Mr. Hankey, the Christmas Poo aspects of Christmas from South Park to remain politically correct and inoffensive. The episode was written and directed by the series' co-creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone. The Mr. Hankey character was based on an idea from Parker's childhood; when Parker and Stone conceived the "South Park" series, they wanted to make Mr. Hankey the lead character. Heavily influenced by the "Peanuts" Christmas special "A Charlie Brown Christmas" from 1965, "Mr. Hankey, the Christmas Poo" was the first Christmas-themed "South Park" episode, the first musical episode, and the only episode in season one (and therefore the first time in the
What a Cartoon! became the first spin-off of "What a Cartoon!" in 1996. Two more series based on shorts, "Johnny Bravo" and "Cow and Chicken", premiered in 1997, and "The Powerpuff Girls" became a weekly half-hour show in 1998. "Courage the Cowardly Dog" (spun off from the Oscar-nominated short "The Chicken from Outer Space") followed as the final spin-off in 1999. In addition, the "Cow and Chicken" short "I Am Weasel" eventually was also spun off into a separate series: in all, six cartoon series were ultimately launched by the "What a Cartoon!" project, any one of which earned enough money for the