The Little Clowns of Happytown is an American animated television series that aired as part of ABC's Saturday morning lineup from September 26, 1987 to July 16, 1988.
[2][3] The series is set around young clowns from Happytown, whose goal is to spread happiness and imbue positive mental attitudes to the city next door.
Marvel Productions[3] and ABC had brought in consulting company Q5 Corporation to help develop the show along with other series for the 1987–1988 season.
Marvel had already used Q5 to develop their Defenders of the Earth series, so ABC brought them in for the 1987–88 season to improve its kid appeal on its Saturday morning offerings to get out of third place in the ratings.
[5] A Little Clowns former story editor indicated in September 1987 to the Los Angeles Times regarding Q5 consulting on the series:[5] They aren't merely researching trends; they're trying to engage in social engineering.
[7] The Los Angeles Times was critical of the show, with writer Charles Solomon saying that younger kids should skip it by staying in bed.
They also claimed that the show was predictable and copied the Smurfs heavily, including using "clown" as a general word substitute.
A compilation video of the Joking Around With the Little Clowns segments was later released in the United States by Strand-VCI Entertainment in 1991.
Years later, in 2014, several episodes of the series were released on DVD in Region 1 as part of the Mill Creek Entertainment compilation TV Guide Spotlight: Totally '80s Toons which also includes Heathcliff, The Littles, Dennis the Menace, The Get Along Gang, Care Bears and Nellie the Elephant.