La Linea is an animated cartoon series. There were about 90 episodes, but each one was only two or three minutes long. The series was created by Osvaldo Cavandoli, and was produced and broadcast by the Italian state broadcaster RAI between 1972 and 1991.
The only real character in the series was “Mr Linea” (“Lineman” in English), who was human-looking silhouette made out of a single line. He moved by rippling along a straight horizontal line, of which he was in fact a part. Finding various obstacles in his path, he would get angry and have arguments with his creator, the cartoonist.
Mr Linea was voiced by Carlo Bonomi in a made up version of Milanese dialect; it was designed to sound like gibberish, so that the series would be easily exportable outside Italy. Bonomi also voiced the penguins in the Swiss animated series “Pingu”, and the voices of Mr Linea and the penguins sound similar.
The series has been shown in several countries, including Sweden, Slovenia, Hungary, Israel, Albania, Norway, Denmark, Iceland, Turkey, and the USA.
More information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Linea_%28TV_series%29
http://www.myspace.com/osvaldocavandoli