Johnston McCulley lived long enough to see his creation, Zorro, adapted for television for the first time by Disney & ABC, and to appear on To Tell The Truth. Speaking of ABC, Dick Clark (American Bandstand) is on the panel with Hy Gardner, Kitty Carlisle, & Polly Bergen.
McCulley appears in the evening's final game.
From The New Adventures of Mighty Mouse and Heckle & Jeckle:
Mighty Mouse is in ancient Egypt (!). Otherwise, it's the usual chaos in "Mouse of The Desert".
From Archie's Weird Mysteries:
A magic potion that opens a portal between a movie and the real world falls into the hands of lovestruck Reggie, who wants to bring a B-movie actress he sees in an old flick at a second run theatre into Riverdale. Chaos, of course, erupts in "Cinemadness":
Part of the open and the last few seconds of the episode have been edited off.
Milton Bradley (now part of Hasbro) produced the Robotix toy line in the mid-80's. Since then, the company, of course, was absorbed by Hasbro, which has, in turn, integrated the Robotix into its Transformers universe.
In 1985, Robotix was adapted for television by Marvel & Sunbow for the syndicated Super Sunday (or Super Saturday) block, which was a 90 minute package also including Jem (previously reviewed) and Bigfoot & The Monster Machines. Of these, Jem was the only survivor, as the others were cancelled after 1 season.
Let's take a look at the opener. The intro, narrated by Victor Caroli, has a familiar theme to it.
Wally Cox might've been the last guy to do an underwear commercial, but he did do one for Jockey in 1972. Bionic Disco uncovered this and posted it to YouTube earlier this morning.
Utica Club beer had a successful ad campaign featuring some beer stein puppets named Schultz & Dooley. Oh, there were others, too, but these characters were around for nearly 20 years before the ad campaign came to an end.
In this sampler, we have some gangster mugs (get it?) in a police lineup. Voices by Jonathan Winters.
Remember this ad airing on Saturday mornings in the 70's?
In 1950's "A Merry Chase", Heckle & Jeckle are escaped convicts being tracked by detective and Deputy Dimwit.
Popeye gets a telegram informing him that he will inherit his Uncle Abrakadabra's fortune. That includes a crystal ball that actually can see into the future. Of course, Brutus wants in on that, but you know how this goes.
"Crystal Ball Brawl" is not to be confused with "The Crystal Brawl", produced for Paramount 3 years earlier. "Crystal Ball Brawl" comes from Larry Harmon, director Paul Fennell, and pre-Filmation staffers Lou Scheimer, Ervin Kaplan, Hal Sutherland, and musical director Gordon Zahler.
Warner Bros., or, more specifically, James Gunn (Peacemaker), wants to give Wile E. Coyote some love by letting him star in his own feature film.
"Coyote vs. ACME", due next year, has the lonesome loser going to court against ACME, which supplied him with so many devices that never worked for him against the Road Runner. Gunn will co-produce the live-action/CGI feature, set to hit theatres in the summer of 2023.
Peacemaker star John Cena will appear as ACME's current boss, as if the dude wasn't busy enough already, since Peacemaker has been renewed for a 2nd season, to be directed entirely by Gunn.
Rather than kick the Coyote when he's down and play "Lonesome Loser", this classic compilation reel will do.
3 years after Mark Russell & Stephen Byrne's acclaimed maxiseries hit stores, the Wonder Twins are getting a movie of their own. No joke, this time.
What's likely to happen, in this writer's opinion, is an adaptation of the 2019-20 series, so they'll be looking for some age appropriate actors for the roles.
My own belief is that any film project involving the Twins should be animated, be it CGI or traditional line animation or a combination of both. I honestly, as a long time Twins fan, can't see the feasibility of a live-action movie. After years of abuse from certain so-called critics, the Twins finally got some respect 3 years ago. The script rightfully should adapt the book. Anything less would be, as Jayna herself used to say, back in the day, spacey.
Stay tooned.
From The Archie Show:
Following a demonstration of "The Angel" dance (Jughead with angel's wings?), the Archies perform "You Little Angel, You":
Edit, 8/19/22: The video had to be changed due to the previous copy being deleted by YouTube.
Zorro (Henry Darrow) offers to help Captain Ramon with some pirates who are blocking cannons, furniture for the Alcalde, and some incoming emigres from Spain, in "The Blockade":
The Green Hornet (Van Williams) investigates a series of arson fires, while reporter Mike Axford (Lloyd Gough) calls on an old friend to help with the investigation. Gerald S. O'Loughlin, later of The Rookies, guest stars in "The Hornet & The Firefly".
"Moe! Larry! The Cheese!"
In 1935's "Horses' Collars", Curly Howard of The Three Stooges has a reaction to the sight of a mouse that forces either Moe or Larry to feed him a specific type of cheese.
The basic plot has the boys venturing out west as undercover detectives to help a client retrieve an IOU her father was duped into signing by a shady rival.
Toward the end of The Lone Ranger's initial run, General Mills began a promotion with some "mystery adventures" in boxes of Cheerios, Wheaties, & Kix.
The Ranger (Clayton Moore) is interviewed by announcer Bob Warren:
In 1939, the Fleischers had produced a 2-reel Popeye featurette in which he was cast after a sort as Aladdin. 22 years later, "Aladdin's Lamp" comes into play again, this time in a more modern setting, as Olive Oyl (Mae Questel) buys the lamp at auction, but the Sea Hag (Questel again) covets it for her own selfish purposes.
Quaker Oats wasn't the only sponsor employing legendary producer Jay Ward for animated ads.
Dodge, in hyping The Dodge Boys, commissioned Ward and his crew to produce some ads, including this 1967 piece.
Rice Krispies' elves, Snap, Crackle, & Pop, are all dressed for a wedding, and help a junior bridesmaid with her breakfast.
Sounds like Don Messick took on two of the elves, with Daws Butler being the other. Paul Winchell was too busy with Smurfs, it seems.
If there was a real reason Disney flopped with Disney's House of Mouse, ending the series a month into its 3rd season, it might've been because they opted to create a running storyline instead of making this a straight variety show, which would've been waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay better.
In the opener, "Stolen Cartoons", Pete (Jim Cummings), the landlord, steals a number of toons from the library in a vain effort to force Mickey (Wayne Allwine) to close the club. As toon villains are wont to do, Pete is foiled at the end because his own arrogance and vanity get in the way.
When Chex cereals were part of Ralston-Purina, the company decided to cash in on the popularity of spy movies & TV shows with a 1966 promotion that included the predictable merchandise---decoder rings, invisible ink pens, etc.---in specially marked boxes.
In this spot, Butch Patrick, fresh from The Munsters, dons the trenchcoat, roaming with a briefcase full of cereal.....
After 2 feature films, R. L. Stine's Goosebumps is getting a new life on the small screen, this time on Disney+.
Of course, this is not the first time that a youth horror series has been revived. Nickelodeon's Are You Afraid of The Dark? was brought back a ways back, but the revival didn't last. Goosebumps, though, was the one that started the trend of adapting youth horror books for television. Stine's Nightmare Room spent one season at Kids' WB! (2001), and hasn't been seen since, for example.
Given that Goosebumps is now at Disney, it could have a chance to match or eclipse its Fox run. Stay tuned.
Fraggle Rock, when it debuted on HBO in 1983, was set up as an after-school treat, and, for all we know, could've aired on weekends, too.
The series was Jim Henson's 1st collaboration with HBO, and was produced in Canada for the CBC, in addition to HBO. Fraggle Rock lasted five seasons on HBO, which, I think, might've been during the first half of each calendar year (1983-7). I remember seeing promos for the show on other channels featuring Traveling Matt, an uncle to one of the lead characters, but missed out on seeing actual episodes of the series, even during the occasional free weekends, where HBO used this as an opportunity to gain added subscribers in those days.
As you'll see, there is one lone human in the cast, Doc (Gerry Parkes), who, until the very end of the series, is unaware of the Fraggles' existence, although his dog, Sprocket, is aware.
Let's go back to season 4 for "Wonder Mountain":
Edit, 6/2/24: Had to change the video to a simple excerpt:
Reggae legend Bob Marley recorded "Three Little Birds" in 1977, but it wasn't released as a single until 1980, when it peaked in the top 20 on the UK charts.
40 years later, a flash animated video was produced, in which the titular birds are just window dressing, while a wolf stalks a pig. Said pig also offers the wolf a blunt, which would turn off some people.
After Quaker Oats pulled Quake cereal off the shelves, the company introduced Quangaroos, an orange-flavored cereal, and, in lockstep, commissioned Jay Ward's studio to produce a new series of ads to introduce the product's mascot, Simon the kangaroo, or, if you prefer, Quangaroo.
Quangaroos debuted in 1973, but was gone five years later. Ward produced a series of ads that pitted Simon (Bill Scott attempting an Australian accent) vs. Quisp (Daws Butler) in an around the world race, with Quake to present a golden cereal bowl to the winner. Note that it's not William Conrad as Quake this time. Conrad was starring in CBS' Cannon at the time, and it sounds like Marvin Miller (ex-Aquaman, The Millionaire), who otherwise would begin working with the Kroffts around this time, takes over as Quake.
Paul Frees, of course, narrates.
"Ghost Hounders", the 1st season finale of Pound Puppies, was a clear case of ABC having a little fun at their own expense, as it parodies "Ghostbusters". Season 1 of The Real Ghostbusters, I believe, ended the same day that this episode aired.
Anyway, Whopper's hero worship of Biff Barker leads to Biff showing up to bust a phony ghost linked to the latest scheme of Katrina Stoneheart (Pat Carroll).
The opening sequence has been edited off.
From Archie's Funhouse comes a Giant Jukebox entry with the Archies, but the intro was edited off. Here's "Don't Run From Love".
The year is 1967. Linus the Lionhearted had been bounced off the airwaves, but that didn't mean producer Ed Graham was done with Post Cereals. Not if you go by this next item.
Commentators on YouTube mistakenly assumed that Jay Ward, who had contracts with Quaker & General Mills, was also being asked to help promote Post's short-lived Corn Crackos. Its mascot, Cracko, might well be the British or Australian cousin to Linus' pal, Billie Boid, which gives me the thought that it was Graham and his studio, or at least some of the same animators, who worked for other studios concurrently, that dreamed this up:
