The original orange cartoon cat, Heathcliff first appeared as a comic strip in 1973 before coming to television in 1980. George Gately's creation was a real cat of the streets, stealing meat from Mr. Schultz's meat market, battling Spike the bulldog, and eluding persistent dog catchers and merchants whose goods had been swiped. Heathcliff always managed to find time, however, to romance the pretty cat, Sonja. Each episode consisted of two Heathcliff segments and one segment starring Dingbat, the vampire dog. Together with his two "Creeps"-Sparerib the skeleton and Nobody the pumpkin-Dingbat worked at Odd Jobs, Inc., a temp agency. The second season brought in TV newcomer Marmaduke, who also made the jump from the cartoon pages. To call the enormous Great Dane an oaf would be an understatement. He was constantly knocking things down, jumping on people, and causing constant stress for his owners, the Winslows. The new cat/dog pairing lasted for only one more season, but Heathcliff returned in 1984 in DIC's syndicated Heathcliff and the Cadillac Cats. | 
