The Cartoon none of us talk about: La Linea

Ah Nostalgia! I discovered one of those little cartooning nuggets that while I am sure that none of us ever talked about it, I am sure we've all seen at least one episode of his antics. I never knew what the shorts were called until recently but now that I know it was called La Linea, I think I will always remember it.

The entire premise of the shorts is based on the relationship between a silhouetted cartoon man and the cartoonist that both helps and harms him. It is a concept that dates back decades to some of the great Warner and Disney cartoons amongst others, but with La Linea, it takes that premise to its barest extreme, and yet it works.

The character design is simple, the dialogue nonexistent save for some giberrish and the plots were paper-thin and yet despite that, or maybe because of it, the mild humor was sort of universal. The character is, to put it bluntly, sort of a jerk, and he does generally get what's coming to him, much like Daffy Duck, and he brings many of his problems onto himself.

I remember watching those little cartoons on The Great Space Coaster and as interstitial material on TVO and another networks for years. I am sure that it was shown on the public airwaves in the U.S. as well when many of you were children or young adults as well.

Does anyone else remember this little bit of linear cartooning?

Tags: cartoon, la linea, osvaldo cavandoli, warner brothers, italian, animation, great space coaster, daffy duck, disney, cartoonist, line drawing, tvo, pbs, ontv, interstitial cartoons