Animated World of DC Comics: The Batman (2003)

The Batman purported to present the Dark Knight in his early days, and for 5 seasons, it served as the centerpiece of Kids' WB's lineup, even after the WB was absorbed into the CW network. TriviaFreak uploaded the intro:



Producer Duane Capizzi & storyboard artist Jeff Matsuda came over from Sony, where they'd worked on another Kids' WB series, Jackie Chan Adventures, and their rendition of Bruce Wayne fell somewhere between Chan's American cousin and Sylvester Stallone. Not good. Their rebooting of some of the Batman's foes was hit and miss as well. A dreadlocked, barefoot Joker? Bad idea!! Transforming a Gotham detective, who is also a pal of Wayne's, into the new Clayface? Questionable. While they tried to pick up a plot device from Tim Burton as it related to Penguin (circa "Batman Returns" in 1992), they messed that up by giving Pengy two kabuki masked, mute assistants. Seems they only got Catwoman (Gina Gershon, taking over for Adrienne Barbeau) right. Where they really hit a home run was with the awesome theme song, composed and performed by U2's The Edge. Not the first time there's been a U2 link to the Bat-franchise. The band contributed to the soundtrack of 1995's "Batman Forever".

Batgirl was de-aged into a teenager, as was Poison Ivy, and they were introduced before Robin, which was another mistake.

Currently, reruns of the first season, and maybe the second, are in continuous loop on Boomerang, which seemingly has no interest in acquiring seasons 3-5.

Rating: C.

Saturday Morning's Forgotten Heroes: Road Rovers (1996)

The legacy of the now-defunct Kids' WB! is a litany of popular shows that simply didn't generate enough ratings to complement the fan following and earn renewals. One such case was Road Rovers, which was at the center of the network's 1996-97 schedule. Here's the open to the series:



I was one of those people who was a fan of the series, and wanted it to succeed. Unfortunately, it only lasted 13 episodes, and hasn't been seen since Cartoon Network pulled the reruns off their schedule 11 years ago. Road Rovers, as I'd later discover, does have a rabid fan following (pardon the pun), impatiently awaiting a DVD release, which WB is reluctant to do right at the moment.

Rating: A-.

Saturday Morning's Forgotten Heroes: Superhuman Samurai SyberSquad (1994)

In the wake of the runaway success of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers on Fox, ABC needed a similar series on their Saturday morning schedule, and they got it with this short-lived series, which, like the Rangers, was co-produced by a Japanese studio. Squeezecheese uploaded the open to Superhuman Samurai SyberSquad, with narration by Gary Owens (Space Ghost):



DIC had last experimented with a live-action science-fiction series a few years earlier with Photon, a syndicated entry that lasted a year or two before cancellation. ABC would've been better off picking that up instead of this Ranger knock-off. In fact, ABC would acquire the Ranger franchise from Fox just a few years later.

Rating: C.

Saturday Morning's Forgotten Heroes: Sylvester & Tweety Mysteries (1995)

While their classic shorts appeared on ABC, Sylvester & Tweety, who last headlined a series in 1976 on CBS, starred in a first-run series on the WB, The Sylvester & Tweety Mysteries. On the surface, it was a cross-satire of Scooby-Doo (now a Warner Brothers stablemate) and Murder, She Wrote, since Granny (June Foray) did most of the detective work. Here's the open:



The Sylvester & Tweety Mysteries has a sort-of hometown connection in that voice actor Joe Alaskey, a native of Watervliet, NY, voiced the title characters and several of the "Looney Tunes" crew when they made guest appearances. Reference guides claim the series lasted until 2001, but I'm having trouble recalling if this is true or not, especially considering how frequently the Kids' WB! lineup would change during the season. It would not be the last time WB would experiment with taking their Looney Tunes characters out of their familiar environs and into something different. Unfortunately, these days, it languishes in the Cartoon Network vaults when it should get some consideration for airtime on either CN or Boomerang.

Rating: B+.

Bad TV: WBF BodyStars (1992)

Every time WWE Chairman Vince McMahon tries to think outside the box, if you will, no matter how noble the effort, it always backfires on him and fails.

Take for example his attempt to cross into the world of professional bodybuilding. As McMahon is to wrestling, Joe Weider is to bodybuilding. In April 1992, McMahon launched WBF BodyStars, a weekly magazine series that promoted health & nutrition tips, as well as profiles of the men in McMahon's ill-fated World Bodybuilding Federation (WBF). Wrestler Lex Luger, sidelined with an injury in a motorcycle accident, would serve as co-host with Cameo Kneuer and, to a lesser extent, McMahon himself, during the series' 9 month run.

Matt Paolini uploaded this "Best of" slide show, which is the best we can do for right now:



If you were not into bodybuilding, this wasn't for you, even if the health tips applied to everyone's lifestyles. Once he recovered from his injuries, Luger would move on to the then-World Wrestling Federation (now WWE), only to leave after a less than stellar 2 1/2 year run in the ring, returning to WCW. The WBF folded by the end of '92, and BodyStars was cancelled right along with it, although McMahon would hold onto the mid-morning berth on Saturdays on the network for years to come.

Rating: D-.

Saturday Morning's Greatest Hits: Do The Bear (1965)

There were a number of occasions in the 60's when Hanna-Barbera poked fun at popular music, and this is one of them. The "Bear" in the song title is Paw Rugg, patriarch of the Hillbilly Bears. If that laugh at the end sounds familiar, that's because Rugg's distinctive mumble & laugh are done by Henry Corden, who would later inherit the iconic role of Fred Flintstone from Alan Reed after Reed passed away in the 70's. Hypnopump uploaded "Do The Bear" to YouTube:



The rationale behind this was that H-B wanted to show that just about anyone could be a rock star, even for the shortest amount of time. In the swinging 60's, that was certainly true.

Saturday Morning's Forgotten Heroes: Atom Ant (1965)

Most cartoon experts will claim that Hanna-Barbera's "super adventure" era began with Space Ghost, Frankenstein, Jr., & The Impossibles debuting in 1966. They would be wrong. The studio's first true superhero was Atom Ant, who preceded the others by a year, debuting on NBC. 

Edit, 5/23/26: Have to change the intro video. Vocals by Ted Cassidy (The Addams Family):

Howard Morris, who is better known for his role as troublemaker Ernest T. Bass on The Andy Griffith Show, and later would be the voice for Jughead on The Archie Show, was the original voice of Atom, but when our atomic insect joined the cast of Yogi's Gang, studio ace voice artist Don Messick took over the part. Morris had gone over to Filmation by then, of course, but there wasn't much difference. It can be said that Atom Ant was a take-off on Mighty Mouse, who was still going strong over on CBS at the time. Hanna-Barbera figured, we can make a smaller superhero work, and they did. However, because Atom was mostly played for laughs, and had two comedy features supporting him (Precious Pupp & Hillbilly Bears), it would be hard to reboot him as a more serious superhero character, though I'd not be surprised if someone actually tried.

Rating: B.