In this recent post, I wrote that Jay Ward's cartoon studio "…whipped up an unsold pilot for Super Chicken with Don Knotts in the title role and Louis Nye voicing his sidekick, Fred." This brought several queries wanting to know more about this cartoon and where it could be seen. Had any of those who wrote taken advantage of the search engine on this site, they could have found this from back when we were mourning the passing of Mr. Nye…
A voice track was recorded to try and sell Ward's idea but it was never animated. Actor Marvin Miller served as narrator, Knotts played Super Chicken and Nye voiced his faithful sidekick, Fred. Bill Scott and Mel Blanc (!) voiced some supporting characters. Ward and his business partners played the recording for potential sponsors and showed them storyboards and artwork but no one went for it. In 1965, Jay produced another Super Chicken pilot but this time, he cast Scott as Super Chicken and Paul Frees as Fred, and they ultimately did the roles when the series was picked up as an element of the 1967 Saturday morning series, George of the Jungle.
For what it's worth, I thought Super Chicken was the best thing on the George of the Jungle show, better even than George, and the best thing the Ward studio produced after the original Rocky & Bullwinkle series. It's a shame the property never had a show of its own.