Buried beneath the adventure heroes assembled by CBS in 1966, The Beagles, a funny animal knock-off of a certain British pop group whose own animated adventures were airing on ABC at the time, were the first pre-fab band to break into Saturday morning television. CBS would later acquire reruns of the other pre-fab pop sensation of '66, The Monkees, to fill out their lineup at the end of the decade. ToonTracker uploaded this sample of the episode, "Foreign Legion Flops", to YouTube:
The Beagles was the last series produced by Total Television (Underdog, Tennessee Tuxedo), and, unfortunately, couldn't follow their toon brethren into syndication. Legend has it that a TTV staffer mistakenly tossed the master tapes into the garbage, making the above clip a rare find. An album of music from the series was released, of course, and could be found at record conventions if you're lucky. Would someone be willing to bring back Stringer & Tubby for a new generation? If they can get the rights and reboot the series to modern times, sure. We can all use a good laugh.
Rating: B-.
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