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.
Judy Blume is the author of children’s, young
adult and adult fiction. Having always been concocting stories in her head, she
finally decided to put them down on paper when her children began pre-school.
He first book, The
One in the Middle is the Green Kangaroo, was published in 1969, and
she’d go on to write a total of 32 (to date) across her career. She became one
of the first young adult authors to write about controversial topics like
masturbation, menstruation, birth control, teenage sex and death. These not
only made her books beloved
by generations of audiences, but often landed her at the top of banned
book lists. She had won more than 90 literary awards and was named a Living
Legend by the Library of Congress,
among other honors. Her work has also been adapted several times into other
media; with the first being a 1978 TV film based on the novel Forever.
Fudge, Peter and ill-fated turtle Dribble as depicted by Roy Doty.
In 1972,
Blume introduced the beginning of the Fudge series
of books. “Fudge” was the nickname of Farley Drexel Hatcher, a 2 ½-3-year-old
toddler who was very loud, demanding and mischievous with an overactive
imagination who deathly hated his given name. Despite the series being named
after him, the protagonist was actually his long-suffering older brother,
Peter, and the stories were generally told from his perspective. One of his
contentions is that Fudge is seemingly allowed to get away with anything or
always gets what he wants, along with driving him crazy in the process. Other
characters included their parents (naturally), Peter’s best friend Jimmy Fargo,
and his neighbor and rival, know-it-all Sheila Tubman.
A more realistic depiction on a later edition cover.
The first book, Tales of
a Fourth Grade Nothing, was inspired by Blume’s babysitter, Willie Mae
Bartlett, showing her a news article about a toddler swallowing a tiny pet
turtle. She wrote a picture book called Peter, Fudge and Dribble that
made the rounds to various publishers and was rejected. Later, it was submitted
to Ann Durrell, editor of children’s books at E.P. Dutton, who
suggested changing it from a picture book and making its story a chapter in a
longer book about the whole family. So, Blume did; basing Fudge on her son, Larry, and setting it in the
New York City building where her best friend, Mary Weaver, lived. Durrell loved
the book, but the title needed to change thanks to the book Peter
Potts having just come out. Out of a list of 20 suggestions by Blume, Tales
of a Fourth Grade Nothing was chosen and the book was published.
Sheila gets her chance to shine.
The next book was a spin-off,
called Otherwise
Known as Sheila the Great, as Blume wanted to give focus to Sheila
after finishing the first book. The next three books—Superfudge,
Fudge-a-mania,
and Double
Fudge—returned to the Hatcher family and their everyday adventures. Blume
never actively worked on the series as much as fans kept requesting further
installments; rather, she wrote each successive book as soon as inspiration for
their story struck. “The thing about funny books is, they have to spill out
spontaneously, or they don’t work. (At least that’s how it is with me)” Blume
explained on the Superfudge page of her website.
DVD cover to Sheila's film.
The first adaptation of a Fudge
book was Otherwise Known as Sheila the Great, written and produced by
Blume and her son and directed by him. It aired as one of two new entries during
the 13th season of ABC
Weekend Specials. The next adaptation was a made-for-TV film based on Fudge-a-mania,
also airing on ABC on January 7th,
1995. Written and directed by Bob
Clark (director of A
Christmas Story and its original sequel), the
film starred Jake Richardson as Peter, Eve Plumb and Forrest Witt as his
parents Warren and Ann, Nassira Nicola as Sheila, Alex Burrall as Jimmy, and
Luke Tarsitano as Fudge in his first acting role. Florence Henderson also
appeared as grandmother Muriel, bringing a small Brady
Bunch reunion with Plumb.
The Hatchers come to life.
As not much information currently exists
about Fudge’s live-action adaptations, it’s unknown whether the film was
always intended to act as a potential pilot or if the network liked what they
saw enough to move forward with a series. Regardless, Fudge the sitcom
would debut the following week on January 14th, with all of the film’s
primary cast carried over. It was a co-production of Kevin Slattery Productions, Amblin Television and MCA Television Entertainment.
Episodes were largely adapted from the chapters of Fourth Grade Nothing
and Superfudge, with a few original stories sprinkled in. As with the
books, Peter provided narrative commentary and would address the audience
directly in fourth wall breaks. Writers included Tom J. Astle, George Thompson, Robin Stein, Jay Ingram, Joseph Purdy and producers Russell Marcus and Mary Gregory de Butts. Dick Marx, Shelly Berg and Tom Halm handled the music,
while costume designs were done by Nancy Fox-Taylor.
Sheila observes some Fudge shenanigans.
The first season ran for only nine
episodes, but viewers didn’t have to wait too long as the second season began that
August. It wasn’t renewed for a third, however, which could be attributed to either
the series failing to match the popularity of its source material or it being a
casualty of the Disney purge after they
had purchased the network and wanted to populate it with their own programming.
Fudge’s second season returned to television in 1997 as part of CBS’ Think CBS Kids programming block,
which was entirely populated by live-action programming designed to fill new
educational and informational requirements mandated by the FCC (many sources mistakenly claim that the
second season first ran on CBS, but the airdates and schedules contradict that).
While the film has seen an official home
media release the series itself remains largely forgotten outside of a VHS
release for “Ducky Soup”. Only two fair quality episodes, the intro and
outro have surfaced online so far.
“Fudge-A-Mania” (1/7/95) – The Hatchers and Tubmans decide
to go to Maine together for a getaway only to have conflicts and chaos ensue.
Season 1:
“How Turtle Got His Name” (1/14/95) – After Fudge ate
Peter’s pet turtle Dribble, his father got him a new dog that he named “Turtle”
in his honor.
“Saving Up is Hard to Do” (1/21/95) – Fudge becomes an
elevator operator in order to earn money for an anniversary gift for his
parents.
“Fudge Meets Ratface” (1/28/95) – Fudge climbs to the top
shelf in his kindergarten class and refuses to come down as his teacher won’t
address him as “Fudge”.
“The TV Star” (2/4/95) – Spending a day at their father’s
office results in Fudge becoming the star of a commercial.
“To Catch a Fudge” (2/11/95) – Sheila volunteers to babysit
Fuge so that their parents can have dinner together.
“The Birthday Bash” (2/18/95) – Peter is forced to stay home
for Fudge’s birthday party.
“The Flying Train Committee” (2/25/95) – Fudge vandalizes
the project Peter and his friends were working on the day before it’s due,
forcing their parents to build a wall to separate them.
“Uncle Feather” (3/4/95) – In order to keep their wall,
Peter suggests getting Fudge a pet bird to help ease his fear of monsters in
his room.
“Ducky Soup” (3/11/95) – Peter gives Fudge his stuffed duck
until his stuffed monkey can be repaired after accidentally being washed.
Season 2:
“The Grade Escape” (8/19/95) – Fudge fills out Peter’s
aptitude test, resulting in Peter’s being labeled a “genius”.
“The Art of Friendship” (8/26/95) – Jimmy’s father speaking
at Career Day at school puts a strain on his friendship with Peter.
“No Exit” (9/2/95) – A visit from a cousin causes Peter to
reconsider his thoughts about young kids.
“Play it Again, Dad” (9/9/95) – A girl winking at him after
watching a street performer encourages Peter to consider taking up music.
“The Candyman Shouldn’t” (9/16/95) – After Fudge is found to
have four cavities, his parents challenge the family to give up sweets for a
week.
“My Grandmother the Card” (9/23/95) – Their grandmother
comes to babysit the kids for the weekend, putting a damper on Peter’s plans
with his friends.
“Big Little Lie” (9/30/95) – Peter gets his friends to help
him fix a table before his parents find out he and Fudge broke it.
“Bye Anxiety” (10/7/95) – Sheila’s family announces they’re
moving to Chicago.
“Bad Housekeeping” (10/14/95) – The new maid causes Peter
and Warren to act strangely.
“Odd Man Out” (10/21/95) – Peter and Fudge’s classes end up
paired together for a buddy program.
“A Foreign Affair” (10/28/95) – Peter falls for an exchange student
from China.
“Slam Funk” (11/4/95) – A new neighbor trounces Peter in
basketball.
“Reversal of Fortune” (11/11/95) – Peter is in a panic when
he discovers Fudge gave away his lucky nickel.
“The Mouse Trappers” (11/18/95) – Fudge befriending a mouse
leads Peter to believe their mother is pregnant with multiple babies.
“Midnight Cowboys” (12/16/95) – Peter is tasked with
watching over Fudge during the Hatchers’ New Year’s Eve party.
THE PUPPY’S NEW ADVENTURES / THE
PUPPY’S FURTHER ADVENTURES / THE PUPPY’S GREAT ADVENTURES (ABC, September 25,
1982-October 29, 1983) Ruby-Spears
Enterprises, Hanna-Barbera Productions (season 1)
Catherine Woolley was a
prolific writer best known for her children’s books under both her name and her
pen name, Jane Thayer. Her first book, I
Like Trains, was published in 1944 and her last, Writing
for Children, in 1989. Within that 45-year timeframe, she had penned 87 children’s books,
including 1958’s The
Puppy Who Wanted a Boy. It was the story of a puppy named Petey who
wanted a little boy of his own for Christmas in a town where they were in short
supply. After trying and failing to convince several dogs to give up their
boys, he would eventually find Ricky at an orphanage, and found himself with
not one but many boys.
The original book.
20 years
later, the book got a second life as it was one of the ones chosen for an
adaptation into an episode of the anthology series ABC
Weekend Specials. Produced by Ruby-Spears Enterprises,
it followed Beagle mix Petey
(Todd Turquand), the only
member of a litter not to be adopted, as he searched for a boy of his own. Like
the book, he tried to convince a couple of dogs to give up their boys to no
avail. In order to expand the story to a full 22-minutes, Barbara Avedon and Barbara Corday added Petey
encountering two dog bullies and foiling their attempt to steal food; escaping
capture from a cruel dog-seller with a group of strays; and attempting to pass
himself off as a toy dog so a boy and his mother would buy him. He finally
found his boy, now named Tommy, at the orphanage.
The original special title card.
The episode performed well enough
to not only earn Ruby-Spears its first Emmy
nomination, but gained something the book itself never did: sequels. “The
Puppy’s Great Adventure” saw Petey (now Bryan Scott) have to win over
Tommy’s dog-hating adoptive parents. “The Puppy’s Amazing Rescue” had Petey and
his friend/love interest, a Cocker Spaniel mix
named Dolly (Nancy McKeon), try to avoid dangers while getting help for their
humans trapped in an avalanche. “The Puppy Saves the Circus” gave Petey (now Sparky Marcus) amnesia and saw
him becoming a breakout performer in a struggling circus.
Dash, Duke, Lucky, Dolly and Petey.
With the
sequels also being well-received, and reruns of the original still getting high
ratings, ABC decided to take things to the
next level and greenlight a full animated series. Dubbed The Puppy’s New
Adventures, Petey’s (now Billy Jacoby) family decided to move overseas by
ship and took Dolly with them. Stowing away were Petey’s friends from his days
as a stray: Duke (Michael Bell), a German shepherd/Labrador Retriever
mix who looked after the group; Dash (also Bell), a sleek and speedy Greyhound who was both the
smartest of the group and also the most cowardly; and Lucky (Peter Cullen), a
big and strong St. Bernard
who was a little light in the brains department. A freak storm washed the dogs
overboard and they had to journey through various counties looking for Tommy
(Tony O’Dell) and his parents. Along the way, they encountered people (understanding
them perfectly, although they couldn’t speak back) or animals who needed their
help before they could move on to the next destination. Each episode featured
an opening narration by Petey setting up the circumstances of their upcoming
adventure.
The
Puppy’s New Adventures debuted on ABC on September 25, 1982. Inexplicably,
it was combined with the dissimilar Scooby-Doo
and Scrappy Doo (1980) in a block called The Scooby & Scrappy-Doo/Puppy
Hour. Hanna-Barbera,
makers of Scooby-Doo, and Ruby-Spears were both owned by the same parent
company, Taft
Broadcasting, and Joe Ruby
and Ken Spears
were former employees of Hanna-Barbera and the creators of Scooby-Doo.
While Hanna-Barbera continued the pre-production and voice-over work for their
half of the block, Ruby-Spears handled the actual production of the entire
program, resulting in some of their unique sound effects library being heard in
the Scooby segments. The series was written by Mark Jones, Buzz Dixon, Diane Dixon, Jack Enyart, Steve Gerber and Gary Greenfield, with Jones
serving as executive story consultant and Michael Maurer as story editor. Dean Elliott and Hoyt Curtin were the musical
directors, with Paul DeKorte
as the musical supervisor.
The series
was renewed for a second season, this time airing independently as The
Puppy’s Further Adventures. The globe-trotting storyline was ended in a
two-part episode resulting in Petey being reunited with his family and his
friends being adopted by them. Their new adventures usually involved joining
Tommy as his father (John Stephenson) went on scientific expeditions or visited
friends. A new recurring dog character was introduced named Glyder (Josh Rodine), whose enormous
ears caused him to constantly trip when on the ground, but allowed him to glide
in the air. Writers for this season included Jones, Gerber, Flint Dille, Michael J. Reaves, Marc Scott Zicree, Janis Diamond, Martin Pasko and Sheldon Stark, with Diamond
serving as story consultant. Although no new episodes were made for the third season,
a third season of reruns did air as The Puppy’s Great Adventures from
September 8-November 10, 1984. Great Adventures would return for a final
run on CBS from September 13-November 8,
1986.
Ad for CBS Saturday morning's initial 1986 line-up.
“The Treasure of the Ancient Ruins” (9/25/82) – NO SYNOPSIS
AVAILABLE.
“The Puppy’s Dangerous Mission” (10/2/82) – The dogs must
keep a serum meant to heal an ailing young king out of the hands of enemy
spies.
“An American Puppy in Paris” (10/9/82) – NO SYNOPSIS AVAILABLE.
“The Puppy and the Pirates” (10/16/82) – NO SYNOPSIS AVAILABLE.
“The Mystery of the Wailing Cat” (10/23/82) – NO SYNOPSIS AVAILABLE.
“The Puppy’s Australian Adventure” (10/30/82) – NO SYNOPSIS
AVAILABLE.
“Puppy and the Reluctant Bull” (11/6/82) – The dogs must
rescue a gentle bull that has been abducted to participate in a bullfight.
“The Puppy’s Hong Kong Adventure” (11/13/82) – NO SYNOPSIS AVAILABLE.
“Honolulu Puppy” (11/20/82) – NO SYNOPSIS AVAILABLE.
“The Puppy’s Great Escape” (11/27/82) – The dogs attempt to
reunite a grandmother separated from her grandchildren by the Berlin Wall.
“The Puppy’s Great Race” (12/4/82) – NO SYNOPSIS AVAILABLE.
“The Puppy’s Amazon Adventure” (12/11/82) – NO SYNOPSIS AVAILABLE.
“Petey and the 101 Seals” (12/18/82) – The dogs must protect
a baby seal from some poachers.
Season 2:
“Glyder, the Misfit Puppy” (9/10/83) – The dogs try to keep
a puppy with enormous ears from becoming a sideshow attraction.
“Puppy Goes Home” (9/17/83) – Thieves kidnap Petey’s family
to get inside a top-secret government crate.
“Puppy and the Badlands” (9/24/83) – Petey’s family goes on
an archaeological dig where bandits happen to be looking for lost Civil War
gold.
“Puppy in Omega World” (10/1/83) – Tommy and the dogs are
taken on a tour of futuristic theme park Omega World where things are
mysteriously going haywire.
“Puppy and the Spies” (10/8/83) – Duke, Dash and Lucky get
themselves “recruited” into the scheme of enemy spies looking to steal plans
from NASA.
“Puppy Goes to College” (10/15/83) – Glyder ends up
performing at Tommy’s father’s old college where a plot is in the works against
the governor.
“Puppy and the Brown Eyed Girl” (10/22/83) – NO SYNOPSIS AVAILABLE.
“Biggest Diamond in the World” (10/29/83) – Tommy ends up
kidnapped by a pair of jewel thieves whose crime he stumbles across.
The novel follows wealthy
English gentleman Phileas Fogg who argued with members of his club that the
opening of a new railway section in India made it possible to get around the
world in 80 days. He's challenged to prove that, with the wager being half his
fortune: £20,000 (or roughly £1.9 million in today’s money, time of writing).
With his remaining money and valet, Jean Passepartout, Fogg sets out to win the
wager.
Phileas Fogg's path.
Of
course, the journey wasn’t smooth. Fogg and Passepartout encountered numerous
obstacles both natural and man-made along the way; starting with the fact that
the newspaper article that inspired the whole thing ended up being wrong, and
that the connecting track in India hadn’t yet been built. They gained a new
traveling companion in Aouda, who was set to be sacrificed against her will by
fire. They also had a shadow: Scotland Yard detective
Fix, who believed Fogg was a bank robber whose description he matched and was
determined to arrest him either on British territory or back in London. Ultimately,
Fogg did get arrested and subsequently released when it was learned that the
actual culprit had already been caught. Believing he missed the deadline, Fogg
was resigned to living in poverty until Passepartout reminded him that they
were actually ahead of schedule, basically thanks to time zones chipping
away time from their journey as went against the sunrise. Fogg won the bet and
the love of Aouda, and split the money with Passepartout and Fix.
Game board illustrating Nellie Bly's journey in 1889.
As
with other enduring works of literature, Around the World has been
adapted, expanded upon, or parodied numerous times across various media;
including stage plays as early
as 1874, films as
early as 1919, television films, games and more. One of those was an
Australian animated series that aired in 1972; the first Australian-produced
cartoon to be aired on American network television.
Fogg, Passepartout and Toto.
Around
the World in Eighty Days was a very loose adaptation of the novel. While
the protagonist was still Phileas Fogg (Alastair Duncan), his motivations for
the journey were much different. This version was in love with a woman named
Belinda Maze (Janet Waldo)
and wanted to marry her. But her uncle, Lord Maze (Owen Weingott), was against
a commoner becoming her husband. Maze proposed a wager: if he could
successfully travel the world in 80 days, he would allow him to marry
Belinda. If he failed, he would never see her again. A pot of £20,000 was
thrown in for good measure (and as a nod to the original plotline).
Mr. Fix being chastised by Lord Maze.
Fogg accepted this proposal and set out with his French valet, Jean
Passepartout (Ross Higgins), and Passepartout’s pet monkey, Toto (even the
Australians weren’t above the animal sidekick trope prevalent in that era).
They would employ all manner of transportation native to the 19th
century including balloons, trains, animals and ships. However, Maze planned to
win this bet and hired a saboteur, Mr. Fix (Max Osbiston), to interfere and
impede Fogg’s journey by any means necessary.
The random collection of stuff Fogg asked for coming in handy as makeshift transport.
Around
the World in Eighty Days debuted on NBC
on September 9, 1972. Each episode followed a similar structure: Fogg announced
their intended location; Fogg asked Passepartout to pack a bag with a seemingly
random collection of items that actually end up serving a purpose in the
episode; Fogg delivered a proverb to Passepartout that would also help in their
success by episode’s end; Fix had a full discussion with himself about how he
planned to stop Fogg; Fogg and Passepartout followed their itinerary and along
the way Fogg would explain the history of their visited locations; Fix was hot
on their heels, usually in a disguise that they failed to see through at first (typically
that of the driver of whatever transport they were taking); and the episode
ended with Fogg exclaiming “Good show, Passepartout!” The series was approached
with a more comedic slant than the book; particularly in the ridiculous plans
Fix kept coming up with that backfired on him, or Passepartout’s overreactions
to various situations as they arose (as well as constantly declaring “Fix
tricks!” when things went wrong). Occasionally, Maze would take a hand in
trying to derail Fogg himself. Belinda would also send Fogg support, information
she overheard about Maze’s schemes (some of which was falsely planted by Maze
with that expectation) and joined him occasionally along the way.
Fix up to his tricks posing as an engineer.
The
series was produced by Walter J.
Hucker, a staff producer for Air Programs
International, and entirely written by Chet Stover and directed by Leif Gram, respectively. The
series’ music was composed by John Sangster, with the theme being a variation
of the tune from “Mademoiselle
from Armentières”. Around the World ran for a single season of 16 episodes,
and although we never see them actually return to England, the final episode
ended with them on their way. 40 years after its original airing, Visual Entertainment would
release the complete
series to DVD. Additionally, a
statue of Mr. Fix was reportedly seen at the Zoo
XII Months in Ukraine.
EPISODE GUIDE (note: the episodes don’t
have official names and are named after the featured locations):
“London, Buckingham Palace” (9/9/72) –
Fix tries to keep Fogg from his appointment with the Queen to secure a letter
to leave London on his journey.
“Paris” (9/16/72) – Fix hijacks the
boat and later the train Fogg plans to take to catch an airship out of Paris.
“Switzerland and the Alps” (9/23/72) –
Fix attempts to frame Fogg for the destruction of a statue of William Tell.
“Rome” (9/30/72) – Fix plots to frame
Fogg for stealing a painting from the museum via the fact he’s seemingly
driving the only car in Rome.
“Naples, Pompei” (10/7/72) – Fix
attempts to make Fogg a permanent resident of Pompei.
“Mediterranean Sea, Greek Islands”
(10/14/72) – Maze arranges for Fogg to end up on the wrong ship.
“Greece, Athens” (10/21/72) – Maze
plots to use inclement weather to trick Fogg into taking a not-so-shortcut to
Athens.
“Egypt and the Pyramids” (10/28/72) – A
dream makes Fix believe Fogg is searching for a magic carpet to help him get
around the world quickly.
“Sinai and Petra” (11/4/72) – Fix
causing them to miss their boat has Fogg taking the dangerous overland route
and winding up in the lost city of Petra inhabited by bandits.
“Gaza, Damascus and Palmyra”
(11/11/72) – Maze has fix kidnap Passepartout and bring him to Palmyra.
“Persia, Isfahan” (11/18/72) – Fix
poses as a fortune-teller and gets an exhausted Fogg roped into a polo game
where losing could prove fatal.
“India, Udaipur” (11/25/72) – Fogg
gains a new travelling companion in a far-sighted elephant he helped with a
custom pair of glasses.
“China sea, China” (12/2/72) – After
being blown off course, Fogg helps a Chinese village get the money they need to
pay their taxes and save their land.
“Japan, Tokyo, Mount Fuji” (12/9/72) –
Maze has Fix frame Fogg for stealing a pearl in Japan while slowing him down
with traps on Mount Fuji.
“United States, California, San
Francisco” (12/16/72) – Fix enlists the aid of Native Americans and robbers to
stop Fogg as he rides on the train carrying the transcontinental railroad
golden spike.
“United States, Louisiana, New
Orleans; England” (12/23/72) – Fix attempts to keep Passepartout from becoming
King of Mardi Gras and ordering themselves a boat to England.
The fall is here, and that typically meant: NEW TV SCHEDULES! These are the Saturday morning schedules that kicked off the new season across the decades: