September 8, 1995 – September 24, 1999
The Lion King's Timon & Pumbaa, often simply referred to as Timon & Pumbaa, is an American animated buddy comedy television series created by Walt Disney Television Animation. Based on Disney's 1994 animated film The Lion King, it centers on Timon the meerkat and Pumbaa the warthog, as they live their problem-free philosophy "Hakuna Matata". Unlike other The Lion King media, the tone of the series is more slapstick comedy-oriented in the veins of classic slapstick-oriented cartoons such as Looney Tunes, Tiny Toon Adventures, Animaniacs, Pinky & The Brain, MGM Cartoons, Hanna-Barbera, DePatie-Freleng shorts (i.e. The Pink Panther), The Ren & Stimpy Show, Toonsylvania, Woody Woodpecker and other Walter Lantz cartoons, Popeye, Heckle and Jeckle, Noveltoons, Columbia/Screen Gems cartoons (i.e. The Fox and the Crow) and even Disney's own shorts starring Donald Duck and Goofy.
Ernie Sabella reprised his role as Pumbaa for the show's entire run, while Nathan Lane voiced Timon in early episodes.
The show ran for three seasons, with the first two as part of the syndicated The Disney Afternoon block, CBS, and the third season on Toon Disney. It aired from September 8, 1995 to September 24, 1999. It is notably the first Lion King-related media to feature on-screen appearances by humans, as humans did not appear in the film and the subsequentdirect-to-video sequels. It is also the first of two television series to be based on the film, the second being The Lion Guard (2016–2019).
Bobs Gannaway and Tony Craig, who would later work on shows like 101 Dalmatians: The Series, Mickey Mouse Works, House of Mouse, and Lilo & Stitch: The Series, served as the show's executive producers for the first two seasons. As of Season 3, the series was produced by Chris Bartleman and Blair Peters, with Tedd and Patsy Cameron-Anasti (who have previously worked on DuckTales and The Little Mermaid TV series) serving as the executive producers.
Storyline
The show stars Timon, a meerkat, and Pumbaa, a warthog, both characters from the Disney animated film The Lion King. The series is primarily set after the events of the first film, although some episodes are set before or during those events. It involves the characters having misadventures in different settings, including the jungles of Africa, Canada, Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Whereas the show focuses on Timon and Pumbaa, four episodes center respectively on Rafiki and the hyena trio Shenzi, Banzai, and Ed, named Rafiki Fables and The Laughing Hyenas, and two episodes tell the backstory of Zazu.