# Freaky Stories (1997)

> A Canadian animated anthology in which puppet hosts Larry de Bug and Maurice the maggot tell urban legends from a 1940s-style diner.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/8879

## Facts

- Seasons: 3
- Episodes: 35
- Episode runtime: 30 min
- Status: Ended
- Genres: animation, family
- Created by: Steve Schnier
- Network: YTV, VRAK, Canal Famille
- Cast: Dan Redican, Juan Chioran, James Rankin, Stephanie Morgenstern, Susan Roman, Jayne Eastwood
- TMDB rating: 7.6/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0166432/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: brisk
- Intensity: mild
- Complexity: simple
- Violence: none
- Tone: playful, spooky, whimsical, wry, campy

## What critics say

Remembered as a charming, visually inventive kids' anthology with a distinctive host pairing, though it received limited critical attention.

## Synopsis

Freaky Stories (1997-1999) is a Canadian animated anthology series created by Steve Schnier and originally broadcast on YTV in English and Canal Famille in French. Its frame is Ted's Diner, a 1940s-style roadside restaurant staffed by Rosie the waitress, where two animatronic puppet hosts, Larry de Bug (James Rankin), a cockroach, and his gooey sidekick Maurice the maggot (Dan Redican), introduce each story. The engine of the show is the spooky legend itself: every half-hour episode presents a fresh tale of myth and folklore, the kind told as campfire or bedtime stories, and each one opens and closes with the same ritual line about a friend of a friend. Across three seasons and thirty-five episodes it stays an episodic, self-contained anthology with no continuing plot. Its look changes constantly, with roughly twenty different animation styles and shifting musical scoring in the first season alone, keeping the pace brisk and the attention of young viewers. The tone is playful and creepy rather than frightening, a kids' version of the eerie, wry storytelling of The Twilight Zone and Are You Afraid of the Dark?, with the folklore-driven, host-led charm of Tales from the Crypt in a far gentler key. Fans of family animated anthologies will find its mix of puppet humor and campfire chills familiar and warm.

## Shows like Freaky Stories

- [Eerie, Indiana (1991)](https://ember.film/tv/3846)
- [Theatre of Darkness: Yamishibai (2013)](https://ember.film/tv/50684)
- [Are You Afraid of the Dark? (1992)](https://ember.film/tv/2771)
- [Darknet (2013)](https://ember.film/tv/55952)
- [The Hitchhiker (1983)](https://ember.film/tv/9632)
- [The Kirlian Frequency (2017)](https://ember.film/tv/73750)
- [Fear Itself (2008)](https://ember.film/tv/6648)
- [R. L. Stine's The Haunting Hour (2010)](https://ember.film/tv/31153)
- [50 States of Fright (2020)](https://ember.film/tv/79680)
- [The Storyteller (1988)](https://ember.film/tv/5030)

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