# Cow and Chicken (1997)

> A surreal animated comedy following a cow and her chicken brother who keep getting conned by a shapeshifting villain called the Red Guy.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/3435

## Facts

- Seasons: 4
- Episodes: 156
- Episode runtime: 6 min
- Status: Ended
- Genres: animation, comedy
- Created by: David Feiss
- Network: Cartoon Network
- Cast: Charlie Adler, Candi Milo, Dee Bradley Baker, Michael Dorn, Stuart Pankin, Glenn Shadix, Robert Ridgely, Jess Harnell
- TMDB rating: 6.5/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118289/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: brisk
- Intensity: moderate
- Complexity: simple
- Violence: mild
- Tone: surreal, playful, mischievous, absurd, irreverent

## What critics say

Audiences regard the surreal absurdist shorts as a quirky cult cartoon, with a mixed overall reception and a standout final season.

## Synopsis

Cow and Chicken (1997-1999) is an American animated comedy series created by David Feiss for Cartoon Network. Its protagonists are Cow and her chicken brother Chicken, two siblings whose everyday life is constantly disrupted by The Red Guy, a shapeshifting villain who poses as countless characters to scam them. Charlie Adler voices Cow, Chicken, and the Red Guy himself, while Candi Milo plays their Mom and Dee Bradley Baker voices Dad, giving the family its warm, chaotic core. The engine of each short episode is simple: a new disguise, a new con, and a new absurd escalation that pushes the premise into strange, dreamlike territory. The series runs across four seasons of roughly six-minute segments, making it a compact, episodic show rather than a continuing story. Its tone is surreal, playful, and mischievous, with a sibling bond that gives the chaos a sense of affection. Fans of The Ren & Stimpy Show, Dexter's Laboratory, and Courage the Cowardly Dog will find similar anarchic cartoon energy here, with a kids-friendly surrealism that also rewards adult viewers.

## Shows like Cow and Chicken

- [Freakazoid! (1995)](https://ember.film/tv/4119)
- [The Amazing World of Gumball (2011)](https://ember.film/tv/34584)
- [The Ren & Stimpy Show (1991)](https://ember.film/tv/474)
- [Dexter's Laboratory (1996)](https://ember.film/tv/4018)
- [Mad Jack the Pirate (1998)](https://ember.film/tv/15748)
- [Duck Dodgers (2003)](https://ember.film/tv/199)
- [The Wonderfully Weird World of Gumball (2025)](https://ember.film/tv/197244)
- [Johnny Bravo (1997)](https://ember.film/tv/2285)
- [Camp Lazlo (2005)](https://ember.film/tv/526)
- [Animaniacs (2020)](https://ember.film/tv/89480)

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