in favor of Trash-O-Madness, the pilot of Rocko's Modern Life, the Nickelodeon team liked Sniz and Fondue so much that they spun the characters into a series of segments for KaBlam!. John R. Dilworth, Jim Jinkins, and David Campbell were only involved in the pilot and had no involvement with the rest of Sniz & Fondue when it became a part of KaBlam! (Jim Jinkins and David Campbell had officially moved their jobs to Disney Enterprises when they purchased Jumbo Pictures). Dilworth was asked by the board to direct the Sniz & Fondue series in New York City, but he declined due to other interests.
Brandon was in charge of writing, storyboarding, character designing, creating the title cards and doing additional voices. The first season oversaw the animation at Israeli animation studio Pitchi Poy Animation Productions, which Brandon despised due to how off-model the characters ended up being. They also mostly used stock music from Associated Production Music. The cue used for the show's title card was "Toys for Boys", composed by Boris Schoska. Eventually for the second and third season, they switched the oversea animation to Funbag Animation Studios in Canada with most of the animation and writing done in New York City, as well as going back to using original music cues with new title cards. Originally, Viacom was considering having the second and third season be animated at Spümcø in California, but Brandon convinced them to have it done closely to his friends and family in New York. One of the show's trademarks is that the characters (mostly Sniz) often sing or quote lyrics from real-life songs such as in the episode, "Stuntbike Sniz", where Sniz said to Fondue the main chorus of the song "You're the Inspiration" as well as the episode "Crustacean Sensations" where Sniz was singing The Bee Gees song "Night Fever" while wandering in the woods.
- Snuppa Doojers — One of Sniz and Fondue's roommates. Like Fondue, he is bald too. Snuppa and his girlfriend Bianca, who share a house with roommates Sniz and Fondue, were later phased out in the third season of KaBLam! (and the second half of the second season of the show(Sniz & Fondue)) as the writers believed that Sniz and Fondue seem to write themselves.
- Bianca Lo Bianca
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See also
- List of programs broadcast by Nickelodeon