The Smurfs (1989 sitcom)

The Smurfs is an American-Belgian animated television sitcom based off the comics by Peyo. The show was produced by Gracie Films, Great American Broadcasting (uncredited, seasons 1-2), Turner Program Services (seasons 3-7) and Warner Bros. Television (season 8-present), with animation produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions (seasons 1-3), Film Roman (seasons 4-27), Warner Bros. Animation (season 28-present) and Sony Pictures Animation (season 28-present). The show premiered December 17, 1989 on TBS. The show's executive producers and original showrunners were Peyo, Matt Groening, Sam Simon and James L. Brooks. By the fifth season, Theirry Culliford took over for his father as one of the executive producers.

Premise
The series consists of the misadventures of the Smurfs in Smurf Village, as well as in its neighbor city Springfield, while trying to outsmart Gargamel. The Smurfs don't take currency like its neighbor city, but their village is a community to them. The Smurfs try to hide themselves from Springfield, thinking that the town would know about their existence and capture them to turn them into gold.

Characters

 * Papa Smurf (voiced by until 1996 and Scott Innes since then) - TBD
 * Smurfette (voiced by until 2006 and April Stewart since then) - TBD
 * Brainy Smurf (voiced by until his retirement and Fred Armisen since then) - TBD
 * Hefty Smurf (voiced by Frank Welker) - TBD
 * Clumsy Smurf (voiced by Bill Callaway) - TBD
 * Jokey Smurf (voiced by  until her death in 2017 and TBD since then) - TBD
 * Baker Smurf (voiced by TBD) - TBD
 * Handy Smurf (voiced by Michael Bell) - TBD
 * Grouchy Smurf (also voiced by Michael Bell) - TBD
 * Vanity Smurf (voiced by TBD) - TBD
 * Farmer Smurf (voiced by TBD) - TBD
 * Nosey Smurf (voiced by TBD) - TBD
 * Natural 'Nat' Smurfling (voiced by Charlie Adler) - TBD
 * Snappy Smurfling (voiced by ) - TBD
 * Slouchy Smurfling (voiced by ) - TBD
 * Sassette Smurfling (voiced by ) - TBD
 * Gargamel Winchell (voiced by Paul Winchell until his departure after the first season and Jim Cummings since then) - TBD
 * Azrael (voiced by Dan Castellaneta) - TBD
 * Marge (voiced by Julie Kavner) - Azrael's mate.
 * Bart (voiced by Nancy Cartwright) - Azrael and Marge's son and Lisa's brother.
 * Lisa (voiced by Yeardley Smith) - Azrael and Marge's daughter and Bart's sister.
 * Stewie (voiced by TBD until 1998 and Seth MacFarlane since 1999)
 * Maggie (voiced by Yeardley Smith, Nancy Cartwright)

Development
Peyo hated the idea of wanting his characters to go into prime-time television. Hanna-Barbera was unsure of what might affect on the comics and their cartoon show, if the effect was very negative. NBC cancelled the Saturday morning cartoon after its changes with a time-travel storyline proved unsuccessful. Peyo despised Groening for making changes to his characters overall, including making an modern take and creating a family for Azrael (when Johan and Peewit were supposed to be the supporting characters). They made the Smurflings more like the Alvin and the Chipmunks of The Smurfs universe. Death was added in the series. Brainy became progressively cynical and smarter as the series progressed. James L. Brooks got rid of elements from the Hanna-Barbera series such as Brainy being thrown out of the village, making Smurfs fall madly in love with Smurfette and wanting to marry her someday, Grouchy saying "I HATE (insert person, place, or any word)", and having cartoonish tears coming out of characters' eyes. With the exceptions of Papa Smurf, Smurfette and Clumsy, all characters took a level in jerkass during its early years. Season 12 had most of the characters reverting to Peyo's original characterizations.

Trivia

 * This is the second TV series based on the comics, the first being the well popular 1980s series.
 * Nearly all of their voice actors and actresses from the Hanna-Barbera cartoon reprise their roles for the sitcom.
 * The art style leftover from the Saturday morning cartoon made by Hanna-Barbera, remained unchanged. Peyo felt uncomfortable to work with Groening, along with his refusal to simulate his art style for the show.
 * Unlike the comics and the previous TV series, this series takes place in the present day.
 * Despite that, all of the Smurfs, Gargamel and Azrael remain in their original wardrobe.
 * Originally, Azrael was supposed to be a normal cat like the comics and the TV series. However, the animators had reworked him to talk and appear as an anthropomorphic cat instead of a normal cat, having a family who was created by Groening, taking inspiration of the Simpson famly, similar characters he created for his animated segments to The Tracey Ullman Show, despite Peyo's disappointing reaction to these changes, and he was redesigned to resemble Homer Simpson also from the animated segments to The Tracey Ullman Show and Peyo was furious of how they "destroyed" Azrael. However, these changes are well-received by various fans.
 * All the Smurfs, with the exception of Papa Smurf, were later given hair and clothing, plus they ditched the white caps in order for a more modern look. But by Season 12, Glenn Leopold became the new showrunner and reverted all the Smurfs back to how they looked in the original Saturday morning cartoon by Hanna-Barbera and Peyo's comics. He even added a wraparound segment series named Johan and Peewit, which would wrap around the main plot.
 * While the Smurfs and Gargamel are the major focus in the series, Azrael and his two kittens are the major focus in the most of the subplots.
 * Despite its success, people who are familiar with the 1980s Hanna-Barbera cartoon are unsatisfied with the quality of the series. Some people also pretended that the series never existed.
 * This series even did fantastic songs written by Earthworm Jim writer Doug Langdale.
 * Pat Ventura and Yvan Delporte worked as storyboard artists for the series.