Literary Toons: The Bollo Caper (1985)

From the ABC Weekend Special:

Humorist Art Buchwald's novel, The Bollo Caper, was adapted for television by independent animator Rick Reinert, who produced several episodes of Weekend Special, sharing the animation load with Ruby-Spears and DIC during the 80's. If you thought Buchwald was all about political satire, think again.

Bollo (Michael Bell, Smurfs, etc.) is brought to the US, ostensibly to be killed and his fur turned into a coat for a wealthy aristocrat. However, he knows that he is a rare breed, a golden leopard, and turns to Congress for help.

Unfortunately, this comes during an era when some genius at ABC decided that O. G. Readmore (Frank Welker) needed a co-host on a steady basis, and the best they could do, save for a guest appearance by Vincent Price (likely to plug 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo), was Jon Bauman (ex-Sha Na Na, Pop 'n' Rocker Game, Match Game/Hollywood Squares Hour), back in his familiar guise as Bowzer, long before the dimwitted greaser packed on the pounds. At the time, Bauman had moved on to become one of VH1's first VJ's. Poor O. G..



I'm going to see if I can find any episodes hosted by either Michael Young (Kids Are People, Too) or Willie Tyler & Lester down the road.

Rating: B.