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Buzz Potamkin

{{short description|American television producer (1945–2012)}}

{{Infobox person

| image = Buzz Potamkin.jpg

| alt =

| caption =

| birth_name = Marshall Potamkin

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1945|11|22}}

| birth_place = United States

| death_date = {{Death date and age|2012|04|22|1945|11|22}}

| death_place = New York City, U.S.

| other_names = Mars Potamkin

| known_for =

| occupation = Television producer

| spouse = Rosie Potamkin

}}

Marshall "Buzz" Potamkin (November 22, 1945{{Cite web |date=3 October 2013 |title=Potamkin, Buzz, 1945-2012 |url=https://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/no2013108108.html |access-date=5 February 2025 |website=Library of Congress}} – April 22, 2012) was an American television producer and director known for founding his own television advertisement production studio, Perpetual Motion Pictures aka Buzzco Associates, and helping to establish Southern Star Productions. Along with advertisements, Potamkin focused on producing made-for-television animation, beginning with several television films based on the Berenstain Bears series of children's books. He went on to produce series for Turner Entertainment and, more specifically, Cartoon Network, including every episode of Cartoon Network's animated showcase series, What a Cartoon!, a project developed for aspiring animators to make pilot shorts that the network could choose to develop into full-fledged series.

Over the course of his 36-year career in animation, Potamkin was nominated for 3 Primetime Emmy Awards, 2 Daytime Emmy Awards, and 1 CableACE Award.

Career

Potamkin is known for founding Perpetual Motion Pictures (later called Buzzco Associates) with Candy Kugel and Vincent Cafarelli in 1968, which led to the production of hundreds of television advertisements, including the Hawaiian Punch series, MTV's "Top of the Hour" (the moon man), and MTV's "I Want My MTV" campaign. He also established the companies Southern Star Productions, Visionary Media, and Project X and produced the animated specials The Berenstain Bears' Christmas Tree in 1979 and Cartoon All-Stars to the Rescue in 1990, among others.{{Cite news |last=Variety Staff |date=May 8, 2012 |title=Marshall 'Buzz' Potamkin Dies at 66 |work=Variety |publisher=Reed Elsevier |url=https://variety.com/2012/film/news/marshall-buzz-potamkin-dies-at-66-1118053691/ |url-status=live |access-date=2012-07-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150612040832/http://variety.com/2012/film/news/marshall-buzz-potamkin-dies-at-66-1118053691/ |archive-date=2015-06-12}}

After working at The Walt Disney Company for a short period in 1991, Potamkin was hired by Fred Seibert as Hanna-Barbera Cartoons' Executive Producer & Head of TV, where he oversaw all the studio's output and produced shorts for Cartoon Network's What a Cartoon! series through 1996.{{Cite web |last=Zahed |first=Ramin |date=May 3, 2012 |title=Influential Animation Producer Buzz Potamkin Passes |url=https://www.animationmagazine.net/2012/05/influential-animation-producer-buzz-potamkin-passes/ |access-date=2022-11-16 |website=Animation Magazine |archive-date=2022-11-17 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221117032142/https://www.animationmagazine.net/2012/05/influential-animation-producer-buzz-potamkin-passes/ |url-status=live }}

Potamkin died from pancreatic cancer on April 22, 2012, and was survived by his wife Rosie.

Filmography

class="wikitable sortable"
Year

!Work

!Credit

!Notes

1979

|The Berenstain Bears' Christmas Tree

|Producer

|TV movie

1980

|The Berenstain Bears Meet Bigpaw

|Producer

|TV movie

1981

|Strawberry Shortcake in Big Apple City

|Producer

|TV short

1981

|The Berenstain Bears' Easter Surprise

|Producer

|TV movie

1982

|The Berenstain Bears' Comic Valentine

|Producer

|TV movie

1983

|The Berenstain Bears Play Ball

|Producer

|TV movie

1983

|Deck the Halls with Wacky Walls

|Producer

|TV movie

1985

|ABC Weekend Special

|Supervising producer

|Episode "The Velveteen Rabbit"

1985

|The Berenstain Bears Show

|Producer/director

|TV series

1985–88

|CBS Storybreak

|Supervising producer

|TV series

1986–87

|Teen Wolf

|Executive producer

|TV series

1988

|Mad Scientist

|Producer

|Video short

1989

|Marvin: Baby of the Year

|Producer/director

|TV short

1990

|Fox's Peter Pan & the Pirates

|Executive producer

|TV series

1990

|Cartoon All-Stars to the Rescue

|Producer

|TV short

1992

|The Addams Family

|Executive producer

|TV series

1993

|SWAT Kats: The Radical Squadron

|Executive producer

|TV series

1993

|The Halloween Tree

|Executive producer

|TV movie

1993–95

|2 Stupid Dogs

|Executive producer

|TV series

1993–96

|Captain Planet and the Planeteers

|Executive producer

|TV series

1994

|Scooby-Doo! in Arabian Nights

|Executive producer

|TV movie

1994

|A Flintstones Christmas Carol

|Executive producer

|TV movie

1995–97

|What a Cartoon!

|Executive producer

|TV series (shorts)

1995

|Daisy-Head Mayzie

|Executive producer

|TV short

1995

|Aaron's Magic Village

|Producer

|(U.S. version)

1995

|Jonny Quest vs. The Cyber Insects

|Executive producer

|TV movie

1996

|Dexter's Laboratory

|Executive producer

|TV series

1996

|Big Bag

|Executive producer

|TV series

1996–97

|The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest

|Executive producer

|TV series

1997; 2004

|Johnny Bravo

|Executive producer

|TV series

1997; 2004

|South Park

|Producer/directed

|TV series, uncredited

1998

|Buster & Chauncey's Silent Night

|Producer/director

|Video

Accolades

class="wikitable sortable" style="margin-right: 0;"
Year

! Award

! Category

! Work

! Shared with

! Result

{{dts|1986}}

| rowspan="2"| Daytime Emmy Awards

| rowspan="2"| Outstanding Animated Program

| rowspan="2"| CBS Storybreak

|Paul Bogrow, Steve Lumley, Allan Stevens, and Chris Cuddington

|{{nom}}

{{dts|1988}}

|Paul Bogrow and Gordon Kent

|{{nom}}

rowspan="3"| {{dts|1995}}

|CableACE Awards

|Children's Special or Series - 6 and Younger

| rowspan="2"| Daisy-Head Mayzie

|Audrey Geisel, Christopher O'Hare, and Margot McDonough

|{{won}}

rowspan="3"| Primetime Emmy Awards

| rowspan="3"| Outstanding Animated Program (for Programming One Hour or Less)

|Audrey Geisel, Christopher O'Hare, Tony Collingwood, and Dr. Seuss{{Cite web |title=Dr. Seuss' Daisy-Head Mayzie |url=https://www.televisionacademy.com/shows/dr-seuss-daisy-head-mayzie |access-date=2020-07-04 |website=Emmys.com |publisher=Academy of Television Arts & Sciences |archive-date=2020-07-27 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200727064556/https://www.emmys.com/shows/dr-seuss-daisy-head-mayzie |url-status=live }}

|{{nom}}

Dexter's Laboratory{{Cite web |title=Dexter's Laboratory in "Changes" |url=https://www.televisionacademy.com/shows/dexters-laboratory-changes |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130629024227/http://www.emmys.com/shows/dexters-laboratory-changes |archive-date=2013-06-29 |access-date=2020-07-04 |website=Emmys.com |publisher=Academy of Television Arts & Sciences}}

|Genndy Tartakovsky and Larry Huber
{{small|for "Changes"}}

|{{nom}}

{{dts|1996}}

|Cow and Chicken{{Cite web |title=Cow and Chicken in No Smoking |url=https://www.televisionacademy.com/shows/cow-and-chicken-no-smoking |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140728013813/http://www.emmys.com/shows/cow-and-chicken-no-smoking |archive-date=2014-07-28 |access-date=2020-07-04 |website=Emmys.com |publisher=Academy of Television Arts & Sciences}}

|Larry Huber, David Feiss, Pilar Menendez, and Sam Kieth
{{small|for "No Smoking"}}

|{{nom}}

References

{{Reflist}}

External links

  • {{IMDb name}}
  • {{Discogs artist|5313383-Buzz-Potamkin}}
  • [https://www.awn.com/users/buzz-potamkin Buzz Potamkin] contributions at Animation World Network

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Potamkin, Buzz}}

Category:1945 births

Category:2012 deaths

Category:American television producers

Category:Deaths from pancreatic cancer in New York (state)

Category:Hanna-Barbera people

Category:Cartoon Network Studios people

Category:American television directors

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{{HannaBarbera-stub}}