Freaky Stories

Freaky Stories is a Canadian animated anthology television series, which was originally broadcast by YTV in English and Canal Famille (now VRAK.TV) in French (5-minute versions using the French title Frissons). It is an animated show about urban legends hosted by two animatronic puppets, Larry de Bug, a cockroach, (voiced by James Rankin) and his gooey sidekick, Maurice the maggot (voiced by Dan Redican) in Ted's Diner - a 1940s era diner setting staffed by Rosie the waitress (voiced by Jayne Eastwood, but never seen - Season One only). It was often part of The Three Friends and Jerry when it aired on Fox Family. This series, described as "a Twilight Zone for kids," centers on the kind of myths and legends that are told as scary campfire or bedtime stories. Every episode always starts with and finishes with the phrase: "This is a true story, and it happened to a friend of a friend of mine." and by the words of Larry, "Just because they never happened, doesn't mean they ain't true." Animation styles and musical scoring varied within each half-hour episode, incorporating 20 different looks in the first season alone. The short stories and changing styles were specifically designed to keep viewers' attention span. Series creator Steve Schnier successfully pitched his concept of modern urban legends to YTV in 1991. In 1994, Steve teamed with executive producer John Delmage. The resulting Freaky Stories pilot premiered during YTV's "Dark Night 3" Halloween block on October 28, 1995, and the series itself premiered as a one-hour special as part of "Dark Night 5" on October 24, 1997. While most episodes were finished on digibeta, the pilot was shot on film using traditional animation techniques but completed on video. The subsequent series was digitally inked, painted and composited.