When did Chuck E. start to become such a nice guy?

[PaulKTF]

Am I correct that they started softening up CEC's character (IE: making him more of a nice guy) after the merger?

CEC was a lot funnier when he had a bit of an attitude. These days you'd never have CEC yelling at a tech to "turn off the fruitcake dog". :(

[dheineCECfan]

Chuck E. was always a nice guy since 1977, except he smoked a cigar in his early CECPTT years!

[PaulKTF]

Chuck E. was always a nice guy since 1977, except he smoked a cigar in his early CECPTT years!

Harmony would disagree with you. :-)

[captslappy]

Chuck E. was always a jerk back in the day but underneath it all, he was a nice guy. He was a talentless carnie that had fun at the other 3 main characters' expense. He forever referred to Jasper, Pasqually Munch (also Crusty prior to Munch) as nitwits and Rockheads. He was pretty terrible to all the guests although he went pretty light on Foxy Colleen. The Big C didn't hold back on Harmony at all.

That all changed once Showbiz took over. They had a new voice actor post-merger take over briefly for Chuck that gave him a Casey Kasem-like voice for awhile. Munch's voice also changed at that point and their personalities were very different during that time and not true to the established personality.

The direction shifted as Chuck and Munch got voices a bit closer to their previous ones but I think Showbiz wanted family friendly and to get away from the negative put-down type humor. I think we really last saw it at the end of Madame Oink's run in 83. Chuck may have still "been at it" in Broadway Helen's tape but chilled out substantially by the 2 Band stand shows that followed.

[VegaNova]

I think it probably happened toward the end of the PTT Inc era - exactly where Capt said with the 2 bandstand shows. This was before the merger, but after the "Broadway" tape where he was pretty rude toward Helen. Granted this was kinda odd (with the Bandstand shows) because Widelock was still doing the voice. Really makes the change stand out.

Once Scott took over it was pretty much the same Chuck he portrayed well into the 1990s. That was definitely cemented in place once ShowBiz took over. I think the last thing a struggling company wanted was for their flagship character to be a wise-ass, semi-offensive jerk. :D

[Rapid T Rabbit]

Once Scott took over it was pretty much the same Chuck he portrayed well into the 1990s. That was definitely cemented in place once ShowBiz took over. I think the last thing a struggling company wanted was for their flagship character to be a wise-ass, semi-offensive jerk. :D

That was particular evident in the 1992 showtapes (i.e. the "Mailman" era) when they had also that chorus of dancing kids who tended to remind me of the kids on Barney and Friends on PBS.

[PaulKTF]

I never got to hear rude Chuck E. 'till Radio Showbiz and I think they're some of my favorite showtapes. "Turn off the fruitcake dog!" never gets old.

[cheeseguy]

he became a nice guy around 1984

[captslappy]

The Harmony Howlette era shall forever remain the high point of Pizza Time Theatre and CEC for me. It will never be replicated, replaced or outdone.

[PaulKTF]

The Harmony Howlette era shall forever remain the high point of Pizza Time Theatre and CEC for me. It will never be replicated, replaced or outdone.

I'd say that's pretty much spot on. The production quality of the shows had improved a lot from the begining to that point and after that point; they started to slide downhill pretty fast (CEC's History Of Rock 'n Roll...).

[captslappy]

The History of Rock n' Roll was right around 1986 which was hands down the lowest point for both stores and it was a big transition point. You will also notice during that time that they did a lot of "snippets" and not full songs while they sorted out copyright issues. You can play about a minute of a song royalty free if not done in its entirety. The format was to have a little discussion, throw in a song about what they were talking about and then talk some more. You will also notice that everything was done with a synth and drum machine only. There were no other live instruments during that time which gave the show a very karaoke sort of feel and was a far cry from the quality of what the shows had been.