1st look at the new King of The Hill

 We told you it was happening, and now, Hulu has a launch date for the revived King of The Hill.

10 episodes, comprising Season 14, will drop August 4, and a lot has changed since the series left Fox for syndication & cable reruns, hopping back & forth between FX/FXX & [adult swim].

Hank Hill (Mike Judge) has returned to the US after spending a few years in Saudi Arabia. In the interim, as the revamped intro reveals, an African American family (or a single) had moved into the Hill home for a few years. Hill was working in---what else?---propane sales for a Saudi company.

Since the series ended, singer Tom Petty (Lucky) and Johnny Hardwick (Dale) have passed on. Brittany Murphy (Luanne) had passed in 2009. Toby Huss, who'd voiced Kahn & Cotton in the original run, will succeed Hardwick as Dale.

Bobby (Pamela Adlon) is all grown up, and now is a chef, having succeeded on his own after all.

Now, take a look at the new open:

Hardwick had recorded 6 of the 10 episodes before his passing. What's unclear if they'll remain intact, or if Huss will be asked to re-dub.

Stay tooned.

Saturday Morning's Forgotten Heroes: The Lone Ranger in Fire Rain (1967)

 From Season 2 of The Lone Ranger (1966 series):

The Masked Man (Michael Rye) and Tonto (Shep Menken) pursue a foreign agent seeking to destroy Washington in "Fire Rain". I believe it's Marvin Miller voicing the President.

Rating: A-.

Sunday Funnies: Loose Loot (1953)

 The Three Stooges are nephews due to inherit a fortune from a junkman, but a crooked lawyer is in the way. Here's "Loose Loot":

Rating: B.

Toon Rock: New Frontier (1982)

 "New Frontier" was the 2nd single from Donald Fagen's 1982 solo album, "The Nightfly". Fagen himself doesn't appear in the video, save for a picture of the album cover on a wall in a fallout shelter, as the song references Fagen's childhood in the 60's.

Michael Omartian, otherwise Christopher Cross' producer, and jazz guitarist Larry Carlton are heard on keyboards & guitar on this track.

Saturday Morning's Greatest Hits: Never Gonna Fall in Love Again (1976)

 One of Eric Carmen's 1st solo efforts away from the Raspberries brought him to American Bandstand in 1976. Here's "Never Gonna Fall in Love Again".

Toonfomercial: Remember Clanky chocolate syrup? (1964)

 Hooooo boy, this one's an oddity if there ever was one.

Clanky chocolate syrup came & went in the mid-60's, and this animated ad, reportedly commissioned by NASA (??), might explain how it failed.

I was but a toddler when this came out, and never tried it. Chocolate syrup at my house usually meant, of course, Hershey's, most of the time.

From Primetime to Daytime: The series premiere of Space Cases (1996)

 Time to take a trip back to 1996 with the series premiere of Space Cases.

In memory of series co-creator Peter David, who passed away this weekend at 68. No rating out of respect.

Toon Rock: Eleanor Rigby (1968)

 From "Yellow Submarine":

The Beatles employed a pastiche of styles in the development of the movie, and this clip, using "Eleanor Rigby", is an example.

Saturday Morning's Greatest Hits (Revisited): Teenager in Love (1974)

 Sha Na Na had a different lineup when they appeared on The Midnight Special in this 1974 offering. Dave "Chico" Ryan, sans guitar, sings lead on Dion's "Teenager in Love".

Sunday Funnies: What if Da Bears were in the Indy 500? (Saturday Night Live, 1991)

 Ah, the early 90's. The Chicago Bears were still playoff contenders, five years after winning the Super Bowl, and their fan base was fodder for a popular skit on Saturday Night Live, like this 1991 offering, as Chris Farley & Mike Myers are joined by Robert Smigel and George Wendt (Cheers).

In memory of Wendt, 76, who has passed away. "Bob Swigerski" has joined coach Mike Ditka in football heaven.

Sesame Street has a new home------Netflix!!

 Months after Warner Bros Discovery head moron David Zaslav and Sesame Workshop agreed to disagree, and ended a 8 year deal enabling Sesame Street to premiere first-run episodes on HBO (later streaming on HBO Max---yes, they're going back to that name for the streamer), The long running series, entering its 57th season this fall, moves to Netflix, with each episode set to run for 11 minutes, meaning two episodes per half hour, which has been the going rate for HBO's sister channels, Chumptoon Network & Boomerang.

Big Bird & the gang are on the move again.

What's even cooler is that instead of a time lag between HBO & PBS/PBS Kids, new episodes will premiere on PBS, PBS Kids, & Netflix all on the same day! How cool is that?

And, yes, "library" (archived) episodes will also turn up on Netflix if you're feeling nostalgic for the early years.

Despite threats from the lunatics in Washington to defund PBS because of fever dream conspiracies or some other rot, Sesame Street will live on. As it should.

Saturday Morning's Greatest Hits: (Every Time I Turn Around) Back in Love Again (1977)

 To be honest, I had never heard any of the music of the 70's funk group, LTD (Love, Togetherness, Devotion), as it didn't get much play on the stations I listened to.

Then, upon finding this next entry, I discovered that singer Jeffrey Osborne came from LTD, and left in 1980 to start a successful solo career.

From Soul Train, circa 1977, here's "(Every Time I Turn Around) Back in Love Again".

From Comics to Toons: Garfield shills for Alpo.....cat food (1990)

 Yes, there was a time where Alpo, one of the most famous brands of dog food, experimented with cat food. They saw that 9 Lives had landed a licensing deal with WB to use Sylvester, so, they figured, we can top that, and they did.

Enter Garfield.

Jim Davis' finicky feline was starring in his own Saturday morning show for CBS at the time this ad aired in 1990, and one would assume Alpo bought air time.

No, I don't know who played Jon in this ad.

Toonfomercial: Remember Milkshake candy? (1972)

 Ah, Hollywood Brands. There was a time back in the day when they tried to compete with Nestle, Hershey's, & M & M/Mars.

One of their candies was a Milky Way wanna-be, Milkshake. Check this tuneful ad with a pair of singing cows.

Coming Attractions: American Dad to return to Fox in 2026

 After wrapping up a run on TBS last year, Seth MacFarlane's American Dad is returning home to Fox as a mid-season entry in 2026.

On TBS, American Dad not only aired in primetime, but also was repurposed in daytime reruns. This time around, the repurposing will be on Hulu, which, like Fox, is a unit of the Walt Disney Company.

In all probability, American Dad will return to the Sunday Animation Domination block, along with stablemate Family Guy, which will begin a new season in 2026 as well.

Game Time: The Word Machine (1973-4?)

 The producers of The New Zoo Revue thought they had another winner with a children's game show, in this case, The Word Machine, which had a pilot shot around the winter of 1973-4. As a commenter on YouTube points out, Ideal's Snap Bowling was released around that time. 

Actor Jerry Fogel (ex-The Mothers-in-Law) is the MC for this game. Venerable Johnny Gilbert is the announcer.

As we've documented in the past, game shows for kids, unfortunately, have had short shelf-lives up until the 90's and early '00s. I don't think this was sold, even though it should have. Locally, it would've been a good option if a station wanted to pre-empt a network cartoon.

Rating: A-.

Game Time: When Kukla & Ollie played Match Game (1979)

 The CBS Children's Film Festival was in and out of CBS' Saturday lineup for a good chunk of the 70's. With nearly 30 years of television under his belt, Burr Tillstrom brought Kukla & Ollie to Match Game for a week in 1979, and Tillstrom appears on camera at the end of this episode.

The panel also includes series regulars Brett Somers and Charles Nelson Reilly, plus Eva Gabor ("The Rescuers", ex-Green Acres) and Arte Johnson (ex-The Nitwits, Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In, etc.).

How the Muppets never got on Match Game, I'll never know, but it would've been fun.

Toonfomercial: Bardahl vs. Sticky Valves (1955)

 Check this Bardahl ad from 1955 with a country rock beat:

Sticky Valves, the villain, would return about a decade or so later, rebooted as a gangster for another Bardahl spot starring Gary Owens (Roger Ramjet, Space Ghost).

Retro Toy Chest: Remember Max Backtalk? (1987)

 Now, here's a game that, until recently, I didn't know existed.

In a way, Max Backtalk, from Milton Bradley, was a reworked Simon, except that it had a more interactive feature, as this commercial demonstrates.

Michael Winslow ("Police Academy", ex-Space Stars) does the shilling, sound effects & all.

You're asking, who did Michael voice on Space Stars? How about the incomprehensible Astromites, sidekicks to the Teen Force!

Cinco de Mayo: The Froggy, Froggy Duo (Tijuana Toads, 1970)

 In honor of Cinco de Mayo, here's the Tijuana Toads in 1970's "The Froggy, Froggy Duo".

No rating. Just a public service.

Saturday Morning's Greatest Hits: You Make Me Feel Brand New (1974)

 Ah, The Stylistics. One of the best R & B groups of the 70's, right up there with the Spinners, the O'Jays, and the Jackson Five, among others. From Soul Train comes 1974's "You Make Me Feel Brand New":

You Know The Voice: John Erwin (early 70's)

 We don't know the exact year this was produced, but John Erwin (Archie's TV Funnies, etc.) appears with Arthur O'Connell (ex-The Second Hundred Years) in this bit for Crest toothpaste.

One YouTube commenter speculated this was somewhere between 1971-4. If anyone can confirm this, please, drop a comment.