The Smurfs (1981 TV series)

The Smurfs
The Smurfs international title card
Genre	Adventure Fantasy Comedy Slapstick
Created by	Pierre "Peyo" Culliford
Directed by	Bob Hathcock (Season 1–2, Season 5) George Gordon (Season 1–4) Rudy Zamora (Season 1–6) Carl Urbano (Season 1–6, Season 8) John Walker (Season 3–4) Oscar Dufau (Season 3–4, Season 9) Alan Zaslove (Season 4–5) Don Lusk (Season 5–6, Season 8–9) Jay Sarbry (Season 6–9) John Kimball (Season 7) Bob Goe (Season 7–8) Paul Sommer (Season 7–9) Gerard Baldwin (Special 2–6) Ray Patterson (Special 7; also supervising director)
Voices of	(See Voices or Characters)
Theme music composer	Mireille Delfosse (Worldwide version) Hoyt Curtin (Season 1–8, U.S. version) Tom Worrall (Season 9, U.S. version)
Opening theme	"The Smurfy Way" (Worldwide) "La La Song" (Season 2 only, U.S.)
Ending theme	"The Smurfy Way" (Instrumental) "La La Song" (Instrumental)
Composer(s)	Hoyt Curtin Clark Gassman (Season 9 only)
Country of origin	United States Belgium
Original language(s)	English
No. of seasons	9
No. of episodes	256 (418 segments)(list of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)	William Hanna Joseph Barbera Freddy Monnickendam (Season 6–7; Special 7)
Producer(s)	Gerard Baldwin (Season 1–3; supervising producer, Season 4–5; Special 2–6) Bob Hathcock (Season 4–6) Don Jurwich (Season 7; Special 7) Walt Kubiak (Season 7) Paul Sabella (Season 8–9) Iwao Takamoto (creative producer, S01–05) Associate producers: Bob Hathcock (Season 3; Special 5) Larry Latham (Special 6) Charles Grosvenor (Season 6)
Editor(s)	Gil Iverson
Running time	22 minutes
Production company(s)	Hanna-Barbera Productions SEPP International S.A. (Season 1–7) Lafig S.A. (Season 8–9)
Distributor	Taft Broadcasting (former) Worldvision Enterprises (former) Turner Entertainment (former) Warner Bros. Television Distribution (current)
Release
Original network	NBC
Audio format	Mono (1981–1984) Stereo (1984–1989)
Original release	September 12, 1981 (1981-09-12) – December 2, 1989 (1989-12-02)
Chronology
Related shows	Les Aventures des Schtroumpfs (1965) The Smurfs and the Magic Flute (1976)
External links
Website

The Smurfs (syndicated as Smurfs' Adventures) is an American-Belgian animated fantasy-comedy television series that aired on NBC from September 12, 1981, to December 2, 1989. Produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions, it is based on the Belgian comic series by the same name, created by Belgian cartoonist Peyo (who also served as story supervisor of this adaptation) and aired for 256 episodes with a total of 418 stories, excluding three cliffhanger episodes and seven specials.

In 1976, Stuart R. Ross, an American media and entertainment entrepreneur who saw the Smurfs while traveling in Belgium, entered into an agreement with Editions Dupuis and Peyo, acquiring North American and other rights to the characters, whose original name was "les Schtroumpfs". Subsequently, Ross launched the Smurfs in the United States in association with a California company, Wallace Berrie and Co., whose figurines, dolls and other Smurf merchandise became a hugely popular success. NBC President Fred Silverman's daughter, Melissa, had a Smurf doll of her own that he had bought for her at a toy shop while they were visiting Aspen, Colorado. Silverman thought that a series based on the Smurfs might make a good addition to his Saturday-morning lineup.

The Saturday morning cartoon The Smurfs, produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions in association with SEPP International S.A. (from 1981 to 1987) and Lafig S.A. (in the years 1988 and 1989), debuted on NBC in 1981. The series became a major success for the network and one of the most successful and longest running Saturday morning cartoons in television history, spawning spin-off television specials on an almost yearly basis. The characters included Papa Smurf, Smurfette, Brainy Smurf, the evil Gargamel, his cat Azrael, and Johan and his friend Peewit. The Smurfs was nominated multiple times for Daytime Emmy Awards, and won Outstanding Children's Entertainment Series in 1982–1983.