The "Art Roamer Round-Up TV Show" ran for almost a year on cable channel 15 in Des Moines, Iowa. It was the brainchild of Gene Hamilton (an artist, cartoonist, caricaturist, and teacher) and it had significant contributions by a host of people. David Thrasher joined Gene as co-producer and used his video and film production experience to vastly improve the quality of the show.

There were many memorable moments during the course of the show, among them being the time when it was voted "Best Public Access TV Show" during Cityview's "Best of Des Moines" reader poll. It incredibly made it as a runner up two years later after it had been off the air for the same number of years! As with all good things the show couldn't last forever and the last episode was broadcast on April Fool's day in 1995.

There are a number of reasons why the show could not continue: Gene Hamilton needed to return to his art career in order to make a living . (There was never any way for the show to make any real money.) Other reasons that contributed to the show's demise can be attributed to TCI Cable of Des Moines: Things imposed by TCI included having to deliver shows directly to their out of the way studio on 3/4" videotape (a format that even professionals hardly use any more and certainly out of the reach of most small public access producers) and not to their more accessable office, and having to use poorly maintained and nearly worn-out equipment (and pay rental time) if you wanted to use their studio. What finally made it necessary to call it quits for the show was their refusal to include public access shows on their on-air channel guide and their new rule that each and every air time had to be signed for (at the studio, of course) a week in advance which made it difficult for a weekly show like the "Art Roamer Round-Up TV Show".

The "Art Roamer Round-Up TV Show was unique in that it was one of the few shows of it's kind to attempt to present original entertainment on a weekly basis and attempt to fill the void in local programming that had occurred after local news and syndicated talk shows took over the schedule. The public access schedule has since been been featuring such offerings as religious and political extremists who have even have gone so far as advocating violence to achieve their ends - a far cry from the simple aim or the "Art Roamer Round-Up TV Show", which was simply to entertain.

The People Who Made "Art Roamer" Possible

Gene Hamilton	Art Roamer, Colonel "Popeye" Howard, Bob Broley, Mystery Man, Marvelous Marvie, Pierre LeBec, voices of Woody Roamer, Nick Java (the bad beatnik boy), Dr. Echo.
Ron Battrick	Buzzy Cookman, J.B. Haulingsway, Leonard Sawyer (from Meckling, South Dakota)
Carlie Hamilton	Mystery Woman, Cowgirl Carlie
Michael O'Neal	Liquid Sunshine, Universal Wilson Tech Guy, Alien (from the planet "Draw!)
Stephanie O'Neal	Miss Trudy Velvet, Stormi Link
David Thrasher	Mikey, Dr. Echo
Calvin Bierman	Alien (Registered), Kenny Sawyer
Ken Hopkins	Bongo (also by John Hartney in horse stunt scenes)
Writing by:	Gene Hamilton, David Thrasher, with contributions by Ron Battrick and Michael & Stephanie O'Neal
Animation by:	David Thrasher, Calvin Bierman

Art Roamer Round-Up TV Show " ©1994,1995 by Gene Hamilton and David Thrasher. Individual characters are copyrighted by the performers.

Please send inquiries about the "Art Roamer Round-Up TV Show" to : gino@quickdrawcartoons.com

This website was designed by David Thrasher