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June 29th, 2001

Smack me with a handle!:

When I groggily sifted through my email today, shortly after waking, I had no idea what I'd discover. Buried in the flood of email from the far-too-many discussion lists I'm currently subscribed to, were two updates from Paul J. Barrie's "Country Bear Playhouse". The first was nothing unusual; just another vague report on the status of the Disneyland attraction. But, the second -- oh, the second! Dig this! The first official press release for "The Country Bears" -- filled with nifty biographical info and new projects! Finally, an official source of Paul Rugg news! Oh, I'm so excited -- I have to catch my breath. Meantime, feast your peepers on:

PAUL RUGG (Screenwriter) is a Peabody and Emmy Award-winning writer, actor and producer. He has also been nominated for five Emmy Awards and a Cable ACE Award.

While performing as one of the founding members of The Acme Players comedy group in Los Angeles, Rugg was spotted by producers at Warner Bros. and asked to join the writing staff for a new show they were developing called "Steven Spielberg Presents Animaniacs." Rugg served as supervising story editor for the initial 65 episodes, in addition to writing some 30 shorts for the Emmy Award winning program.

After "Animaniacs," Rugg was asked to help develop "Steven Spielberg Presents Freakazoid!" as one of the shows producers. He wrote many of the shows including the episode that garnered "Freakazoid!" an Emmy Award in 1997 for Outstanding Animated Program. Spielberg also cast Rugg as the voice of "Freakazoid."

Rugg has written a variety of projects for Spielberg including: the animated feature "Noah’s Blimp, " the CD-ROM "Someone’s In The Kitchen," and was a consultant on the animated series "Steven Spielberg Presents Toonsylvania."

In the live action arena, Rugg produced and starred in the "Manny the Uncanny" segments for ABC’s highly successful programming block "One Saturday Morning." Rugg lent his acting talents to two other "One Saturday Morning" segments: "Flindiggery Do" and "The Tube Dwellers." In addition, he is developing an animated series for Dustin Hoffman’s Punch Productions and Walt Disney Television Animation.

As a voice over actor, Rugg has appeared regularly on such hit series as "Steven Spielberg Presents Animaniacs," "Pinky and the Brain," "Histeria," "Steven Spielberg Presents Toonsylvania," and "Buzz Lightyear of Star Command."

Rugg is a graduate of Loyola Marymount University and currently resides in the San Fernando Valley with his wife and young daughter. He is currently at work penning the next big screen adventure for "The Country Bears."

Conseqently:

I've updated "Paul Rugg's Writing Credits!" to reflect the new information, though I'll likely refine the changes a bit more later.

And also:

Uploaded several semi-significant changes/additions I'd been working on. Nothing mind-blowingly amazing, but I think I'll still hold off on announcing the details 'till after the above's had the spotlight a while.

June 2nd, 2001

Posted:

A wave (44k) from today's "What's That Sound?". Can anyone tell me anything about this segment (besides that the Tube Dwellers star)? Specifically, is it a new series, or was it an early OSM short? Either way, it seems an odd little anomaly -- the only trace of OSM proper beyond the shared logo and a variation of its theme song. Catch it yourself roughly halfway through "The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh" (c. 11:15 AM, PST).

May 21st, 2001

Amusementpark.com:

Ran an article today by Jim Hill (of LaughingPlace.com) which confirmed Paul's writing credit for the "Country Bears" movie. Here's an excerpt:

[Peter] Hasting's obviously hasn't forgotten his WB animation roots either. For one of the very first thing Peter did when he got the "Country Bears" gig was to hire veteran "Animaniacs" writer Paul Rugg to do a quick punch-up of the project's script. Rugg (best known to Disney fans from his appearance on "One Saturday Morning" as the unforgettable "Manny the Uncanny," better known to WB fans as the voice of the late, great "Freakazoid") is rumored to have added a lot of his trademark subversive humor to the screenplay.

May 1st, 2001

Transferred:

All my "Go.com" waves to another server; they should work now.

And uploaded:

The following batch of updates, as my webhost's FTP server only just went back up:

April 28th, 2001

Added:

S'many "Buzz" waves, I had to give them their own page! They're an interesting set, too -- not your average stuff. I'm honestly not sure I'd have caught Paul as the Brain Pod if it hadn't been credited to him in the end credits.

Also added:

A few "Buzz" credits to the Character List.

And altered:

All my "Deja" links. They now point to "Google Groups", which brought Deja's archives back online just yesterday.

March 14th, 2001

Posted:

A new Cosmo wave from today's "Buzz" (November's "The Starthought"). Check it out here.

Fixed:

Broken links to the "Head Case" waves. Sorry 'bout that...

March 11th, 2001

Ed the Courier:

Made three appearances in Thursday's "Buzz" (November's "Head Case"). Listen to them here, here, and... oh, right about here.

Also:

According to TV Tome's episode guide, Cosmo makes an appearance in "Dirty Work", today's "Buzz" and one of only two I can recall missing since January 29th, when I began this quest (last Saturday's "Star Smasher" being the other).

February 26th, 2001

Began:

To wonder if Paul's scene was cut from "The Slayer"...

In any case:

Paul was credited with three characters in today's episode (November's "The Shape Stealer") -- Ed, Brain Pod, and Bystander. Unfortunately, I missed everything but the credits. Darn the luck!

February 25th, 2001

Three weeks later...:

Well, it's taken 21 episodes (I missed yesterday's), but I've found another "Buzz Lightyear" character credited to Paul -- namely "Guard" in the Halloween episode "The Slayer". As soon I figure out who this is (my initial skim caught every credited character *but* his), I'll post a clip.

February 6th, 2001

Created:

The Paul Rugg Character Gallery!
...using images capped with my new video capture card over the past month or two.

February 3rd, 2001

Huggbees!:

What are the *odds*? "Rescue Mission" aired today -- my first Saturday trying! Hence, I've...

Confirmed:

Paul's inclusion as not only Cosmo, but also a health inspector, and possibly an (uncredited) alien, as well! Watch this space for clips while I go watch the episode (I set it to tape...).

Back!:

And thanks for waiting ;) I've got Cosmo (57.8 k), Cosmo (59k), the Health Inspector and Cosmo (62k), and a "Cosmo's" patron (36.5k). Enjoy!

February 1st, 2001

Converted:

"Manny Pong" to IE format -- knock yourself out, Microsoftees! Note, however, that Manny's head tends to stick a bit on the return trip...

Confirmed:

The reoccuring character credit for "Buzz Lightyear". Click here for a sample of Ed, the deliveryman, from the October episode "Tag Team".

January 31st, 2001

Addendum:

A December 5th entry in the WBA News section of Ron "Keeper" O'Dell's Cartoon Files confirms Paul's involvement in the "Country Bears" project, listing "The Bears Checkin' Out" as a possible title. It also credits Peter with additional writing and casting for the film.

January 31st, 2001

Rumors and speculation:

Here's an odd bit of news -- an anonymous report to "Gorsh's Critter Country" last November had Paul as the new writer for a live-action/Henson animatronic film based on Disneyland's "Country Bear Jamboree". A bit far-fetched at first look, but considering Paul's ever-more-frequent work for Disney, Peter Hastings's reported involvement as director, and in-house writer Mark Perez's description of the project as a "funny, edgy and different" behind-the-scenes show parody -- well, it's an... interesting possibility.

Also...:

Netscapers with a bit too much free time might try my new "Manny Pong" -- essentially another excercise in DHTML, and still a bit crude. Folks with IE will have to waste their time some other way, however, until I've worked out a conversion.

January 29th, 2001

I'm so excited...:

I can't stop myself from shakin'! Juan F. Lara has reported Paul's involvement in "Buzz Lightyear of Star Command" -- as "Cosmo" in the Saturday-morning episode "Rescue Mission", and as a reoccuring courier character. I've yet to catch these, myself, but you can bet that, when I do, I'll have a clip or two for ya ;)

Oh, and...:

Though I haven't mentioned it here, over the past few weeks I've added more updates than I can list -- feel free to poke around a bit. Among these are the following two "lost updates" which never made it to upload. (That "goody", BTW, is still available here, though it's since been removed from the main page.)

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