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Weinerville
Weinervilletitle.jpg
Weinerville title card, as seen on the show's opening sequence.
Genre Variety
Created by Marc Weiner
Presented by Marc Weiner
Starring Ray Abruzzo
Brian Berns
Scott Fellows
David Jordon
Country of origin United States
No. of seasons 2
No. of episodes 68
Production
Production location(s) Nickelodeon Studios Orlando, Florida
Running time 22 minutes per episode
Distributor CBS Television Distribution
Release
Original network Nickelodeon
Picture format 480i (SDTV)
Original release July 11, 1993 (1993-07-11) – 1994 (1994)

Weinerville was an American television program on Nickelodeon that was aired from July 11, 1993 to 1994. The show was based around a giant puppet stage that was designed to look like a city called Weinerville. The show was created and hosted by Marc Weiner.

Overview

Nickelodeon Weinerville was filmed at Nickelodeon Studios in Universal Studios Orlando Florida, it was an audience participation comedy show focused on Weiner and his puppets and about them making a show. The first few episodes did not have much of a plot or story line. During the rest of the first season, the show broke out story lines and plots, especially in the second season. Weinerville also had three television specials.

Following the first segment and a prelude to "Playland," the viewers would watch cartoons that are reruns of Mr. Magoo, Honey Halfwitch, The Alvin Show, Gerald McBoing-Boing and Batfink.

Characters

Human characters

  • Marc Weiner - The host of Weinerville who is always forced to solve most of Dottie's or the town's problems. In season one, Marc wears an unbuttoned Weinerville baseball jersey with a green undershirt. In season two, the color of his undershirt changes.
  • Kevin Elemeno P. (pronounced: "L-M-N-O-P") - The "Network Executive" character, played by Orlando local child actor Travis Robertson (played young Kevin O'Shea in the movie Little Giants), is a pun on the name of the real executive producer of the program, current MTV Networks executive Kevin Kay. Made three appearances (only in season 2).

Puppets

The puppets below feature Weiner's head and a puppet body where their parts have been pre-taped so that Weiner can interact with them:

  • Dottie - The Mayor of Weinerville. Marc is usually forced to solve Dottie's problems and tends to get carried away with things if they don't get out of control. She has a sidekick/assistant named Zip. Dottie always quotes "Oh well, Welcome to Weinerville" at the end of the cold opening.
  • Baby Jeffrey - The puppet nephew of Marc. He would usually introduce Marc at the beginning of each episode and always makes a mess.
  • Big Pops - The owner of the diner. Big Pops usually does a lot with his nose, either picking it or playing the kazoo. On some occasions, Big Pops only appeared in Season One.
  • Schnitzel - Marc's sassy parrot sidekick. He only appeared in Season One, he was played by Marc, but there would be an actor playing him when Marc was in front of the audience.
  • Commander Ozone - A space captain that runs the AV-1 Spaceship. He defends evil and saves the universe with his sidekick Wilson. In Season 1, he was renamed to "Captain Ozone."
  • Eric Von Firstensecond - Commander Ozone's evil enemy. He always tries to figure out an evil scheme to take over Weinerville or to marry Dottie. Eric only appeared in Season 2.
  • Cocktail Frank - The bandleader and guitar player of the house band of the show "Cocktail Frank And His Weenies." Frank is the lead singer/guitarist where his puppet band consisted of Posse on piano/turntables, Antoinette on drums, an unnamed bass guitarist, and an unnamed saxophone player.
  • Joey Deluxe - The big shot manager and super entertainment agent.
  • Soup Tureen - The host of That's not Fair who only appeared in Season 2.

The ones listed below are puppet characters:

  • Zip (performed by Scott Fellows) - Dottie's helper who always gets himself into trouble, makes his famous trademark scream and crashes into the wall. In "DTV," it is revealed that Zip is good friends with Boney.
  • Boney (performed by Marc Weiner) - An obvious parody of Barney, he is a dinosaur skeleton in sneakers that lives in the jungles of Weinerville. Boney is beloved by children, but hates them himself. The "theme song" at the end of his show consisted of said puppet singing "Now get outta here! I'm Boney, I'm Boney, leave me aloney!" When Boney quotes "Now get outta here," the children and anyone else visiting him that are present leave his cave. For Season 2, Boney's puppet was rebuilt which that version also being used for the specials. In the "Chanukah Special," it is revealed that Boney loves to eat potato pancakes. He was also shown to have been attracted by the Weinerville Ski Lodge's new housekeeper Miss Kabobble (who dislikes it when someone gets snow on the floor and she ends up vacuuming it). According to the 1995 summer issue of Nickelodeon Magazine, Boney is Weiner's favorite puppet.
  • Pops (performed by Ray Abruzzo) - Known in season one as "Little Pops". He is the local chef who works with Big Pops. He sometimes starts arguing with Louie, but they tend to get along.
  • Louie (performed by Scott Fellows) - The local laundromat owner who always argues with Pops, but they tend to get along.
  • Socko (performed by Marc Weiner) - An inverted hand puppet who performed with his own props and made sarcastic gestures when things did not go right.
  • Wilson - The sidekick of Commander Ozone. In Season One, he had a squeaky voice like Zip. In Season Two, he sounds like Scotty of Star Trek fame.
  • Professor Phosphate (performed by Scott Fellows and David Jordan) - A puppet scientist with green hair who can only be seen from the waist up who debuted in Season 2. Professor Phosphate is the owner of Weinerville Labs and often causes explosions with some inventions that don't work well. Despite this, he often solves the problems.
  • Fufusky - A grub-like alien who is Eric von Firstensecond's alien sidekick. He stuns people using his breathe ray (silly string).
  • Berny - He is responsible for bringing out the Weinerizer being pulled by his tractor.

Other sketches

The show also featured several non-puppet characters played by Weiner himself:

  • Captain Bob - Captain Bob is a sea captain in yellow rain gear that constantly cracks puns. He owns the S.S. Bob at Port Weinerville (which is located near the building where Cocktail Frank and His Wienies are located). On many shows, an audience member would be invited to climb aboard where an offscreen person would fling water on him before the "tidal wave" (a bucket of water, or, in some cases, slime, thrown by a stage hand) soaked the participant. Captain Bob first appeared on Saturday Night Live when Weiner was a writer in the early 1980s. In scenes in which Marc Weiner interacts with Captain Bob, an actor seen from behind would portray Captain Bob with Weiner dubbing his voice in during post-production.
  • The Weinerville General Store - Members of the audience were also called down to participate in various activities during the main part of the show, such as helping to demonstrate items in the Weinerville General Store. A recurring joke on the show took place in the General Store in which Weiner would sell comedic props similar to those of Carrot Top. Nearly everything in the store sold for $13.50. It only appeared in Season One.
  • Running Joke - Occasionally, the "$13.50" gag was used in other segments. For example: on the "Talent Show" episode the winners won with 1,350 points. On the "DTV" episode, DTV was on channel 1350. On the General Store and Captain Bob skits, that would be the price when Marc would hand the participant anything.
  • That's Not Fair! - A game show where a kid and an adult played for points answering questions. Usually the kids win. It was only featured in Season 2. According to an interview with Marc Weiner, "That's Not Fair" was a pilot he made for Comedy Central in 1991, after it was tested, the network said it was appropriate for children, so Nickelodeon got a hold of it and the pilot became "Weinerville".
  • Playland - In the prelude to this sketch, Weiner would call upon two audience members to come forth to be placed in the Weinerizer so that they can be sent to Playland. In Season Two, an alarm would go off to let Weiner know that it is almost time for Playland. These participants then competed in one of various games in Playland that tested the skill of operating their puppet bodies. The runner-up received the "Silver Hot Dog", with the winner receiving the "Golden Hot Dog" as well as the "Special Topping" (a small amount of green slime dumped onto the player's head). If a malfunction occurred or both players tied they both get the "Golden Hot Dog". Occasionally, both players received the Special Topping, especially when both players were adults, and if the game involved pies, both contestants would be hit with pies themselves instead of anyone getting the Special Topping (however, the special topping was awarded for pie games in season 2). The Playland stage was enlarged and revamped the second season to incorporate more elaborate stunts; these frequently had the contestants facing each other and squirting water or whipped cream at some target, usually soaking the other contestant in the process. Some season 2 stunts were team stunts where each player had a non-Weinerized teammate. Season one was a carnival-style. In the second season, it was a radio-active style.
  • Weinerizer — The show always ended with Weiner choosing two people from the audience to get "Weinerized" (turned into puppets). The participants entered a contraption called the Weinerizer upon being helped by two crew members. The Weinerizer appeared to then shrink them to the puppet size (it did so by having the contestants place their heads into a hole above a miniature puppet body). Although the audience members were ostensibly chosen at random, Matt Day (who at the time was working on another Nickelodeon show Clarissa Explains It All) revealed that participants were sometimes selected beforehand. Including him, he was on the “Baseball” Episode in Playland. They would compete in a game and the winner would receive "The Golden Hot Dog", as well as a dose of green slime. During the credits, the two people would be seen being let out of the Weinerizer.

Episodes

All episodes aired out of sequence in no particular order. The show had a total of 68 episodes by February 1994, and the last episode was the 1000th television episode broadcast in Nickelodeon's history. The production schedule for the second season was November 29, 1993 to February 14, 1994.

Season Episodes Originally aired
First aired Last aired
1 28 TBA TBA
2 40 TBA TBA
3 5 December 31, 1993 (1993-12-31) February 17, 1996 (1996-02-17)

Season 1 (1993)

No.
overall
No. in
season
Title Cartoons
1 1 "Marc's Mother Visits" Gerald McBoing-Boing's Symphony (1953), Stage Door Magoo (1955) and A Leak in the Dike (1965)
Marc learns from Mayor Dottie that his mother is coming, which explains why most of its inhabitants don't want to be around when she arrives.
2 2 "Tooth Hurty" Magoo's Young Manhood (1958) and Christopher Crumpet (1953)
Marc teaches the importance of taking care of your teeth. Marc shows us we can recycle gum after we chewed it with the "Gum Again Machine" and shows us interesting chewed gum art work.
3 3 "Humidity" Magoo's Express (1955) and Forget-Me-Nuts (1967)
A huge heat wave hits Weinerville as everyone tries to stay cool.
4 4 "Cleaning Day" Magoo's Cruise (1958) and Baggin' the Dragon (1966)
While cleaning up Schnitzel's poop, Marc is called by Mayor Dottie to help get Zip out of the vacuum cleaner.
5 5 "Zip in Space" The Dog Snatcher (1952) and A Wedding Knight (1966)
Zip plays on a toy rocket ship and is accidentally launched into outer space. Marc and Mayor Dottie enlist Captain Ozone to help rescue Zip.
6 6 "Missing Cartoon" Punchy de Leon (1950), Ragtime Bear (1949) and Potions and Notions (1966)
Mayor Dottie enlists a detective named Nick Tracy to find the missing cartoons.
7 7 "Giant Spider" The Miner's Daughter (1950) and Alter Egotist (1967)
A giant spider has caught Zip.
8 8 "Haunted" The Story of George Washington (1965) and Bwana Magoo (1959)
Marc learns from Mayor Dottie that ghosts have been haunting Weinerville.
9 9 "Fitness" How Now Boing Boing (1954) and Christopher Crumpet's Playmate (1955)
After Marc overeats and becomes fat, Dottie puts him on a vigorous exercise program.
10 10 "Football" Magoo's Canine Mutiny (1956) and A Wedding Knight (1966)
Marc starts a football team as Big Pops, Mayor Dottie, and Socko want to be on it as the quarterback.
11 11 "Zip Stuck in VCR" Giddyap (1950) and Keep the Cool, Baby (1967)
Zip gets stuck in the VCR as Mayor Dottie works to get him out.
12 12 "Magic" Matador Magoo (1957) and Throne for a Loss (1966)
Mayor Dottie has a magic kit and she has to use instructions. She zapped Zip too many times, but she can't stop waving with her wand.
13 13 "Bubblegum" Rock-Hound Magoo (1957) and Boy Pest with Osh (1963)
Upon seeing Mayor Dottie's bubblegum-blowing trophies, Zip starts blowing bubblegum and starts getting trapped.
14 14 "Talent Show" Merry Minstrel Magoo (1959) and High But Not Dry (1967)
Weinerville is holding a talent show where Big Pops plays the kazoo with his nose, Marc juggles, and Dottie does a mime act. However, Captain Bob's drums and hula girl wins!
15 15 "Dottie's Birthday" Scoutmaster Magoo (1958) and The Magic Fluke (1949)
It's Mayor Dottie's birthday as Marc tries to find her a good birthday present.
16 16 "Spaghetti" Mouse Trek (1967), Magoo Saves the Bank (1957) and My Daddy the Astronaut (1967)
Big Pops makes his special spaghetti and meatballs which everyone wants to try as he demonstrates how he makes it.
17 17 "Bake Off" Madcap Magoo (1955), My Daddy the Astronaut (1967) and Think or Sink (1967)
The citizens of Weinerville are baking cakes in order to raise money for the Old Puppets Home.
18 18 "Balloon Zip" Magoo's Homecoming (1959), A Balmy Knight (1966) and The Stuck-Up Wolf (1967)
Mayor Dottie gets some balloons from Nick Tracy (who was last seen in "Missing Cartoons"). When Zip asks Mayor Dottie for a balloon, he gets stuck on one of them. Meanwhile, Pops and Louie have an argument on who has been belching smoke near their buildings.
19 19 "Baseball" Magoo's Masquerade (1957) and The Blacksheep Blacksmith (1967)
Zip takes an interest in joining Weinerville's baseball team, while practicing his batting. Marc has been getting tired of Schnitzel's jokes that he tells the audience to test there hand eye coordination by focusing on throwing baseballs at a target, like Schnitzel!
20 20 "Budget Cutbacks" Gerald McBoing-Boing (1950), Pink and Blue Blues (1952) and The Opera Caper (1967)
Mayor Dottie gets a call from the Head of the Network that there is going to be some budget cutbacks.
21 21 "Popcorn" Magoo's Lodge Brother (1959) and Trash Program (1963)
Zip cooks up some popcorn. However, he uses way too much and the whole Puppet City is covered in popcorn.
22 22 "Recycling" Magoo Goes Skiing (1954), Calling Doctor Magoo (1956) and The Itch (1965)
Everyone in Weinerville does their part in recycling.
23 23 "Snow Day" Magoo Slept Here (1953) and The Fuz (1967)
It's snowing in Puppet City, Little Pops shovels all his snow to Louie's door, closing him in.
24 24 "Train Ride" Ballet-Oop (1954) and Frog's Legs (1962)
Zip rides a train in Dottie's office, but it goes out of control and Zip goes crashing through the wall. Marc has his own train with a couple children from the audience, and tells them to smile and wave and makes a ratings joke.
25 25 "Zip's Family Treasure" Sloppy Jalopy (1952) and Bringing Up Mother (1954)
Dottie puts together a séance to connect with the spirit of Zip's great grandfather to find out where his family treasure is buried. Things however keep on interrupting her.
26 26 "Ziggy Zag Concert" How Now Boing Boing (1954) and From Nags to Witches (1966)
The Ziggy Zag Concert is occurring in Weinerville.
27 27 "Camp Idontwanna" When Magoo Flew (1954) and Clean Sweep (1967)
Baby Jeffrey, Marc's nephew, is going to camp. Dottie was nice and packed for him. Due to rules, Dottie packed too many suitcases and has to repack!
28 28 "Auxiliary Satellite System" Georgie and the Dragon (1951) and A Leak in the Dike (1965)
Dottie can't watch TV, her auxiliary satellite is on the fritz. So she calls for Captain Ozone to try and fix it. Then Boney tells us about "Jack and the bean stock", "Humpty Dumpty", and "Little Red Riding Hood". Dottie finally ends up having Zip be her satellite because his legs pick up great reception.

Season 2 (1994)

No.
overall
No. in
season
Title Cartoons
29 1 "Ratville" TBA
Professor Phosphate's rats escape from his lab and are all over Weinerville.
30 2 "Viva Las Weinerville" Crashcup Invents Baseball (1961) and The Dirty Sinker (1967)
Dottie rerturns from her Las Vegas vacation and decides to add lots of neon signs all over Weinerville.
31 3 "Dottie's Replacement" TBA
Dottie feels burned out and leaves for vacation, leaving Marc to audition people to be acting mayor.
32 Weinerville For Sale Donald Rump (parody of Donald Trump) is trying to buy out Weinerville to make room for a burger joints and casino. Dottie and Marc do their best with not letting this happen, or Marc will be replaced by a guy named Bob Burger.
33 Eric Von Firstenseconds' Spell Eric Von Firstensecond is plotting to take over Weinerville by taking over the citizen's minds! All but Marc and Commander Ozone are unaffected because then the show wouldn't have an ending.
34 60 Seconds News Episode has not surfaced yet.
35 Fire Safety Marc and the Weinerville characters teach us how dangerous fire is and how to prevent fires from starting.
36 Magic Lamp Invents the West & (unknown Alvin Show segment)
37 The Puppet's Court Pop's and Louie's arguments have got out of control until finally Marc has an idea to settle their latest dispute in the puppet's court with Dottie being the judge, the case was if Pops burnt Louie's lunch, but she find's both guilty of being "pains in the butt".
38 Broken Weinerizer The Weinerizer is broken. Marc, being a proud "do-it-yourself" guy, offers his best to fix it. He eventually does in the last minute. Zip was helping him and he gets stuck until the end of the show where he grows into human size then falls out the side of the machine.
39 Network Censors Episode has not surfaced as of yet.
40 Louie Becomes a Citizen Louie, after waiting many years for his papers gets to become a citizen of Weinerville! So the gang throws him a party!
41 Louie's Crush Louie has a crush on Dottie! Alvin's Cruise (1962) & Magoo's Glorious Fourth (1957)
42 Dottie's Cousin Dottie goes on vacation and has her cousin fill in for her who happens to boss around the Weinerville gang like a drill sergeant.
43 Brain Switch Dottie and Commander Ozone switch bodies in a Freaky Friday sort of way!
44 Parallel Universe Commander Ozone and Wilson are entering coordinates to visit Weinerville. However, Wilson let his hair grow little to big that he reads the coordinates backwards. They enter a parallel Weinerville, a world just like Weinerville but backwards, even roles are reversed like Zip being the Mayor of Weinerville. Professor Phosphate works to bring them home.
45 Boney's Spell Professor Phosphate's invention goes wrong and it releases a toxic gas that makes everyone in Puppet City act like Boney.
46 The Time-Slot War Dottie got wind of the network wanting a show to air before "Weinerville". but news travels fast that everyone in Puppet City has a show idea, things get out of hand.
47 Dottie's High School Reunion Dottie has been invited to her high school reunion. Not particularly excited, she invites Socko as her date and makes a great impression.
48 Loca Cola Dottie is addicted to the "Loca Cola" soda and learns a lesson on when to say "no".
49 Weinervilla Weinerville is being sued by a Spanish show called "Weinervilla" claiming "Weinerville" stole their idea. Ostrich (1961) & Mexico-the Brave Chipmunks (1961)
50 Ego Crazy Everybody in Weinerville has there ego's out of control, even Boney is threatening to quit unless he gets "Barney" money. So Marc calls upon Kevin Elemeno P. to come and be the voice of reason. However, Kevin runs the Weinerizer and Playland and his ego gets out of control. Polly Wolly Doodle (1961) & Theodore's Dog (1961)
51 Marc's Errands Marc has so much to do, that he is not around for the first half of the show. Kevin Elemeno P.'s mom helps run a Socko skit with Kevin comes out stopping the sketch. Marc eventually comes back and keeps Kevin from shutting the production down.
52 Variety Show or Sitcom Dottie and Marc disagree on what the show is, but finally come to an agreement after turning the show into a sitcom (I Love Lucy parody, with Marc playing the husband). Then the second half was a variety show with dancers, and even a song "Welcome to Weinerville"
53 DTV Mayor Dottie abandons her role as the Mayor of Weinerville and starts her own public access fly-by-night cable network. On one of her projects, she interviews Melissa Joan Hart and the cast of Clarissa Explains It All. While Strolling in the Park (1961) & This is Your Life, Clyde Crashcup! (1961)
54 Socko Framed Episode has not surfaced yet.
55 Royal Dottie Episode has not surfaced yet.
56 Zip Runs Away Zip feels unappreciated and he runs away where he goes to live with Captain Ozone. Luckily in a Wizard of Oz-type of way, Zip encounters a "fairy godmother" who looks exactly like Louie and explains how he is important. Zip makes it back home by wishing, "There's no place Like Weinerville" with Zip's hot Cocoa too!
57 Dottie's Dating Game Dottie gets a love letter from an old flame that lives in Alaska. She leaves over night, not knowing that Marc planned a Dating Game for Dottie (The Dating Game Parody, none of the three bachelor's can not see Dottie. The bachelors are played by Ray Abruzzo as a hunky bad boy, Scott Fellows as a nice clean cut guy, and Brian Berns as a filthy slob). With Dottie being gone, Marc provides the voice for her. Meanwhile, Dottie learning that the flame of hers is seeing someone else, she storms back home. However, she isn't back before she is supposed to choose who she wants to date, so Marc chooses the nice guy. Dottie comes back and chooses the good-looking bad boy.
58 Weinerville: The Movie Marc is directing and working on casting for a motion picture based on Weinerville which actors and actresses try out for their roles.
59 Marc's Lost Memory Marc hits his head and loses his memory after Mayor Dottie tells him that the head of the network Clara Cloud is coming. Now Mayor Dottie, Zip, Pops, Louie, Socko, and Professor Phosphate must find a way to restore Marc's memory.
60 Back to the Past from a Look into the Future Professor Phosphate creates a device that can look through the future and the past.
61 Pollution Eric von Firstensecond uses Weinerville as his landfill area. While Marc works on a way to clean up the mess, Zip becomes Eco Man to combat Eric von Firstensecond. Polly Wolly Doodle (1961) & Theodore's Dog (1961)
62 XR-3 Space Shuttle Game Dottie invents a new video game that becomes a success. The evil Eric von Firstensecond sees how much money she made. He wants to marry her and she says no. So he takes matters into his own hands. Marc, Socko, Captain Ozonem and even Wilson get kidnapped and trapped from Fufusky's evil poison string (Silly String). Luckily, Captain Ozone has a harmonica he was playing in jail, that also transmits to Professor Phosphate. Professor Phosphate works out a devise in Playland to free Marc and the crew. Boney runs the Weinerizer and Playland. Finally, Firstensecond is trapped in the video game getting smacked with meteors by Socko who enjoys playing the video game.
63
64
65
66
67
68

Specials

Title Guest appearances Original air date
"Nick New Year's Eve" TBA December 31, 1993
Marc and his Weinerville characters host the best Nickelodeon shows and Nicktoons of 1993.
"The Weinerville New Year's Special: Lost in the Big Apple" Mike Maronna, Mellissa Joan Hart, Paul Shaffer, Marc Summers December 31, 1994
When Marc and the Weinerville gang head to New York City for New Year's, Dottie informs them that they have to join Cocktail Frank and His Weenies to perform at Nick's New Year's Eve party.
"Nick New Year's '95" Danny Tamberelli and Melissa Joan Hart December 31, 1994
Marc and his Weinerville characters host the best Nickelodeon shows and Nicktoons of 1994 in Times Square.
"The Weinerville Chanukah Special" Joanne Blum as Nivek, Michael Gunst as Sinrek, Brian O'Connor as Antidorkus, Diesel, Denny Dillon, Laura Kightlinger, Buster Poindexter, and Marc Summers December 14, 1995
The Weinerville inhabitants are celebrating Chanukah at the Weinerville Ski Lodge as Marc is on his way there with his family and friends. Two potato pancake-looking Sectos named Nivek and Sinrek are pursued by the evil alien king Antidorkus of the Kerg Empire and crash-land at the Weinerville Ski Lodge where they receive the help of Boney, Socko, and Fluffy the Dog.
"The Weinerville Election Special: From Washington B.C." Philip Mansfield as Hugh J. Magnate, Joe O'Connor as Knuckles, and Preslaysa Edwards as Liberty Brown February 17, 1996
The Boney runs for President of the United States, and the Weinerville gang helps him with his campaign. However, the other candidate Hugh J. Magnate is not pleased and is working on an evil scheme to sabotage Boney along with his henchman "Knuckles". With the help of Boney's campaign manager Liberty Brown, they will expose Hugh for his evil plan to turn all the nation's parks into parking lots.

Guest stars

(not all interviews were shown, Sean O'Neal and Jason Zimbler were just quickly glimpsed)

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