Saturtainment: The series premiere of The Mummy (2001)

Universal decided to strike while the iron was hot on the heels of "The Mummy Returns" with Brendan Fraser as adventurer Rick O'Connell, so they had their animation studio develop a series that wound up at Kids' WB!.

In the series premiere of The Mummy, Rick (John Schneider, Smallville) has a new problem when his son, Alex, finds the Manacle of Osiris. Then again, when the opening rolls after the first segment, it gives away the story....



Luckily, if you have NBC's new streaming service, Peacock, you can catch up, as it's part of the library.

Rating: B.

NBC Saturday Morning Preview: Back to Saturday (1985)

After the abysmal Yummy Awards in 1983, NBC tried another concept with their 1985 fall preview of their Saturday morning slate.

Back to Saturday is a parody of one of the year's big hits, "Back to The Future", the animated version of which would land at CBS a few years later. Lisa Whelchel (The Facts of Life) and Keisha Knight-Pulliam (The Cosby Show) star, along with Soleil Moon Frye as Punky Brewster, whose animated series was part of the 1985 freshman class, along with:

Adventures of The Gummi Bears
Snorks
Kidd Video

Speaking of Punky Brewster, her new alien pal, Glomer (Frank Welker), shows up, along with Allstar of the Snorks (Michael Bell) and Alvin of Alvin & The Chipmunks (Ross Bagdasarian, Jr.), plus clips from Mr. T and Spider-Man & His Amazing Friends.



The YouTube poster had apparently taped over the finals of the Wimbledon tennis tournament from the looks of things.

No rating.

Toon Legends: Pink Panther in Pinky Doodle (1976)

The Pink Panther's contribution to the Bicentennial in 1976 sends him into the American Revolution in "Pinky Doodle". The Panther is given Paul Revere's job to send out the warning that the British are coming.

Unfortunately, that means he has to ride a horse, and the Panther doesn't get along well with horses......



Rating: B.

ABC Saturday morning preview (1995)

ABC's 1995-6 fall preview for Saturday mornings was more convoluted than usual.

Marquise Wilson & Raven-Symone (Hangin' With Mr. Cooper) are the stars, joined by Zachary Ty Bryan (Home Improvement) and 60's icon Gary Owens as a newscaster.

We've previously reviewed the shows featured, including:

Reboot (2nd season)
Bump in The Night (2nd season)
Madeline
What-a-Mess
Dumb & Dumber (the last series Hanna-Barbera sold to ABC).

The Bugs Bunny-Tweety Show and Free Willy are held to cameos, and there is no footage for Fudge.

We even have a Presidential impersonator (Tim Watters) in the house.



Serviceable, but all over the place.

Rating: C.

CBS Saturday fall preview (1984)

I honestly wish I'd found this one a year ago.

Saturday's The Place was not just the title of CBS' Saturday morning block in 1984, but also their preview special that year, the 2nd of 3 produced by Sid & Marty Krofft.

SAY WHAT?

Now, we all know the Kroffts sold their 2nd entry to CBS, Pryor's Place, that season, nine years after Far Out Space Nuts. As part of the deal, CBS also acquired reruns of the 1974-7 Land of The Lost series as a mid-season replacement. After Pryor was cancelled, the Kroffts produced the next year's preview show (w/Roddy Piper and others), and that was it.

We've already reviewed the freshman class of the season:

Jim Henson's Muppet Babies
Pole Position
Pryor's Place

The Bugs Bunny-Road Runner Show, Dungeons & Dragons, & Saturday Supercade all returned, and Shirt Tales moved over after 2 seasons at NBC.

There's a story to this. Ted Knight returned to CBS, although Too Close For Comfort had gone into syndication after leaving ABC. As was the case on Comfort, Knight plays a cartoonist, but in this case his character is named for legendary artist Windsor McCay. Joyce DeWitt, fresh from Three's Company, co-stars. Bookending things is a homage to Chuck Jones' Duck Amuck and its Bugs Bunny-centric sequel, with Knight/McCay in place of Daffy at the end of the show.

We also see a portion of a Muppet Babies recording session with Russi Taylor, Laurie O'Brien, Frank Welker, and Howie Mandel (St. Elsewhere). Welker had been on an ABC preview show two years earlier.



Forgive the poor video quality. No rating.

Saturday Morning's Greatest Hits: When You're in Love With a Beautiful Woman (1979)

I first discovered Dr. Hook's 1979 hit, "When You're in Love With a Beautiful Woman", whilst listening to an AM station in Catskill that was barely audible on my transistor radio in the spring of 1979. We have a different video over at The Land of Whatever, but this clip comes from The Midnight Special in 1980.



Some of the other fellas in the band had to make up for the lack of an anonymous female singer who appeared on the studio track.

Saturday Morning's Forgotten Heroes: Web Woman in The World Within (1978)

Web Woman (Linda Gary) battles Dr. Abyss, who has claimed control of the inner earth for his own power-crazed schemes. Here's "The World Within":



Rating: B.

You Know The Voice: Allan Melvin (1976)

By 1976, Allan Melvin was making recurring appearances on All in The Family, and was a year away from reprising as Magilla Gorilla as part of Scooby's All-Star Laff-a-Lympics. Allan also found time to make more commercials.

Here, Allan is shilling for Remington electric shavers.

From Primetime to Daytime: Silent Library (2009)

MTV and its Canadian counterpart, MuchMusic, each agreed to acquire the English language version of a Japanese series. Over here, it was known as Silent Library, which aired mostly at night, with reruns on Saturday mornings, hence its placement here.

The series started off with just civilian contestants, but, predictably, as ratings began to flail away, MTV decided to up the ante by doing crossovers with some of their own shows (i.e. Jersey Shore) and other celebrities, including, in this March 2011 installment, a half dozen WWE superstars, only one of which, Dolph Ziggler, is still with WWE nine years later. Curt Hawkins (Brian Myers) is returning to Impact Wrestling. Trent Beretta, now known simply as Trent?, is with AEW. Chris Masters, JTG, & Caylon Croft, Beretta's partner at the time, are either in the indies or off the grid.



Four "seasons" were produced over a two year period (2009-11), and the above episode was an example of how Silent Library had jumped the shark. As for Zero, the show's host, sorry, man, but this IS a game show of a sort. Changing the show to an all-star format is usually a bad sign.

Rating: C-.

You Know The Voices: Paul Lynde & Alvy Moore (1963)

Well before either took a detour into cartoon work, Paul Lynde and Alvy Moore guested on a 1st season episode of Burke's Law, part of a star studded cast that included Zsa Zsa Gabor, Chill Wills, and John Saxon.

Alvy plays a chauffeur, who, with the maid (Gabor), finds the corpse of the week a couple of minutes in. Paul plays an associate of the deceased, and apparently has a problem maintaining his composure when we first see him.



Each man would return for another go-round in separate episodes.

Saturday Morning's Greatest Hits: I'd Really Love to See You Tonight (1976)

England Dan & John Ford Coley's "I'd Really Love to See You Tonight" has remained a staple of adult contemporary radio, more than 40 years after it'd climbed the charts. Here, the guys are introduced by Wolfman Jack on The Midnight Special:



By the end of the 70's, the act had split, but that wasn't the last we'd hear of England Dan, not by a long shot.

Dropping the "England" monicker, he went by his given name, Dan Seals, and scored a couple of big hits on the country charts, going solo with "Bop", and a duet with fellow 70's icon Marie Osmond, "Meet me in Montana". For what it's worth, Dan's brother, Jim, was one half of another iconic 70's duo, Seals & Crofts.

A lesson in how to put on a show: Our Gang Follies of 1936 (1935)

Hal Roach's Our Gang already had a couple of musical shorts under their belts when they released "Our Gang Follies of 1936" at the end of 1935 (italics mine). Darla Hood makes her debut here, billed as Cookie, but she'd drop the nickname in her next appearance.

Scotty Beckett left the troupe after this one, although one more short produced before "Follies" was released soon after.

Let's look at it this way. If Roach's goal was to parody Busby Berkeley, he succeeded.

Rating: B.

On The Air: PAW Patrol (2013)

In 1996, Warner Bros. thought they had a big hit action series with Road Rovers, which had six dogs given human speech and various skills and abilities. WB cancelled the show after one season, leaving it as a cult favorite.

Seventeen years later, Nickelodeon introduced PAW Patrol for Nick Jr.. Six new dogs, all puppies, with a 10 year old boy as the team leader. Some folks love it. Some critics are hating it for irrational reasons.

The reason we're talking it up now, with a movie due in a year's time, is because White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany, aka the Duchess of Dumb, mistakenly claimed PAW Patrol was being cancelled. Not true, not with said movie and an 8th season on the way. McEnany did was she does best, embarrass herself in public, with her fountain of misinformation today.

Here's the intro:



I've actually seen pieces of the show in passing. Terrific CGI animation, mass age appeal. I don't get why people are hating on it. It does make older viewers like me wish WB never cancelled Road Rovers.

Rating: A.

You Know The Voice: Arleen Sorkin (1980's?)

From Days of Our Lives:

Calliope (Arleen Sorkin) turns up in a fantasy sequence dressed as----wait for it----a court jester, which, as it happens, was the inspiration for Harley Quinn, whom Arleen voiced on Batman: The Animated Series and a few video games, among other things.

Seems Arleen was a college friend of Harley's co-creator, Paul Dini.

Arleen's resume also includes America's Funniest People (w/Dave Coulier) and Duet. Today, she's retired from show business.

Looney TV: Napoleon Bunny-Part (1956)

As you can tell from the title, Bugs Bunny somehow tunnels into France and meets Napoleon. Just dig the twist ending and the clever use of an advertising slogan in "Napoleon Bunny-Part":

Pay close attention to the exit of Napoleon. If a certain fellow in Washington doesn't get his head on straight in the next 5 1/2 months, he's going to be meeting those guys in the white coats.

Rating: A.

Saturday School: Frogger in Blackboard Bungle (1983)

Frogger (Bob Sarlatte) and friends go undercover in college to help a genius chemist with a fuel formula, only to thwart a "phantom" who belonged in a Scooby-Doo episode. Here's "Blackboard Bungle":



Bob Sarlatte, in addition to his TV work, was for many years the stadium announcer for the NFL's San Francisco 49ers. Go figure.

Rating: B.

Coming Attractions: Beavis & Butt-Head hold a presser (2020)

Different decade, same lack of brains.

Beavis & Butt-Head will return later this year, as previously reported, this time on Comedy Central, after a 2011 revival on Empty-V failed to spark up fresh interest in the series.

To promote the latest relaunch, the boys (voiced by series creator Mike Judge) hold a press conference. Sort of.



Personally, CC should've gotten the 2011 series instead of Empty-V, but then, Viacom at the time was overrun with morons in management.

Looney TV: Hare Trigger (1945)

Apparently, the folks at WB figured that having Bugs Bunny get the better of Elmer Fudd might just be getting boring, so they created a new foe for Bugs to fight.

There'd been two prototypes before Yosemite Sam made his official debut in 1945's "Hare Trigger".

What we learned: While Bugs can play a fiddle right-handed, he is a lefty as a banjo player. Ye scribe can relate. I'm more comfortable playing air guitar left handed. I digress.

Edit, 7/9/24: Dailymotion deleted the video. In its place is a short excerpt.

​

Rating: A.

Saturtainment: House of Hashimoto (1960)

Bob Kuwahara's 1960 short, "House of Hashimoto", may seem to be the debut of Hashimoto-san, but the character had bowed a year earlier.

Hashimoto (John Myhers) reunites with old American friend who's now a reporter, and the tale he spins leads to a predictable ending.



What strikes me as odd is that Terrytoons never considered the prospect of Hashimoto meeting Mighty Mouse, which would've boosted the former's profile, even in later years.

Rating: A-.

Game Time: Kangaroo in Tail of The Cowardly Lion (1984)

From season 2 of Saturday Supercade:

"The Tail of The Cowardly Lion" has zero to do with The Wizard of Oz, as this is set during the winter, but there is a lion in the zoo who can't defend himself against those pesky monkeys. Looks like Mama Kangaroo & Joey have something to do about that....



No rating.

Toon Sports: The Nile a Minute 500 (Fender Bender 500, 1990)

The Fender Bender 500 goes global, as the field heads for Egypt for "The Nile a Minute 500". If it feels more like an old school Wacky Races episode, well, that's kinda the point. Shadoe Stevens has the call.



No rating.

Saturtainment: Dinky Dog at the Circus (1978)

Dinky Dog (Frank Welker) wreaks havoc at a traveling circus where his owners, Monica & Sandy (Julie Bennett & Jackie Joseph), and their Uncle Dudley (Frank Nelson) are volunteering for 2 weeks. However, Dinky also falls for a lioness, while Sandy has the hots for a lion tamer (Don Messick).

Here's "Dinky at The Circus":



If you've ever wondered where they got the idea for the "Beethoven" movies and subsequent cartoon series, well....!

Rating: C.

Family Guy's song & dance team at the Emmys (2007)

More than a decade after Beavis & Butt-Head made history as the first animated characters to appear "in person" at the Oscars, Fox asked Seth MacFarlane to have Brian & Stewie from Family Guy appear at the Emmys, which allowed for some good natured tweaking of the competing networks.

Like, check out the reaction from Charlie Sheen (Two and a Half Men).....



I wonder if any of The Simpsons had actually appeared before any of this.....

Coming Attractions (?): Star Trek: Lower Decks (2020)

The 4th Star Trek series coming to CBS All Access is the first animated series for the streaming service.

Star Trek: Lower Decks is a comedy series from Alex Kurtzman (one of the folks behind the recent Trek movie series) and Mike McMahan (Rick & Morty) that employs the Titmouse animation house, which also works on Rick & Morty and other current animated series, using the same CalArts style so trendy in cable animation these days.

Check out this sample:



The voice cast includes toon vet Fred Tatasciore, plus Jerry O'Connell (ex-Sliders, Crossing Jordan, My Secret Identity) and Dawnn Lewis (Doc McStuffins, ex-A Different World). The 10 episode 1st season begins dropping on CBS All Access on August 6. Trust me. This ain't your parents' Trek.

Retro Toy Chest: Remember Johnny Lightning? (1969)

With the success Mattel was enjoying with their Hot Wheels line, you knew there'd be imitators.

Topper Toys entered the fray in 1969 with Johnny Lightning, and landed a deal with auto racing legends Al Unser & Mario Andretti to endorse the product in the early 70's......



Yes, that's Jackson Beck as the announcer.

Today, the Johnny Lightning brand has passed through several hands since Topper was closed down in 1971. If you're lucky, you might be able to find either new or vintage products at your toy stores....

Saturtainment: From Bed to Worse (The Ant & The Aardvark, 1971)

The Ant & The Aardvark's 1971 entry, "From Bed to Worse", is a knockoff of an old Tweety & Sylvester short, with a similar setting. There's a dog in between Charlie Ant & the aardvark (both voiced by John Byner). Athena Lorde voices the nurse.



Rating: A-.

Toonfomercial: Dancing coffee? (1974)

I'm not entirely sure if it was Art Clokey (Davey & Goliath, Gumby) or Will Vinton who was commissioned to do this next item. I'm not even sure if these are claymation or puppets. Anyway, the makers of Taster's Choice coffee thought this might be a little different to promote the product....

You Know The Voice: Casey Kasem (1974)

I've had this one up before, but as with other entries, it's been deleted by YouTube. This time, let's hope this sticks, because this copy's been on YouTube for six years.

Anyway, Casey Kasem appeared on the Dean Martin Celebrity Roast, playing an aspiring comedy writer from Argentina hired to be a writer for Don Rickles. The joke is the mustache on Casey bearing a resemblance to that of a certain German dictator. Casey makes the most out of his 2 minutes, even if Dean gets his name wrong at the end....

This is worth watching from start to finish, as Rickles would later gain some toon cred with the "Toy Story" movies.



We wouldn't have minded if Casey dusted off his Peter Lorre impersonation he used on Super Friends a year earlier. It would've been even funnier.

Toonfomercial: Humpty Dumpty shills for Morningstar Farms (1977)

Morningstar Farms was originally a brand operated by an independent company, Worthington Farms, which was a subsidiary of Miles Laboratories. That meant that the Morningstar brand was under the same umbrella as, say for example, Flintstones and One-a-Day vitamins. The vitamins are now under the Bayer umbrella, and Worthington was purchased by Kellogg's more than 20 years ago.

Kellogg's still makes Morningstar Farms veggie products, but in 1977, Miles Laboratories, seeing the success they had marketing the Flintstones and Bugs Bunny vitamins, commissioned an idependent animation house to produce this ad, with nursery rhyme icon Humpty Dumpty as its pitchman. Chuck McCann (ex-Far Out Space Nuts) voices Humpty.

On The Air: Disenchantment (2018)

Matt Groening has poked fun at families and small town life for over three decades on The Simpsons. In the late 90's, he took a swing at science fiction with the comedy-adventure series, Futurama.

Should anyone be surprised, then, with his latest, Disenchantment?

The Netflix series, which should see some new episodes dropping before the end of the year, skewers the usual tropes of fairy tales and the fantasy genre in general.

A Princess, unhappy with an arranged and planned marriage, finds a way out, thanks to a demon named Luci (Eric Andre) and an exiled elf named, well, Elfo, who, because of exile, has been separated from his girlfriend.

Need we mention that Princess Bean is also a bar hopping rogue?

Check out the trailer:



I'm just going to go out on a limb here and say that if Bean's looking for her true love, it's already there, and leave it go at that.

Rating: A.

Toonfomercial: Cookie Crook never learns (1994)

In the waning days of Ralston-Purina manufacturing Cookie Crisp cereal, their original mascot, Cookie Jarvis, was sent back to magician school, replaced by Cookie Crook and his nemesis, Officer Crumb, aka Cookie Cop. Along the way, Crook was given a sidekick, Chip, who actually was a reluctant partner-in-crime.

In this spot, Crook & Chip intend to disrupt a pet show.



Ralston sold Cookie Crisp and the Chex family of cereals to General Mills in 1997, and all General Mills did was get rid of Officer Crumb and Cookie Crook, promoting Chip to the star of the ads, then turning Chip into a wolf. Who can figure?

From Primetime to Daytime: Bully Beatdown (2009)

Empty-V dipped its toes into mixed martial arts in 2009, six years after abandoning the WWE, and two years after the disaster that was Wrestling Society X.

Bully Beatdown, from producer Mark Burnett, lasted three 8-episode seasons, and deserved to continue, in this writer's opinion, but for the network's preference for spamming "reality" shows like Jersey Shore into the ground.

We go into more detail on this over at The Land of Whatever, but let's share a segment spotlighting Eddie Alvarez:

Rating: A.

Toon Legends: Mighty Mouse in The Sun Harnesser (1979)

It's been a while since we checked on Mighty Mouse, so let's take a look at a 1979 Filmation entry, "The Sun Harnesser":



Wikipedia now is claiming that producer Lou Scheimer voiced Mighty Mouse. Uh, I doubt that very seriously, and some other Wikipedia pages have similarly been tampered with of late.

Rating: B.

Saturtainment: Three Stooges in Yes, We Have no Bonanza (1939)

Howdy, pardners! The Three Stooges are in the Old West for 1939's "Yes, We Have no Bonanza" (title is a parody of the song, "Yes, We Have no Bananas"). The guys are singing waiters, working with their barmaid-girlfriends, whose father is in debt to their boss, who's also a bank robber. Got all that? Now, saddle up and ride! Yoooo!

Rating: A.

Retro Toy Chest: Remember Wrinkles, the talking dog? (1986)

Lakeside, by 1986, was a subsidiary to Coleco. The company introduced a talking dog puppet, Wrinkles, to audiences in time for the holiday rush that year. Unfortunately, Wrinkles didn't last beyond the end of the decade, if that.

In this spot, Wrinkles is interviewed by Rich Little, impersonating Johnny Carson. The ad is prefaced by the tail end of an ad for Drixoral, narrated by Burgess Meredith (ex-Batman, Korg: 70,000 B. C.).

Saturday Morning's Greatest Hits: Candy Kisses (1970)

From Archie's Funhouse:

The Archies' "Candy Kisses" will never be confused with George Morgan's country hit of the same name, which charted in 1949, but it does make a nice summer treat.....

Saturday Morning's Forgotten Heroes: A complete episode of Cool McCool (1966)

It's been quite a while since we checked in with Cool McCool. In this episode, you will find:

Cool McCool in "The Odd Boxes Caper" & "Garden of Evil". Cool (Bob McFadden) battles Jack-in-The-Box & The Rattler (both voiced by Chuck McCann).

The Komedy Kops (Tom, Dick, & Harry McCool) in "The Vanishing Shoehorns". The McCool brothers (McFadden & McCann) discover a visiting strongman, Mighty Morris (McCann), has a bizarre collection of shoehorns.



Some, if not all, of the animation was outsourced to studios in Australia by King Features, even though some of their regular staff, including director Gerry Ray, worked on the show.

Rating: B-.

Saturday Morning's Greatest Hits: Biggest Part of Me (1980)

From The Midnight Special:

Wolfman Jack introduces Ambrosia's hit song, "Biggest Part of Me", and this version, as Jack says, is a wee bit longer than the radio version we all listened to back in the day.

Saturtainment: The Creative World (Journey to The Center of The Earth, 1967)

Professor Oliver Lindenbrook (Ted Knight) and his party find that the trail has been sabotaged by Count Sagnussen (Knight), but enter "The Creative World". This episode of Journey to The Center of The Earth has had its episode title card edited off.



Rating: A.

You Know The Voice: Pat Harrington (1979)

By the time this episode of Password Plus aired 41 years ago today, Pat Harrington's cartoon career had long since ended, and Harrington was starring on CBS' One Day at a Time.

Can Sugar Crisp really turn a kid into a hero? (1960)

Well, blow me down!

In this 1960 ad, Post would like you to believe that eating Sugar Crisp would give you enough energy to fight off pirates, like this little boy.

It's obviously a riff on those Popeye cartoons, with the cereal subbing for spinach....



Ironically, Popeye himself would be licensed to General Foods at the end of the 60's to promote Start orange drink.

Saturday Morning's Forgotten Heroes: The Lone Ranger in Valley of The Dead (1966)

The Lone Ranger (Michael Rye) must prevent a war between the Cheyenne and the Army, and, at the same time, capture a pair of outlaw brothers impersonating Army soldiers. Here's "Valley of The Dead":



Brave Eagle's words at the end still resonate today.

Rating: A.

Toon Rock: Butter on a Pop Tart (2013)

From Family Guy comes this quick novelty.

Peter Griffin & Glenn Quagmire (both voiced by Seth MacFarlane) decide to become singers, but you know this ain't gonna last. It gives MacFarlane, a talented singer in his own voice, an opportunity to actually bring those talents forward. Here's "Butter on a Pop Tart":

Toonfomercial: Remember Newton Owl & Cocoa Hoots? (1972)

Kellogg's Cocoa Hoots wasn't on the market very long in 1972, probably was off the shelves before the year was out, and so was its mascot, Newton Owl.

This introductory spot features Pat Buttram (ex-Green Acres) as Newton.



Buttram was also heard in Disney's funny animal adaptation of "Robin Hood", also in 1972, and I believe worked on some other films for the studio.

From Comics to Toons: A complete episode of Spider-Man (1967)

Two of Spider-Man's best known enemies, the Lizard and Electro, debut in this episode.

First up, Spider-Man (Paul Soles) travels to Florida to try to stop the Lizard. Then, back in New York, he's predictably framed by J. Jonah Jameson for a robbery actually committed by Electro.

As you can tell, the music mix overlaps the lyrics to the theme music and some of the episode dialogue for some reason.

Rating: B-.

Toonfomercial: Who says dogs & cats don't have anything in common? (1978)

Hartz's ad agency thought it'd be a cool idea to promote their flea & tick collars by having a dog and a cat unite for a common cause.....



You just don't see this kind of ad much anymore, man.

Coming Attractions: Beavis & Butt-Head return---again

                              Image courtesy YouTube.

Believe it or else, Mike Judge has been approached, not by MTV, which botched Beavis & Butt-Head's last comeback attempt in 2011, but by sister network Comedy Central, about bringing the Texas Twits back for another round.

2021 marks the 30th anniversary of the boys' debut on Liquid Television, "Frog Baseball", and while MTV fumbled the ball on the 20th anniversary, subbing in commentary on reality television for excerpts of music videos (because Empty-V doesn't care about music videos anymore), one wonders what CC will do this time.

I know it might come as a shock to some folks, but the guys are cult favorites, after all. They went legit during their first run, appearing at the Oscars and The Late Show With David Letterman during that period (1993-7).

Stay tuned.