Today, Popeye's restaurants are known for their Louisiana Cajun recipes for chicken. The chain, which launched in 1972, acquired a license three years later to use the image of its more famous namesake, Popeye The Sailor (Jack Mercer), who starred in a series of ads with his lady fair, Olive Oyl.
From what we can discern, while Mercer was brought in to reprise as Popeye, Mae Questel, who would soon begin doing ads for Scott Towels, was not. Not sure if it's Marilyn Schreffler, who was hired by Hanna-Barbera three years later, or another actress, as Olive, who sings along with the cashiers in this spot.
Bluto would make his final appearance as Brutus in another spot.
Luis Cardenas, owner of what was, at the time, the largest drum kit in the world, had released a solo CD while on a break from his band, Renegade, in 1986. The first single, a cover of Del Shannon's "Runaway", failed to crack the top 40, peaking at #83. Why that was, I don't know. Shannon appears in the video, along with Donny Osmond and some CGI dinosaurs, the latter of which explains why we're posting it here.
I think what Cardenas & Renegade had hoped to do was cut into some of Menudo's popularity, albeit with a harder rocking sound. Unfortunately, despite the cool video, which was nominated for a Grammy and had some decent airplay on MTV, it didn't happen.
This was what put Arthur Rankin, Jr. & Jules Bass on the map nearly 60 years ago, after their first series for syndication had flopped a few years earlier.
Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer, based on the Johnny Marks song, made famous by Gene Autry, tells the story, in greater detail, of why Rudolph (Billie Richards) was ostracized by his fellow reindeer, until recruited by Santa one fateful Christmas Eve.
Burl Ives narrates.
Edit, 11/11/24: The video's been privatized by NBC-Universal. In its place is a screencap.
Popeye, like everyone else, was expecting Santa Claus on Christmas Eve. However, the Sea Hag has other ideas, taking up the tack that she hates Christmas.
Here's "Spinach Greetings":
If you've seen the Sea Hag's later appearances under the Hanna-Barbera, you'd notice that they changed her skin color from dark green. Don't ask.
Here's a live-action Howdy Doody short for the holidays.
Howdy, Buffalo Bob Smith, & Clarabell (Bob Keeshan) fly to the North Pole to investigate the disappearance of Santa Claus. As it turns out, Ugly Sam (a clean shaven Dayton Allen) is dealing with a case of mistaken identity, and isn't exactly too sharp, either......
See what I mean about Sam being slow on the uptake?
It's kind of weird hearing Davey (Dick Beals) claim that he hates Christmas in this 1965 episode, but that is the crux of the lesson, which even Goliath (Hal Smith, The Andy Griffith Show) has a hand in teaching, in "Christmas Lost & Found":
Popeye returned to CBS & Hanna-Barbera in 1987 after a few years away, during which time Jack Mercer had passed on, so impressionist Maurice LaMarche (The Real Ghostbusters) was brought in to succeed Mercer. Otherwise, cast members Allan Melvin (Bluto, Wimpy) and Marilyn Schreffler (Olive, Sea Hag, et al) returned from the previous run.
This, though, was the first iteration to offer Popeye & Olive as husband & wife. Likewise, Bluto had gotten married, and each rival has a son of their own. Talk about your time jumps. Bluto's son, Tank, and Popeye, Jr. are nearly teenagers, even though it'd been 4 years since The Popeye & Olive Show had ended. H-B and King Features didn't learn anything from the time jump that Tabitha had experienced more than a decade earlier when spun off from Bewitched, as, like Tabitha, Popeye & Son was dry-docked after 1 season.
In the opener, spinach-hating Junior must take matters into his own hands and rescue Bluto's yacht party, including the Mayor of Sweet Haven (Rip Taylor, ex-Here Comes The Grump), from the Sea Hag. Then, the predictable tale of a wedding anniversary nearly forgotten, and we learn how our couples, yes, including Bluto & Lizzie, got married.
12 years later, comics & television writer Peter David wrote a 1-shot comic that offered a different take on Popeye & Olive's wedding. Nearly 25 years later, however, it's still not canon.
I have to admit I'm not a fan of the William Snyder-Gene Deitch era of Popeye. They weren't exactly geniuses on the order of the Fleischers, or even Hanna-Barbera (Snyder & Deitch also did some disservice to Tom & Jerry, but that's another story), but at least they introduced American audiences to the British H-B, Halas & Bachelor, during their brief run.
In "Weight For Me", released in the winter of 1961, Olive (Mae Questel) has gained an inordinate amount of weight while Popeye (Jack Mercer) & Brutus (Jackson Beck) have been away. Brutus, of course, likes Olive the way she is, but Popeye believes she can lose some weight.......
In a way, Hallmark Cards marked the 30th anniversary of A Charlie Brown Christmas by featuring Charlie, Linus, Lucy, Snoopy, & Woodstock, in a commercial. Lucy, unfortunately, alternates between crabby and smug.
I don't know if anyone still has those ornaments, 28 years later.
65 years ago, Brenda Lee recorded "Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree". To learn that it hit #1 on the chart this year speaks to how much of an iconic Christmas classic it's become.
4 years ago, an animated music video was produced.
Christmas, a la Goof Troop. The episode was directed by a trio of auteurs more closely associated with either Cartoon Network or Nickelodeon---Rob Renzetti, Robert Alvarez, and Genndy Tartatovsky.
Some people will tell you, even though Bing Crosby passed away 46 years ago, that Christmas just isn't the same without him.
That might explain why his renditions of classic Christmas songs were adapted into animated music videos three years ago, and here's the latest in that group, "Winter Wonderland":
We've all misheard musical lyrics, and it's one such case that led to a 1997 children's book, in turn, adapted for television 2 years later by Matt Groening (The Simpsons, Futurama) into a primetime special for Fox.
Olive The Other Reindeer is what you get if you mishear the line from "Rudolph, The Red Nosed Reindeer" which otherwise is "all of the other reindeer". Olive (Drew Barrymore) is actually a Jack Russell terrier who hears a "clarion call", if you will, when one of Santa's legendary reindeer is sidelined.
Barrymore doubles as co-executive producer with Groening. Additional voice talent includes Dan Castelleneta (The Simpsons), Billy West (Futurama), Ed Asner, Diedrich Bader (The Drew Carey Show), and toon vet Kath Soucie.
Olive has moved around the dial in recent years, airing on Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network, My Network TV, and WB, among other places.
It wasn't one of the best animated Fruity Pebbles ads, even with modern tech, but the idea behind this 2001 promotion was giving away some spy toys for the kiddo's, as demonstrated by Fred & Barney.
To think it starts when the cereal magically vanishes from the supermarket while Wilma & Pebbles are shopping....
By 1977, Burger King had rebooted their mascot into a live-action monarch gifted with magic powers, whom we've seen before.
At Christmas, Burger King began offering plush replicas of the King as an incentive to buy a $5 block of gift certificates. Actress Leah Ayres (The Edge of Night, later of The Bradys) is the cashier.
Before a series of animated commercials began in the late 60's, Burger King tried out a puppet version of their royal mascot. Actor Allen Swift (Underdog, King Leonardo) still voiced the character.
I think you can see why they discarded the puppet as fast as they did.
"Mele Kalikimaka" is a Hawaiian Christmas song, recorded by Bing Crosby & The Andrews Sisters in 1950, then reissued by Crosby on a Christmas album 5 years later. The song was written by Robert Alexander Anderson, a friend of Crosby's, in 1949.
70 years after its initial release, the song merited a flash animated music video.
The Canadian producers of the 2007 remake of George of The Jungle served up something Jay Ward & Bill Scott had failed to do 40 years earlier. That being, a Christmas episode.
Two Christmas shorts here. "Jungle Bells" "The Goat of Christmas Presents", and it all starts with "Jungle Bells", in which Ursula teaches George and the gang about the holiday.
This episode was the first that aired on Cartoon Network, understandably, as the rest of the series would follow several weeks later.
However, after initial cancellation, Classic Media brought the series back in Canada in 2016, with more changes. George looked more like his original design. Ursula and Magnolia, the latter a witch doctor's daughter in season 1, were merged together (in 1967, Magnolia was Tom Slick's girl), and there were other alterations that didn't make it to the US. Like, unnecessary, eh?
A discussion on the controversial Sacco & Venzetti trial leads to a re-enactment in class, but problems arise for the student assigned as prosecutor (Mark Lambert), when he learns his father, a judge, is embroiled in scandal.
DeForest Kelley (ex-Star Trek) guest stars.
The lessons in this story are still relevant today.
The Bobbs-Merrill Company, makers at the time of Raggedy Ann & Andy, entered into a licensing deal with CBS and with legendary animator Chuck Jones to produce a Christmas special in 1978.
"The Great Santa Claus Caper" introduces Raggedy Arthur, created by Jones, as Ann & Andy's pet/sidekick. Alexander Graham Wolf (Les Tremayne, ex-Shazam!) schemes to take over the North Pole. Comet, one of Santa's trusty reindeer, asks Ann & Andy for help.
June Foray voices Ann & Comet. Tremayne is also heard at Santa. Daws Butler is Andy. For the most part, the majority of the Jones repertory company.
I wonder, though. Alexander was modeled after Wile E. Coyote. Did Jones intend to have Mel Blanc work on this?
Marx's Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots turn 60 next year, and, yes, they're still being made. Mattel produced a version a few years back with an eye toward a movie and a Playstation game. Reportedly, the movie was being developed with actor Vin Diesel ("Guardians of The Galaxy", "The Fast & The Furious") attached.
Let's take you back to 1964, and the initial commercial, starring Bobby Buntrock (Hazel):
Those Ranger Danger skits from the 90's were remastered and posted to YouTube a year ago, to mark the WXXA kids show host's 30th anniversary. Blink, and you'd miss out, like this holiday entry, in which the Ranger wants to sit on Santa's lap one more time.
Ah yeah (and I've always heard it pronounced as Ai-Yaa).
Tweety and Sylvester are in the Civil War. Tweety is a Confederate courier, while Sylvester, who has already taken out every other courier the Confederates had, represents the Union. Here's "Rebel Without Claws":
Credited as an episode by some sources of This is The Life, "The Stableboy's Christmas", produced in 1979, features a star studded cast that includes Michael Anderson, Jr. (ex-The Monroes), Darleen Carr (ex-Sugar Time, The Streets of San Francisco), Sparky Marcus (The Bad News Bears), Frank Aletter (ex-Danger Island, It's About Time), Frank Campanella, Dave Madden (ex-The Partridge Family, Camp Runamuck), William Schallert (ex-The Patty Duke Show), and Danielle Brisebois (Archie Bunker's Place), who plays a young girl sent back in time to learn a very important life lesson when she first decides to keep a Christmas present, intended for her cousin, for herself.
This episode, as I recall, did air independently for several years in rotation with other syndicated holiday entries.
When he was just a real estate "mogul" in New York, Donald Trump struck a deal with Milton Bradley (now part of Hasbro) to develop a board game built around his then empire of properties in New York & New Jersey.
Trump: The Game debuted in 1988, but was off the shelves within 2-3 years.
Check this introductory ad:
After Hasbro absorbed competitors Milton Bradley, Kenner, & Parker Brothers (home of Monopoly), there no longer exists a need for this game, unless you know someone who collects Trump memorabilia.......
It was the mid-80's. The Cabbage Patch Kids were one of the hottest toys on the market at the time, so of course, there would be a cartoon featuring them. Not only that, but a Christmas special to boot.
The Cabbage Patch Kids' 1st Christmas, co-produced by Ruby-Spears with Woody Kling's production company, has a simple plot. The Kids, now sentient, learn about the Spirit of Christmas, and believe it is a physical entity. So they leave their patch in Georgia, and head for the big city. Now, if this sounds relatively familiar, a similar plot was employed for The Bear Who Slept Through Christmas 11 years earlier.
The Peanuts crew gets a change of pace in 1990's "Why, Charlie Brown, Why?".
Linus' friend, Janice, is diagnosed with cancer (more specifically, lukemia), taking her out of class for periods at a time. Linus, of course, is concerned, but he, and the target audience, learn about cancer in this episode, which was inspired by a request made to series creator Charles Schulz by the American Cancer Society.
In this winter scene, right before Christmas, Janice returns to school, and Linus has to defend her from a careless bully.
I don't think they did any follow-up with Janice after this one, and should've.
One reason why Tim Conway's 1st starring vehicle, Rango, flopped was because while it was a satire, it was unsure of which Western it wanted to parody on a regular basis. Rango (Conway) had a Native American sidekick (Guy Marks) who was just as eloquent in the English language as, say for example, Mingo (Ed Ames) on Daniel Boone, and these two guys, Pink Cloud (Marks) & Rango, were supposed to be in the supply room at HQ!
ABC had already cancelled the show, and burned off the remaining episodes, including this next item, in the summer of '67. "In a Little Mexican Town" sends Rango & Pink Cloud to Mexico in search of an elusive bandito that Rango unwittingly allowed to escape. Conway's best friend, Ernie Anderson, later the long time studio announcer at ABC, made the last of two appearances in this episode, and turns up around the 10 minute mark.
The other factor in Rango's quick demise? Aaron Spelling couldn't make a hit series doing comedy, carrying over from his time at Four Star.
I think PBS might've been the only network that would've aired this next item.
Rumer Godden's 1958 Christmas story, The Story of Holly & Ivy, was adapted into The Wish That Changed Christmas, produced by Romeo Muller for the Children's Television Workshop, with the sponsorship of McDonald's, which explains the bumpers with Ronald McDonald.
Voice talent includes Paul Winfield, Jonathan Winters, Beverly Garland, & Robbie Rist.
Wish was released on video, so it might've been a DTV. No rating. Just a public service.
Aunt Clara (Marion Lorne, ex-Mister Peepers) pays a visit to the Stephenses, and, predictably, transports them---and a reluctant Gladys Kravitz (Sandra Gould)---to the First Thanksgiving. Richard Bull, at the time recurring on Voyage to The Bottom of The Sea, guest stars as John Alden.
ABC relied heavily on reruns for the 1970-1 season. Check the ad that appeared in some of your favorite comics, and elsewhere, that summer:
Times listed are for the Central time zone. All of the shows in the ad have all been previously reviewed. Not included in the ad, since it was aimed for the kiddo's, is American Bandstand, which anchored the bottom end of the lineup at 12:30 (ET) until ABC cancelled the series several years later.
To refresh, Motormouse & Autocat was spun off from Cattanooga Cats. Reruns of It's The Wolf!, starring Allan Melvin (who was recurring on The Brady Bunch) & an uncredited Paul Lynde (Bewitched, Hollywood Squares), filled out the half hour. Reruns of Cattanooga Cats, with Around The World in 79 Days as the backup, moved to Sundays.
Wikipedia (take it with a grain of salt) says ABC gave the 8-9 (ET) hour back to affiliates during the winter. How WAST (now WNYT), the ABC affiliate back then, filled that time during the winter of 1971, I don't know, but can look it up another time.
We must assume that this Thanksgiving reunion had not enough room in the dining hall for all of the family.
Two sisters (Jane Curtin, Laraine Newman), their brother (Bill Murray), & their cousin (Paul Shaffer) are relegated to the kids' table in the basement by their aunt (Beatrice Arthur, the hostess du jour). That this only got 4 minutes doesn't seem fair, either.
Shaffer getting more screen time as a featured performer due to the absence of Dan Aykroyd & John Belushi (who were off making "The Blues Brothers") might've opened the eyes of NBC executives, as three years later, he began a long association with David Letterman as David's bandleader/sidekick, a partnership that would continue between NBC & CBS, for 41 years before Letterman's "retirement" from The Late Show in 2013.
Bruce "Bruno" Kirby, Jr. (billed as B. Kirby, Jr.) debuts as Herbie Considine, a student with his mind on money and money on his mind, to paraphrase Snoop Dogg, looking to use Whitman High as a funnel to get rich quick. Bruce Kirby, Sr. makes a brief appearance.
Jane Actman, who also guests in this episode, moved over to The Paul Lynde Show the next season. Eric Laneuville moved on to first Sanford & Son, then resurfaced in the 80's on St. Elsewhere before becoming a director. We know Bruno Kirby's later resume (i.e. "City Slickers", "Good Morning, Vietnam"), and he would recur during this season.
I can relate after a sort. While in high school, one student whose family was friends with mine tried to make a go of it, or so it'd seem, making a few bucks helping one of the faculty with an, ah, after school hobby, shall we say. Something about, oh, I don't know, OTB........
There'd already been two Three Stooges shorts in which Moe Howard had impersonated Hitler. He does so again in "They Stooge to Conga" for a quick gag. but the body of the story has the boys unwittingly taking a repair job at a front for a Nazi base.
10 years after Joker! Joker! Joker! went into syndication, Jack Barry's production company was back with a kid's game.
Barry-Enright Productions teamed with Quantum Media & MCA to serve up the 1st video iteration of Pictionary, which aired during the summer of 1989. Actor Brian Robbins (Head of The Class), now a producer himself, served as series host.
Wink Martindale serves up the pilot.
The current Pictionary, with Jerry O'Connell (ex-Sliders, My Secret Identity), is aimed more at adults, as was the 1997 version.
Even iconic comic strip characters need origin stories, it seems.
Jim Davis' Garfield returns to theatres in May, this time in a CGI movie from Columbia. "The Garfield Movie" has Chris Pratt ("Guardians of The Galaxy") in the title role, with Harvey Guillen (What We Do In The Shadows) providing vocal effects for Garfield's dimwitted frenemy, Odie. The cast also includes Bowen Yang (Saturday Night Live), Capital One pitchman Samuel L. Jackson ("The Marvels"), and Cecily Strong (ex-SNL; last seen shilling for Verizon).
Another tip of the cap to Steven Dolce for the tip.
Here's the trailer, which dropped earlier this week.
I don't think Davis ever intended for any sort of "origin story" for Garfield, but this is Hollywood and genre fans in 2023.
Many thanks to correspondent Steven Dolce for the tip.
Amazon Prime has announced that the DC animated movie, "Merry Little Batman", will drop December 8. In this non-continuity film, Damian Wayne is but a 6 year old. Consider this "Home Alone" crossed with the Bat-franchise, as if it was imagined by the "usual cast of idiots" at Mad Magazine.
Luke Wilson (ex-Stargirl) voices Bruce Wayne/Batman. James Cromwell has been cast as Alfred. David Hornsby (It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia) voices the Joker.
Check the trailer:
As previously reported, there will be a series spinning out of this. Looking at the above trailer, however, may have you reaching for the Pepto Bismol.
Considering the target audience consists of preschoolers, and grades K-1, it ain't for us older fans.
Fred (singing voice of Duke Mitchell) and Barney sit in with Hot Lips Hannigan when a test magic act seems to go awry, enabling the boys to sneak away from Betty & Wilma.
Mitchell holds an infamous place in film history. He & Sammy Petrillo had an act that was derivative of Dean Martin & Jerry Lewis back in the 50's, leading to one feature film, "Bela Lugosi Meets a Brooklyn Gorilla". Mitchell & Petrillo broke up their act before Martin & Lewis did, and Mitchell even had a cameo in Martin & Lewis' "Sailor Beware". Being friends with William Hanna & Joe Barbera got Mitchell the gig as Alan Reed's musical stand-in until being replaced by Reed's eventual successor, Henry Corden.
The Firm, a British novelty band, not to be confused with the supergroup that featured rock legend Jimmy Page, released a satire/homage to Star Trek with 1987's "Star Trekkin'", a mix of puppets and stop motion animation, the latter of which looks like some prototypes for the current Robot Chicken. The band members chose not to appear on television to maintain some anonymity, so this video premiered on Top of The Pops:
Personal note before we start. Where I attend church, we celebrate communion once a month, on the 2nd Sunday of the month, such as tomorrow.
In the 70's, the Lutheran Church, via Davey & Goliath, sought to teach young members of the congregation about communion, which could just as easily be taught in Sunday School class as well as during service. Consider the class a primer or crash course.
If Wile E. Coyote ever gets back into theatres, the theme song might as well be Little River Band's 1970's classic, "Lonesome Loser".
On Thursday, Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav decided to cancel the release of "Coyote vs. ACME", originally meant to be released back in July, replaced by the mega-successful "Barbie". Amazon tried to acquire "Coyote", but Zaslav, a bottom line obsessed executive with no regard for what the fans want, chose to take a tax write-off to the tune of about $30 million.
File photo courtesy Warner Bros./Cartoon Brew.
"Coyote"'s cast included Will Forte and John Cena, the latter of whom also appeared briefly in "Barbie", with voice-overs by Eric Bauza. "Coyote" joins "SCOOB: Holiday Haunt" & "Batgirl" in the WBD scrap heap, with no chance of ever being released, all three projects having been completed. I'd also seen a thread on reddit that said that Max was bleeding subscribers again. Gee, I wonder why?
Zaslav has to go. Yesterday.
Update, 11/16: WBD has reversed field, and will allow the movie to be shopped elsewhere (i.e. Amazon, Netflix).
Milton Bradley introduced game players to a little something called Stay Alive around 1971. The first commercial featured four kids finding the game washed up on a beach.
This spot, which came a little later, features film legend Vincent Price, who did a few ads for Milton Bradley between the mid-70's and early 80's.
I can honestly say I've played the game. Didn't win, though.
Capital One Bank is getting a head start on the Christmas shopping season, which kicks into overdrive in 2 weeks.
Capital One obtained a license from the estate of Theo Geisel (Dr. Seuss) to use the nefarious Grinch in this "easiest decision" bit. David Kaye voices the Grinch.
Sounded like Kaye was going for a Kelsey Grammer mimic with the Grinch, doesn't it?
Cover to Cover, later rechristened, The Book Bird, began as a regional children's program in 1965 in Washington, DC. Series host John Robbins would read from selected books, much like on nationally televised children's shows such as Captain Kangaroo.
Locally, the series aired on WMHT, which, if memory serves, stuck with the Cover to Cover title, even as the title change had gone into effect, as part of its midday-early afternoon block of educational programming. I think it was long gone by the time the series ended in 1996.
Anyway, we'll take a look at a 1989 entry in which Robbins reads from one of Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House books that led to Little House on The Prairie. In this case, it's Little House in The Big Woods.
The Three Musketeers intercept a letter plotting treachery against the King. Duke Naveau (Don Messick, also Aramis) abducts Constance, sending the Musketeers on a rescue mission.
A student (Tannis G. Montgomery) wants to go to medical school, and sees ROTC as a means of getting a scholarship, over the objections of her father (special guest star Ralph Meeker). Richard Bull, a few months before Little House on The Prairie, plays a ROTC officer.
You will notice that William P. D'Angelo was added as a showrunner beginning in season 4. Jerry Goldsmith's jazzy score was needlessly altered in the final 2 seasons. Only one more episode aired, though another was ready to go, before ABC pulled the plug at the end of January 1974.
Later that same year, Happy Days also did an episode about the ROTC, but more for laughs.
Bionic Disco brings us a Raid toonfomercial directed by Fred "Tex" Avery.
The leader of a band of mosquitoes is dressed like a vampire (Paul Frees doing a Bela Lugosi mimic), sending his troops out on their first mission. Oh, you know how this ends.
Dick Tufeld (The Hollywood Palace) is the narrator.
The mosquito soldier was voiced by Mel Blanc (natch).
Disney Junior is no longer available on cable systems run by Spectrum after an agreement with Disney two months ago. That means that if you have Disney+, that may be the only way to see Mickey & The Roadster Racers, which had its title changed to Mickey Mouse Mixed-Up Adventures in its final season. 3 seasons in all, spread out over 4 years.
This was the final series for actress Russi Taylor (Minnie), who passed away in 2019, prior to season 3 going on the air. Katelyn Roblock succeeded Taylor, and is heard in this Thanksgiving episode. If the race announcer's voice sounds familiar, it should. It's Jay Leno, doing his first toon work since The Fairly OddParents:
CGI works for Mickey and the gang. If you can get the DVD's, it'll make great Christmas gifts for the wee ones.
Joe Ruby & Ken Spears wrote "The Tiny Viking", in which Captain Leach (John Stephenson) briefly gains possession of the treasure map, only to lose it a couple of minutes later. As for the Vikings? Gary Gulliver (Jerry Dexter) and friends have a solution for them.
An old prospector exposed to radioactive gold is recruited to help the CMDF in "The Most Dangerous Game" (the YouTube poster added an extra letter to game) from Fantastic Voyage:
Two Thanksgiving themed shorts from the 2003 Berenstain Bears series kicks off this year's Thanksgiving Toons.
The first, "Bad Habit", admittedly, isn't so much about the holiday, though the children are drawing pictures of pies, but, rather, Sister's sudden nervous habit of biting her nails. "The Big Pumpkin", on the other hand, shows how friendship can be put aside when competition and greed get in the way.
Zoinks!!! While they never crossed paths in the comics during Scooby-Doo's brief stint at Archie Comics, the Great Dane and his BFF, Shaggy, meet Sabrina, The Teenage Witch, during the final season of the series.
"Sabrina Unplugged" is not available online in its complete form, so all we have is this brief snippet in which Sabrina (Melissa Joan Hart) literally goes online and meets Scooby (Frank Welker) & Shaggy (Casey Kasem). Sabrina had moved from ABC to WB two years earlier, and What's New Scooby-Doo had launched a few weeks prior to this episode airing.
Chalk it up to the network looking to test the waters of Scooby in primetime before his Christmas special aired two months later.
What would Halloween week be without checking on the Monster Squad?
Anyway, the team goes after Ultra Witch (Julie Newmar), who is draining away the world's supply of milk (!). Dick Bakalyan, who frequently played henchmen on Batman and did some work for Disney, and Johnny Brown (Good Times) also guest star.
Wardrobe did Julie a disservice, didn't they?
No rating. Didn't see this one the first time around.
Wild Kingdom, sponsored, as always, by Mutual of Omaha Insurance, marks its 60th anniversary this year, and, earlier this month, began a 2nd run on NBC, adding the subtitle, Protecting The Wild. Peter Gros, who has been hosting repeats of the original series on RFD-TV, hosts the new version. Gros had originally joined the original Kingdom in 1985, after Marlin Perkins retired.
Cosmetic changes and modern technology aside, it's the same show your parents will remember, fitting comfortably opposite similar programming on ABC. Check the trailer for the new Kingdom:
Current episodes are available online on Peacock and NBC.com, as well as On Demand on your cable system.
Boy scientist Dilton Doiley (Howard Morris), in an effort to impress a French exchange student (Jane Webb, of course), builds a machine to help her translate French to English, but the jealousy of Betty & Veronica (Webb again) sabotages the plot. Or does it?
Nearly 40 years later, in the books, Dilton would finally find love, albeit vying for the hand of an exchange student from India while Betty & Veronica were on their European tour. It is clear in this series, though, that Morris was losing the inflection in his Dilton voice, not that anyone really noticed.
Aquafresh toothpaste turned 50 this year. In the 80's, the product, now a part of Glaxo-SmithKline, mounted an animated ad campaign meant to encourage families to brush.
At the time, Procter & Gamble was also using animation to sell Crest, but marketed to kids with a superhero theme (The Crest Team).
Rodney Dangerfield and the Miller Lite Celebrity All-Stars got into the spirit of Halloween---sort of---with this 1987 spot, as a camping trip is interrupted by a UFO. You won't believe the end of this one. Well, maybe.
An alien planet full of Rodney clones? Yeah, that was the punchline, as Rodney finally gets some respect, after a sort. But how to explain all those clones? We asked an expert.
"I have to hazard a guess, but these aliens are big fans of Rodney's, and thought the best way to make a first impression was to assume his appearance. As a shape changer myself, it's not the best strategy."
Considering that Rodney is considered even by his peers to be such a hard luck loser---even by Marv Throneberry's standards in early ads----it's a big stretch, but Jayna has a point. Those aliens saw the ads and/or some of Rodney's movies via satellite on their world, and saw him as a hero. Regrettably, there wasn't a sequel.
The final segment of the "Treehouse of Horror" episode is a loose adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe's legendary poem, The Raven. The segment begins with Lisa (Yeardley Smith) beginning to read before the scene melts into the poem itself, with Homer (Dan Castellaneta) in the role of the narrator (guest star James Earl Jones does most of the reading), and Bart (Nancy Cartwright) is the title bird.
Since Bart is a perpetual elementary school student in this series, who wants to think they could have him study the poem in class when he gets older?
In addition to co-starring in "Pee-Wee's Big Adventure", E. G. Daily had a featured part in another 1985 movie, "Better Off Dead". Here, she sings "One Way Love":
But for fate, she could've been equal to pop contemporaries Cyndi Lauper & Madonna. Voice acting has saved her career, and it also led to a brief revival of her singing career on The Voice a few years back.
The setting of Betsy Haynes' Bone Chillers novels is Edgar Allan Poe High. So what happens when a bust of the legendary author is removed from the school? Well, let's just say it's never a good idea to anger a ghost.........
Oh, by the way, Gary Owens, on his 2nd tour of duty as a studio announcer at ABC, takes us in & out of commercial breaks.
Bone Chillers was the final Saturday morning entry from network executive-turned-producer Fred Silverman, and his first sale to ABC since Mighty Orbots 12 years earlier.
Before Chester Cheetah became Cheetos' mascot, there was the Cheetos Mouse, who appeared in commercials between 1971-9, capitalizing on mice and their love of cheese.
In this 1976 spot, the mouse impersonates Tarzan......
Ensign Parker (Tim Conway) falls----literally---for a nurse newly arrived on the base (Ann Elder), but the trouble-prone Parker could be shipped out after one accident too many with Captain Binghamton (Joe Flynn). How does "The Vampire of Taratupa" play into this? Watch & find out.
Unfortunately, Nurse Benson was a 1 shot paramour for Parker. Ann Elder would resurface on Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In a few years later. Jane Dulo, who recurred as a prospective love interest for McHale, later turned up on Get Smart, Sha Na Na, and a few other places.
No rating. My memory is fuzzy about this one prior to today.
Sabrina is visiting Horrible Hall to pay a call on the Groovie Goolies, but when Reggie (John Erwin) and Moose (Howard Morris) have their car break down, they have to go to Horrible Hall, and Sabrina can't risk being seen. Seeing her change into a knight was worth the price of admission. Seems the storm, though, is wreaking havoc with her powers.
Here's "Cliche Castle":
Seems Moose is tiring of Reggie's obsession with exposing Sabrina's secrets........
Soupy Sales went national when Lunch With Soupy Sales, which had been a regional series, airing six days a week in Detroit, was added to ABC's Saturday lineup in 1955. The format is familiar to anyone who saw his syndicated 1979 series, including skits with puppets White Fang, Black Tooth, and Pookie, but here, there's also some footage of silent films, such as a Buster Brown short, included in this 1961 episode.
Director Bill Carruthers had come over from Howdy Doody after that series ended its NBC run. It wasn't long after this episode aired that Lunch was cancelled.
In season 3 of McHale's Navy, Yvonne Craig guests as Lt. Susie Clayton, an exotic dancer-turned-nurse who not only turns the crew's heads, but that of Captain Wallace Binghamton (Joe Flynn), and that's despite Mrs. Binghamton (Ann Doran) being on the base. Oh, the hilarity!!!
Before Yvonne joined the cast of Batman 2 1/2 years later, she'd already logged an impressive resume, with The Man From UNCLE, Perry Mason, The Wild, Wild West, & Dobie Gillis on her resume. This episode had previously been posted over at The Land of Whatever.
Ann Doran would land a recurring gig the following fall on The Legend of Jesse James, which, like McHale & Batman, aired on ABC.
Pac-Man (Marty Ingels) has to rescue his wife, Pepper, aka Ms. Pac-Man (Barbara Minkus, ex-Love, American Style, Curiosity Shop), after Mezmeron creates a robot clone of her to deceive Pac-Man.
The Ghost Monsters were such tools, more so than in the game itself. The writer is not credited, perhaps knowing how silly this was.
McHale (Ernest Borgnine) and the PT-73 are sent to retrieve a visiting sultan (Henry Corden) and his three daughters, one of whom falls for Virgil (Edson Stroll), and that causes a problem.
This is one of those stories that would have to be totally rewritten if the series ran today.
In the late 50's & 60's, a number of film legends, such as Boris Karloff, Lon Chaney, Jr., Peter Lorre, and John Carradine gravitated to television to extend their careers.
Lorre, for his part, tried comedy, landing a recurring role opposite Gertrude Berg in Mrs. G. Goes to College. Carradine was the last to make the transition, and one of his first TV gigs came in The Green Hornet. Here's "Alias The Scarf", previously presented over at The Land of Whatever.
No, The Monster Squad isn't being pitted against Harold Hill, the title character of "The Music Man" on Broadway and in the movies. Instead, this Music Man (Marty Allen) is actually a fella named Lorenzo Musica, a bit of a rib on the real-life Lorenzo Music, at the time heard but not seen on Rhoda. Writer Stanley Ralph Ross steps in front of the camera to play a comedian hosting a parody of telethons.
The opening scene of our heroes (Buck Kartalian, Michael Lane, & Henry Polic II) playing music of their own is amusing all by itself.
Ross co-wrote the script with Far Out Space Nuts creators Earle Doud & Chuck McCann. As we've previously noted, he was a writer-producer on Wonder Woman around the same time, and with this series, Ross was trying to recapture the campy spirit of Batman a decade earlier.
In the last of three crossovers with other established Disney Channel series, Kim Possible (Christy Carlson Romano) pays a visit, along with Ron Stoppable (Will Friedle) & Rufus (Nancy Cartwright) to Hawaii when summoned to rescue Stitch, who has been abducted by Kim's nemesis, Dr. Drakken (John DiMaggio) and his aide, Shego (Nicole Sullivan).
Kim reluctantly takes on Lilo (Daveigh Chase) as a partner du jour, but Lilo does come in handy. Meanwhile, Dr. Jumba (David Ogden Stiers, ex-M*A*S*H) mistakes Rufus for one of his experiments.
Earlier in the series, there were crossovers with The Proud Family and American Dragon Jake Long.
Doug creator Jim Jinkins revealed that he is developing a follow-up to his original series, which first aired on Nickelodeon, then ABC & Disney Channel, in the 90's and early 00's.
Doug Kids (working title) sees Doug Funnie and friends all grown up, and, welp, Doug eventually did pop the question to childhood sweetheart Patti Mayonnaise. They're married with 2 kids in the new series, which is ticketed for Disney+ and Hulu
File photo courtesy Jumbo Pictures & Nickelodeon.
Nickelodeon had tried to age up the Rugrats, but All Grown Up bombed on Nick & CBS. A grown-up Doug & Patti have a better chance of succeeding.
How is it that every time someone writes a story about the Sandman, absent Neil Gaiman's iconic comic books, the Sandman is a villain?
In this case, this Sandman is also a shape-changer whose true form looks more like a mummy, but uses the guise of a woman to lure in Merton (Danny Smith). Tommy has to try to save both Merton & Lori or everyone falls asleep for good.
By this point in the series, Edna Garrett (Charlotte Rae) has left Eastland School, and opened a shop, Edna's Edibles, where Blair, Jo, Tootie, & Natalie are all employed part-time.
In the Halloween episode, a customer disappears, and the girls fear that Edna may have pulled a "Sweeney Todd", and turned the poor fellow into ground meat.
As you can see in the modified opening credits, Pamela Segall (Adlon), now a respected voice actress, had joined the cast, but, apparently had not yet appeared on the show, though that would change with the next episode. Nancy McKeon (Jo) was moonlighting, as we know, heard on The Puppy's Great Adventures over on ABC, and, 20 years later, Mindy Cohn (Natalie) would make a comeback in cartoons (What's New Scooby-Doo?).
The theme song was co-written by the husband & wife team of Alan Thicke & Gloria Loring, and sung by Loring (Days of Our Lives).
Hanna-Barbera tried to adapt The Little Rascals into an animated series, and recapture the spirit of the classic shorts with Spanky, Alfalfa, and the gang. The series was cancelled after 2 seasons. We discussed previously the reason why. It was not a stand-alone series, instead lumped together with fellow freshman series Pac-Man and 3rd year series Richie Rich.
"Rascals' Revenge" plays as if this was an old short loosely adapted for television. There's also a Pac-Man bumper voiced by Marty Ingels. Spanky (Scott Menville, in one of his first toon jobs) leads us into the show.
Shavar Ross (Buckwheat) was also heard on Mork & Mindy while moonlighting from Diff'rent Strokes.
Sabrina (Jane Webb) tries to help Ethel (Webb) by supplying her with Cousin Ambrose's special amulet. What Ambrose (Howard Morris) forgot is that the amulet has special powers, which pose problems for Jughead (Morris).
Here's "Ambrose's Amulet":
As Sabrina predated the TV series, Bewitched, by 2 years, you wouldn't know if Ambrose was actually the inspiration for Dr. Bombay on the latter series if you hadn't read the books first. As we now know, Ambrose, like Aunts Hilda & Zelda, was rebooted for a modern generation in the comics and the recent Netflix Chilling Adventures of Sabrina series.
After 10 seasons as The Wonderful World of Disney, the series' title was changed again, this time to Disney's Wonderful World, for its final 2 seasons on NBC (1979-81) before shifting to CBS.
To promote the feature film, "The Black Hole", the studio decided to devote an entire episode to "The Adventures of Major Effects", with "Black Hole" star Joseph Bottoms (later of Land of The Lost's 1990's revival) in the title role, plus Hans Conreid (ex-Hoppity Hooper, Make Room For Daddy, Fractured Flickers) and the Barnstable twins, Cyb & Tricia (ex-Quark). Voice characterizations performed by Len Weinrib (ex-Magic Mongo).
From what I recall, my folks started to watch this, then dumped out for something else. Can't recall what. No rating.
PBS' Sid The Science Kid combined motion capture imagery with virtual puppetry and CGI, producing 2 "seasons" over a 5 year period (2008-13). As with many preschool shows of today, Sid talks directly to the audience in important moments.
From 2011, here's a Halloween episode:
I've never seen the show, so I cannot fairly rate it. Reruns moved from PBS Kids to Amazon earlier this year, in case you want to introduce your preschoolers to the series.
The Magnificent Muttley back-up shorts in Dastardly & Muttley in Their Flying Machines were Hanna-Barbera's parody of James Thurber's The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, based on the fact that all of Muttley's adventures in this series are built around his daydreams.
Here's a parody of "Mutiny on The Bounty". Poor Dick Dastardly (Paul Winchell) is the put upon Captain Bligh.
Yes, it's just over 2 minutes, but that's because they also had the Wing Dings blackout skits to fill time.
Kenner (now part of Hasbro) had acquired Play-Doh from Rainbow Brands. In 1983, they added to Play-Doh line with Count Creepyhead. I have to admit I never saw this commercial until today.
Unsurprisingly, it doesn't appear to have survived the year.
We've seen the Miller Lite crew (i.e. Bubba Smith, Rodney Dangerfield, Dick Butkus, John Madden) play golf. Now, the action shifts to the bowling lanes.
In memory of Dick Butkus, 80, who passed away Thursday. Rest in peace.
Earlier this year, we served up a season 5 episode of Daniel Boone with guest star Forrest Tucker (ex-F-Troop). Tucker's character, Joe Snag, actually made his debut a year earlier in the season 4 opener. As an added bonus, the episode opens with Mingo (Ed Ames) singing a capella, a callback to Ames' days with his brothers as the Ames Brothers.
For Hal Horn at The Horn Section:
If I didn't know any better, I'd swear Victor Buono was under contract to Fox, as he recurred as King Tut on Batman, which finished its run six months after this episode aired. Vito Scotti (ex-Andy's Gang), who had recurred on Gilligan's Island, and would do the same on The Flying Nun, also guests.
If memory serves me, 1981's "The Monster Club", imported to the US by ITC, was included in one of those syndicated horror movie packages (think Seymour Presents), and I recall seeing this on a Saturday afternoon one time.
Horror legends John Carradine & Vincent Price share top billing in this movie, which is an anthology including three short stories based on the works of R. Chetwynd-Hayes, played by Carradine in the film. Donald Pleasance ("Halloween"), Stuart Whitman ("Night of The Lepus", ex-Cimmaron Strip), and Britt Eklund co-star.
Chetwynd-Hayes was not a fan of how his stories were adapted, and felt Carradine was too old for the role. As we know, Carradine would turn to radio in the fall of '81 to begin an annual series of radio dramas for NBC radio.
Nearly 20 years after the Charlie Daniels Band scored with "The Devil Went Down to Georgia", alternative rock favorites Primus recorded their version, and used claymation to illustrate their accompanying music video.
The only downside was the fact that Johnny's & the devil's lips never moved to lip-sync. Live & learn.
Sabrina is called to Horrible Hall to babysit Hauntleroy and twins Ratso & Batso while the Groovie Goolies are away. Archie and the gang are doing an environmental study for school, and end up encountering some weird "Smog".
This is the episode where Reggie (John Erwin) finds a picture of Sabrina and the Goolies, but before he can expose her, he gets a strange surprise......
Seeing Frankie (Howard Morris) wear a human-like mask was amusing itself.
Poor Reggie. He never could get the evidence he wanted.
In 1978, Disney & NBC marked a pair of milestones.
First, in September, the network feted the studio on 25 years of television programming with a 2 part season premiere of The Wonderful World of Disney, part 1 of which is over at The Land of Whatever.
Two months later, it was time to honor Mickey Mouse on his 50th birthday.
"Mickey's 50" is just as star packed as the 25th anniversary show, with narrators including Jack Albertson (Grandpa Goes to Washington), Dean Jones, Dick Clark (American Bandstand), Elton John, Johnny Carson, and Gene Kelly, plus contributions from Edgar Bergen, Peter Sellers, Rich Little, and much more.
No rating. This tape was edited to remove copyrighted material before it could be posted.
It's been too long since we heard from Pebbles & Bamm-Bamm's band, the Bedrock Rockers.
Summer may have ended on Friday, but here's "Sunshine Man", prefaced by a short skit in which Penny (Mitzi McCall) meets a talking penguin (Mel Blanc):
By now, you know that, after CBS & Nickelodeon had hooked up for some kid-friendly alternate coverage of NFL games the last two seasons, ESPN & Disney-Pixar are getting in on the act.
On October 1, ESPN+ will carry the Jacksonville-Atlanta game from London's Wembley Stadium. Over on Disney+, an alternate broadcast will be shown, set in the bedroom of Andy, the human owner of the "Toy Story" action figures.
Chris Fowler explains in this ad.
This is the first of the NFL's games in London airing on ESPN's family of networks, as previous games in London had aired on NFL Network and Fox.
A teenager (Jay Underwood, "The Boy Who Could Fly") decides he needs an image change, and that leads to "The Day my Kid Went Punk". Bernie Kopell (ex-The Love Boat), James Noble (ex-Benson), Albert Hague (ex-Fame) and Christine Belford co-star.
Today, Jay Underwood is an ordained pastor, and largely out of show business.
The Tiny Toons are back, but now, they're in college!!
Tiny Toons Looniversity bowed on Max 2 weeks ago, with episodes airing on Cartoon Network on Saturdays. The gang's all here. Babs & Buster Bunny, now revealed as sister & brother. Plucky Duck. Hamton Pig. Dizzy Devil, and the rest.
However, the voice cast has been overhauled since the original Tiny Toon Adventures ended. Original cast members Don Messick & Joe Alaskey have since passed on. Charlie Adler, the original Buster, was not invited back, with Eric Bauza taking over. New voices for a new generation, I suppose. Since the show is on CN, that means it's also accessible on your cable system's On Demand service.
The following sample is a parody of a certain long running daytime soap that turns 60 this year. Here's "General Hogspital":
Edit, 9/28/23: CN decided to privatize the video. In its place is this promo card:
Seven months after Peanuts creator Charles Schulz had passed away, his final television script was brought to life in "It's The Pied Piper, Charlie Brown!", which was released as a DTV, instead of airing on ABC or CBS, which had been the network homes for Peanuts. I shan't be surprised if Apple TV+ now holds the rights.
Anyway, as the title implies, this is a loose adaptation of The Pied Piper of Hamelin, set in modern times. Instead of using musical instruments for adult voices as in the past, producers Lee Mendelson & Bill Melendez brought in veterans Pat Musick, Neil Ross, Joan Van Ark (ex-Spider-Woman, Santo Bugito), and Frank Welker to voice the adults. Melendez, as usual, provided vocal effects for Snoopy & Woodstock, and the vocal effects for the mice, while not credited, likely was also Welker.
Jazz musician David Benoit composed the soundtrack.
This might be the only time a cartoon character's voice was generated by a text to speech computer program.
That was the uniqueness of Whatever Happened to.......Robot Jones, a Cartoon Network entry whose pilot had originally aired in 2000, but it took 2 years for series creator Greg Miller's concept to go to series. He was able to use the text to speech program for season 1, but network suits hated it, and hired actor Bobby Block to essay the title role in season 2. That decision, unwitting or not, doomed the show.
Robot Jones, with its throwback character designs, which recall the likes of The Metric Marvels moreso than Schoolhouse Rock, although the artwork of Robot Jones looks busier than both, lasted less than 1 full calendar year before signing off for good.
Check the pilot. After Block was hired, CN had him redub the voice in all 1st season episodes, but this is the original print with the text to speech program.
Miller had a nice idea, but apparently, CN suits weren't ready, and thought their viewers weren't, either.
Here's another PBS series that was part of a learning block back in the day.
The Letter People began as a teaching tool in a school in Long Island in 1964. A series of books followed, written by series creators Elayne Reiss-Weimann & Rita Friedman. New Dimensions in Education acquired the rights a few years later, and, in 1974 the Letter People made their television debut in the form of a puppet show produced in St. Louis for PBS.
I'd imagine that today, the old tapes are still being used, even after the series was revised in the mid-90's for a new generation.
Uncle Scrooge made his animation debut, aside from a cameo appearance on the original Mickey Mouse Club, in 1967's "Uncle Scrooge & Money".
Scrooge (Bill Thompson) provides a lesson for his nephews, Huey, Dewey, & Louie (all voiced, reportedly, by Dick Beals) and the viewers, as I believe this was actually screened at schools before it reached television.
It ain't exactly Studio 54, but the audience gets down with their bad selves grooving to the beat of A Taste of Honey on The Midnight Special. Here's "Boogie Oogie Oogie":
The Rutles were largely a send-up of the Beatles, and in the wake of the latter's 1968 film, "Yellow Submarine", the Rutles released "Yellow Submarine Sandwich" in 1969. Neil Innes, who passed away a few years ago, wrote & recorded "Cheese & Onions", aided by Eric Idle, before Idle joined Monty Python.
Nine years later, after Idle & Innes had appeared on Saturday Night Live, Lorne Michaels produced the special "All You Need is Cash" in support of the Rutles album of the same name. While it was a hit in the UK, it was a dud here in the US. Go figure.
School is back in session, and so is Fillmore! (Orlando Brown, That's So Raven). A series of scooter thefts leads Fillmore to a student activist (Eli Marenthal) with a tendency to refer to himself in the 3rd person. Who does this punk think he is, The Rock? Anyway, here's "Two Wheels, Full Throttle, No Breaks":
In the end, Derek Minna was a nothing happening jabroni.
Even Bugs Bunny knows that bananas, rich in potassium, are healthy food.
Warner Bros. licensed Bugs to United Brands, at the time the makers of Chiquita Bananas, for this ad. Bugs (Mel Blanc) dusts off his yellow hat & jacket, plus the cane, from his primetime series in the 60's, to croon the Chiquita jingle.
How Hanna-Barbera, home to Magilla Gorilla, didn't capitalize on this opportunity, I'll never know.
"Where do Teenagers Come From?" is the follow-up to 1977's "My Mom's Having a Baby", with Shane Sinutko ("Soup For President"), Jarrod Johnson (ex-The Lost Saucer), Stephanie Steele, and Dr. Lendon Smith (ex-The Children's Doctor) returning from the 1st film 3 years ago. This time, the kids are learning about the transition into their teenage years.
I may be wrong about this, but this might've been DePatie-Freleng's final entry in the Afterschool Special series. Doug Goodwin wrote & sung the title song. Bill Owen (ex-Discovery) and Dick Tufeld are our announcers. Sponsors, as per normal, include Kellogg's & McDonald's, including a Cocoa Krispies ad with Tusk the Elephant (Paul Winchell).
Alan Blye & Chris Bearde (often stylized as Chrisbearde) had previously worked on the 2nd Andy Williams show for NBC, and were riding the success of The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour, which was ending its run on CBS amid the Bonos' divorce. The duo would also deliver The Hudson Brothers Razzle Dazzle Show later in 1974, also for CBS, but that was a 1 year wonder.
Anyway, in April of '74, Blye & Bearde served up Hamburgers, which appears to be an unsold pilot set up as a sketch comedy show. Ted Ziegler (Sonny & Cher) is the announcer. Our cast includes Charles Nelson Reilly (Match Game, ex-Lidsville), Bobby Vinton, Jim Nabors (ex-Gomer Pyle, USMC), Julie McWhirter (Jeannie), Micky Dolenz (ex-The Monkees, Funky Phantom), Rod Hull, who, with his emu puppet, would turn up on the Hudsons' show five months later, Sid Caesar, Charlie Callas, and William Conrad (Cannon), who appears briefly in quick bookend skits.
All I remember seeing back in 1974 as an 11 year old was a superhero parody set in a hospital, The Patient, with Reilly in the title role, whose costume is a hospital smock and a beanie.
This is also a "You Know The Voice" grand slam (Reilly, Conrad, Dolenz, McWhirter). The sketches move at a faster clip akin to Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In than Sonny & Cher. I think my folks were a little curious (or, at least, my dad was).
Check it.
This was after Reilly had donned a banana suit to sell a brand of BIC pens. Don't know if he plugged this show on Match Game, but this wasn't the low point of his career. That would come a year later (Uncle Croc's Block).
