Running The Halls was one of those rare things on NBC in the 90's. A Saturday morning teen-com that wasn't from Peter Engel's stable. Engel (Saved By The Bell, California Dreams) was not associated with this series, although you might have thought he was, since his company seemingly dominated the lineup at the time. Lacking Engel's golden touch, Halls lasted just one season.
Worse, in my home district, it ran into indifference from the local affiliate, which opted to black out the show most of the time. Hence, the following clip, from the episode, "McBain Chokes", is my first look at the series, as it might also be for some of you. Uploaded by tgestudios to YouTube.
No rating.
Friday, January 6, 2012
Thursday, January 5, 2012
Saturday Morning's Forgotten Heroes: Bristle Hound (1969)
To a 6 year old viewer such as moi was in 1969, the It's The Wolf! segments of Cattanooga Cats were escapist entertainment to hold attention. More learned minds would later realize that while the setting changes with each episode, the plot remains the same. Mildew Wolf (Paul Lynde, Hollywood Squares, Bewitched) wants to invite innnocent Lambsy (Daws Butler, using his Augie Doggie/Elroy Jetson voice) to dinner, with Lambsy as the main course, but is always thwarted by Lambsy's guardian, Bristle Hound (Allan Melvin, The Brady Bunch).
Edit, 4/25/26: Here's "Any Sport in a Storm", albeit in black & white:
As we've previously documented, Mildew would later reform and become a sportscaster on Scooby's All-Star Laff-a-Lympics, but John Stephenson, not exactly doing a Lynde mimic, took over the role, as Lynde had gotten out of the cartoon business following "Charlotte's Web" in 1973.
Well, at least Mildew made a comeback. Lambsy & Bristle? Not so much.
Rating: C.
As we've previously documented, Mildew would later reform and become a sportscaster on Scooby's All-Star Laff-a-Lympics, but John Stephenson, not exactly doing a Lynde mimic, took over the role, as Lynde had gotten out of the cartoon business following "Charlotte's Web" in 1973.
Well, at least Mildew made a comeback. Lambsy & Bristle? Not so much.
Rating: C.
Saturday Morning's Greatest Hits: O-o-h Child (1970)
The 5 Stairsteps, billed as the "First Family of Soul", scored their biggest hit in 1970 with "O-o-h Child". A year later, the family band, with the name shortened to The Stairsteps, appeared on Soul Train during the series' 1st season.
More recently, the song resurfaced on the charts, covered by gospel singers Kirk Franklin & Donnie McClurkin. The positive message in the song certainly resonates even today.
More recently, the song resurfaced on the charts, covered by gospel singers Kirk Franklin & Donnie McClurkin. The positive message in the song certainly resonates even today.
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
Saturday Morning's Forgotten Heroes: The Wild West C.O.W-Boys of Moo Mesa (1992)
ABC was looking for a new hit series as the centerpiece of their Saturday morning lineup in 1992. Scooby-Doo had left the network a year earlier after being a cornerstone for most of the previous 15 years. The Real Ghostbusters had solved their last TV case after a 5 year run. Attempting to replace them with Hammerman, among others, ended in abject failure, so now it was time to look in another direction. In this case, the Old West.
The Wild West C.O.W.-Boys of Moo Mesa, which merged old school Western adventure with the trendy animal mutations popularized by the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, among others, nearly a decade earlier, seemed to fill the bill. Co-produced by King World (now part of CBS-Paramount) and Greengrass Productions, along with independent producer Gunther-Wahl (ex-Marvel & DFE exec Lee Gunther had formed his own production company) for the first season and Ruby-Spears for year two, the C.O.W.-Boys were paired with the animated revival of The Addams Family to give ABC the centerpiece they'd been waiting for. Advanteege uploaded the open.
The series made the transition to comics in 2 three-issue runs published by Archie, which was producing a book based on the Ninja Turtles' animated series, which, oh by the way, aired opposite Moo Mesa, if my memory serves me correctly. What resulted was that the COW-Boys & Turtles would meet in the pages of one of the Turtles' books on a number of different occasions. Unfortunately, no one has the stones to put the show back on the air to mark its 20th anniversary this year. Disney held the rights, last anyone knew, but it's been sitting in their vaults for almost a decade now.
Rating: None. Never saw the show.
The Wild West C.O.W.-Boys of Moo Mesa, which merged old school Western adventure with the trendy animal mutations popularized by the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, among others, nearly a decade earlier, seemed to fill the bill. Co-produced by King World (now part of CBS-Paramount) and Greengrass Productions, along with independent producer Gunther-Wahl (ex-Marvel & DFE exec Lee Gunther had formed his own production company) for the first season and Ruby-Spears for year two, the C.O.W.-Boys were paired with the animated revival of The Addams Family to give ABC the centerpiece they'd been waiting for. Advanteege uploaded the open.
The series made the transition to comics in 2 three-issue runs published by Archie, which was producing a book based on the Ninja Turtles' animated series, which, oh by the way, aired opposite Moo Mesa, if my memory serves me correctly. What resulted was that the COW-Boys & Turtles would meet in the pages of one of the Turtles' books on a number of different occasions. Unfortunately, no one has the stones to put the show back on the air to mark its 20th anniversary this year. Disney held the rights, last anyone knew, but it's been sitting in their vaults for almost a decade now.
Rating: None. Never saw the show.
Monday, January 2, 2012
Saturday Morning's Forgotten Heroes: The New Shmoo (1979)
While Al Capp's seminal comic strip, L'il Abner, never became an animated series, one of the supporting cast made the transition, and it wasn't very successful.
Hanna-Barbera acquired a license in 1979 to bring the armless, shape-changing Shmoo to television, but by taking him out of his familiar milieu and pairing him with a generic group of amateur crime-solvers, who were also running a small comics company for their primary vocation, they felt required to christen the series, The New Shmoo:
Two months into the season, the series was merged with Fred & Barney Meet The Thing to form the equally ridiculous 90 minute Fred & Barney Meet The Shmoo, but all that did was postpone the inevitable. Shmoo shuffled off the air after 1 season, and the rights lie with either the Capp estate or with WB, as I believe reruns have aired on Boomerang in recent years.
Today, if someone wanted to revive the Shmoo, it would be a CGI series, you can bank on it. And it might work the second time around.
Rating: B-.
Hanna-Barbera acquired a license in 1979 to bring the armless, shape-changing Shmoo to television, but by taking him out of his familiar milieu and pairing him with a generic group of amateur crime-solvers, who were also running a small comics company for their primary vocation, they felt required to christen the series, The New Shmoo:
Two months into the season, the series was merged with Fred & Barney Meet The Thing to form the equally ridiculous 90 minute Fred & Barney Meet The Shmoo, but all that did was postpone the inevitable. Shmoo shuffled off the air after 1 season, and the rights lie with either the Capp estate or with WB, as I believe reruns have aired on Boomerang in recent years.
Today, if someone wanted to revive the Shmoo, it would be a CGI series, you can bank on it. And it might work the second time around.
Rating: B-.
From out of the Recycling Bin: Super Witch (1977)
In 1977, The Archies moved from CBS to NBC after a year's break, during which time a live-action pilot had been produced for ABC by James Komack (Chico & The Man, Welcome Back, Kotter). Said pilot bombed out, and so the gang moved laterally across the dial again.
However, The Archie-Sabrina Hour, which introduced a new cast member in Carlos, a Latino teen, didn't click with viewers. It's not that hard to fathom why. The series was slotted opposite Scooby's All-Star Laff-a-Lympics on ABC, and was subsequently buried. Before the year was out, the one-hour format was scrapped, and the series split into two component parts, The Bang Shang Lallapalooza Show (Archie) & Super Witch, which, as you'll see, recycled parts of the open to Sabrina's 1971 solo series, but with a new theme song. The open also emphasizes Reggie Mantle's efforts to expose Sabrina's witchcraft to the rest of the gang.
NBC bade farewell to the Riverdale gang in the Spring of '78, and it would be more than a decade before they would return to Saturday mornings, albeit in a new incarnation, The New Archies, which we've previously reviewed. Since we already had reviewed Sabrina's 1971 show, there is no need to rate this over again.
However, The Archie-Sabrina Hour, which introduced a new cast member in Carlos, a Latino teen, didn't click with viewers. It's not that hard to fathom why. The series was slotted opposite Scooby's All-Star Laff-a-Lympics on ABC, and was subsequently buried. Before the year was out, the one-hour format was scrapped, and the series split into two component parts, The Bang Shang Lallapalooza Show (Archie) & Super Witch, which, as you'll see, recycled parts of the open to Sabrina's 1971 solo series, but with a new theme song. The open also emphasizes Reggie Mantle's efforts to expose Sabrina's witchcraft to the rest of the gang.
NBC bade farewell to the Riverdale gang in the Spring of '78, and it would be more than a decade before they would return to Saturday mornings, albeit in a new incarnation, The New Archies, which we've previously reviewed. Since we already had reviewed Sabrina's 1971 show, there is no need to rate this over again.
Sunday, January 1, 2012
Daytime Heroes: The Adventures of Letterman (1972)
In its second season, The Electric Company added a superhero satire feature that would appear sporadically, with 60 installments over the next four years. The Adventures of Letterman was a series of 2 1/2 minute shorts designed to, as in the context of the Company's overall format, teach young viewers about specific words.
Every story had the same basic plot. Spell Binder has a little fun at the expense of some poor, innocent citizen, and Letterman appears, emerging from the convienient vicinity, to correct the problem. The series reunited Gene Wilder & Zero Mostel, the stars of the original feature film version of "The Producers", as the voices of Letterman & Spell Binder, respectively, with Joan Rivers serving as narrator.
Let's take a look at "In a Pickle":
During Electric Company's final season, they created a live-action parody of Letterman, Litterman. I will try to locate that skit. Of course you know that before the Company ended its first run, Spider-Man would become a part of the show. Look for Spidey Super Stories to show up before too long.
To paraphrase ESPN's Kenny Mayne back in the day, the simplicity of these cartoons amuses me. Bring me your finest meats & cheeses.
Rating: A-.
Every story had the same basic plot. Spell Binder has a little fun at the expense of some poor, innocent citizen, and Letterman appears, emerging from the convienient vicinity, to correct the problem. The series reunited Gene Wilder & Zero Mostel, the stars of the original feature film version of "The Producers", as the voices of Letterman & Spell Binder, respectively, with Joan Rivers serving as narrator.
Let's take a look at "In a Pickle":
During Electric Company's final season, they created a live-action parody of Letterman, Litterman. I will try to locate that skit. Of course you know that before the Company ended its first run, Spider-Man would become a part of the show. Look for Spidey Super Stories to show up before too long.
To paraphrase ESPN's Kenny Mayne back in the day, the simplicity of these cartoons amuses me. Bring me your finest meats & cheeses.
Rating: A-.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)