TED TURNER DEAD AT 87

 

You can read the full story here.

Among his many founded cable networks was Cartoon Network, whose airtime was populated by the acquired libraries of MGM/United Artists, Hanna-Barbera and Ruby-Spears. His environmental initiatives resulted in the creation of Captain Planet and the Captain Planet Foundation. 

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.

MOTHER GOOSE AND GRIMM / GRIMMY

MOTHER GOOSE AND GRIMM / GRIMMY

(CBS, September 14, 1991-March 13, 1993)

Lee Mendelson Productions, Film Roman, Grimmy, Inc., Tribune Media, MGM/UA Television Production Group

MAIN CAST:

Charlie Brill – Grimmy

Mitzi McCall – Mother Goose

Greg Burson – Attila

Eddie Deezen – Ham, Sam, Kam, Pam

            In 1984, political cartoonist Mike Peters wanted to branch out and begin his own daily comedy strip. He always imagined it based on a dog that acted like a real dog, unlike the anthropomorphic Snoopy over in Peanuts, because he found he could relate to a dog. Mother Goose and Grimm was centered on Mother Goose who lived in a shoe (combining the fairytale Mother Goose with The Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe) with her dog, hyperactive yellow Bull Terrier Grimmy (named after the Brothers Grimm), dimwitted Boston Terrier Ralph, and belligerent purple cat Attila (named after Attila the Hun). They lived in a world populated by a mix of fairy tale creatures and normal humans. The strip is steeped in pop culture, often spoofing or referencing things that are big at the time and notable fictional characters. When the muse descends, the strip could abandon its core cast and continuing story in favor of stand-alone one-panel gags. The strip debuted on October 1^st and is distributed by King Features Syndicate to over 800 newspapers.

The first Mother Goose & Grimm strip.

            At the height of the strip’s popularity, Tribune Media decided the time was right to try and duplicate the success fellow comic strip Garfield found in being translated to animation. To hedge their bets, they contracted Garfield and Friends’ production companies, Film Roman and Lee Mendelson Productions, to produce the series, and the show’s story editor, voice director and primary writer, Mark Evanier, to perform the same duties (which also meant hiring a number of the same staff). Hell, they even found a home for it on the same network--CBS--and had commercials with Garfield (Lorenzo Music) promoting the show.

Grimmy and Attila.

            Mother Goose and Grimm debuted on CBS on September 14, 1991. It starred husband and wife team Charlie Brill and Mitzi McCall as Grimmy and Mother Goose, respectively, with veteran voice actor Greg Burson as Attila. Wang Film Production Company and Cuckoo’s Nest Studios handled the animation and duplicated Peters’ style perfectly; making it seem like the show jumped right off of the newspaper page. Peters himself designed the series’ opening of Grimmy trying to elude overzealous dogcatcher, Sven Rottweiler (Hal Rayle, impersonating Arnold Schwarzenegger), which was directed by producer Phil Roman. Ron Grant composed the series’ music.

Mother Goose and Ham.

Each episode was broken up into two segments with Evanier writing most of them. Gordon Kent and Earl Kress penned the remaining ones. The strip’s sarcasm was toned down in favor of more traditional cartoon slapstick, particularly centered around Grimmy’s fascination with household appliances (a trait shared by his creator) and his love of fire hydrants and garbage, as well as 4^th wall-breaking humor reminiscent of Garfield. A recurring gag in the end credits featured Peters’ wife Marian performing a variety of imaginary functions on the show (like choreographer) with a corresponding nickname (like “Flash Dance”). 

Grimmy at the mercy of neighborhood bullies.

Along with the normal (exaggerated) ordeals of a dog’s life, Grimmy sometimes had to deal with a gang of neighborhood bully dogs on top of the dogcatcher. A major recurring character on the show was Mother Goose’s neighbor Ham (Eddie Deezen), one of the Three Little Pigs (actually numbered four including a sister, all voiced by Deezen) that was constantly afraid of the Big Bad Wolf (Gregg Berger) coming for them. A silent fish named Lassie (named after the dog) was Mother Goose’s other pet.

            Unfortunately, despite duplicating nearly all the components of Garfield and Friends, the actual success of the series was not as easily duplicated. The show struggled through its 13-episode run, although it did bring in respectable enough ratings to be brought back for a second season of reruns. CBS conducted research on its failings and determined that kids were put off by the title, believing it to be just “nursery rhyme” stuff. They changed the name to simply Grimmy for the second season complete with a new opening. The name change did the series no favors and it was permanently cancelled by March of 1993. 

EPISODE GUIDE:

“Puppy Love Story / Brotherhood of Ham” (9/14/91) – Grimmy falls for a dog he met in the park that ends up being a cat. / Ham alerts his brothers to a wolf sighting in town, however it turns out he’s given up pig eating for real estate development.

“Expensive Taste / Lassie Swim Home” (9/21/91) – Mother Goose wins the lottery but Grimmy ends up eating the ticket. / Grimmy takes Lassie for a walk and ends up losing him while trying to prevent some cats from eating him.

“Funny Business / The Boogie Man” (9/28/91) – Needing to pay for destroying Mother Goose’s garden, Grimmy gets a job as a court jester’s assistant. / NO SYNOPSIS AVAILABLE.

“Grimm Encounter / The Grocery Grabber” (10/5/91) – While camping, Grimmy encounters alien dogs. / NO SYNOPSIS AVAILABLE.

“Ham Alone / Sheep Thrills” (10/12/91) – Ham is worried that the wolf is after him and holes himself up in Mother Goose’s house. / Mother Goose writes an updated version of Little Bo Peep starring Grimmy.

“Hero Worship / Search for Soap” (10/19/91) – Grimmy tries desperately to meet his hero, Carl the Wonder Poodle, only to discover he is a she. / After Grimmy accidentally destroys the TV, Mother Goose stops at nothing to try and get to watch her favorite soap.

“The Fur Flies / It’s a Flea Country” (10/26/91) – Getting a chance to enter Attila in a cat show, Mother Goose tries to ensure Grimmy doesn’t scare the fur off him. / While Mother Goose tries to teach Grimmy a trick to beat Jack Sprat’s dog, his fleas drive him nuts as they go camping.

“Bone of Contention / The Sweeper Creeper” (11/2/91) – When two bully dogs steal Grimmy’s food, he ends up in a museum trying to feast on a dinosaur bone. / Grimmy and Attila find themselves at the mercy of Mother Goose’s vacuum cleaner.

“The Wickedest Witch / Motel Mutt” (11/9/91) – A wicked witch turns Mother Goose into a frog as payback for all her stories making witches look bad. / Grimmy tries to fight getting a bath while one of his fleas checks into a motel to get away from his nagging wife

“Pussycat Pooch / Open All Night” (11/16/91) – NO SYNOPSIS AVAILABLE.

“Getaway Grimmy / Tail of a Puppet” (11/23/91) – Overhearing a phone call, Grimmy and Attila believe Mother Goose wants to get rid of them. / Being pursued by the dogcatcher for not having a leash, Grimmy uses a puppet with a leash on his tail to fool him.

“The Egg and Us / Hyde and Go Seek” (11/30/91) – When Humpty Dumpty falls off a wall, Grimmy, Attila and Ham have to find a Dr. Gleep to fix him up. / Grimmy accidentally drinks some of the formula Dr. Jekyll left behind on his last visit.

“Trash Night Trouble / Mirror Monster” (12/7/91) – NO SYNOPSIS AVAILABLE.

HELLO KITTY'S FURRY TALE THEATER

HELLO KITTY’S FURRY TALE THEATER

(CBS, September 19-December 12, 1987)

Sanrio, DiC Entertainment, MGM/UA Television

MAIN CAST:

Tara Strong (as Charendoff) – Hello Kitty/Kitty White

Elizabeth Hanna – Mama Kitty/Mary White, Grandma Kitty/Margaret White

Carl Banas – Grandpa Kitty/Anthony White

Len Carlson – Papa Kitty/George White

Sean Roberge – Tuxedo Orville J. Sam

Mairon Bennett – My Melody

Noan Zylberman – Chip

Cree Summer – Catnip

Denise Pidgeon – Fangora

Greg Morton – Grinder

Fred Savage – Mouser

Sanrio's stable of cute characters.

            In 1960, Shintaro Tsuji founded the Yamanashi Silk Company in Japan. By 1962, he had expanded to selling sandals with flowers painted on them. Noticing how well items sold with cute designs, Tsuji hired various cartoonists to design cute characters to adorn his merchandise around gift-giving occasions, renaming the company Sanrio in 1973. In 1974, Sanrio got its biggest creation from Yuko Shimizu: Hello Kitty.

Hello Kitty's first appearance.

            Hello Kitty appeared on a vinyl coin purse between a bottle of milk and a goldfish bowl. She proved an instant success and Hello Kitty continued to appear on a variety of Sanrio products in various themes courtesy of designer Yuko Yamaguchi. The Hello Kitty empire expanded when she was introduced to American audiences in 1976, and gradually around the world. Initially aimed at pre-adolescent females, the Hello Kitty brand was broadened to include products designed for teenagers and adults. Over time, Hello Kitty was given a backstory as Kitty White, a British girl five apples tall with a large family. Hello Kitty was made British because not only were foreign countries trendy at the time in Japan, but they wanted to distinguish her from their other characters who were predominantly set in America.

The cast of the theater in "Paws-The Great White Dog Shark."

            The first time Hello Kitty appeared on TV was, interestingly enough, in an American animated series, although it was a Japanese-American-Spanish co-production. Hello Kitty’s Furry Tale Theater made use of the various themes Hello Kitty was depicted in on her merchandise by centering the series around Hello Kitty (Tara Strong) and her friends and family putting on shows in a theater. As soon as the show began, however, the theater would give way to the actual world in which the story was set (imaginary, of course). Each episode was comprised of two 11-minute segments that were a parody of well-known movies, such as Star Wars and E.T., and fairy tales, such as Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty, complete with Kitty-themed puns in both the episode titles and character names. The episode “The Phantom of the Theater” deviated from the established format slightly by taking place in the actual theater after the show had concluded. One notable difference exclusive to this show was that Hello Kitty was featured with a mouth, whereas in all other places she doesn’t have one depicted.

"The Wizard of Paws"

            Hello Kitty’s Furry Tale Theater debuted on CBS on September 19, 1987. It was produced by Sanrio, DiC Entertainment and MGM/UA Television and adapted by Phil Harnage. Writers on the show included Harnage, Jack Hanrahan, Eleanor Burian-Mohr, Jim Lenahan, Martha Moran, Tony Marino, Pat Allee, Ben Hurst, Temple Mathews, Matt Uitz and Jack Olesker. The theme was written and performed by David Pomeranz, while Haim Saban and Shuki Levy handled the rest of the music. 

 

"Cat Wars"

            Although the series only lasted one season, that didn’t stop Hello Kitty’s popularity from continuing to grow. Sanrio teamed up with several corporate partners to expand the brand onto other objects like electric guitars and credit cards, music albums, video games, and further television adaptations; eventually leading to the opening of her own dedicated stores. In 1998, MGM Home Entertainment released two VHS collections containing four segments each. Between 2003 and 2004, the series was collected into five DVD collections: Becomes a Princess, Goes to the Movies, Saves the Day, Plays Pretend and Tells Fairy Tales. Each one contains five segments without the show’s opening and closing sequences. Only “How Scrinchenip Stole Christmas” wasn’t included. In 2011, the first three collections were collected into a triple pack, and all five DVDs were collected into a single set in 2013.

EPISODE GUIDE:

“The Wizard of Paws / Pinocchio Penguin” (9/19/87) – Hello Dorothy tries to get home from the land of Paws after beating the Wicked Witchy / Granpapetto Kitty’s penguin puppet comes to life when he wishes for a son.

“Cinderkitty / The Pawed Piper” (9/26/87) – Cinderkitty becomes head cheerleader for the Royals after winning the heart of Prince Purrfect. / The Pawed Piper saves a village from a plague of fleas.

“K.T.—The Kitty Terrestrial / Peter Penguin” (10/3/87) – K.T. becomes separated from her parents on Earth and is saved from UFO hunters. / Kitty and Chip must help Peter save Dinglebell from Captain Claw.

“Kittylocks and the Three Bears / Paws—the Great White Dog Shark” (10/10/87) – Kittylocks intrudes on the home of the three bears. / A great white dog shark threatens the island of Catalina.

“Cat Wars / Tarsam of the Jungle” (10/17/87) – Fluke Penguin ends up recruited to help save the planet Caturn from evil forces. / Hunter Catnip and Bwana Grinder pursue the legendary Tarsam, who was raised by apes in the jungle.

“Sleeping Kitty / Kitty and the Kong” (10/24/87) – When Princess Kitty fails to invite Bratnip to her party, Bratnip’s mother curses Kitty to sleep forever when she watches TV. / Originally escaping the clutches of Kong, Kitty helps Kong escape when Catnip takes him to New York.

“Kitty and the Beast / Little Red Bunny Hood” (10/31/87) – Fangora and Troll Grinder turns Tuxedo Sam into a beast, which can be reversed if Kitty falls for him. / Grandma Kitty faces multiple problems as Little Red Bunny Hood goes to visit her.

“Snow White Kitty and the One Dwarf / Frankencat” (11/7/87) – Dwarf Grinder saves Snow White from the evil queen Catnip. / Dr. Frankencat builds a monster that abducts My Melody.

“Catula / Paws of the Round Table” (11/14/87) – Hello Kitty and her friends have to stop Catula from terrorizing Catsylvania. / Sir Lancelot Penguin and Arthur have to retrieve Excalibur from Morgan La Fur and the Black Knight.

“Rumpeldogskin / Robin Penguin” (11/21/87) – Kitty spins straw into gold for King Sam while Fangora pushes Catnip to become his queen. / Robin Penguin must jouse Sheriff Grinder to save Maid Kitty.

“Hello Mother Goose / Crocodile Penguin” (11/28/87) – Hello Mother Goose helps her friends retrieve what they’ve lost. / Reporters Hello Kitty and My Melody track down the legendary Crocodile Penguin.

“Grinder Genie and the Magic Lamp / The Ugly Quackling” (12/5/87) – Kitty and Sam find a magic lamp. / Ugly saves sister Catnip from Grinder Fox.

“How Scrinchenip Stole Christmas / The Phantom of the Theater” (12/12/87) – Catnip attempts to steal Christmas. / Mowser the Mouse is responsible for strange goings on at the theater.


Originally posted in 2014. Updated in 2018.