The Duck Factory poster

The Duck Factory (1984)

Comedy

The Duck Factory is a 1984 NBC television series produced by MTM Enterprises that is perhaps most notable for being Jim Carrey's first lead role in a Hollywood production. The show was co-created by Allan Burns. The premiere episode introduces Skip Tarkenton, a somewhat naive and optimistic young man who has come to Hollywood looking for a job as a cartoonist. When he arrives at a low-budget animation company called Buddy Winkler Productions, he finds out Buddy Winkler has just died, and the company desperately needs new blood. So Skip gets an animation job at the firm, which is nicknamed "The Duck Factory" as their main cartoon is "The Dippy Duck Show". Other Duck Factory employees seen regularly on the show were man-of-a-thousand-cartoon voices Wally Wooster; comedy writer Marty Fenneman; artists Brooks Carmichael and Roland Culp, editor Andrea Lewin, and business manager Aggie Aylesworth. Buddy Winkler Productions was now owned by his young, ditzy widow, Mrs Sheree Winkler, who had been married to Buddy for all of three weeks before his death. The Duck Factory lasted thirteen episodes; it premiered April 12, 1984. The show initially aired at 9:30 on Thursday nights, directly after Cheers, and replaced Buffalo Bill on NBC's schedule. Jay Tarses, an actor on The Duck Factory, had been the co-creator and executive producer of Buffalo Bill, which had its final network telecast on Thursday, April 5, 1984.

IMDb rating
6.4 (367 votes)
Seasons
1
Language
EN
Type
TV series

Ratings refreshed Jul 3, 2026 · 1 season indexed

Cast

Seasons

Season 1 (1984)

7.37 avg 13 episodes 5.9 → 7.7 24 min avg

Ep 1: 5.9 · 30 votesEp 2: 6.9 · 21 votesEp 3: 7.5 · 23 votesEp 4: 6.8 · 20 votesEp 5: 6.9 · 19 votesEp 6: 7.6 · 18 votesEp 7: 7.6 · 18 votesEp 8: 7.4 · 18 votesEp 9: 8.4 · 21 votesEp 10: 7.7 · 19 votesEp 11: 8.1 · 20 votesEp 12: 7.3 · 19 votesEp 13: 7.7 · 19 votes
Season 1 episodes — IMDb ratings
#TitleRatingVotes
1Goodbye Buddy, Hello Skip5.930
2Filling Buddy's Shoes6.921
3The Annies7.523
4No Good Deed6.820
5The Way We Weren't6.919
6Can We Talk?7.618
7The Education of Mrs. Winkler7.618
8Ordinary People, Too7.418
9It Didn't Happen One Night8.421
10The Duck Stops Here7.719
11The Children's Half-Hour8.120
12You Always Love the One You Hurt7.319
13Call Me Responsible7.719