MEATBALLS & SPAGHETTI

 

MEATBALLS & SPAGHETTI
(CBS, September 18-December 11, 1982)
 
InterMedia Entertainment Company, Marvel Productions, MGM/UA Television, Pan Sang East Co. Ltd.

 

 

MAIN CAST:
Ron Masak – Meatball
Sally Julian – Spaghetti
Barry Gordon – Clyde
Frank Welker – Woofer, various

 

 

            Fred Silverman was the television executive credited with creating Saturday mornings as we knew them. After successful tenures heading up CBS and ABC and revitalizing their programming, his final move to NBC proved to be disastrous; full of high-profile and costly mistakes. After 3 years at the network, Silverman jumped sides and went into producing for television himself. He formed InterMedia Entertainment Company (later The Fred Silverman Company) in 1981 with partner George Reeves (the ABC executive, not the Superman actor) and struck a production deal with United Artists and its parent company, MGM. Soon after, they entered into a partnership with fledgling Marvel Productions to co-produce new animated series.

Clyde, Meatball, Spaghetti and Woofer rocking out on stage.

            One of the first results of that partnership was Meatballs and Spaghetti, whose name was a play on the dish spaghetti and meatballs, created by Silverman and Jerry Eisenberg. But this wasn’t a show about food; rather, that was the name of the featured rock band (and also the names of two of its members). Meatball (no “s” in the name as spoken by the other characters, voiced by Ron Masak) was the heavyset lead singer and guitarist. Spaghetti (Sally Julian) was the super thin, slightly ditzy keytarist, singer and Meatball’s wife. The pair took inspiration from Sonny & Cher, while Meatball was inspired by musician Meatloaf (however his overall look was taken from Eisenberg’s cousin that frequented the studio offices). Their friend Clyde (Barry Gordon) was the bassist that often teetered the line between being a book smart inventor and dim-witted screw-up. Their dog, Woofer (Frank Welker), was semi-anthropomorphized and served as their drummer, when not testing Meatball’s patience. Additionally, they had a pet piranha that could eat almost as much as Meatball. The band travelled around the country in mobile home either going to or looking for their next gig, or some money to tide them over in the meantime.

A gorilla plays the band's bus like an accordion.

            Each episode was broken up into two segments. Many stories typically revolved around Meatball attempting some kind of get-rich-quick scheme, or trying to drum up publicity to increase attendance for one of their gigs. Ala The Honeymooners or The Flintstones, Clyde was usually along for the ride as his hapless accomplice. Between the story segments a musical number would air that thematically tied into the second story. They were done in a music video style comprised of a series of visual gags set to music. The lyrics, however, were sparse and generally consisted of conversation between the characters in sing-song.

Meatballs & Spaghetti sing a tribute to Mexico and their food.

            Meatballs & Spaghetti debuted on CBS on September 18, 1982 as part of their Starcade programming block. Jack Mendelsohn was the credited writer for every episode, while Steven DePatie handled the music and lyrics in his final project. Animation duties were handled by Pan Sang East Co. Ltd. Unfortunately, neither of InterMedia and Marvel’s inaugural offerings were met with much praise from audiences or reviewers; with Variety stating “No try at music here, or even much comedy either. It’s without any socially redeeming value.” It was cancelled at the end of its single season.

CBS Saturday morning Starcade ad.

            With Amazon’s acquisition of MGM, they had also gained ownership of the show. In 2025, it was finally released for streaming on Amazon’s Cartoon Rewind after having not been seen since it originally aired. It was also made available for streaming on Tubi.

  

EPISODE GUIDE:

“Woofer the Wonder Dog / Jazz Meets Jaws” (9/18/82) – Meatball decides to get rid of the annoying Woofer by giving him to a circus. / Coming across a mechanical shark for a movie gives Meatball the idea to stage a shark attack to drum up attendance for their next show.

 

“Mixed up Medical Reports / The Werewolf Story” (9/25/82) – Meatball’s x-rays get mixed-up with those of a 200-year-old parrot with only two weeks to live. / Playing up to the town’s history of werewolves for their next gig gets the band invited to dinner by actual werewolves.

 

“Once Upon a Farm / The Big Shrink” (10/2/82) – Meatball is tricked into trading their bus for a rundown farm. / Clyde accidentally creates a shrink ray that ends up shrinking him and Meatball to the size of insects.

 

“Spaghetti’s Old Boyfriend / Watch the Birdie” (10/9/82) – Meatball finds himself feeling inferior to Spaghetti’s handsome and athletic old boyfriend. / Meatball and Clyde plot to get a photo of a rare bird being born in order to win a $500 competition.

 

“The Space Aliens / Big Bad Bigfoot” (10/16/82) – Aliens lure the band onto their ship to run experiments on them. / A camping vacation puts the band right in Bigfoot’s backyard.

 

“Come Back Little Woofer / Sunken Treasure Cruise” (10/23/82) – Woofer falls on his head and develops amnesia after Meatball enters him into a dog show. / Finding a treasure map in an old chest that Spaghetti buys causes Meatball to spend all their money to go on a treasure hunt.

 

“Monkey Doodle Dandies / Throwing the Bull” (10/30/82) – After discovering a chimpanzee’s paintings sell for big bucks, Meatball decides to teach a chimp of their own to paint. / The band comes up with plans to replace the bull they had accidentally knocked out in an upcoming bullfight.

 

“Going to the Dogs / The Caveman Story” (11/6/82) – Meatball plans to rent out Woofer as a guard dog for extra money. / Clyde builds Spaghetti an arcade machine for her birthday he accidentally made with a part from an experimental time machine.

 

“Piracy on the High C’s / Robot Roadie” (11/13/82) – Meatball and Clyde end up with jobs as night watchmen at a record company the night record pirates decide to rob the place. / Meatball tasks Clyde with building the band a robot roadie to handle their equipment for them.

 

“The Kid Sitters / Doubles or Nothing” (11/20/82) – Meatball and Clyde babysit the pet goat of a famous record producer to get him to listen to their demo. / Meatball and Clyde get jobs as extras in a movie just as a thief robs the studio payroll.

 

“Foreign Legion Air-Heads / Magical Moments” (11/27/82) – Meatball and Clyde accidentally enlist in the French Foreign Legion and are shipped off to a desert outpost. / Jealous Meatball thinks Spaghetti is leaving him for a man with more money.

 

“Woofer Meets Tweeter / Flying Carpet Caper” (12/4/82) – The band is talked into taking over Spaghetti’s cousin Debbie’s pizza stand so that she and her friends can go to a rock concert. / Spaghetti buys a chest at an auction that ends up containing a magic flying carpet that a couple of strange characters want to get their hands on.

 

“A Christmas Tale / The Beach Peaches” (12/11/82) – Meatball and Clyde must deliver presents after they end up getting the real Santa arrested for chaos they caused in their department store jobs. / Debbie and her friends enter a boat race against their rival, and if she wins they must leave the beach…for good.