YOGI'S TREASURE HUNT

 

YOGI’S TREASURE HUNT
(Syndication, September 6, 1985-March 25, 1988)
 
Hanna-Barbera Productions

  

For the history of Yogi Bear, check out the post here.

        Yogi’s Treasure Hunt was the fifth entry in the Hanna-Barbera’s Yogi Bear franchise, and his third headlining an ensemble program. As with his previous series, Yogi’s Gang, Yogi (Daws Butler) and his friends—Ranger Smith, Boo-Boo Bear (both Don Messick), Huckleberry Hound, Quick Draw McGraw, Snagglepuss, Snooper, Blabber, Augie Doggie (all Butler) and Doggie Daddy (John Stephenson)—were once again on a flying ship, the S.S. Jelly Roger (a Jellystone-inspired play on Jolly Roger), travelling around the world. This time, however, they were sent on treasure hunts by Top Cat (Arnold Stang) who provided them riddles and cryptic clues to lead the way. However, they were often in an unknown race against Dick Dastardly (Paul Winchell) and Muttley (Messick) using their usual dirty tricks to try and get the treasure first on their own ship, the S.S. Dirty Tricks. This premise was similar to the Popeye’s Treasure Hunt segments of Hanna-Barbera’s earlier The All-New Popeye Hour.

Top Cat giving Yogi and his gang their next clue.

          Yogi’s Treasure Hunt debuted on September 6, 1985, running as part of the syndicated programming block The Funtastic World of Hanna-Barbra. In fact, its working title was The Funtastic Treasure Hunt as an extension of Hanna-Barbera’s “fantastic” branding, and remained the title of the series’ theme performed by Jon “Bowzer” Bauman from Sha-Na-Na and the “Funtastic Singers”. This would be Butler’s final show voicing his characters for the studio as he would die in May of 1988 (the television films The Good, the Bad and Huckleberry Hound would air that month and Yogi and the Invasion of the Space Bears later that year). Reruns of the series would air on USA Cartoon Express before moving to Cartoon Network from 1993-99. In 2024, it would join the rotating line-up of Yogi cartoon on retro animation network MeTV Toons.

SLIME TIME

 

SLIME TIME
(Syndication, June 11-September 3, 1988)
 
Hunt-Jaffe Productions, O.K.T. Inc.

 

MAIN CAST:
Marty Cohen – Host
Dean Goss – Announcer

  

Nickelodeon struck gold when it debuted its kid-centric game show Double Dare in 1986. Double Dare would pit two teams of two kids against each other by having them win money answering trivia questions. If they didn’t know an answer, or thought the other team didn’t, they could pass it over with a “dare” for double the money. But it could be “double dared” back for four times the money, in which case that dared team either had to answer or take a “physical challenge”. These physical challenges often featured deceptively simple and incredibly messy tasks; like building an ice cream sundae on their partner’s head, popping goop-filled balloons with a needle headpiece, plucking cherries out of gelatin with their mouths, etc. Success won them the money; failure gave it to the opposing team. The team with the most money then went on to an even messier obstacle course for a chance to win up to 8 prizes within a minute.

Slime being dumped on the losing team's teacher.

In the world of entertainment, a success breeds imitators trying to duplicate that success. One of the most blatant copycats was Slime Time; dubbed “the messiest half hour on TV”. Slime Time was played between two teams comprised of three students and a teacher, adorned in either red or blue sweat pants and shirts (the same colors as Double Dare) supplied by Jerzees. The students each had to answer questions and perform stunts with their teams to build up their cash score to $1,000. The first team to do so got to watch the opposing team’s teacher be doused with slime, along with taking home the cash and additional prizes consisting of educational items, musical instruments, various electronics and clothing.

Host Marty Cohen between the two teams as they prepare to get messy with the opening stunt.

Similarly to Double Dare, the show opened up with the two teams performing a stunt that would net the winning team a $25 head start towards their cash goal (Double Dare’s would decide which team would get to answer questions first). After taking their places at their respective podiums and introducing themselves, one student from each team would go up to the host podium to answer a buzz-in toss-up question akin to Family Feud. The correct answer would net $25 and a chance to choose a stunt; but an incorrect answer would give that to the other team. A snafu in the production was that sometimes these questions would be the same ones used during try-outs or practice rounds, accidentally giving anyone paying attention a bit of an edge.

Mr. Slimehead.

Stunts were chosen from a giant ugly head on center stage dubbed “Mr. Slimehead”. The students could pick either eye, ear, or nostril to have a card with the stunt’s description pop out of Mr. Slimehead’s mouth on a slimy tongue. Sometimes the stunt would have a prize attached to it that the team would keep, win or lose. Both teams would then have to perform the prescribed stunt to win another $25 (awarded to both in the event of a tie). These could include “rescuing” a fake spider or bobbing for worms with their mouths by plunging their faces into pie tins of whipped cream and chocolate syrup; the teachers having to carry ice cream sundaes in their mouths across the stage on tricycles so that the students can cover them in whipped cream; putting novelty snakes back in their cans (a stunt seen on Double Dare) with the addition of the teachers’ being made extra slimy with—you guessed it—whipped cream; finding the most “sea creatures” in fish tanks full of murky water and oil; the teachers having to catch and break goop-filled balloons tossed to them with symbols strapped to their arms or through basketball hoops while they wore pin-tipped caps under them; the students smearing peanut butter and sticking the most pieces of bread to their teachers; and more. Any stunt with a time limit was always given 20 seconds.

The teachers under the slime faucet.

After two questions and stunts, the game moved on to round two where the dollar values were doubled and Mr. Slimehead was reloaded with new stunts and nicer prizes. Once time for the round ran out, the game moved on to the final round. Unlike Double Dare’s obstacle course, the final challenge was a series of toss-up questions worth $100 apiece; with wrong answers giving the opposing team the money. Mr. Slimehead was turned around to reveal the slime faucet, under which each teacher stood. The faucet waved back and forth while the students answered their questions. Once $1,000 was reached, the faucet would stop over the losing team’s teacher and dump gallons of slime on them. The winning team got the cash and a large prize package while the losing team got a consolation prize, along with whatever else both teams won along the way.

Gunk-filled balloons being tossed and popped on the teachers' heads.

Slime Time debuted in syndication on June 11^th, 1988; usually paired up with fellow children’s game show Treasure Mall. The series was created by Barry Jaffe and Gary Hunt through their company Hunt-Jaffe Productions in association with O.K.T., Inc. Jaffe also served as the primary writer. Actor, stand-up comic, and frequent game show guest Marty Cohen was the host and opened the show with a bit leading into the first stunt. He was always dressed like a referee. Announcing duties went to Dean Goss, marking his second children’s game show after I’m Telling! Joey Carbone was the series’ composer, with William Harris (who also worked on another Double Dare clone, Fun House) and Fred Duer serving as the art directors and James Hundhausen operating Mr. Slimehead.

Popping goop-filled balloons with arm symbols.

Despite copious amounts of messy shenanigans and going as far as they could to copy Double Dare short of a lawsuit, Slime Time failed to garner the same response as Double Dare. After 13 weeks, it was cancelled along with Treasure Mall and has fallen into relative obscurity save for some video recordings uploaded to YouTube. In a bit of turnabout, Nickelodeon would later produce another game show called Slime Time Live from 2000 to 2004. It initially served as promotion for the launch of the short-lived Double Dare 2000, but ended up far outliving it. The series had nothing to do with the original Slime Time beyond coopting the name and being as messy as possible, reaffirming Nickelodeon’s place as home of the messy kids’ game shows.

BABY LOONEY TUNES

 

BABY LOONEY TUNES
(Syndication, Cartoon Network, September 16, 2002-April 30, 2005)
 
Warner Bros. Animation

  

            A late entry in the babyfication trend started by 1984’s Muppet Babies, Baby Looney Tunes was Warner Bros. Animation’s first preschool animated series. The concept originated back in the 90s when companies released merchandise featuring the Looney Tunes characters as babies called Looney Tunes Lovables. Kathleen Helppie-Shipley, head of Warner Bros. Classic Animation, had wanted to do a series of educational videos that never moved forward. When Warner Bros. Consumer Products wanted to promote the Baby Looney Tunes licensees, they decided to do a feature-length, direct-to-video collection of shorts in the traditional slapstick Looney Tunes fashion. Earl Kress wrote the shorts with Spike Brandt, Gary Hartle and Kirk Tingblad set to direct each one. However, funding for the project suddenly disappeared. Brandt loved his short so much that on his own time and expense he cobbled together a full presentation. The higher-ups were impressed by it, and after a little convincing and negotiation, funding was found to produce “Little Go Beep”, which featured baby versions of Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner. Additionally, Warner Bros. decided to make the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies libraries exclusive to Time Warner networks, making it easier to produce a series for release on Warner channels.

Babies Tweety, Taz, Bugs, Sylvester, Lola and Daffy.

            For the actual series, Warner had to follow more strict guidelines to achieve a TV-Y rating. That meant Baby Looney Tunes couldn’t rely on the slapstick and visual gags the franchise was known for. The show instead dealt with real world problems and morals that children would encounter and could relate to; including sharing, emotions, playing with others, inclusion, dealing with change, baking and more. Despite not being designed as educational, an expert was retained to examine the series. The main babies included Baby Bugs (Sam Vincent), just barely the oldest of the bunch that made him the leader; Baby Daffy (Vincent), who tended to be self-centered; Baby Lola (Britt McKillip), a fiercely independent tomboy that tended to take charge; Baby Sylvester (Terry Klassen), who was shy and anxious and tended to be manipulated by Daffy; Baby Tweety (Vincent), the youngest and smallest with an insecurity about his size, a deep curiosity, and a very logical brain; and Baby Taz (Ian James Corlett), who often mistook things for food and tended to break things with his spinning. They were eventually joined by Baby Petunia (Chiara Zanni), the most intelligent of the group with an adventurous streak, and Baby Melissa (Janyse Jaud), an easy-going girl with a highly logical and practical mentality. Caring for the babies was Granny (June Foray, the only American in the otherwise Canadian cast), sometimes with the help of her nephew, Floyd Minton (Brain Drummond). Other baby characters made appearances either in cameos during song numbers or as guest stars.

Granny taking care of the kids.

            Baby Looney Tunes debuted on September 16, 2002, initially syndicated to Warner affiliates before finding a permanent home on Cartoon Network. The series was developed by Sander Schwartz and featured music by Steve and Julie Bernstein, with a theme composed by Lisa Silver and Patty Way. The series ran for 4 seasons and one direct-to-video film. Additionally, two direct-to-video films utilizing puppets were released in 2003. Neither were released outside of VHS, but Musical Adventures was made available to stream on HBO Max and Tubi and Backyard Adventures on Binge in Australia. As for the series itself, it aired in reruns on both Cartoon Network and Boomerang until 2020. It became one of the first shows broadcast on the American version of the preschool programming block Cartoonio on Cartoon Network in 2021 and aired until 2023. The Warner Bros./Discovery merger saw the series air on Discovery Family, and then on retro animation network MeTV Toons. 

FUN HOUSE / FOX'S FUN HOUSE

 

FUN HOUSE / FOX’S FUN HOUSE
(Syndication, FOX, September 5, 1988-April 13, 1991)
 
Stone Television/Stone Stanley Productions, Lorimar-Telepictures (season 1), Lorimar Television (season 2-3)

 

MAIN CAST:

J.D. Roth – Host

Jacqueline Forrest – Jackie the Cheerleader

Samantha Forrest – Sammi the Cheerleader

John “Tiny” Hurley – Announcer (season 1-2)

Michael “Boogaloo Shrimp” Chambers – Announcer M.C. Mike (season 3)

Brian Cummings – Announcer (pilot)

 

 

Nickelodeon struck gold when it debuted its kid-centric game show Double Dare in 1986. Double Dare would pit two teams of two kids against each other by having them win money answering trivia questions. If they didn’t know an answer, or thought the other team didn’t, they could pass it over with a “dare” for double the money. But it could be “double dared” back for four times the money, in which case that dared team either had to answer or take a “physical challenge”. These physical challenges often featured deceptively simple and incredibly messy tasks; like building an ice cream sundae on their partner’s head, popping goop-filled balloons with a needle headpiece, plucking cherries out of gelatin with their mouths, etc. Success won them the money; failure gave it to the opposing team. The team with the most money then went on to an even messier obstacle course for a chance to win up to 8 prizes within a minute.

A contestant making soup on top of her partner's head on Double Dare.

In the world of entertainment, a success breeds imitators trying to duplicate that success. One such attempt came in the form of Fun House, created by veteran game show producer Bob Synes. Tasked by Lorimar-Telepictures with coming up with a kid’s show for syndication, Synes presented executive producer Scott Stone with a drawing of carnival midway games leading to a funhouse at the end. Stone scaled down Synes’ ambitions a bit and suggested focusing on just the funhouse aspect of it. Lorimar fronted the money to construct a massive set designed by Phyllis Hofberg, Rick Bluhm, Bill Harris and Anthony Sabatino (for which they won an Emmy), and produce a pilot to sell the series.

The teams and their respective cheerleaders taking their places at the podium.

Like Double Dare, it featured two teams of kids comprised of a boy and a girl either related or friends. These teams were distinguished by red and gold uniforms, rather than the wacky self-made names utilized on Double Dare. Occasionally, young celebrity guests would appear or fill the role of one of the teammates, including Danny Ponce (The Hogan Family); Staci Keanan (My Two Dads, Step by Step); Danny Pintauro (Who’s the Boss?); Soleil Moon Frye (Punky Brewster); Jeremy Miller and Leonardo DiCaprio (Growing Pains); Sara Gilbert and Michael Fishman (Roseanne); Tiffany Brisette (Small Wonder); Josh Saviano (The Wonder Years); Jenny Beck (Paradise); Brian Austin Green and Douglas Emerson (Beverly Hills, 90210); Candace Cameron and Jodie Sweetin (Full House); Alexander Polinsky (Charles in Charge); Jaleel White and Kellie Shanygne Williams (Family Matters); Benji Gregory and Josh Blake (ALF); and Tannis Valley (Head of the Class).

The teams sitting in the "Slop Machine", where they got showered in either slime or candy.

Unlike Double Dare, Fun House placed a greater focus on their “stunts”, which would then segue into a single related toss-up question asked at a colorful podium equipped with buzzers. Three timed stunts were played each episode; either with one player at a time (alternating for each solo challenge) or both teammates together. Stunts could involve using their faces to lift up a pie to find a “win” symbol on the bottom of the tin; bobbing for bagels in chocolate milk; assembling a mixed-up image on giant blocks; batting slimy softballs into the audience; pulling “hair extensions” off a giant model’s head to place on their own while being covered in goop; using their teeth to remove gum from under rows of seats; turning their partner into the world’s largest sandwich; using a giant slingshot to fire water balloons at pictures of the announcer; and more. Synes would come up with a title for the stunt first, and then the crew, overseen by producer Stephen Brown, had to create a stunt to go along with that name. The type of stunts featured were usually related to the overall theme of that week’s batch of episodes in keeping with Stone’s philosophy of everything telling a story. The winning team—or both, in the case of a tie—won 25 points. Answering the question correctly earned them an additional 25 points.

Piloting submarines in the Grand Prix Race.

The fourth and final round was The Grand Prix Race. The teams had to race two laps on a track that circled the studio; switching lanes on the second lap. There were two types of races: one utilizing a vehicle of some kind that was ridden by one teammate and moved by the other, switching between laps, and the other was a footrace with each teammate running a lap. The races all featured a different theme with associated challenges that had to be accomplished. For instance, a toy-themed race saw the contestants riding/pulling little red wagons while picking up various toys placed on the track. Additionally, the teams could snag white and blue tokens from stations around the track for 10 and 25 extra points, respectively. During the second season, a Token Bank was added on the second lap that contained a pre-packaged bundle of tokens worth up to 200 points. The winning team earned 25 points, but the ultimate winner was determined after the acquired tokens were tallied by being dropped into slots at the podium. The team with the most points went on to The Fun House obstacle course, while the losing team left with consolation prizes. Ties were broken with a toss-up question.

One of the many configurations of the Fun House obstacle course.

The titular Fun House stood roughly 3-stories tall and featured several interchangeable “rooms” of varying themes and obstacles. They could include toppling Styrofoam skyscrapers; punching out thinly covered holes in a board; an “ice mountain” climb; crawling through a tunnel full of balloons or one that’s spinning; digging through school lockers; traversing a ball pit; etc. Each room contained 16 oversized price tags either plainly visible or hidden somewhere: 6 red representing different prizes revealed before the course was run, and 10 green ones representing cash amounts ranging from $50 to $300. The contestants had 2 minutes to collect as many tags as possible; grabbing three at a time before switching with their partner. This continued until all tags were collected or time ran out. Additionally, one tag was designated as the “Power Prize” that if collected won them a bonus vacation along with everything else they picked up. For the second season, the Fun House became larger and featured more intricate elements like a swimming pool and shooting water.

Host J.D. Roth kicking off the show while John "Tiny" Hurley covers himself in mud.

Fun House debuted in syndication on September 5, 1988. J.D. Roth served as host for the entire run; becoming the youngest game show host in history at just 19. Aiding Roth on the playfield were identical twin cheerleaders. They escorted the teams to the podium, introduced them, and provided support to them based on what color uniform the teams were assigned: Jackie (Jacqueline Forrest) for the gold team and Sammi (Samantha Forrest) for the red. For the pilot, veteran announcer Brain Cummings was utilized. Cummings had previously announced the first season of the 1984-86 syndicated version of Let’s Make a Deal, which Synes produced. John “Tiny” Hurley took over those duties once the series went into production. Along with announcing, Hurley would appear on camera in wacky costumes, participate in skits, or sometimes in various stunts. Other differences in the pilot included playing for cash instead of points; four stunts played instead of three; The Grand Prix awarding $50 for winning and featuring a third red token worth $10 while blue was worth $50; contestants only being allowed two prize tags at a time in the Fun House, with as many cash tags as they wanted; a “Button Banger” in the Fun House awarding a random cash bonus up to $2000 when hit; and the prize tags being scanned at the podium to reveal the Power Prize, which awarded the contestants every prize in the Fun House. Unlike the $2,000-$3,000 Double Dare or fellow Nickelodeon game show Finders Keepers—which filmed in the same complex as Fun House—paid out in cash in prizes, Fun House offered contestants a potential prize payout in excess of $10,000. Score Productions composed the series’ music along with Matt Ender and Jonathan Firstenberg. Props from the show were used in another Lorimar-Telepictures production, Perfect Strangers, for the episode “Games People Play”. Series stars Mark Linn-Baker and Bronson Pinchot also filmed a promo for Fun House as their characters Larry Appleton and Balki Bartokomous.

The show proved a success, becoming the highest rated syndicated new show upon its debut and surpassing even Double Dare (in response, Double Dare added theme weeks and upped the ante in physical challenges by reinstating a previous limited time rebranding as Super Sloppy Double Dare). In 1989, Fun House gained two spin-offs. In the United States, there was College Mad House. Hosted by Greg Kinnear, it featured two teams of four college students (two men, two women) from rival universities playing it out. Rather than cheerleaders, Kinnear was assisted by referees Donna Wilson and Richard MacGregor, with Beau Weaver announcing. Stunts involved the men or women going against each other, and then all four together. The content of this show skewed a bit more risqué than the original; involving more gross-out humor and lewd body movements. Rather than the Grand Prix, the fourth round was the Finals Round. Each member of the team took turns answering as many toss-up questions as possible within a minute and a half; with the winner hitting their opponent in the face with a pie or whipped cream each time. The Mad House, which featured college-themed rooms, had each teammate getting 30 seconds to grab as many tags as they could in order to “clean house” by getting them all. Getting all the tags awarded them a trip; otherwise, they kept whatever prizes they collected for themselves with any cash (up to $1000) going to their school. College Mad House only lasted a single year, ending in September of 1990.

Over in the United Kingdom, ITV debuted their own version of Fun House produced by Scottish Television. It featured host Pat Sharp, twin cheerleaders Melanie and Martina Grant, and announcer Gary King. Played in much the same way as the original with minor gameplay and naming differences, it actually outlasted its parent program to run a full 11 seasons, ending in 1999. Their own adult-themed spin-off was planned and a pilot produced, but it never went to series.

Playing hockey with pies.

Unfortunately, Fun House was beginning to lose steam as sloppy game shows were wearing out their welcome. They were finding difficulty remaining in syndication, despite their best efforts. Enter: FOX. FOX was about to launch its new kid-focused effort, Fox Kids Network, and the show they wanted to acquire for it was…Double Dare. Previously, FOX was pivotal in the success of Double Dare; having distributed it and aired it regularly on affiliated stations, and even airing a version of the show, Family Double Dare, on their own network on Saturday nights. After attempting to bring the show over to their new line up, FOX ended its direct affiliation with the series over “creative differences” and abruptly cancelled Family shortly before they were set to begin filming a new season. Regular Double Dare continued on, however, and was still shown on FOX affiliates, and Family was eventually revived by Nickelodeon two years later. Looking for a replacement that could be just as popular, FOX turned to Double Dare’s closest competitor: Fun House.

M.C. Mike rapping his intro.

Renamed FOX’s Fun House for its third season, it joined the inaugural Fox Kids Saturday morning line-up on September 8, 1990. It also became the first weekday Fox Kids show, filling in for the delayed Peter Pan and the Pirates by airing a special week’s worth of programs featuring some of the earlier-mentioned celebrity guests. While essentially the same show, several changes were made. Hurley was replaced by Michael Chambers, a.k.a M.C. Mike, best known as “Boogaloo Shrimp” from the Breakin’ films. He opened each episode by showing off his rapping skills before the title sequence. While Jackie and Sammi still escorted players to the podium, introductions were now handled by Mike. Carrying over from College Mad House, the player that answered a question correctly got to slap a pie into the face of their opponent. The entire set also shed its carnival-like aesthetic in favor of more urban flair; with distorted cartoon skyscrapers and riveted pipe theming.

The all-new Fun House.

The Fun House itself was also redesigned to emulate a slice of a city block. Starting at the top rather than the bottom, Roth began the run by turning a large valve to activate the “Whitewater Slide” that let one of the players splash down into a waiting pool and officially start the clock counting down. From there, they could go into the “Hardhat Hallway”, which looked like a scrapyard or garbage-filled empty lot; the “Zippity Zoo Dah”, a zoo full of various stuffed animals, a performer in a creature suit, and bendable cage bars; the “Funky Slop Sewer”, resembling a slimy sewer pipe with fake rats and steamy sewage comprised of green balls in water; the “Recycling Zone”, where pulling a lever dumped trash on the player as well as a prize tag; “Bob’s Mad Mall”, which featured dummies holding shopping bags on rotating doors, one of which held the prize tag; the “Kockeyed Kitchen”, an upside-down kitchen whose cabinets held the tag (and was typically filmed upside-down to make it seem like the player was walking on the ceiling); “Flushing Meadows”, a bathroom-like area with three giant colored toilets that sprayed water up when opened; “Fast Food Fight”, a diner area where the opposing team got to impede the winning team by pelting them with food items; and returning from the original Fun House was the rotating “Tubular Tunnel”. Although cash tags were still in plain sight, the prize tags were now hidden within each area. A large slimy alarm clock called the Crazy Glop Clock was added that gave the team an additional 15 seconds in the Fun House when found.

Celebrity guest Kellie S. Williams receiving a pie to the face for a wrong answer.

Behind the scenes, Lorimar-Telepictures was acquired by Warner Bros. Lorimar-Telepictures served as the distributor during the first season as well as the co-producer, but was replaced by Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution for the remainder. This, along with Tiny Toon Adventures, would begin Warner Bros.’ association with Fox Kids that would prove mutually beneficial for both the studio’s burgeoning animation efforts and the block’s legitimacy as a major player in broadcasting. British Knights was replaced as the primary sponsor by LA Gear, and everyone on stage wore the sponsoring company’s shoes. Synes, sadly, died in 1990. Stone replaced him with David G. Stanley and renamed his production company, Stone Productions, as Stone Stanley Productions (now Stone & Company Entertainment). Each episode of the third season was dedicated to Synes.

A trade ad celebrating Fun House's Emmy win.

FOX’s Fun House only lasted a short time on the network, airing 22 episodes before it was replaced on the schedule by the short-lived Swamp Thing animated series in 1991. Despite being nominated for four additional Emmys, winning one other, and winning a Young Artist Award, the show disappeared from the airwaves….in the United States. The British version has aired reruns and even got a special one-time revival in 2015 as a promotional gimmick by Fayre & Square pubs and associated Wacky Warehouse play areas. The American version only eventually resurfaced in videos of various quality on YouTube, including the pilot as a feature entry of legendary game show host Wink Martindale’s Wink’s Vault series. Roth would go on to acting and hosting a few more game shows before moving into producing them—including Moolah Beach, which would air during the final year of Fox Kids (meaning Roth both opened and closed the block). Stone Stanly Productions continued producing game shows, including Fun House spiritual successors Legends of the Hidden Temple, geared towards kids, and Shop ‘til you Drop, geared towards adults. Both featured stunt-heavy gameplay in an elaborate setting: a Mayan temple for Legends, and a 2-story mall for Shop. The latter also reused some of Fun House’s music. In 2022, YouTube channel Hosts at Home hosted a Fun House reunion with Roth, Sharp, Stone, and Brown to discuss and reminisce about the show.

The Fun House NES game box.

In 1988, Pressman Toy Corp. published a board game version of Fun House. A travel game was made by Tiger Electronics the following year as part of their Klix Pocket Travel Games series, as well as their customary LCD handheld game. Hi-Tech Expressions produced a video game in 1989 for the Commodore 64 and MS-Dos, and in 1990 for the NES. No version fully captured the show, but the computer versions were closer than the NES’ as they featured some semblance of the stunts while the NES involved just throwing balls at targets and avoiding obstacles in a top-down view. The board game, and eventually the video games, were given out as consolation prizes on the show.

Exercising on the Fun House set.

The oddest tie-in merchandise had to have been the workout videos. Stone had been on a flight with Julie LaFond, who ran the Jane Fonda exercise empire. A conversation about fitness in kids led to a collaboration between Fonda and the show. Fonda came to the set to introduce Roth, who then led the exercise routines. Two videos ended up being made for the Fun House Fitness series: The Swamp Stomp for kids 3-7, and The Fun House Funk for kids 7+. They were re-released together onto DVD in 2005 as part of the Jane Fonda Collection compilation series.

THE MUNSTERS TODAY

 

THE MUNSTERS TODAY
(Syndication, October 8, 1988-May 25, 1991)
 
The Arthur Company, MCA TV

 

 

MAIN CAST:

John Schuck – Herman Munster

Lee Meriwether – Lily Munster

Jason Marsden – Edward “Eddie” Wolfgang Munster

Mary-Ellen Dunbar (pilot) & Hilary Van Dyke – Marilyn Munster

Howard Morton – “Grandpa” Vladmir Dracula

 

 

 The Munsters franchise was built on the premise of a sitcom starring some of Universal’s famous monsters. The gag? They didn’t know they were any different from the ordinary human beings that inhabited the world around them.

The Munsters: Grandpa, Herman, Marilyn, Lily and Eddie.

The notion was first suggested to Universal Studios by animator Bob Clampett as a series of cartoons. He worked on concepts from 1943-45, but the project ended up stalling. In 1963, a similar idea was submitted by writers Allan Burns and Chris Hayward and given to writers Norm Liebman and Ed Haas for further development, writing a pilot titled Love Thy Monster. The original idea took great inspiration from The Addams Family cartoons by Charles Addams, but because Universal owned the rights to Frankenstein’s Monster and Dracula, they decided to inject them into the idea. A push was made for it to be animated, but ultimately it was decided to proceed with live-action.

"Happy" Derman as Eddie and Joan Marshall as Phoebe.

Fred Gwynne was cast as Herman Munster, who was basically a goofy and lovable version of the Frankenstein monster. Cast alongside him was his Car 54, Where Are You? co-star Al Lewis as Count Dracula, Herman’s father-in-law who was irritable, sarcastic and often antagonistic towards Herman, but doted on his daughter when not working on crazy inventions in his basement dungeon. Joan Marshall was cast as Herman’s wife, Phoebe, who had a gothic look to her and a very abrasive and tense relationship with Herman while also being seductively lovey with him. “Happy” Nate Derman was cast as their son Eddie, who displayed werewolf-like qualities such as a floofy widow’s peak hairstyle and pointy ears. Beverly Owen rounded out the cast as Marilyn, Phoebe’s niece who stayed with them while she attended a local college. The gag with Marilyn is that she appeared as a normal human girl. While this made her attractive to outsiders, she was considered hideous by her own family and often drew their sympathies. It was this inherent “ugliness” that was often believed to drive off Marilyn’s suitors, rather than the shock of meeting the other members of her family. Together they lived in a decaying Victorian Gothic-style mansion at 1313 Mockingbird Lane in Mockingbird Heights--complete with all the dust and cobwebs you could ask for, as well as a pet dragon named Spot living under their stairs--after having immigrated from Transylvania.

A full-color pilot was filmed titled “My Fair Munster”, running 16 minutes (later cut to just over 13), and was used to sell the series to CBS. A second pilot was also filmed; this time in black-and-white and with some tweaks to the final make-up designs for the characters; particularly Herman, who was given more padding to hide Gwynne’s naturally thin frame. Realizing Phoebe was just a carbon copy of Morticia Addams in her appearance and mannerisms, the producers decided to revamp and recast the character as Lily Munster with Yvonne DeCarlo, who used Donna Reed as an inspiration for her performance. Lily had more of a bat motif in her wardrobe and was a lot gentler towards Herman; however, she was capable of displaying a fiery temper when pushed. Derman was also replaced as Eddie by Butch Patrick. Eddie’s personality was initially more feral like his wolf brethren and in general fairly awful, but was adjusted to make him more respectful. Owen would end up replaced by Pat Priest after 13 episodes as she was miserable being away from her boyfriend in New York due to contractual obligations.

The Munsters debuted on CBS on September 24, 1964, running for two seasons and 70 episodes. Bud Westmore was responsible for the show’s make-up design, and the theme song was composed by Jack Marshall. Its first season scored high in the ratings, easily besting the television version of its inspiration The Addams Family on ABC, and earning itself a Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Television Series. Unfortunately, its second season was thoroughly trounced by Batman and was cancelled by its conclusion. A spin-off film, Munster, Go Home! was produced and released immediately following the series’ end—with Debbie Watson replacing Priest as Marilyn—as a means to introduce international audiences to the characters ahead of international syndication. It followed the clan as they journeyed to England to take possession of an inherited English manor called Munster Hall; however, their British cousins wanted it for themselves and sought to get rid of their American counterparts. The film was presented in color.

Grandpa and Herman from The Mini-Munsters.

Munster, Go Home! wasn’t a commercial success on its release, but the series certainly was in syndication; finding a whole new audience and popularity in the following decades. 1973 saw the first attempts at a revival, returning to the animated form originally desired. The Mini-Munsters saw the Munsters visited by Transylvania cousins who start the titular band with Eddie (Bobby Diamond). Meanwhile, Grandpa (Lewis, the only one to reprise his role) makes it so that a haunted hearse Herman (Richard Long) bought for the band could run on music when it ran out of gas. That ended up putting them directly at odds with gangsters who recently took over a gasoline company. The special was aired as an installment of The ABC Saturday Superstar Movie, but wasn’t picked up for a series.

A second revival attempt came in 1981 with the telefilm The Munsters’ Revenge, which aired on NBC. The original cast was reunited, with Jo McDonnell taking over Marilyn and K.C. Martel taking over Eddie since Patrick had aged out of the role. It dealt with Herman and Grandpa having to clear their names when a pair of robots resembling them was used by a mad scientist to commit robberies. CBS was so convinced that it would be a hit for NBC that they posted an airing of The Wizard of Oz against it. However, it ended up being a dud and was quickly forgotten.

The Munsters Today cast.

In 1987 another revival attempt had begun development. The idea would take the form of a sequel series to the original, using one of Grandpa’s experiments to put the family in suspended animation for 22 years and have them awaken in the present day. Lewis attempted to reprise his role but he was either insulted by being asked to audition or the producers just decided to start fresh with an all-new cast, and Gwynne was asked to reprise the role of Herman but he outright refused. The cast would end up including John Schuck as Herman (who only took the job for the money), Lee Meriwether as Lily (who starred as Catwoman in the film for Batman, the original Munster-killer), Jason Marsden as Eddie, Hilary Van Dyke as Marilyn (replacing Mary-Ellen Dunbar from the pilot), and Howard Morton as Grandpa. While many of the original Munsters props were recycled, a whole new set needed to be designed to accommodate a multi-camera set-up and a studio audience. The series was also shot on videotape rather than film, giving it a different look from the original.

Pat Morita stops by.

The Munsters Today debuted on October 8, 1988 in syndication. A pilot depicting the suspended animation story was shot but never aired. Instead, that plot device was relegated to the intro and explained in the lyrics over an arrangement of Marshall’s original theme. It was written by Haas, Liebmann, Burns, Steven Baum, Ted Bergman, Barbara Berkowitz, Donna Blinder, Andrew Borakove, Marc Brown, David Carren, J. Larry Carroll, Mark Cassutt, William Cyr, Michael Davidoff, Lisa DeBenedictis, Lisa Eberhard, Howard Friedlander, James Gates, Ann Gibbs, Laura Glendinning, Patty Gordon, Joy Grdnic, Carol Hatfield, Chris Hayward, Bob Destri Hilgenberg, Barbara Hobart, Ron Jarvis, Bryan Joseph, Kathy Joseph, Hope Juber, Craig Kellem, Joel Kimmel, Paul Lander, Neil Alan Levy, Michael Lyons, Mark C. Miller, Danny Morris, Kim Mortensen, Alan Moskowitz, Ken Peragine, Janice Pieroni, Scott Redman, Billy Riback, Neil Rosen, Bill Rosenthal, Daryl Rowland, Jeffrey Russel, Jeffrey J. Sachs, Lane Sarasohn, Robert Schechter, Elroy Schwartz, Lloyd J. Schwartz, Philip A. Scorza, Adele Styler, Burt Styler, Noah Taft, Bruce Teicher, George Tricker and Kimberly Wells, with Rosenthal, Gibbs and Kimmel serving as story editors. David Abbot served as the head make-up artist with Gilbert A. Mosko, and Jody Lawrence was the key hair stylist. Bill Fulton and Lisa Brochet handled the series’ score.

Lily and Herman getting with the times.

For the first season, Today largely emulated the original series with the added “fish out of water” element. Despite some questionable quality in the final presentation that made it to screens, Today ended up finding a large pre-teen audience. The producers decided to better connect with that demographic and made some changes going forward. Beginning with the second season, the out-of-time element was dropped and the family was allowed to join everyone else in the 80s. Their appearances were slowly updated beginning with Eddie’s hair and attire, and then-current pop culture references found their way into their dialogue. For a period, the Munsters even moved into a modern apartment after their house was destroyed by a storm, although this ended up being short-lived. Celebrity guest stars would be brought in for occasional appearances, such as Zsa Zsa Gabor, Pat Morita, Eddie Mekka, and Marcia Wallace, and new characters were introduced such as Grandpa’s favorite ex-wife, Katja (Jo de Winter), and brother, Yorga (Sandy Baron). By the third season, it was clear that ideas were getting harder to come by as they started recycling storylines from the original series, such as Herman being turned into a regular human in “Just Another Pretty Face”, or engaging in outlandish plots, like Marilyn finding a shifty genie (Billy Barty). Ratings declined as a result and it was cancelled; having run 1 season and 2 episodes (not counting the unaired pilot) longer than the original.

The Munsters Today largely faded into obscurity, having seen no home media releases and only being re-aired from 2008-11 on digital subchannel Retro Television Network. But Universal wasn’t done with the Munsters yet—although none of their attempts manage to garner or duplicate the acclaim of the original. In 1995, a new telefilm was released on FOX as a Halloween special called Here Come the Munsters; a prequel of sorts that depicted how the Munsters came to America from Transylvania. De Carlo, Lewis, Patrick and Priest all made a cameo as restaurant patrons. The next year, FOX aired the The Munsters’ Scary Little Christmas, which featured an entirely different cast that included Baron as Grandpa. ABC Family (now Freeform) would add Scary Little Christmas to their 25 Days of Christmas marathon line-up in 2009. In 2012, a new attempt at a television series was produced called Mockingbird Lane, which skewed the franchise into darker territory and shied away from the classic Universal Monsters depictions of the characters. The pilot aired on NBC in October, but it was never picked up as a series. The most recent attempt was a 2022 Netflix film written and directed by Rob Zombie, a self-professed lifelong fan of the series. Produced by Universal’s direct-to-video division Universal 1440 Entertainment, the film was again a prequel showing how Herman (Jeff Daniel Phillips) met Lily (Sheri Moon Zombie). Priest again cameoed as a Transylvania Airlines announcer. The film received mixed to negative reviews.

 

EPISODE GUIDE:

Season 1:

“Still the Munsters After All These Years” (N/A) – After getting into Grandpa’s sleeping machine, a malfunction causes the Munsters to sleep for 22 years and awaken in the 1980s.

 

“Vampire Pie” (10/8/88) – Herman decides to win a cooking contest, but Grandpa discovers one of his ingredients causes something in ordinary people.

 

“A Little Russian Dressing” (10/15/88) – Grandpa is awarded 3 wishes in a Transylvanian sweepstakes and ends up wasting 2 of them.

 

“Flyweight Champion of the World” (10/22/88) – Grandpa gives Eddie a strongman formula to help him deal with videos, but it inflates his ego as well as his muscles.

 

“Magna Cum Munsters” (10/29/88) – Herman goes back to school so that Eddie will want to ask him questions when he needs help and ends up in Eddie’s class.

 

“Designing Munsters” (11/5/88) – Lily enters the world of fashion, leaving Herman and Grandpa to do all the housework.

 

“Farewell, Grandpa” (11/12/88) – Grandpa ends up in trouble when its revealed he never got his Green Card when he came to America.

 

“Corporate Munsters” (11/19/88) – Herman’s stocks have led to him getting a position in the company, but he must juggle his new job with being a good dad.

 

“Herman the Astronaut” (11/26/88) – Grandpa and Lily aren’t as thrilled as Herman is that he’s going to Venus as a civilian astronaut.

 

“Rock Fever” (12/3/88) – One of Marilyn’s favorite bands, the Lizards, are turned into real lizards the day before their TV debut by one of Grandpa’s inventions.

 

“Professor Grandpa” (12/10/88) – Grandpa takes a chemistry class to improve his skills after his latest formula destroys his lab.

 

“Say Ah!” (12/17/88) – Herman takes a sick Eddie to the doctor, but all the doctor can focus on is Herman’s appearance.

 

“A Hero Ain’t Nothin’ But a Cereal” (1/28/89) – Herman gets a cereal endorsement deal when he becomes a hero, but wonders if he should do it when he discovers the cereal isn’t any good.

 

“Computer Mating” (2/4/89) – Grandpa uses a computer dating service and ends up with a lady who may be a black widow.

 

“McMunsters” (2/11/89) – The Munsters turn their house into a bed and breakfast to bring in some extra money when times are tough at the funeral parlor.

 

“One Flu Over the Munsters’ Nest” (2/18/89) – Marilyn runs away when she’s forced to break a date to babysit Eddie for a sick Lily.

 

“Green Eyed Munsters” (2/25/89) – Herman gets jealous when Lily spends all her time with her instructor preparing to enter the Mrs. Transylvania contest.

 

“The Not So Great Escape” (3/4/89) – Grandpa wants to enter an escape-artist competition, but Herman and Lily aren’t supportive of his hobby.

 

“Two Left Feet” (3/11/89) – The family of Marilyn’s crush try to break them up after meeting the Munsters.

 

“Lights, Camera, Munsters” (4/29/89) – The Munsters debate on what kind of film Marilyn should do for her project while Eddie’s teacher dreads the need for a meeting with his parents.

 

“Neighborly Munstrers” (5/6/89) – The Munsters’ new neighbors do everything they can to dig a pool into the Munsters’ property—except talk to them.

 

“Munster’s Hoopsters” (5/13/89) – Eddie takes up basketball so that Herman can brag about him…unfortunately, he’s terrible at it.

 

“Don’t Cry Wolfman” (5/20/89) – Two burglars decide to infiltrate the Munster family in order to get to the stolen loot they buried in their house while they were in stasis.

 

“The Howling” (5/27/89) – Grandpa devises a solution to help temper Eddie’s howl so that he can join the glee club.

 

“Eau de Munster” (6/3/89) – Herman tries to keep their house from being torn down for a museum, but Grandpa accidentally douses him with a love potion that makes the councilwoman in charge fall for Herman.

 

Season 2:

“Threehundredsomething” (10/7/89) – Lily attempts to put some romance back into her marriage, but it just leads to a fight with Herman.

 

“There’s No Place Like Home” (10/14/89) – Herman and Lily embrace modern living when storm damage forces them to move into an upscale apartment complex.

 

“Raging Hormones” (10/21/89) – Eddie decides to adopt a new look as he struggles with being a teenaged werewolf.

 

“Murder in Munsterland” (10/28/89) – Losing their invitation causes the neighbors to believe a murder party at the Munsters’ is an actual murder.

 

“The Trial” (11/4/89) – Herman ends up in court after saving a choking man’s life.

 

“It’s A Wonderful Afterlife” (11/11/89) – Grandpa shows Herman what life would have been like if he was never built.

 

“The Eyes Have It” (11/18/89) – Grandpa shows Eddie how to use the “evil eye” to deal with a bully, but it working ends up causing Eddie’s ego to go out of control.

 

“It’s a Sad, Sad World” (11/25/89) – Misfortune causes Herman’s downer of a co-worker to move in with them.

 

“The Melting Pot” (12/2/89) – A bored Grandpa ends up gambling with more than his soul when he plays with the Devil.

 

“Once in a Blue Moon” (12/9/89) – Grandpa’s favorite ex-wife returns to make amends.

 

“Drac the Ripper” (12/16/89) – When murders occur during Grandpa’s absences, Herman suspects he’s the culprit and reports him to the police.

 

“Gateman and Son” (1/27/90) – Chaos ensues when Herman lets his boss’ son stay with the family.

 

“Reunion” (2/3/90) – A wedding leads to a family reunion—which includes Herman’s hated brother Frank.

 

“Pants on Fire” (2/10/90) – The family tells lie on top of lie to get out of helping Lily clean the house.

 

“Munstergest” (2/17/90) – Grandpa’s device to get Eddie to stop watching TV ends up zapping him into it and becoming part of the family of his dreams.

 

“Never Say Die” (2/24/90) – A group of poodles attacks Grandpa’s pet skeleton.

 

“It’s A Baby” (3/3/90) – Herman and Grandpa reminisce about the day Eddie was born when they think Spot is pregnant.

 

“Tell ‘em Herman Sent You” (4/28/90) – A fight with his boss leads to Herman deciding to open his own funeral parlor.

 

“Thicker Than Water” (5/5/90) – Grandpa threatens to rat out a fellow vampire that writes a novel that goes against the vampire code.

 

“Misadventures in Time” (5/12/90) – Herman and Grandpa end up in a future only inhabited by children.

 

“Will the Real Herman Munster Please Stand Up?” (5/19/90) – Lily and Grandpa call on one of Dr. Frankenstein’s descendants to find out why Herman’s been acting strangely.

 

“Deadlock” (5/26/90) – Herman must convince his fellow jurors that his verdict is the right one when he and Grandpa get jury duty.

 

“Take This Job and Shovel It” (6/2/90) – Herman becomes a TV addict when the gravediggers go on strike, and Grandpa ends up taking a job as a shoe salesman.

 

“That’s Gratitude” (6/9/90) – The family must keep Herman from being taken advantage of by a grieving widow.

 

Season 3:

“The Silver Bullet” (10/6/90) – Eddie goes up against his kindergarten rival in a rock video competition.

 

“The Reel Munsters” (10/13/90) – The Munsters take the director of a home-video show to court over his depiction of them as an abnormal family.

 

“Wishing You Were Here” (10/20/90) – Grandpa gives Eddie a magical shamrock for his birthday and he wishes for the love of a supermodel with it.

 

“Three Munsters and a Baby” (10/27/90) – Herman, Grandpa and Eddie end up babysitting while trying to watch a football game.

 

“It’s My Party and I’ll Die if I Want To” (11/3/90) – A party to raise Grandpa’s spirits ends up going south when the guests overstay their welcome.

 

“Makin’ Waves” (11/10/90) – A brush with death causes Grandpa to try and change his ways with the help of a surfer dude angel.

 

“Just Another Pretty Face” (11/17/90) – Grandpa’s new invention accidentally changes Herman into a “normal” human.

 

“Kiss Kiss” (11/24/90) – Grandpa whips up Marilyn’s perfect boyfriend.

 

“Mind Reader” (12/1/90) – Eddie accidentally drinks a mind-reading potion and decides to use his new abilities to his advantage.

 

“No More Mr. Nice Guy” (12/8/90) – Tired of being pushed around, Herman decides to shed his nice guy image.

 

“A House Divided” (1/19/91) – The Munsters end up having to share their house with its new owners after Herman’s promotion falls through.

 

“A Matter of Trust” (1/26/91) – Herman and Lily give Eddie a credit card to show that they trust him, but he ends up bitten by the shopping bug.

 

“Large” (2/2/91) – Grandpa’s experiment accidentally ages up Herman’s boss’ son.

 

“Genie from Hell” (2/9/91) – Marilyn frees a genie and the family competes to get his final wish.

 

“Lotsa Luck” (2/16/91) – Eddie gets good luck from Grandpa’s magic coin, but the curse on it could destroy the neighborhood.

 

“If I Only Knew Now” (2/23/91) – Herman and Eddie go into the music business when Eddie demonstrates the ability to predict a hit song.

 

“Beating of Your Heart” (3/2/91) – Eddie and Marilyn go into the future to see if their guidance counselor’s grim predictions would come true.

 

“Parenthood vs. Childhood” (3/9/91) – Herman and Lily trade roles with Eddie and Marlyn to see how the other half lives.

 

“Das Trunk” (3/16/91) – The Munsters inherit a mysterious trunk from their fun-loving aunt.

 

“A Camping We Will Go” (4/27/91) – Mother Earth convinces Herman to go with the family on an environmentally conscious camping trip.

 

“Breaking the Chain” (5/4/91) – Herman ends up causing the family bad luck when he throws away some chain letters.

 

“Diary of a Mad Munster Wife” (5/11/91) – Lily’s sorority sister writes a book on unfulfilled homemakers that hits a little too close to home for Lily.

 

“The Bet” (5/19/91) – An old vampire buddy of Grandpa’s tries to help him make Herman commit a dishonest act.

 

“Family Night” (5/25/91) – Honesty may not be the best policy when a counselor advises the family to be more honest with each other.