The Smurfs (TV series) Saturday morning cartoon "The Smurfs", produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions in association with SEPP International S.A. (from 1981 to 1987) and Lafig S.A. (in the years 1988 and 1989), debuted on NBC in 1981. The series became a major success for the networkand one of the most successful and longest running Saturday morning cartoons in television history, spawning spin-off television specials on an almost yearly basis. The characters included Papa Smurf, Smurfette, Brainy Smurf, the evil Gargamel, his cat Azrael, and Johan and his friend Peewit. "The Smurfs" was nominated multiple times for Daytime Emmy Awards, and won Outstanding Children's Entertainment
The Smurfs: The Legend of Smurfy Hollow home premiere as a mostly hand-drawn production. So that I could finally see these characters the way that I always thought they could be done. As these fully realized, traditionally animated characters. Which is why it was great to get the reaction that we did at Annecy. With the audience there being so supportive of "Smurfy Hollow" because they had never seen these characters done with feature quality hand-drawn animation before." He also spoke about how the CGI Smurfs were animated by the same people who did "The Smurfs" and "The Smurfs 2", saying: "And those people did a brilliant