Remember that one day when you could wake up without an alarm? When you would get your favorite bowl of cereal and sit between the hours of 8 and 12? This is a blog dedicated to the greatest time of our childhood: Saturday mornings. The television programs you watched, the memories attached to them, and maybe introducing you to something you didn't realize existed. Updated every weekend.
More known for his various television shows
and movies, the legendary funnyman has lent his voice to a few projects. Among
them was Prometheus in an episode of Hercules: The Animated Series, Santa
Claus in an episode of The Penguins of Madagascar and Shimmer and
Shine, Captain Treasure Tooth in Jake and the Never Land Pirates, and
the wizard Shazam in an episode of Justice League Action.
Saturday Morning Preview Specials were prime-time showcases for the upcoming Saturday morning season on the networks. They were typically hosted by stars from the network's other shows as well as other celebrity guests, and offered clips from the upcoming programs. Below you will find as many of the previews specials from the 1970s as can be found on the internet at the moment.
It wasn’t until the late 60s that Saturday mornings were beginning to get into full swing. Content with airing primetime reruns and a few new shows here and there, that all changed in 1966 when CBS revitalized its schedule with an action-heavy slant. When CBS showed massive success, the other networks followed and Saturday morning suddenly became good business. So, how would the networks advertise to their targeted audiences to tune in every week? Simple: advertise in comic books! For almost every Saturday schedule for decades, there was an artfully designed cartoon representing the networks’ schedules in every major publication. They even made sure to cover their bases with ads in TV Guideand newspapers so that parents would be aware shows for their kids would be on.
For the history of The Flintstones, check out the post here.
As part of Fred Silverman’s efforts to
revitalize the last-place NBC, he decided to
bring back some old favorites. One of them was the return to the classic Stone
Age sitcom, The
Flintstones.
Fred and Barney out for a round of golf.
The New
Fred and Barney Show was a direct continuation of the 1960s series. Pebbles
(Jean Vander Pyl) and Bamm-Bamm (Don Messick) were reverted to their toddler
forms, after having been depicted as teenagers in The
Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm Show, although newer characters like the Rubbles’
pet hopparoo, Hoppy (outside of the intro),
and the powerful alien visitor The
Great Gazoo were nowhere to be found. Instead of dealing purely with the
slice of life stuff that was the foundation of sitcoms, Fred and Barney often
started off in seemingly mundane situations while ending up in increasingly
fantastical ones. For instance, Fred (Henry Corden) and Barney (Mel Blanc) head
out for an evening of bowling only to end up in the house of an evil witch. Frank
Frankenstone and Count
Rockula (both John Stephenson) were based on Frankenstein’s
monster and Count
Dracula, respectively, replacing The Gruesomes
as the Flintstones’ spooky neighbors.Original
comparisons to The
Honeymoonerswere also further reinforced with episodes of Fred and
Barney that shared similar plots; such as Fred gaining an inheritance from
a rich person he was nice to and it ending up being a bird (“Ralph Kramden,
Inc.”), or finding a suitcase full of money and having to deal with the crooks
who want it back (“Funny Money”).
Betty and Wilma ready for a night on the town.
The New
Fred and Barney Show debuted mid-season on NBC on February 3, 1979. The
series’ theme was a reworking of the original written by producer Joe Barbera and composed by Hoyt Curtin, emphasizing the
newness of the series and the return to classic Flintstones. Notably, it
was the first time Corden would voice Fred for a regular series as original
actor Alan Reed had died in
1977 (Corden previously provided Fred’s singing voice in place of Reed). The
series was written by Doug Booth,
Andy Heyward, Len Janson, Glenn Leopold, Chuck Menville, Bob Ogle, Ray Parker, Dave Stone and
Chip Yaras,
with Larz Bourne serving as
story editor.
Fred and
Barney ran for two short seasons for a total of 17 episodes. For the second
season, Fred and Barney was combined with one of Hanna-Barbera’s latest
offerings, The Thing
(loosely based on the Marvel Comics
character), in the package program Fred and Barney Meet the Thing. Despite
the misleading title, the two sets of characters never interacted outside of
the package’s intro and commercial bumpers. Beginning on December 8th,
the package was expanded to 90 minutes to include The
New Shmooand was retitled Fred and Barney Meet the Shmoo. The
package show continued on in reruns through 1980, when it was replaced by The Flintstone Comedy Show. Different versions of Frankenstone, his family and
Count Rockula would appear in two prime-time Flintstones specials: The Flintstones Meet Rockula
and Frankenstoneand The Flintstones’ New
Neighbors. The series has been made available to stream on Amazon
Prime.
EPISODE GUIDE:
Season 1:
“Sand-Witch” (2/3/79) – Car trouble leads Fred and Barney to
seek a telephone in a house that belongs to a man-eating witch.
“Haunted Inheritance” (2/10/79) – Because he was kind to an
aristocrat disguised as a quarry worker, Fred gets entered into a competition
for an inheritance.
“Roughin’ It” (2/17/79) – Feeling modern living is making life
easy and boring, Fred tries to go back to old-fashioned caveman living.
“C.B. Buddies” (2/24/79) – Fred and Barney cause trouble
when they overpower their new CB radios.
“Bedrock Rocks” (3/3/79) – Fred tries to hook the Slates up
with members of a rock band Mrs. Slate wants to see on her birthday, but
failing that he and Barney impersonate them.
“Blood Brothers” (3/10/79) – Fred and Barney end up saving a
reformed Count Rockula from a car accident, and he does his best to befriend
them and make them his “blood brothers”.
“Barney’s Chickens” (3/17/79) – Barney ends up accidentally
hypnotizing a bunch of people into believing they’re chickens.
“The Butler Did It…and Did It Better” (3/24/79) – Fred is
happy with his new robot butler, until the robot proves to be better than him
at everything.
“It’s Not Their Bag” (3/31/79) – Fred and Barney find a bag
of stolen money while playing golf and must evade the crooks looking for it.
“Barney’s Luck” (4/7/79) – Fred tries to prove that a coin
Barney found isn’t responsible for his string of extraordinary good luck.
Season 2:
“Stone Age Werewolf” (9/8/79) – Fred and Barney head out in
search of a werewolf, but a storm forces them to take shelter in the cabin of a
friendly old man.
“Fred & Barney Meet the Frankenstones” (9/15/79) –
Needing a break, Fred and Barney head to a spa they discover is run by Frank
Frankenstone.
“Physical Fitness Fred” (9/22/79) – Jealous over his wife’s
fawning over a celebrity, Fred decides to get fit to turn her head.
“Moonlighters” (9/29/79) – Fred and Barney try to compensate
for rising prices by taking various part-time jobs.
“Fred Goes to the Houndasaurs” (10/6/79) – Wilma adopts a
new Houndasaur that causes trouble for both Fred and Dino.
“The Bad Luck Genie” (10/13/79) – Fred finds a genie while
fishing whose wish-granting ends up causing more trouble than they’re worth.
“Dinosaur Country Safari” (10/20/79) – Fred and Barney take
their wives on a safari which ends up with their landing in a pterodactyl’s
nest.
Yogi’s
Space Racewas a 90-minute program
featuring the titular Yogi Bear (Daws Butler)
and a cast of returning and all-new Hanna-Barbera
characters. The program was comprised of four unrelated segments that shared
some of those characters. It failed to perform on the struggling NBC and was cancelled
halfway through its sole season. In order to make it more maneuverable on their
schedule, all of the segments were broken up into three separate programs. Buford
and the Galloping Ghost was a combination of the two 11-minute segments of Space
Race: The Buford Files and The Galloping Ghost.
The Buford Files was the
latest clone of Hanna-Barbera’s Scooby-Doo
franchise. It followed the adventures of lazy bloodhound Buford (Frank Welker)
who lived in Fenokee Swamp with twins Cindy Mae (Pat Parris) and Woody Boggs
(Dave Landsburg). Together, the three of them solved mysteries that baffled
local law enforcement: Sheriff Muletrain (Henry Corden) and Deputy Goofer McGee
(Roger Peltz). Buford, when actually active, could move his ears around like
radar dishes and had a nose that worked like a Geiger counter when looking for
clues. However, two things often stood in his way: his penchant for howling at
the moon (usually at the worst times), and an antagonistic raccoon that knew
karate.
The Galloping Ghost was about
the ghost of a gold prospector named Nugget Nose (Welker) who had taken a shine
to two young girls who worked at the Fuddy Dude Ranch: Wendy (Marilyn
Schreffler) and Rita (Parris). They met Nugget when they accidentally crashed
into his resting place (think bed rather than grave) in a cavern in an
abandoned mine. Nugget took great delight in tormenting their grumpy old boss,
Fenwick Fuddy (Hal Peary), whenever he did something mean towards the girls.
Wendy could summon Nugget whenever they needed help by rubbing the special gold
nugget necklace she wore. Along with having traits typical of a ghost,
including levitation, Nugget got around by riding his invisible horse.
The Buford Files character models.
Buford and the Galloping Ghost debuted
on NBC with the rest of Space Race on September 9, 1978. When NBC began
breaking up the show, it remained paired with Space Race in an hour-long
block until February 3, when it was finally broken off into its own program. Of
the three resulting programs, Buford and the Galloping Ghost lasted the
longest; remaining on NBC’s schedule until that September when it was removed
for the new season. The series was written by Herb Armstrong,
George
Atkins, Jack
Bonestell, Doug
Booth, Chuck
Couch, Gary
Greenfield, Len
Janson, Mark
Jones, Glenn
Leopold, Ray
Parker, Sam
Roeca, Jim
Ryan
and Susan
“Misty” Stewart, with music by Hoyt Curtin
and Paul
Dekorte. The series was animated at Filman in Madrid, Spain
and the characters were designed by Bob Singer.
Layout drawing of the Fuddy Dude Ranch.
Following the conclusion of Buford
and the Galloping Ghost and Yogi’s Space Race where the characters
also appeared, Buford, Nugget Nose and their friends all largely disappeared.
The series was seen again in reruns as part of USA Cartoon Express
and on Cartoon Network
and Boomerang.
EPISODE
GUIDE:
“The
Swamp Hermit / Phantom of the Horse Opera” (9/9/78) – Buford, Woody and Cindy
Mae discover their friend has been kidnapped by escaped convicts. / Wendy and
Rita dream of stardom when a Hollywood producer visits the ranch.
“The
Vanishing Stallion / Too Many Crooks” (9/16/78) – Buford, Woody and Cindy Mae
witness a horse disappear during a race. / An escaped convict takes refuge at
the ranch.
“The
Swamp Saucer / Sagebrush Sergeant” (9/23/78) – Buford, Woody and Cindy Mae
investigate a UFO that landed in the swamp. / Fuddy’s army sergeant sister
visits the ranch and puts everyone on a strict exercise and work regiment.
“The
Man with Orange Hair / Bad News Bear” (9/30/78) – Buford, Woody and Cindy Mae
investigate the theft of silver skates stolen by someone with orange hair. /
Nugget and the girls try to hide a bear from Fuddy and a safety inspector.
“The
Demon of Ur / Robot Round-Up” (10/7/78) – A statue disappears from a train
under Goofer’s watch. / Fuddy hires a robot to work at the ranch, threatening
the girls’ jobs.
“The
Missing Bank / Pests in the West” (10/14/78) – Goofer sends off $10 million in
an armored car, but the bank claims it never arrived. / NO SYNOPSIS AVAILABLE.
“Scare
in the Air / Rock Star Nuggie” (10/21/78) – An amphibious plane goes missing. /
Nugget becomes jealous when the girls fawn over a visiting rock star.
“Buford
and the Beauty / Frontier Fortune Teller” (10/28/78) – Buford, Woody and Cindy
Mae must investigate the kidnapping of a movie star dog. / The girls turn to
Nugget to help expose phony fortune tellers looking to steal Fuddy’s furniture.
“Peril
in the Park / I Want My Mummy” (11/4/78) – Buford, Woody and Cindy Mae try to
get a job at the amusement park, but the park is shutting down due to sabotage.
/ NO SYNOPSIS AVAILABLE.
“The
Magic Whammy / Mr. Sunshine’s Eclipse” (11/11/78) – Banks are being
mysteriously robbed. / Nugget is called to scare away an annoying TV prankster
visiting the ranch.
“The
Haunting of Swamp Manor / Klondike Kate” (11/18/78) – Burford, Woody and Cindy
Mae investigate a haunted mansion. / Nugget is reunited with the ghost of an
old girlfriend he promised to marry when he struck gold.
“The
Case of the Missing Gator / A Ghost of a Chance” (11/25/78) – Smugglers go
through the swamp looking for stolen diamonds. / Fuddy tries to capture Nugget
in order to get $1 million from a guest looking for proof ghosts exist.
“Don’t
Monkey with Buford / Elmo the Great” (12/2/78) – Duchess’ diamond collar is
stolen during a parade by a chimp. / The girls buy Fuddy a horse for his
birthday, but he ends up being too much trouble.
John Stephenson – Captain
Snerdley, General Blowhard, various
For the history of Yogi the Bear, check out the post here.
Yogi’s
Space Racewas a 90-minute program featuring the titular Yogi Bear
(Daws Butler) and a cast of returning and all-new Hanna-Barbera
characters. The program was comprised of four unrelated segments that shared
some of those characters. It failed to perform on the struggling NBC and was cancelled halfway through its sole
season. In order to make it more maneuverable on their schedule, all of the
segments were broken up into three separate programs.
The Goof-Ups: Yogi, Huckleberry, Quack-Up and Scare Bear.
Galaxy Goof-Ups featured Yogi
reunited with his old pal Huckleberry Hound (Butler) in the future as intergalactic
patrolmen known as the Galaxy Guardians. Joining them were the new characters
carried over from the Space Race segment, the eternally-frightened Scare
Bear (Joe Besser) and the crazy Quack-Up (Mel Blanc), as their partners.
Exclusive to the series was Captain Snerdley (John Stephenson, impersonating Joe Flynn) as their commanding
officer, and his superior, General Blowhard (also Stephenson). Yogi and his
friends were the ineptest officers on the force and often slacked off on the
job; much to the chagrin of Snerdley who often bore the brunt of their foul-ups
from Blowhard. However, things always managed to go their way in the end and
the criminals always managed to end up in the clink.
The Goof-Ups crash to the rescue.
Galaxy Goof-Ups debuted with
the rest of Space Race on NBC September 9, 1978. As it was the most
popular segment out of the four, it was the first to be broken off into its own
program when NBC cancelled Space Race. The independent Goof-Ups series
debuted on November 4. The segment was written by Haskell Barkin,
Chuck Couch,
Mark Fink,
Ray
Parker and Jim Ryan,
with Parker serving as story editor. Music was composed by Hoyt Curtin and Paul DeKorte, with character
designs by Willie
Ito.
General Blowhard and Captain Snerdley.
Despite its popularity, Goof-Ups was
the second portion of the Space Race bunch to leave the air; with fellow
spin-off Buford
and the Galloping Ghostlasting until the new season schedule that
September. In the following years, it has been seen in reruns on USA Cartoon Express,
Nickelodeon, TNT, Cartoon Network
and Boomerang.
Clips from the show are also available on Boomerang’s YouTube channel.
Beyond that, Scare Bear and Quack-Up have largely disappeared from the
Hanna-Barbera stable.
EPISODE
GUIDE:
“The
Purloined Princess” (9/9/78) – A princess is kidnapped and used as bait to trap
the goof-ups, but it ends up backfiring on the villains instead.
“Defective
Protectives” (9/16/78) – The goof-ups set out to capture the Space Spider so
that the General can get a good night’s sleep to present the plans for foiling
the Spider’s plots.
“Whose
Zoo?” (9/23/78) – Sagar the hunter wants the goof-ups for display in his
interplanetary zoo.
“The
Space Pirates” (9/30/78) – The goof-ups are tricked into handing over the gold
they’re transporting to space pirates.
“The
Clone Ranger” (10/7/78) – Tacky Cat wants revenge against Snerdley, so he
steals a cloning machine and kidnaps Snerdley to operate it.
“The
Dopey Defenders” (10/14/78) – Zangra tricks the goof-ups into loading
top-secret equipment onto her ship, but then they accidentally take off with
her ship.
“Tacky
Cat Strikes Again” (10/21/78) – Constantly being nagged by his wife because of
how they live, Tacky ends up abandoning their evil plan and surrendering to the
goof-ups.
“Space
Station USA” (10/28/78) – The goof-ups are assigned to bring an ancient ship to
the museum, but the richest man in the galaxy will stop at nothing to make it
part of his collection.
“Hai,
King Yogi!” (11/4/78) – Investigating a new jungle planet leads to Yogi being
worshipped—and courted by their queen.
“Dyno-Mite!”
(11/11/78) – Tiny space villain Dyno-Mite steals a new weapon, the
Stretch-Shrink Ray.
“Vampire
of Space” (11/18/78) – Count Vampula plans to take over the galaxy and decides
to turn Snerdley into his slave to trap the goof-ups.
“The
Treasure of Congo-Bongo” (11/25/78) – The goof-ups race a pair of villains to
retrieve a crashed computer that can produce precious metals and gems.
“Captain
Snerdley Goes Bananas” (12/2/78) – Lozar disguises himself as a doctor to poke
around Snerdley’s mind when the General sends him to a sanitarium.
