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.
Family Matters was a sitcom that ran from 1989 to 1998 across two
networks. Spinning off from Perfect Strangers, the
series initially focused on the lives of the members of the Winslow family:
Chicago police officer Carl (Reginald
VelJohnson), former Perfect Strangers
elevator operator Harriet (Jo
Marie Payton), their eldest son Eddie (Darius McCrary), their middle
daughter Laura (Kellie Shanygne
Williams) and their youngest daughter Judy (for the first four seasons
played by Jaimee Foxworth),
as well as Harriet’s live-in widowed sister Rachel Crawford (Telma Hopkins), her son Richie (Bryton McClure, originally
portrayed as a baby by twins Joseph
& Julius Wright) and
Carl’s mother Estelle (Rosetta
LeNoire). That is until halfway through the first season when the Winslow’s
annoying neighbor Steve Urkel (Jaleel White) was introduced. In what was
intended only to be a one-shot appearance, the audience was taken with the
stereotypical nerd and he quickly became the central character of the show with
his clumsy antics, bizarre science experiments, and zany attempts to win
Laura’s heart. After nine seasons, the series had secured its place in history
as the third longest-running series with a central African-American cast.
In the meantime, by
1991 the country was in the grip of Urkel-Mania. The character prominently
adorned all merchandise including books,
a Milton Bradleyboard
game, a Colorforms
playset, and even a talking
doll. Ralston,
not one to miss a licensing opportunity, jumped on the Urkel bandwagon and
created a cereal based around the character.
Fishing with Urkel.
Urkel-Os was a
strawberry and banana flavored cereal that came in generic ring shapes
reminiscent of Kellogg’sFruit Loops. While the cereal itself
didn’t have much to do with Urkel (probably a good thing, since the character’s
favorite food was cheese), the box more than made up for it with several images
of the character in various dancing poses around the box. On the back panel
came one of two games; “Fishing with Urkel” or “Find Laura.”
The advertisement for the cereal featured Urkel on
the set of Rachel’s Place (the eating establishment owned by Rachel) rapping
about his latest scheme to win the love of Laura by creating the cereal. None
of the other Family Matters characters
appeared, and Laura was represented by a picture frame whose front the audience
never saw.
Patriot Urkel.
Promotions included an air car game (the box became a
track and had “cars” you could cut out and blow on to race), an offer for free
fruit and a chance to meet Urkel in Hollywood. When the cereal offered a chance
to win a trip to Washington, D.C. in 1992, the Urkel on the front of the box
was given an Uncle Sam-like costume with a drum to play, and came with “Urkel
for President” campaign
button stickers.
Frank Welker – Crime
Globe, Attila
the Hun, Eagle, Fenwick, igor, Weird Beard, Make-Up Master, Putt Putt
Michael Rye –
Narrator, announcer, Lightning Man, Mayor of Breadbasket City, Whaleman
Spinning off from Hanna-Barbera’s earlier The Harlem Globetrotters, The Super Globetrotters saw The Harlem Globetrotters serving
as the cover for their true identities: The Super Globetrotters. To protect the
world from evil, the Globetrotters would challenge the villains and their
henchmen to basketball games for whatever goal or object they have in mind for
their nefarious plans.
Character model sheet.
Like the earlier series, while the show featured the
names and likenesses of members of the actual Globetrotters team, they were
instead voiced by professional voice actors. Reprising their earlier roles were
Stu Gilliam as Freddy “Curly” Neal and Johnny Williams as Hubert “Geese” Ausbie.
Scatman Crothers also returned, but as his original character of George “Meadowlark” Lemon
was no longer a Globetrotter by the time the series entered production, he was
instead cast as Nate Branch. Replacing the other departed Globetrotters were
James “Twiggy” Sanders (Buster Jones) and Louis “Sweet Lou” Dunbar (Adam Wade).
Multi-Man, Super Sphere, Gizmo, Spaghetti Man and Liquid Man.
Each Globetrotter possessed incredible powers granted
to them whenever they stepped into magical portable lockers. Hanna-Barbera
recycled the powers, identities and moves of three of the Globetrotters from
the Impossibles segment of Frankenstein, Jr. and the Impossibles:Branch was Liquid Man (sometimes
referred to his Impossibles counterpart’s
name of “Fluid Man” or “Aquaman”, and still bore the former’s “F” logo on his
suit) and could turn himself into water; Sanders was Spaghetti Man (based on
Coil Man), who could stretch and manipulate his body; and Ausbie was Multi Man,
who could create duplicates of himself. New for the series was Neal as Super
Sphere, who could retract his limbs into his basketball head in order to
bounce, smash and grow; and Dunbar as Gizmo, who could pull an unlimited supply
of gadgets for any situation out of his afro. They were alerted to problems and
aided by a basketball-shaped satellite called Crime Globe (Frank Welker).
Attila and his Huns.
Facing off against the Globetrotters was an eclectic
blend of colorful one-off foes voiced by an assortment of frequent
Hanna-Barbera players. Amongst them was Museum Man (Herb Vigran), a disgruntled
janitor who had a remote control that could bring fossils and statues to life;
Facelift (John Stephenson,
who also portrayed several other villains), a nuclear-powered alien that could
steal anyone’s face for use on his Demon Droids; Whaleman (Michal Rye), a
pirate who used a mechanical whale in his crimes; Bad Blue Bart (Paul Winchell), a western outlaw
who used a remote-controlled Phantom Cowboy (also Winchell) to take over a
ranch; The Time Lord (Don Messick),
who could alter time using a crystal and summoned villains of history to aid
him; and Count Bragula (Lennie
Weinrib), a vampire with ambitions to dominate Transylvania. A real person
also crossed paths with the Globetrotters in the form of Attila the Hun
(Welker), who was shunted forward in time following a scientist through his
time machine.
Teamwork makes the dream work!
The Super
Globetrotters followed executive Fred Silverman from CBS, home of the original, to NBC where it debuted on September 22, 1979. The
series was written by Tom Dagenais, Rowby Goren, Andy Heyward, Robby London and Larry Parr. It ran until
December 1st when it was combined with Hanna-Barbera’s Godzillato create The
Godzilla/Globetrotters Adventure Hour. Both shows played out their
respective seasons as part of this block and continued on as reruns until
September 20, 1980. Instead of using the team’s theme song “Sweet Georgia
Brown” by Brother
Bones, the series employed a sound-alike whistle theme composed by Hoyt Curtin.
Ad for the DVD release.
Because the series was solely produced and owned by
Hanna-Barbera, it was the first of the two shows to be released to DVD through Warner
Archive’s Hanna-Barbera
Classics Collection. The original Globetrotters
series was co-owned by CBS Productions who
maintain its rights. This was also the final series starring the Globetrotters,
although they were the stars of the 1981 television movie The Harlem Globetrotters on Gilligan’s Island. The team and their various members
continued to appear or be referenced on television programs, films and
documentaries over the years while also continuing to perform on the court
almost 500 times a year shared between three different rosters.
EPISODE GUIDE:
“The Super Globetrotters vs. Museum Man” (9/22/79) – Museum Man brings
dinosaur skeletons to life in order to take over Big City.
“The Super Globetrotters vs. Bwana Bob” (9/29/79) – Bwana Bob plans to
hunt the passengers of a grounded cruise ship and the Globetrotters.
“The Super Globetrotters vs. The Facelift” (10/6/79) – The alien
Facelift plans to put the faces of world leaders on his Demon Droids to control
the world.
“The Super Globetrotters vs. Whaleman” (10/13/79) – Whaleman uses a
mechanical whale to steal supertankers full of oil.
“The Super Globetrotters vs. Robo and the Globots” (10/20/79) – Robo
builds robotic duplicates of the Globetrotters in order to discredit them and
get revenge on G.G. Godfrey.
“The Super Globetrotters vs. Tattoo Man” (10/27/79) – Space pirate
Tattoo Man comes to Earth to steal gold.
“The Super Globetrotters vs. Movie Man” (11/3/79) – Movie Man plans to
steal a top secret robot full of Globetron.
“The Super Globetrotters vs. The Phantom Cowboy” (11/10/79) – The
Globetrotters try to put an end to the Phantom Cowboy’s western crime spree.
“The Super Globetrotters vs. The Time Lord” (11/17/79) – Time Lord
steals a time machine and recruits criminals from history.
“The Super Globetrotters vs. Transylvania Terrors” (11/24/79) – Count
Bragula and his Terrors plan to take over Transylvania.
“The Super Globetrotters vs. Bull Moose” (12/1/79) – Bull Moose steals
the Goose that Laid the Golden Eggs to complete his golden ray.
“The Super Globetrotters vs. Merlo the Magician” (12/8/79) – Merlo and
his knights steal the world’s monuments.
“The Super Globetrotters vs. Attila the Hun” (12/15/79) – Atilla and
his Huns follow a scientist through his time machine and raid San Francisco.
While small in
stature, Gary Coleman was pretty big in the 1970s and early 1980s.
Coleman began his
career in 1974 by appearing in a commercial for Harris Bank. After several
guest spots on established television shows, he found his claim to fame when he
was cast as Arnold Jackson on Diff’rent Strokes. With
that role came other opportunities, including the chance to star in several
television movies.
In 1982, Coleman
starred in The Kid with the Broken Halo. He
was Andy LeBeau, a wise-cracking angel-in-training who was sent to Earth in
order to perform good deeds to win his wings. While the movie itself wasn’t a
runaway hit, Coleman was still a name to bank on and NBC decided to translate the film into an
animated series.
Character model sheet.
Produced by Hanna-Barbera and Zephyr
Productions, one of the studios behind the film, The Gary Coleman Show focused on the continuing adventures of apprentice
guardian angel Andy (Coleman) as his supervisor Angelica (Jennifer Darling)
sent him down to perform assigned good deeds in the town of Oakville. Hampering
his efforts most of the time was a being known as Hornswoggle (Sidney Miller),
who would trick Andy into making the wrong choices and having to clean up the
resulting mess afterwards (although, Andy was quite capable of fouling things up
himself). To make matters worse Hornswoggle was invisible to Angelica, leading
her to doubt his existence in Andy’s explanations.
Angelica is unable to see Hornswoggle.
The subjects of Andy’s help (and trouble) were his
Earth-bound friends. Amongst them was klutzy Batholomew (Jerry Houser) who had
a crush on spoiled rich girl Lydia (Julie McWhirter Dees); genius Spence
(Calvin Mason) with a verbose vocabulary; Spence’s little sister Tina (LaShana
Dendy), who had a crush on Andy; Haggle (Geoffrey Gordon), who often spoke in
rhyme; and athletic Chris (Lauren Anders). Occasionally they were at odds with the
local bully and braggart Mack (Steve Schatzberg). While on Earth, Andy would
remove his halo to become visible to his friends and appear human. Donning it
again allowed him to access his angelic powers.
Batholomew tries to get in shape to impress Lydia.
The series only
lasted a single season of 13 episodes, each broken up into two 11-minute
segments. It re-aired in syndicated reruns on Cartoon Network in the 1990s and again
in 2006 as part of their Adult Swim
programming block. The reruns omitted the Kasem narration from the intro. Antioch
Publishing Editors produced several
books based on the series both adapting the episodes and featuring original
stories.
EPISODE GUIDE:
“Fouled Up Fossils / Going, Going, Gone” (9/18/82) – Spence, Tina and
Andy join an archaeologist on a dig in Oakville. / Andy helps Bartholomew round
up items for an auction.
“You Oughtta’ Be In Pictures / Derby Daze” (9/25/82) – Andy has to
save Lydia’s film in order to help Chris become a star. / Andy tries to help
Bartholomew win the soap box derby for a date with Lydia.
“Hornswoggle’s Hoax / Calamity Canine” (10/1/82) – Hornswoggle
disguises himself as Angelica to trick Andy into exposing his identity. / Andy
takes to protecting a klutzy dog from the dog catcher.
“Cupid Andy / Space Odd-Essey” (10/8/82) – Andy is assigned to help
Bartholomew win over Lydia. / Andy and Tina mistake a movie production for an
alien invasion.
“Hornswoggle’s New Leaf / Keep On Movin’ On” (10/15/82) – Hornswoggle
tricks Andy into believing he’s turned good in order to discredit Andy with his
friends. / Andy and the gang help Mrs. Trindle move into her new house.
“Mansion Madness / Wuthering Kites” (10/22/82) – A sick Bartholomew
accidentally messes up Lydia’s mother’s new carpet. / Andy and the gang try to
retrieve Tina’s kite.
“In the Swim / Put Up or Fix Up” (10/29/82) – Lydia invites everyone
but Chris to her pool party. / Angelica assigns Andy to fix up an old building
so that the gang can have a safe place to hang out.
“Haggle and Double Haggle / The Royal Visitor” (11/6/82) – Hornswoggle
frames Haggle for spending the gang’s money on a new baseball mitt. / Lydia
goes on a gift-shopping spree for a visiting royal guest while Tina makes one.
“The Future Tense / Dr. Livingston, I Presume” (11/13/82) – Tina gets
a crystal ball that seems to actually predict the future. / Andy goes with Tina
to meet her scientist cousin at the airport.
“Haggle’s Luck / Head in the Clouds” (11/20/82) – Hornswoggle tricks
Haggle into thinking a charm will protect him from any kind of harm. / Spence
becomes so engrossed in his studies that he forgets about everything else.
“Teacher’s Pest / Andy Sings the Blues” (11/27/82) – Andy takes a
final examination. / Mack gets credit for Andy’s preventing a train disaster.
“Easy Money / Take My Tonsils – Please” (12/4/82) – Andy helps Haggle
on his babysitting job. / Tina runs away to avoid having her tonsils taken out.
“The Prettiest Girl in Oakville / Mack’s Snow Job” (12/11/82) – Spence
and Bartholomew go crazy over Chris when she shows up in a new dress. / The
gang just wants to enjoy the snow, but Mack has other plans.
Richard Pryor was a
stand-up comedian who didn’t shy away from highlighting social injustices in
his routines with a liberal amount of profanity.
Pryor sharing an anecdote.
Beginning in New York
in 1963, Pryor’s act was more reminiscent of Bill
Cosby’s middlebrow routine using safe material (at the behest of his early
advisors). Although he found success and began appearing on television with
this style, in 1967 he had a self-described “epiphany” after feeling creatively
stifled and began incorporating profanity into his act. In 1969 he moved to
California where he continued releasing comedy albums and began writing for
televisions shows such as Sanford and Son, The Flip Wilson Showand Lily Tomlin’s 1973 special for
which he won an Emmy Award. While
engaging in a successful movie career, he also tried to break into mainstream
television with an appearance on Saturday Night Live. After starring in the 1976 film Silver Streak, Pryor became a bankable commodity in Hollywood.
In 1977, Pryor
received his own show, The Richard Pryor
Show, on NBC. However, it was cancelled
after only four episodes due to the audience’s inability to handle his
controversial subject matter and Pyror’s unwillingness to tame things down for
network censors. However, in 1983, Sid
and Marty Krofft had gotten the idea that Pryor could find additional
success on Saturday morning television, much like Cosby had with Fat Albert, and approached CBS. CBS agreed
to it if they could land Pryor as well as get the rerun rights to the Kroffts’
previous hit, The
Land of the Lost. At the time, Pryor was focusing on more
family-oriented projects as part of an effort to clean himself up after having
set himself on fire while freebasing cocaine in 1980. That shift in his focus,
and his love of children (not to mention a very persuasive Marty Krofft) led
Pryor to agree to do the show.
Living bread and anthropomorphic rats populate Pryor's Place.
Pryor’s Place was an urban version of Sesame
Street. It starred real
people interacting with puppets (a pair of rats and living baked goods to name
a few) to teach life lessons to children. However, the topics were far edgier
as they included shoplifting, divorce and child abuse, amongst others. The set
was modeled after the neighborhood where Pryor grew up, accenting the anecdotes
Pryor would share with the audience (which were sanitized for network
television, more than biographical) that set the theme for the episode to
follow. Pryor, along with playing himself, starred as a variety of characters
including a Rastafarian and a wino character he previously employed on stage.
Akili Prince played Pryor’s younger self, whom the televised adventures would
usually focus around along with his friend, Wally (Cliffy Magee). The show
featured sketches and musical numbers written by long-time Pryor collaborator Paul Mooney with Lorne Frohman and Mark Evanier. Pryor’s direct involvement
behind the scenes was limited due to other ongoing projects dominating his
focus, but he was dedicated to doing something positive for children and put
his all into his time on set.
CBS' 1984 Saturday morning ad with Pryor front and center.
CBS was banking
heavily on the success of Pryor’s Place. So
much so, that they prominently displayed Pryor on their ads for their 1984
line-up and made it the central focus of their preview show, Saturday’s the
Place. Airing the night of Friday, September 14th, it
was written and co-produced by Evanier, hosted by Joyce DeWitt and
featured Howie Mandel
(who starred in Muppet Babiesat the time)and Ted Knight. The special showed
clips from Place, along with other
new CBS offerings such as Muppet Babies,
Dungeons and Dragons, The Get Along Gang and Saturday Supercade. Pryor’s Place officially debuted
on Saturday, September 15th with a theme song by Ray Parker, Jr., who also appeared in the
intro and an episode. Parker had enjoyed success earlier in the year with his
smash hit song, “Ghostbusters”.
The series was
nominated for a Huamnitas Prize for
“Children’s Live-Action Category: Home Free” and several Daytime Emmy awards. It only won the Emmy for
“Outstanding Achievement in Art Direction/Set Decoration/Scenic Design” and
“Outstanding Achievement in Costume Design.” Unfortunately, while it earned the
respect of awards committees, it failed to reach a significant audience. Part
of that was due to its being broadcast in the 11:30 timeslot, which in some
markets was reserved for local programming and resulted in its being pushed
back. The low-key humor was also pointed out as being a possible cause, failing
to grab audiences who may have been expecting something different from Pryor.
The kids of Pryor's Place.
The end result was
the series ended up being cancelled after its single season of 13 episodes. CBS
continued to air it in reruns throughout the first half of 1985, but
disappeared from the airwaves altogether once it left their schedule. The next
time anyone would see any part of the show would be on VHS in 1998 when Rhino Entertainment released four
double-episode tapes. Pryor’s Place does
live on in one form, however: Pryor’s hometown of Peoria, Illinois renamed one of their streets
Richard Pryor Place in honor of the comedian.
EPISODE GUIDE:
“High Noon at 5:30 P.M.” (9/15/84) – Richie faces off with the
neighborhood bully.
“To Catch a Little Thief” (9/22/84) – Richie steals a basketball to
get in good with a street gang.
“Love Means Never…” (9/29/84) – Richard recalls his painful first
grade first romance.
“Voyage to the Planet of the Dumb” (10/6/84) – Richie and his friends
skip school and end up transported to a planet where stupidity rules.
“Close Encounters of…” (10/13/84) – Richie tries to get a fuzzy alien
home.
“Sax Education” (10/20/84) – Richie loses a saxophone and learns
responsibility.
“Readers of the Lost Art” (12/27/84) – Richie and Wally are tricked
into experiencing the “uncool” act of reading.
“Divorce Children’s Style” (11/3/84) – Divorce sometimes happens, but
what does it do to the kids involved?
“The Kimosabe Blues” (11/10/84) – Richie and Wally’s argument
threatens their friendship.
“The Showoff” (11/17/84) – Richie is terrified to perform in front of
his first audience.
“Cousin Rita” (11/24/84) – Little Richie’s friend has a crush on his
older cousin.
“Home Free” (12/1/84) – Amanda reveals a traumatic incident from her
past to Richie.
“Too Old Too Soon, Too Smart Too Late” (12/8/84) – Richie learns the
importance of respecting elders.
For the 1977 season, Filmation paired up the
second season of Tarzan, Lord of the
Jungle with reruns of The New Adventures of Batmanin a blockcalled The Batman/Tarzan
Adventure Hour. With the show block being successful, Filmation decided to
use the two established shows as a hook to bring audiences in for some new
content.
Superstretch stretching.
In 1978, they renamed the block Tarzan and the Super 7 (the Super
7 referencing the seven different shows that would be featured with Tarzan)
and expanded it to an hour and a half. Along with Tarzan and Batman, Filmation
included the additional segments of The
Freedom Force, Jason of Star Command, Manta and Moray, Superstretch and
Microwoman, and Web Woman. Another
segment, Sunlight and Starbright, was
planned but never produced (technically making it the Super SIX).
Microwoman and Trouble.
Superstretch
and Microwoman focused on the first pair of married African-American crime
fighting partners on Saturday morning. Scientist Chris Cross (Ty Henderson)
discovered a formula that would allow him to stretch his body into any shape
and gave his wife, Christy (Kim Hamilton), the ability to shrink to microscopic
size. Together they fought crime as Superstretch and Microwoman, with the help
of their dog Trouble, whom Christy rode when she shrank. Unlike other superheroes,
the pair never wore costumes; although they did wear matching slacks and
sweaters that were capable of changing shape with their bodies. Most notable
was that the characters were the first African-American married couple depicted
on Saturday morning.
Promo for the segment.
The block debuted on September 9, 1978 on CBS, but only five of the included segments aired
each week. Superstretch and Microwoman would
alternate its place with Web Woman every
Saturday beginning on the 16th. After the block’s debut, DC Comics sued Filmation for copyright
infringement, claiming Superstretch and Manta
and Moray were blatant rip-offs of their characters Plastic Man and Aquaman,
respectively. Filmation had previously produced an Aquaman cartoon in
association with DC, and was in talks to produce a Plastic Man series (made
instead by Ruby-Spears
Productions). The courts found in favor DC in both a 1980 decision and a
1986 appeal. As a result, no new segments were produced for Superstretch and had never seen release
to home media.
EPISODE GUIDE (dates are
approximate):
“Bad Things Come in Small Packages” (9/16/78) - NO SYNOPSIS AVAILABLE
“The Ringmaster” (9/30/78) - NO SYNOPSIS AVAILABLE
“The Toymaker” (10/14/78) – NO SYNOPSIS AVAILABLE
“Future Tense” (10/28/78) - NO SYNOPSIS AVAILABLE
“Phantom in the Sewers” (11/11/78) - NO SYNOPSIS AVAILABLE
“Shadow on the Swamp” (11/25/78) - NO SYNOPSIS AVAILABLE
“The Great Candy Bar Caper” (12/9/78) - NO SYNOPSIS AVAILABLE
“The Superstretch Bowl” (12/16/78) - NO SYNOPSIS AVAILABLE
“Superstarch and Magnawoman” (12/30/78) - NO SYNOPSIS AVAILABLE
“Sugar Spice” (1/13/79) - NO SYNOPSIS AVAILABLE
“Gnome Man’s Land” (1/27/79) - NO SYNOPSIS AVAILABLE
Jamal Wingo (Arthur Reggie III) was
a young boy living in South Central Los Angeles with his father (George L.
Wallace) and grandparents (Dawnn Lewis & Darryl Sirvad). One day, Jamal was
encouraged to start growing up and give up some of his childish things,
including his teddy bear, the sunglasses and baggy pants wearing C-Bear (rapper
Tone Loc). But, C-Bear magically came to life and ended up becoming Jamal’s
best friend. C-Bear was able to help Jamal deal with important life lessons by
taking him on magical fantasy adventures as well as show him he didn’t need to
lose his youthful outlook in order to grow up. Of course, the sarcastic bear
was far from perfect and sometimes landed Jamal in just as much trouble as he
would himself before helping to turn it all around.
C-Bear and Jamal having a pillow fight.
The series was created by Earl Richey Jones and Todd R. Jones with Franklyn Ajaye and Barry Douglas, taking
inspiration from Loc’s childhood and his own fantasy adventures he would have
with a teddy bear. Loc also served as an executive producer, along with Phil Roman of Film Roman and Fox Kids’ Margaret Loesch, and
provided the vocals and lyrics for the show’s theme. Kurt Farquhar composed the rest of the
series’ music, each episode featuring one musical number in relation to the
plot and lesson. Film Roman and Loc brought the series to the attention of FOX Children’s Television executive Roland Poindexter who was not
only attracted to the series because of Loc, but also because it allowed them
to tell good stories from the little-seen perspective of an African American
youth.
The kid cast: C-Bear, Jamal, Maya, Kim, Chipster, Big Chill, Kwame and Sooner.
Care was taken to preserve the
authenticity of the series. Rather than keeping the cast limited to one
particular race or culture, the producers chose to adequately represent the Los
Angeles population with the mix of people that actually resided there. This was
best represented in the form of Jamal’s human friends. Amongst them were Maya
(Kim Fields Freeman), who was a very loud and opinionated, although extremely
smart, African American girl; Big Chill, a large chubby kid who was always
hungry and introduced himself with the phrase “the b-i-g c-h-i-double l is in
the hizouse”; Kwame (both Aries Spears), an Afrocentric kid who wore African
clothing and often found conspiracies by “the Man” whenever he was displeased
with circumstances; Chipster (Jeannie Elias), their odd white friend who enjoys
making others laugh; Kim (Margaret Cho), Jamal’s Korean friend and Maya’s best
friend; and Javier (Paul Rodriguez), Jamal’s Hispanic friend.
The afro-coaster.
C-Bear and Jamal debuted on
February 3, 1996 as part of the Fox Kids block for an abbreviated first season
before returning that September. The series was a hit with parents and teachers
for the topics it dealt with and the lessons it provided. Although there was a
healthy dose of slapstick comedy featured in C-Bear’s ongoing battle with
family dog Sooner (Danny Mann) and grandma having access to some unusual items
from out of nowhere, the producers made sure that the adults, while quirky,
were presented as good role models and equally important to helping Jamal’s
development as C-Bear. Likewise, scenes at school were done in a respectful
manner to emphasize the importance of education and ensured the teacher was
invested in the development of the students. Along with the Joneses, the series
was written by Al
Sonja L. Rice and Sib Ventress.
VHS cover.
The series was a likely candidate for
a renewal, but internal politics ultimately led to its demise. Saban Entertainment
had acquired Fox Kids and
wanted to put a greater focus on programs produced in-house; meaning all
outside programming had to go in order to make room for Saban-produced shows (a
similar occurrence happened after Disney
purchased ABC). That included C-Bear and Jamal, amongst other
family-favorite programs. Xenon Entertainment Group
released three VHS
collections with three episodes each in the early 2000s. They later
combined them into a single DVD
release. Starz Media currently has
the rights to the show, however Urban
Movie Channel offers it for streaming
view through Amazon with a subscription
to their channel.
EPISODE GUIDE:
Season 1:
“Rip Van Winkle” (2/3/96) – C-Bear takes Jamal to the future to show
him what can happen if he keeps sleeping through school.
“Emperor’s New Gear” (2/10/96) – Jamal is unhappy with the new clothes
his father bought him.
“Big” (2/17/96) – On Jamal’s 10th birthday, he decides act
like more of a grown-up starting with leaving C-Bear at home.
Season 2:
“Teeing Off” (9/21/96) – C-Bear helps Jamal figure out where his true
talents lie when he disastrously tries out for the golf team.
“The Prince and the Po’ Boy” (9/28/96) – Jamal becomes embarrassed
about being middle class when he meets a rich cousin and begins to act more
upper crust.
“Raging Bully” (10/12/96) – C-Bear helps Jamal better understand the
mindset of a bully.
“Hanging with Mr. Wingo” (11/2/96) – Jamal loses respect for his
father when Jamal discovers his job isn’t as exciting as he once believed.
“Big Head Jamal” (11/9/96) – It goes to Jamal’s head when he’s cast in
a commercial.
“Sleepless in South Central” (11/16/96) – Jamal starts feeling
neglected when his father starts daring the attractive mail carrier.
“Dumbing Down” (11/23/96) – Jamal convinces Maya she’ll lose all her
friends with her better grades and that she should bring herself to their
levels.
“The Truth and Nothing But the Truth” (2/1/97) – Jamal lies to get
onto the school paper, but lies soon become blunt truth.
“Puppy Love” (2/15/97) – Jamal wants to ask a girl to the Spring dance
and fumbles through various ways to do it.
“Most Valuable Grandpa” (2/22/97) – Jamal gains a new respect for his
grandfather when he has to replace Jamal’s father at the Parent/Student Picnic.