Coming Attractions: Netflix announces a live-action Scooby-Doo series

 You call this a 55th birthday present for Scooby-Doo?

The Hollywood Reporter touted on their website plans from Netflix & producer Greg Berlanti (Superman & Lois, All American, Found, etc.) to create a live-action series based on the long running franchise, 22 years after the first live-action adaptation hit theatres with Freddie Prinze, Jr., Sarah Michelle Gellar, Rowan Atkinson, Matt Lillard, and Linda Cardellini.

File photo courtesy The Hollywood Reporter.

On the heels of Mindy Kaling's controversial Velma having dropped season 2 on Max, Berlanti and company are looking to cast a new group of actors to bring Mystery, Inc. to life after 2 theatrical films, and a couple of Cartoon Network TV-movies.

The average Netflix series averages about 10 episodes per season maximum. No casting or release date has been announced, but we'll keep you posted.

Toons After Dark: Alvin & The Chipmunks shill for Post (1961)

 General Foods added Alvin & The Chipmunks to their roster of commercial spokesmen when they signed on to sponsor The Alvin Show in 1961. I'm thinking General Foods had a stake in CBS or something, since they also sponsored The Andy Griffith Show, among others, and also sponsored The Bugs Bunny Show over on ABC.

Tool Time before it was cool: Wally's Workshop (1972)

 Wally Bruner had made enough money hosting What's My Line? for four years to finance and produce his own show. Except that it wasn't a game show.

Wally's Workshop spent 13 seasons in syndication (1972-85), with Goodson-Todman's #1 announcer, Johnny Olson, filling that role, one of a handful of non-game shows that Olson announced, the others being The Jackie Gleason Show, up until its end in 1970, and The Clifton Davis-Melba Moore Show, a CBS summer replacement series, also in 1972.

Locally, WRGB used Workshop as a lead-in to TV Tournament Time. Unfortunately, the station decided not to renew its contract for the show after a couple of years, as memory serves.

This sample clip was first posted to The Land of Whatever in 2015.

Funny how no one thought of bringing this show back to local channels once Bob Vila became a big star for PBS in the 80's.

Rating: A.

Toon Rock: Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger (2001)

 The French duo Daft Punk produced animated videos for their 2001 CD, "Discovery". Those videos would later be used in the 2003 anime, "Interstellar 5555". "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger" was the 3rd single off the album.

You Know The Voice: Shari Lewis (1975)

 In the series finale of What's My Line?, Shari Lewis (ex-The Arabian Knights) debuts a new, devilish puppet.

I don't think we saw that particular puppet again.

Toonfomercial: A misfortune cookie for bugs (1970)

 This Raid commercial looks like the animation was taken right off the sketch pad, and that's just being kind.

This 1970 offering was one of the last ones to use live-action footage of the product being used around the house. Paul Frees voices a construction worker bug. Dick Tufeld is our announcer.

Toons You Might've Missed: Pigeon Holed (1956)

 Here's a Walter Lantz entry that probably hasn't seen any TV time in forever.

Director Alex Lovy, who'd later work for Hanna-Barbera, helmed "Pigeon Holed", whose protagonist (Dallas McKennon, who does all the voices) is a thinly veiled parody of Mr. Magoo, as Homer, like Magoo, is near-sighted.

Rating: B.

Saturday Morning Ringside: Vince McMahon takes his first bump (1991)

 By 1991, WWF Superstars of Wrestling experimented with a 3 man broadcast team. Roddy Piper was now a color analyst between movie gigs. "Macho Man" Randy Savage was the other analyst flanking Vince McMahon.

Early in September, former NWA champion Ric Flair came to the company, carrying with him the NWA World title, billed as the "real World champion". Flair had left the NWA/WCW two months earlier in a dispute with WCW executive Jim Herd. Flair & Piper were old friends off camera, and Piper would be Flair's 1st feud during his nearly 2 year run. He would return to the company in 2001.

As you'll see, Piper, after getting battered by Flair, nails McMahon in the back with a wooden chair. It was the first time McMahon had "taken a bump", as they say in the wrestling business.

32 1/2 years later, AEW owner/booker Tony Khan, son of Jacksonville Jaguars owner Shad Khan, took his first bumps on national television last night on Dynamite in an angle with the Young Bucks (Matthew & Nicholas Jackson) and Jack Perry, son of the late actor Luke Perry (ex-Beverly Hills 90210, Riverdale), which brought the elder Khan to the ring for the first time. The Bucks' new-look Elite faction is now looking to emulate the New World Order during their peak years (1996-9) as the top heel faction in AEW.

Saturday Morning Ringside: Fred & Barney wrestle for Cocoa Pebbles (2009)

 This is a Cocoa Pebbles ad that should've been made, oh, I don't know, maybe 20 years earlier, when Hulk Hogan was still relevant?

"Bulk Boulder", a Hogan parody, engages Fred Flintstone & Barney Rubble in a handicap match, with Pebbles & Bamm-Bamm providing backup for their dads.

Well, of course, Bamm-Bamm made the save. What did ya expect?

Looney TV: Pullet Surprise (1997)

 Here's one that may not have aired on Chumptoon Network, Boomerang, or even on Max.

Foghorn Leghorn and Pete Puma star in "Pullet Surprise". Stan Freberg reprises as Pete, with Emmy winner Frank Gorshin as Foghorn.

Pete, you'll recall, got his 15 minutes of fame dueling with Bugs Bunny, but I get the idea of Chuck Jones trying something different, and matching Pete with Foghorn.

Rating: B.

Sunday Funnies: Three Stooges in Heavenly Daze (1948)

 The Three Stooges have a little fun with the afterlife in 1948's "Heavenly Daze".

Shemp dreams that he has died, and is up in Heaven with his uncle, Mortimer (Moe Howard in a dual role). But, since when do they have a telephone system at the Pearly Gates? Much less, train service back to Earth? Hee-bee-bee-bee-bee-bee!

Producer-director Jules White is the off-camera voice of the train announcer.

This short establishes the boys as storyline cousins, although, as we all know, Moe & Shemp were actually brothers.

Rating: B--.

Toonfomercial: Remember Wonder bread's "Fresh Guys"? (1970's)

 Today, Wonder bread is part of Bimbo Bakeries' line of products, along with Thomas' English muffins & bagels, and Freihofer's bread. In the 70's, it was part of Interstate Brands, the makers of Millbrook bread and Dolly Madison pastries. During this time, the ad agency came up with the idea of putting animated faces on the back of loaves of bread, hence The Fresh Guys.

Sounds like Daws Butler might be one of the voices.

Game Time: Remember Shifty Checkers? (1972)

 Aurora Toys was best known for its Skittle line of pendulum games and their model sets.

Then, in 1972, the company introduced Shifty Checkers. To promote it, Don Adams (ex-Tennessee Tuxedo, Get Smart, The Partners) co-wrote, directed, and stars in this commercial. Check his Humphrey Bogart mimic in a spoof of "Casablanca":

Game Time: Jerry Mahoney meets a female boxer, and learns how puppets like him are made (What's My Line?, 1956)

 From the summer of 1956: Paul Winchell & Jerry Mahoney return to What's My Line?, with actress Vivian Blaine filling in for Dorothy Kilgallon. In addition to headline guest Jerry Lewis, the panel meets a manufacturer of ventriloquist puppets, and one of the first female boxers. Jerry Mahoney joins the panel for game 2 (the boxer).

Saturday Morning's Greatest Hits: Rock & Roll Hoochie Koo (1973)

 Rick Derringer and the Edgar Winter Group rocked the Midnight Special with 1973's "Rock & Roll Hoochie Koo". Winter had been on earlier to perform "Free Ride", and we'll have that up another time.

Several years later, World Wrestling Federation announcer "Mean" Gene Okerlund covered "Hoochie Koo", with Derringer turning the knobs as producer, strictly for laughs.

Retro Toy Chest: Skittle Bowl (1970's)

 Aurora's Skittle Bowl was the longest lasting of the Skittle line of games in the late 60's & early to mid 70's.

Here, Gene Wood (Beat The Clock, ex-The Adventures of Lariat Sam) is doing what amounts to an auditon for the Pro Bowlers Tour as he calls the end of this match. But check out the name given to the younger contestant......

Most of you know that Don Yarmy was the birth name of comedy legend and Aurora commercial endorser Don Adams. Seems the ad agency and/or Aurora were paying homage to Adams in this spot, which he probably directed while staying off camera. I remember playing this game in my youth, probably at a friend's house, but I don't think I had it at home.

Saturday School: Mr. Peabody & Sherman meet Jim Bowie (1962)

 Mr. Peabody (Bill Scott) & Sherman (Walter Tetley) meet Jim Bowie in this episode of Peabody's Improbable History. You'll note that the open is different from what you're accustomed to. This aired during either season 3 or 4 of Rocky & His Friends/The Bullwinkle Show:

I don't recall seeing this one the first time around. No rating.

Sunday Funnies: Sing a Song of Six Pants (1947)

 The Three Stooges are tailors, although their spelling leaves a bit to be desired, in 1947's "Sing a Song of Six Pants" (a play on "Sing a Song of Sixpence"), which was remade six years later as "Rip, Sew, & Stitch".

Rating: A.

Daytime Heroes: Disappearing Act (M. A. S. K., 1985)

 From season 1 of M. A. S. K.:

Agents of V. E. N. O. M. use a shrinking ray to steal some valuable cars. To think that this episode premiered on Christmas Eve.

This "Disappearing Act", of course, won't be confused with a He-Man episode of the same name 2 years earlier.

Didn't see this one the first time around. No rating.

Saturday Morning's Greatest Hits (Revisited): Daydream Believer (1966)

 From season 1 of The Monkees comes one of their most recognizable hits.

Davy Jones sings lead on "Daydream Believer", and things get out of hand when the boys start mugging for the camera toward the end of the clip.

15 years later, Canadian-born country singer Anne Murray covered "Daydream", and took it to the top of the country charts. Both versions do get airplay on oldies channels to this day.

Saturday Morning's Forgotten Heroes: Underdog vs. The Witch of Pickyoon (1965)

 This 1st season episode of Underdog first aired around January 1965. This video collects all four chapters, which became the format when NBC repackaged the series in an all-rerun, done-in-one package until the series was cancelled in 1973.

Sweet Polly (Norma McMillan) is in the titular village when she falls under the spell of "The Witch of Pickyoon", and it's up to Underdog (Wally Cox) to find & rescue her. "Witch" borrows some of its plot from the classic "Sleeping Beauty":

Underdog turns 60 this year, but isn't getting the love.....!

Rating: B.

You Know The Voice: Kevin Conroy (1992)

 Just a few months before Batman: The Animated Series launched, Kevin Conroy (ex-Tour of Duty) tried his hand at comedy.

Conroy was cast as a surgeon on Fox's Rachel Gunn, RN, opposite Christine Ebersole (ex-Saturday Night Live) in the title role. Check the sample episode, and you'll see just how Dr. Dunkel sounds a lot like Bruce Wayne.....

From Comics to Toons: Popeye in Timber Toppers (1960)

 Popeye & Brutus are rival lumberjacks. Brutus' jealousy gets the better of him when he steals some of Popeye's trees.....and Olive! Here's "Timber Toppers":

Not one of the better entries in Jack Kinney's run.

Rating: B--.

Saturday Morning's Greatest Hits: On The Cover of The Rolling Stone (1973)

 One of Dr. Hook's earliest hits was an ode to a music industry magazine still going strong today. From The Midnight Special, here's "On The Cover of The Rolling Stone":

Not too long after, Buck Owens reworked this song into "On The Cover of The Music City News" (bold italics mine), in response.

Celebrity Toons: April Fools in Paris (Laverne & Shirley, 1981)

 Yeah, I know. April Fool's Day was Monday. Five days later we have an appropriately titled cartoon that first aired on Halloween 1981.

From season 1 of Laverne & Shirley in The Army, a furlough turns into a working vacation for the girls (Penny Marshall & Cindy Williams) & Sgt. Squealy (Ron Palillo) in France. There's the predictable trope about an accidental swap of suitcases, espionage, and, well.......

At least they got to see the world, unlike Olive Oyl & Alice the Goon over on CBS.

Rating: B-.

Literary Toons: The Secret World of Og (1983)

 ABC's Weekend Special closed season 6 with a 3 part adaptation of a 1960's children's novel, The Secret World of Og. At the time, ventriloquist Willie Tyler and his puppet, Lester, were the series hosts. However, this video is taken from a later VHS release that edits the 3-parter into a movie that runs just over an hour.

Voice talent includes Julie McWhirter-Dees, Hamilton Camp (Smurfs), and Fred Travalena (Shirt Tales). Produced by Hanna-Barbera's Australian division.

No rating. Just a public service.

Saturday Morning's Forgotten Heroes: The Gumfighter (1979)

 Wrigley's decided on a different approach when they introduced Hubba Bubba bubble gum in 1979. In order to hook the kids, they needed a heroic character, since the commercials would air smack dab in the middle of network programming, which, at the time, had its fair share of superheroes (i.e. Super Friends, Spider-Woman).

Enter The Gumfighter (Don Collier) in a series of commercials parodying old school Westerns. Western vet Dub Taylor is the Geezer, and would later join the cast of Hee Haw.

Len Lesser, later of Seinfeld & Everybody Loves Raymond for contemporary viewers, but a well traveled character actor, like Taylor, plays the villain here.

Wrigley's discontinued this series after about a year or two, and later would merge with M & M Mars, which also had a heroic commercial pitchman during the 70's, Marathon John (Patrick Wayne).

Sunday Funnies: The Three Stooges in Out West (1947)

 The Three Stooges head "Out West" when Shemp needs a vacation to treat an injured leg. "Out West" is a remake of "Pistol Packing Nitwits", made a few years earlier with Harry Langdon & El Brendel, the latter of whom co-starred with Shemp in the Glove Slingers series for Columbia, and would be remade again in 1954's "Pals & Gals":

Rating: B.

Toonfomercial: A message by a cat for Kitty Litter (1978)

 Today, you'd be hard pressed to get a real cat to endorse something like Kitty Litter or its contemporaries, like Tidy Cat, for example.

In 1978, though, an ad agency contracted actor Pat Harrington (One Day at a Time, ex-Journey to The Center of The Earth, The Inspector) to voice a common housecat extolling the product's virtues.

Saturday Morning Ringside: Fright Night (1947)

 The Three Stooges are boxing trainers in 1947's "Fright Night". If the plot looks familiar, the boys, along with Dick Wessel, revisited it 8 years later in "Fling in The Ring".

Rating: A-.