Life with Louie

Life with Louie is an American animated sitcom television series that ran on the FOX Network from 1994-1998. The series was based on the childhood of well-known stand-up comedian Louie Anderson, growing up with his family in the town of Cedar Knoll, Wisconsin during the early 1960s, although Anderson himself was actually from Saint Paul, Minnesota, also situated in midwestern U.S.^[1][2]

Life with Louie
Created by	Louie Anderson Matthew O'Callaghan
Voices of	Louie Anderson Debi Derryberry Edie McClurg Miko Hughes Justin Shenkarow Mary Wickes Liz Sheridan Tommy Hinkley Meagen Fay
Country of origin	United States
No. of seasons	3
No. of episodes	39
Production
Producers	Louie Anderson Ahmos Hassan Matthew O'Callaghan Martha Carrol
Running time	22–24 minutes
Production companies	Fox Kids Network Hyperion Animation The Anderson/Hassan Company
Distributor	20th Century Fox Television
Release
Original network	Fox
Original release	December 18, 1994 (1994-12-18) – March 2, 1998 (1998-03-02)

The first two episodes aired in primetime on Fox in late 1994,^[1][3][4] before moving to Saturday morning on Fox Kids from 1995 to 1998.^[5]

Ownership of the series passed to Disney in 2001 when Disney acquired Fox Kids Worldwide. The series is not available on Disney+.^[6][7][8]

Characters

• Louis "Louie" Anderson (voiced by Louie Anderson) — Based on Anderson's younger self. Louie is an 8-year-old child, living in the fictional town of Cedar Knoll, Wisconsin. He is a very sensitive, impressionable, and intelligent young boy. He often uses his gifted sense of humor to deal with difficult situations. He always stands up for his own rights and principles, but also for those of others. His most notable catchphrase used in the series is, "All right!"
• Jeannie Harper (voiced by Debi Derryberry) — Louie's best friend. She often defends Louie from local bullies. Louie has a crush on her.
• Michael "Mike" Grunewald (voiced by Justin Shenkarow) — Louie's friend with a sarcastic sense of humor. He has a somewhat relaxed attitude and comes from a rather wealthy family, much to Louie's jealousy.
• Toddler Tobolinski — Louie's other friend. He is somewhat shorter than the others, about the same height as Louie, and loves activities like recess.
• Scott Jensen — One of Louie's friends. He appears quite often in the first and third seasons, but is rarely seen in Season 2.
• Andrew "Andy" Mortimer Anderson (voiced by Louie Anderson) — Louie's difficult, but caring father. He is a veteran of World War II and likes to tell his family stories about his experience at the front in Europe. Much of the humor regarding Andy involved his comic superiority complex and equally comical unawareness of his own limitations. Though he often appeared out of touch with reality, Andy was secretly a very gifted chess player, a skill Louie was briefly shown to have himself, but he hid his gift during the latter half of his life because of the way he was supposedly mistreated for it in his youth (even going so far as to disguise himself at chess tournaments so he wouldn't be recognized). He is a proud owner of a Rambler sedan^[9] (most probably a 1959 Rambler Six), which appears on the show in various episodes. His catchphrases: "For crying out loud!" and "I heard that." Despite his appearance, he is a very caring and loving person.
• Ora Anderson (voiced by Edie McClurg) — Louie's kind, loving and sweet natured mother. She usually acts as the voice of reason for Louie and Andy.
• Thomas "Tommy" Anderson (voiced by Miko Hughes) — Louie's youngest brother. Louie teases him a lot in the beginning.
• Glen Glenn (voiced by Justin Shenkarow) — The local bully of Louie's school who teases Louie and the other kids. His mother Jen Glenn has a hot temper and loud voice which the other citizens don't like.
• Craig Eric, Paul George — Glen Glenn's friends.
• The Melvins — A group of chess nerds. One of them is actually named Franklin, but is still called Melvin.
• Henrietta Shermann (voiced by Mary Wickes) — The mother of Ora and maternal grandmother of Louie. When her voice actress Mary Wickes died in Season 2, the producers elected to make an episode where Louie handles the death of his grandmother.
• Pepper — Louie's obese pet goldfish.
• Sid Anderson, John Anderson, Danny Anderson, Peter Anderson — Louie's older brothers.
• Mr. Jensen, Earl Grunewald, Gus Williams, Mrs. Stillman — Louie's neighbors.
• Laura Anderson, Carol Anderson, Charlie Anderson, Julie Anderson — Louie's older sisters.

Episode list

Specials

No. overall	No. in season	Title	Written and Directed by	Storyboard by	Original air date
1	1	"A Christmas Surprise for Mrs. Stillman"	Matthew O' Callaghan	Martin Fuller and Dan Root	December 18, 1994 (1994-12-18)
Christmas special/pilot: It's Christmas time. Ora asks Andy to decorate Mrs. Stillman's house by the Christmas lights. Andy seeks Louie's help and both decorate the house with the help of Louie's friends who arrived at the house for singing.

Season 1 (1995–1996)

No. overall	No. in season	Title	Directed by	Written by	Storyboard by	Original air date
2	2	"Dad Gets Canned"	Matthew O' Callaghan	Andy Rose Alex Taub	Bert Ring (director) Carin-Anne Anderson, Dan Fausett and Jim Fletcher	June 18, 1995 (1995-06-18)
Andy gets fired from his job for giving his friend the day off for the birth of his child. Louie gets upset because he wanted to spend his vacation relaxing and sitting around, but Andy forces him to work. Ora gets a job selling cosmetics to her neighbors. While Louie accompanies Ora, he learns the true reason behind Andy's job loss.
3	3	"Raindrops Keep Falling on My Bed"	Matthew O'Callaghan	Alex Taub	Bert Ring (director) Carin-Anne Anderson, Jim Fletcher and Michael Sosnowski	September 9, 1995 (1995-09-09)
The Jensen family moves into the house next to the Andersons. While Andy fights with Mr. Jensen about their property lines, a rain storm appears and floods the town.
4	4	"Lake Winnibigoshish"	Matthew O'Callaghan	Alex Taub	Bert Ring (director) Martin Fuller and Dan Root	September 16, 1995 (1995-09-16)
The Anderson family goes to Lake Winnibigoshish for their vacation where Louie meets Kelly Busset (Olivia Hack), who has a crush on him. But Louie doesn't like her.
5	5	"A Fish Called Pepper"	Matthew O'Callaghan	Alex Taub	Bert Ring (director) Carin-Anne Anderson, Dan Fausett and Jim Fletcher	September 23, 1995 (1995-09-23)
Jeannie moves because her father is given a new job. Afterwards, Louie's grandma comes to visit and, because of her, Louie sends a letter to Jeannie telling her he loves her. Meanwhile, the family gets a pet fish, because they can't afford a dog and cats lick the butter. In the end, Jeannie returns because her father's new job failed.
6	6	"Behind Every Good Coach"	Matthew O'Callaghan	Alex Taub	Bert Ring (director) Martin Fuller and Dan Root	October 7, 1995 (1995-10-07)
Louie joins the baseball team but during their first game, the coach (Tommy Lasorda) gets hurt and Andy becomes the new coach. With the team unable to win, Ora gives the team a few pointers and they win their final game.
7	7	"Alive! Miracle in Cedar Knoll, Wisconsin"	Matthew O'Callaghan	Alex Taub	Dan Fausett and Keith Tucker	November 4, 1995 (1995-11-04)
While Andy and Ora leave to visit Grandma, Louie and Tommy are left alone at the house as a blizzard hits and causes a blackout in Cedar Knoll.
8	8	"Pains, Grains, and Allergy Shots"	Matthew O'Callaghan	Bernie Ancheta	Tom Riggin and Rafael Rosado	November 11, 1995 (1995-11-11)
Louie suddenly develops a food allergy.
9	9	"The Fourth Thursday in November"	Matthew O' Callaghan	Alex Taub	Carin-Anne Anderson, Dan Fausett, Mark Mulgrew, Keith Tucker, Jorge Burge, Steve Lumley, Robert Smit and Deke Wightman	November 18, 1995 (1995-11-18)
All of the Anderson family comes to Louie's house for Thanksgiving dinner, including Ora's brother Uncle Sammy (Barry Corbin) who Andy dislikes.
10	10	"Tracks of My Deers"	Matthew O'Callaghan	Alex Taub	John Burge, Mark Mulgrew, Rafael Rosado, Melissa Suber, Steve Lumley, Lou Police, Robert Smit and George Sukara	November 25, 1995 (1995-11-25)
While on a deer hunt with Andy and his friends, Louie meets a lonely deer and decides to keep it until the hunt finishes.
11	11	"When Cedar Knoll Freezes Over"	Matthew O'Callaghan	Alex Taub Bernie Ancheta	Jorge Burge, Steve Lumley, Dan Fausett, Mark Mulgrew and Robert Smit	February 3, 1996 (1996-02-03)
The winter carnival begins in Cedar Knoll and The Anderson family loses every competition they enter. Meanwhile, Louie develops a crush on Jeannie's sister and tries to learn how to skate to get close to her.
12	12	"A Fair to Remember"	Matthew O'Callaghan	Greg Cope Sean Dwyer	Tom Riggins and Rafael Rosado	February 10, 1996 (1996-02-10)
The Anderson family goes to the state fair. Ora competes in a cooking contest against Sally Tubbs (Shelley Long), Andy wrestles a greased pig and Tommy is upset because Louie only takes him on the kiddie rides.
13	13	"Born a Rambler Man"	Matthew O'Callaghan	Alex Taub	Jorge Burge, Steve Lumley, Mark Mulgrew and Robert Smit	February 17, 1996 (1996-02-17)^[9]
When Andy's Rambler gets damaged, Ora decides to buy him a new car for his birthday. After Andy complains and returns the car, Louie fixes the Rambler with the help of a repair man named Smitty.

Season 2 (1996–1997)

No. overall	No. in season	Title	Directed by	Written by	Storyboard by	Original air date
14	1	"Caddy on a Hot Tin Roof"	Bert Ring	Alex Taub	Rafael Rosado and Mark Zoeller	September 14, 1996 (1996-09-14)
Louie needs some money and is hired by a golfer (Joe Pantoliano) to caddy a golf game.
15	2	"Summer of My Discontent"	Bert Ring	Alex Taub Greg Cope Sean Dwyer	Dan Fausett	September 21, 1996 (1996-09-21)
Louie tries to escape from Glen Glenn, so he joins the trip to Chakami camp. The bad news: Glen Glenn and his gang also join. While on a trip, Louie and Glen Glenn get lost inside a forest.
16	3	"Anderson Ski Weekend"	Bert Ring	Alex Taub Natasha Hayworth Matthew Negrette	Steve Lumley	September 28, 1996 (1996-09-28)
Earl Grunewald is promoted to be a main worker of the tractor factory. While the Grunewald family goes for a ski trip, Louie pretends to be a ski master, so the Anderson family also joins.
17	4	"Roofless People"	Bert Ring	Mary Gray Rubin David Silverman	Ken Mundie and Steve Lumley	October 5, 1996 (1996-10-05)
A tornado attacks the Cedar Knoll which makes Louie afraid of the tornado, so he stays in his room and doesn't want to leave until the cow, which was trapped on a tree because of the tornado, confronts him.
18	5	"How to Succeed in Washington Without Really Trying"	Bert Ring	R.P. Halke Alex Taub	Steve Lumley and Gary Selvaggio	October 19, 1996 (1996-10-19)
Louie's class must give a speech and if someone wins, the class will go to Washington. Louie buys a speech from Glen Glenn and he wins. Andy accompanies the trip because he was in a war with the president. After Andy tells Louie he must always tell the truth, Louie tells the truth about the speech.
19	6	"An Anderson Dozen"	Bert Ring	Mary Gray Rubin David Silverman	Robert Gibbs and Steve Lumley	November 2, 1996 (1996-11-02)
Ora gets a call from the doctor, telling her she's going to have a baby. Louie thinks if the baby is born, someone will leave the family and he thinks it might be him. It is revealed in the end that the doctor made a mistake and she's not pregnant.
20	7	"Buzz Stop"	Bert Ring	Alex Taub Bernie Ancheta	Steve Lumley	November 9, 1996 (1996-11-09)
Andy wants to have a bigger rv than the Jensens', so he buys bees to make more money and becomes obsessed.
21	8	"The Masked Chess Boy"	Bert Ring	Bernie Ancheta Alex Taub Ed Driscoll	Ian Freedman and Steve Lumley	November 23, 1996 (1996-11-23)
Louie learns he's so talented in playing chess that he writes to a chess competition. When Andy confronts him about people laughing at the chess players, Louie decides to disguise himself as the Masked Chess Boy.
22	9	"For Pete's Sake"	Matthew O'Callaghan Bert Ring	Marcy Gray Rubin (teleplay) David Silverman (teleplay) Alex Taub (teleplay)	Dan Fausett and Eric Fredrickson	December 25, 1996 (1996-12-25)
While out shopping, Louie gets rescued from an accident by a homeless man named Pete (Brian Doyle-Murray) and he decides to keep him in the garage of his house.
23	10	"The Good, the Bad, & the Glenns"	Bert Ring	Natasha Hayworth Matthew Negrete Alex Taub	Robert Gibbs and Steve Lumley	December 27, 1996 (1996-12-27)
Glen Glenn's mother, Jen Glenn, scares the entire town of Cedar Knoll with her loud voice. When she suddenly loses her voice and goes to the hospital, Cedar Knoll is happy and Glen Glenn becomes pals with Louie.
24	11	"Kazoo's Coming to Dinner"	Bert Ring Matthew O'Callaghan	Alex Taub	Dan Fausett and Eric Fredrickson	February 1, 1997 (1997-02-01)
Louie idolizes a comedian who is Ora's ex-boyfriend, Marty Kazoo (Sid Caesar). Ora, however, isn't too happy about the new friendship.
25	12	"Mr. Anderson's Opus"	Bert Ring Matthew O'Callaghan	Alex Taub	Ken Mundie and Steve Lumley	February 15, 1997 (1997-02-15)
Louie gets jealous because Jeannie has a crush at the new kid at school. Meanwhile, Andy and Ora are arguing about the date of their wedding anniversary.
26	13	"The Thank You Note"	Matthew O'Callaghan Bert Ring	Alex Taub	Dan Fausett	February 22, 1997 (1997-02-22)^[10]
For Louie's birthday, his grandma gives Louie a sweater which she made for him. While trying to write the thank you letter, Louie decides to instead play with his friends. When he finally writes the letter, he finds out his grandma has died.

Season 3 (1997–1998)

No. overall	No. in season	Title	Directed by	Written by	Storyboard by	Original air date
27	1	"Louie's Gate"	Bert Ring	Alex Taub	Art Mawhinney and Roy Muerin	September 6, 1997 (1997-09-06)
A new movie theater opens and Louie goes all the time, so Andy and Ora become worried. They decide to give him a movie camera, which causes Louie to decide to shoot a movie.
28	2	"The Making of a President"	Bert Ring	Marcy Gray Rubin David Silverman	Steve Lumley, Marc O'Hare and Chris York	September 13, 1997 (1997-09-13)
Louie and Mike Grunewald try to win a school election by making lies about the other people.
29	3	"Military Reunion"	Matthew O'Callaghan	Robert Rabinowitz	Steve Lumley, Mark O'Hare and Gary Scott	September 20, 1997 (1997-09-20)
Louie doesn't want to listen anymore to Andy's war stories. While at the Military Reunion, Andy admits to Louie he was called Corporal Keister and he was a cook, though his friends from the military insist that he did save them.
30	4	"Go Packers!"	Matthew O'Callaghan	Marcy Gray Rubin (teleplay) David Silverman (teleplay)	Steve Lumley and Art Mawhinney	September 27, 1997 (1997-09-27)
Andy takes Louie to the Packers game.
31	5	"The Undergraduate"	Bert Ring	Bruce Clark Marc Peterson	John Dubiel, Steve Lumley, Gary Scott, Mark Sonntag and Doug McCarthy	October 11, 1997 (1997-10-11)
When Louie's teacher gets ill, Louie gets a crush on the replacement teacher. Louie begins reading Shakespeare, much to Andy's chagrin. Andy tries to order the principal to fire Mrs. Robertson, the replacement teacher. Mrs. Robertson explains she's from the military family and Andy gets her a job at the military academy.
32	6	"Louie's Harrowing Halloween"	Bert Ring	Alex Taub	Eric Fredrickson	October 25, 1997 (1997-10-25)
While shopping, Louie ends up stealing candy, so he tries to get rid of it during Halloween.
33	7	"Mr. Louie's Wild Ride"	Bert Ring	Shawn Ryan	Eric Fredrickson, Mark O'Hare and Keith Tucker	November 1, 1997 (1997-11-01)
The Anderson family goes to Snifferland for their vacation. After arrival, they learn Snifferland moved to Orlando, Florida.
34	8	"Close Encounters of the Louie Kind"	Bert Ring	Alex Zamm	Craig Berman, Eric Fredrickson and Art Mawhinney	November 8, 1997 (1997-11-08)
Louie and Mike create a spaceship which causes Andy to be declared ambassador of the Earth.
35	9	"The Kiss Is the Thing"	Matthew O'Callaghan	Mike Gandolfi (teleplay) Matthew O'Callaghan (teleplay)	Steve Lumley	November 15, 1997 (1997-11-15)
Louie must play the prince for the school performance about Sleeping Beauty. Meanwhile, Andy replaces his boss.
36	10	"Family Portrait"	Matthew O'Callaghan	Shawn Ryan (teleplay)	John Dubiel, Eric Fredrickson, Martin Lee Fuller and Jim Kammerud	December 20, 1997 (1997-12-20)
Louie learns one of his friends is an orphan and invites him to his house for Christmas.
37	11	"Blinded by Love"	Matthew O'Callaghan	David Silverman Marcy Gray Rubin	Eric Fredrickson, Steve Lumley, Art Mawhinney and Mark Sonntag	February 16, 1998 (1998-02-16)
Louie wants to have a dog much to Andy's chagrin. Louie takes a dog that has been trained to be a guide for the blind.
38	12	"Do It or Donut"	Bert Ring	Mike Gandolfi (teleplay) Matthew O'Callaghan (teleplay)	Eric Fredrickson, Steve Lumley and Art Mawhinney	February 23, 1998 (1998-02-23)
Louie feels he's good at basketball and Andy tries to support him. Ora decides to eat healthy food.
39	13	"Project: Mother's Day"	Bert Ring	Shawn Ryan	John Dubiel, Martin Lee Fuller, Jim Kammerud and Tom Riggin	March 2, 1998 (1998-03-02)
In the series finale, Andy's mother comes to visit for Mother's Day. Meanwhile, Ora gets sick and Louie does all of her jobs, so he doesn't have time to buy her gift for Mother's Day.

Intro and theme song

The show's intro for Seasons 2 and 3 involved the main character running toward a TV set, turning one of the set's dials, and showing a live-action video of Louie Anderson as an adult saying, "Let me tell you about my family." This was followed by clips of the show from Andy Anderson being pulled by sled dogs, Louie sticking chopsticks in his nose, to Louie jumping off a diving board at a swimming pool nearly wasting all the water and getting most of the other participants wet due to the fact of him being overweight. Then the show's logo (in pink) appeared on the bottom left-hand corner of the screen, while the main character (wearing sunglasses) ate a dot while sitting on a raft while watching TV on a tire. Season 1 episodes used a live-action intro by Louie Anderson talking to the audience about his childhood, then dissolving into the show.

Home videos and merchandise

Based on the popularity of the show, various merchandise was released including apparel, videos of various episodes, a "Lake Winnibigoshish" CD-ROM comic book,^[11] and a book series for children. The book series was based on the various episodes of the show and contained six books in total. Kids' meal toys were also produced for several fast-food restaurant chains including Taco Bell (1996), Hardee's (1997), Jack in the Box (1997), and Dairy Queen (1999).

For a time, Life with Louie-branded SpaghettiOs, in character shapes, were available.^[12]

In early January 2006, TVShowsOnDVD.com^[13] posted a news story that Life with Louie was going to be released on DVD in the US. The information came from Louie Anderson himself who mentioned this news on a radio program he was a guest on, KQRS-FM. There has been no other news since then and it is now unknown if this series will ever be released on DVD in the United States since Louie Anderson's death in 2022. However, three 2-episode sets were released in the United Kingdom in summer 2007 as Life with Louie: Volume 1, 2, and 3. The sets were released through Boulevard Entertainment as part of the Jetix programming brand.

Awards

The series won two Emmy Awards. It also won the Humanitas Prize three times, which is more than for any other animated series.

• Emmy Award for Outstanding Sound Editing - Special Class - Rick Hinson, Rick Hammel, Les Wolf Thomas Syslo and Timothy Borquez - 1996 (nominated)
• Emmy Award for Outstanding Sound Mixing - Special Class - Timothy Borquez and Dan Hiland - 1996 (nominated)
• Emmy Award for Outstanding Performer in an Animated Program - Louie Anderson - 1997
• Emmy Award for Outstanding Performer in an Animated Program - Louie Anderson - 1998
• Emmy Award for Outstanding Sound Mixing - Special Class - Timothy Borquez, Timothy J. Garrity and Brad Brock - 1998 (nominated)
• Emmy Award for Outstanding Outstanding Sound Editing - Special Class - Timothy Borquez, Rick Hinson and Eric Freeman - 1998 (nominated)
• Emmy Award for Outstanding Performer in an Animated Program - Louie Anderson - 1999 (nominated)
• Emmy Award for Outstanding Special Class Animated Program - 1999 (nominated)
• Genesis Award for ethical treatment of animals - 1997^[14]
• Humanitas Prize for Children's Animation - 1996^[15]
• Humanitas Prize for Children's Animation - 1997^[15]
• Humanitas Prize for Children's Animation - 1998^[15]

References

1. Mangan, Jennifer (14 December 1994). "Anderson Translates His Sad Childhood Into Humorous "Life With Louie' Special". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 2 November 2015.
2. Thomas, Rebecca (30 August 1996). "Comedy Has A Serious Side For Likeable Louie Anderson". Orlando Sentinel. Retrieved 2 November 2015.
3. "TV Listings for - December 18, 1994 - TV Tango". TV Tango. Retrieved 2 November 2015.
4. "TV Listings for - June 18, 1995 - TV Tango". TV Tango. Retrieved 2 November 2015.
5. Erickson, Hal (2005). Television Cartoon Shows: An Illustrated Encyclopedia, 1949 Through 2003 (2nd ed.). McFarland & Co. pp. 494–495. ISBN 978-1476665993.
6. "U.S. Copyright Public Records System".
7. "Disney+ and Missing Saban Entertainment & Fox Kids-Jetix Worldwide Library - DejaView News". 14 September 2022.
8. "Liste - BVS Entertainment | Séries".
9. "Life with Louie, Season 1, Episode 12, "Born a Rambler Man"". www.imdb.com. Retrieved 2 November 2015.
10. Pennington, Gail (February 22, 1997). "Experiment Gone Wrong". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Retrieved 2 November 2015. The Fox Children's Network's animated series "Life With Louie" (10 am Saturdays on Channel 2) is always a charmer, but today's episode is something special. [...] Mom nags him to write a thank-you note, but he keeps putting it off.
11. "Life with Louie ~ Lake Winnibigoshish". Amazon.com. Retrieved 2 November 2015.
12. "Life with Louie (S01E04) - Behind Every Good Coach Part 1". YouTube. 2011-08-31. Retrieved 2 November 2015.^{[dead YouTube link]}
13. Lacey, Gord (1 January 2006). "Life with Louie - Louie says Louie is coming". TV Shows On DVD. Archived from the original on 5 February 2013. Retrieved 2 November 2015.
14. "Louie Anderson". Richard De La Font Agency. Retrieved 2 November 2015.
15. . HumanitasPrize.org. 2009. Archived from the original on 16 December 2009. Retrieved 2 November 2015.

External links

• Life with Louie at IMDb