This Week In Obituaries: Everett Peck Creator Of “Duckman”

Annecy Festival 2022 comes to a close with somber news from one of the most well-known figures in the animation community. Legendary producer Everett Peck, best known for being part of franchises like The Critic, Sesame Street, and others, will be best known as the creator for the excellent USA adult animated series Duckman.

Sometimes a voice role pops up and when watching you have to say, “Yep…that’s who I’d pick”. In the case of what would eventually be USA Network’s longest running animated series in the network’s history, that notion comes true in flying colors when it comes to casting Jason Alexander as the title character in “Duckman”. Arguably the series was BoJack Horseman before there was BoJack Horseman in a lot of ways by revolving around a private detective who makes his base of operations in Los Angeles, California which provided for a bunch of really fun dynamics that the show could draw on to keep fresh for the what would eventually be a 70-episode run. For starters, Duckman being a private detective sees more than a few premises revolving around terrorism, assassinations, and espionage over the course of the show’s run but being in Hollywood the series delivered a savage parody of the extremes that comes from the City of Angels. Low hanging fruit like plastic surgery and deviations from the base show in an effort to bring alternate takes of the series set in the world of Star Trek, noir, even reality docu-series, certainly showcased way more of a flair that was the talk of Hollywood yesteryear. Last, but not least, Duckman had a solid familial cast that provided for ample fun times (two of his kids were Siamese twins) so much so that the show would garner multiple Emmy nominations and even see a cameo from Homer Simpson! (makes sense seeing as how the same studio that produced Duckman also produced The Simpsons for a lot of seasons).

Mr. Peck was 72 at the time of his passing and leaves behind his wife Helen. He will be missed.