W. Watts Biggers

W. Watts Biggers (born 2 June 1927, Avondale Estates, Georgia) is an American novelist and co-creator of the "Underdog" TV series. His work sometimes appears under the name Buck Biggers.

Born in Avondale Estates, Georgia, Biggers went to Avondale High where he was member of a debating team which won the state championship. Skipping his senior year of high school, he edited the school newspaper at North Georgia Military College and went on to Emory University Law School. At age 20, he headed for New York City where he struggled unsuccessfully as a pianist and vocalist, singing his own original songs. At the advertising agency Dancer Fitzgerald Sample, he began as a mailroom trainee and rose to the position of VP Account Supervisor on General Mills and Corn Products/Best Foods accounts, handling millions in billing.

Animation

At Dancer Fitzgerald Sample in 1960, Biggers teamed with Chester Stover, Treadwell D. Covington and artist Joseph Harris to create TV animation in formats devised to sell General Mills breakfast cereals. Leaving Dancer Fitzgerald Sample, Biggers relocated to Cape Cod to form his company, Total TeleVision (TTV), with animation produced at Gamma Studios in Mexico. TTV created and produced a variety of animated TV series, including "King Leonardo and his Short Subjects", "The Hunter", "Tooter Turtle", "Tennessee Tuxedo and his Tales", "Go Go Gophers", "The World of Commander McBragg", "Klondike Kat" and "Underdog". For these series, Biggers co-wrote more than 500 scripts and composed all theme songs, words and music. The highly successful "Underdog" originally was telecast on NBC from 1964 to 1966, followed by a run on CBS (1966-68) and a return to NBC (1968-70 and 1972-73).Total TeleVision folded when General Mills dropped out as the sponsor in 1969. Biggers moved back to New York as VP Promotion and Creative Services for NBC, heading a 90-person department for five years. He returned to Cape Cod for a 12-year career as a freelance writer, contributing to "TV Guide", "Family Circle" and "Reader's Digest". Biggers and Stover collaborated on the television news column, "TV Tinderbox", which ran in 200 newspapers, syndicated by the Chicago Tribune-New York Daily News and later by Dallas' Tel-Aire Syndicate and King Features.

In 1995, Biggers, Stover, Covington and Harris sold their creations to Lorne Michaels, who sold the rights to Little Golden Books, which published "Underdog and the Disappearing Ice Cream". For BearManor Media, Biggers co-authored "How Underdog Was Born" (2005). [http://bearmanormedia.bizland.com/id62.html Biggers, Buck and Chet Stover. "How Underdog Was Born". Albany, Georgia: BearManor Media, 2006. The creators of Total TeleVision and "Underdog" tell how it all began. ISBN 1-59393-025-9] ]

Novels

In 1968, Ballantine Books published Biggers' "The Man Inside" as an original paperback. At the time, because of the author's name and the tale of a quest for higher consciousness, some readers believed the novel had been written under a pseudonym by Alan Watts. Along with a description of the characters, the story was only briefly described on the back cover as "Strange, hallucinatory, following its own inner logic down unexpected paths, "The Man Inside" is a novel of startling originality, a journey towards wisdom--like Hermann Hesse's "Steppenwolf"--that culminates in revelation." However, the opening page blurb elaborated;:"The Man Inside" is a novel of startling originality. It could be read as a parody of the Horatio Alger story--the orphan boy whose struggles lead him down and down until success comes at the bottom. Or a Kafkaesque pursuit of Purpose. the ceaseless quest for the meaning of life--always baffled by the cruel traps of mankind. Or a journey toward wisdom--in the manner of Hermann Hesse--that culminates oddly: "satori" achieved inside a robot. But such suggestions can give only a faint indication of the strange and haunting powers of "The Man Inside". The rest the reader must discover for himself. In 1999, it was reissued by Bamberger Books as a hardcover. [ [http://www.amazon.ca/dp/0917453379 Biggers, W. Watts. "The Man Inside". New York: Ballantine Books, 1968. Bamberger Books, March 1999. ISBN 0917453379] ] It was optioned as a feature film by One Brick Films. His novel "Hold Back the Tide" concerns a lovelorn police chief who wants a hypnotist to eliminate his obsessions so he can continue solving crimes. It was published February, 2001, as a 1st Books Library ebook.

Victory Over Violence

Biggers is vice-president and co-founder of the Boston-based Victory Over Violence "dedicated to creating a positive force in the media to offset the cynicism and negativity, which create a climate of violence," and has used Underdog to promote the organization.

Biggers created a new episode of "Underdog" in 1999 as a half-hour radio show, narrated by Tom Ellis. In it, Simon Bar Sinister develops a Switchpitch baseball to turn positive people negative. His attempt to become king of Boston is foiled by Underdog and Sweet Polly Purebred. [Driscoll, Kathi Scrizzi. "There's no need to fear... Positivity is here," "Cape Cod Times", October 25, 1999.]

References

External links

* [http://www.capecodonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070804/LIFE/708040301 Biggers on the 2007 "Underdog" movie]
* [http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2003/10/26/people_people_who_push_people/ "Boston Globe": Positive People Day]
* [http://www.harrisliterary.com/biggers.html Harris Literary Agency Biggers profile]
* [http://members.forbes.com/forbes/2007/0813/046.html "Have No Fear" by Evan Hessel, "Forbes", August 13, 2007]
* [http://www.victoryoverviolence.org/pages/634384/index.htm Victory Over Violence]
* [http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoID=1385262271 Trailer for "Man Inside"]
* [http://www.melaman2.com/cartoons/singles/mp3/underdog.mp3 "Underdog" theme]