Not every segment of Ruby-Spears' anthology series, Saturday Supercade, survived the first season.
Now, I don't know if this was a case of whether or not a segment like Pitfall! lost viewers or it was a studio or network (CBS) decision to cut the segment (Kangaroo replaced Pitfall! the next season), but what is known is that there were just a small handful of Pitfall! shorts.
Robert Ridgely (ex-Flash Gordon, Thundarr The Barbarian, Tarzan, Lord of The Jungle, etc.) voices Pitfall Harry, a treasure hunter, aided by his niece, Rhonda (Noelle North), and Quickclaw (Kenneth Mars, Smurfs), a one-eyed mountain lion. Hmmmm, maybe Quickclaw was the problem. 10 years after Filmation saddled Lassie with a toothless mountain lion as a part of the Rescue Rangers, you'd think the makers of the Pitfall! video game would figure out a mountain lion wouldn't get over on TV if it wasn't Snagglepuss.
While Harry was inspired by Indiana Jones, viewers just weren't buying. Following is a sample episode, the cleverly named "Raiders of The Lost Shark":
Rating: B.
2 comments:
The reason why there weren't as many Pitfall! shorts on Saturday Supercade was because in the show's first season there were 5 segments (Donkey Kong, Donkey Kong Jr., Frogger, Pitfall! and Q*Bert), but the show itself was only sixty minutes, so there was only time to air 4 segments per episode. While the DK, DK Jr. and Frogger segments appeared every week, Pitfall! and Q*Bert would rotate on alternate weeks. So in the premiere episode featured Pitfall!, while Q*Bert aired on the 2nd week and so on for the remainder of the 1st season.
Season 2 only had four segments; only Donkey Kong and Q*Bert returned, while Pitall!, Frogger and DK Jr. were gone and replaced with Kangaroo and Space Ace. Since there were now only four segments, no two of them needed to rotate.
Probably because CBS didn't want to commit to another 90 minute show, as they already had Bugs Bunny-Road Runner going 90 minutes by that point, only to lose it after the 1984-5 season.
Supercade was also the first sale Ruby-Spears made to CBS after working exclusively with ABC the first few years. The same 1983 season saw their first sales to NBC (Mr. T & Alvin and the Chipmunks).
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