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.
As we celebrate, we figured we'd also take the opportunity to celebrate the various other programs enjoying anniversaries this year (at least at an interval of 5). Some we've covered, some we'll get to covering sooner or later, but all of them represent Saturday morning. For this installment, we recognize those shows turning 40. The big 4-0.
Take a walk down memory lane with us, and feel free to share your memories in the comments, or over on our Facebook group or Facebook page. We'd love to hear from you!
Now, without further ado, join us in celebrating...
This weekend, we continue our 2 year anniversary celebration.
As we celebrate, we figured we'd also take the opportunity to celebrate the various other programs enjoying anniversaries this year (at least at an interval of 5). Some we've covered, some we'll get to covering sooner or later, but all of them represent Saturday morning. For this installment, we recognize those shows turning 35. Yeah, let that sink in--you first saw these programs 35 years ago.
Take a walk down memory lane with us, and feel free to share your memories in the comments, or over on our Facebook group or Facebook page. We'd love to hear from you!
Now, without further ado, join us in celebrating...
Even if you weren’t a
sports fan, chances are by 1991 you’ve heard of Michael Jordan, Wayne Gretzky
and Bo Jackson.
Slammin'.
Jordan is often regarded as one of
the greatest basketball players of all time. A third overall draft pick for the
Chicago Bulls in 1984, Jordan quickly
emerged as a prolific scorer and defensive player, as well as a leaping ability
that earned him the monikers “Air Jordan” and “His Airness”. By 1991, he won
his first of six NBA championships with the
Bulls on top of other awards and accolades. Jordan also became one of the most
effectively marketed athletes of his generation, leading to the popularization
of the NBA around the world by the time the 1990s rolled around.
A cool customer.
Gretzky was a player for the NHL for 20 years between four different teams:
the Edmonton Oilers, Los Angeles Kings, St. Louis Blues and The New York Rangers. Known as “The Great One”
and regarded as the greatest hockey player ever, Gretzky became the leading
scorer in NHL history achieving the feat of 200 points in one season four
times. He also achieved a score of 100 points in 16 seasons, 14 of them being
consecutive. Gretzky’s lasting contribution was by changing the scope of hockey
to become more of a team-based sport; where each player on the ice was a
partner in accomplishing the scoring of a goal. That strategy helped lead the
Oilers to becoming the highest scoring team in the league.
Double threat.
Jackson was a double-threat, being
both a prolific football and baseball player at the same time. Jackson was
initially selected in the 1986 NFL draft by
the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, but he opted
to play baseball for the Kansas City Royals
instead. Although the Buccaneers’ attempts at recruiting Jackson by sabotaging
his baseball career briefly soured him on the sport, Jackson’s interest was
piqued when he was drafted in 1987 by the Los
Angeles Raiders and allowed to continue playing for the Royals. Jackson
became an All-Star in both sports, gaining a lucrative merchandising deal with Nike for their “Bo Knows” campaign alongside Bo Diddley (the original commercial also
featured cameos by Jordan and Gretzky). By 1991, a hip injury ended his
football career and he was soon cut by the Royals. Jackson returned to baseball
later that year with the Chicago White Sox.
Jackson, Jordan and Gretzky animated.
With these three men at the heights
of their careers, it was decided to use and combine their star power to conquer
Saturday morning television, as well as spread the pro-social moral lessons the
FCC so loved. The resulting show was ProStars, which depicted the three
athletes as superheroes during their off-seasons utilizing a wide variety of
sports-themed crime-fighting equipment. Gretzky had a previous association with
something called “Pro Stars” in the form of a cereal by General Mills, which would go on to
feature tie-in merchandise with the cartoon. Typically, the ProStars received a
VHS from a kid who needed help somewhere in the world as their home was being
threatened by an eccentrically-themed supervillain. Instances of villainy would
include environmental irresponsibility, thefts of something sports-themed, or
roughnecks terrorizing the populace.
Jackson and Gretzky in the live segments.
Gretzky and Jackson appeared in
brief live-action segments to set up the episode’s story for the audience, talk
about the show’s moral lesson at the end, and answer questions from kids. The
segments were edited together to make it seem like they were talking to each
other in the same studio rather than in the separate locations where they were
filmed. When it came to the actual program, their characters on the show were
voiced by professional voice actors. Jordan (Dorian Harewood) was the leader of
the group, displaying a high-level of intelligence and aptitude with
complicated devices. Gretzky (Townsend Coleman, trying his best hand at a
Canadian accent) was lacking in the intelligence department, played as the
group’s comic relief and always obsessed with food. Jackson (Dave Fennoy) was
the group’s strong-man with abilities approaching superhuman levels. Aiding the
ProStars was Mom (Susan Silo), a Jewish mother stereotype who created all the
gear the ProStars used on their missions. Mom’s attempts at demonstrating the
ProStars’ new gear usually resulted in them going haywire and injuring their
next door neighbors, although she has been shown to be able to handle her own
against the ProStars. Her assistant was Denise (Diana Barrows) who wanted to
help the ProStars but usually ended up accidentally causing trouble for them or
getting abducted by the week’s foe. The ProStars headquarters was located on
the top floor of Mom’s gym.
Mom, "large" and in charge.
ProStars
was initially a project made for ESPN,
but the network decided to limit itself exclusively to live-action programming.
The show ended up finding a new home on NBC
beginning on September 14, 1991. To promote the series, it was featured in the
promotional comic NBC Saturday Morning Comicsby Harvey Comics along with
the rest of the new shows debuting on NBC that year. Initially, the theme song
was “We Are ProStars” by series composer Eric
Allman, which was an homage to Queen’s
“We Will Rock You”.
Halfway through the series, the song was slowed down and altered slightly. The
song also made reference to Jackson’s Nike campaign with the lyric “Bo knows
everything” (Jackson’s character also frequently stated “Bo knows” during an
episode). The show was produced by DiC Entertainment
with animation handled by Sei Young
Animation Co., Ltd., although the title sequence was animated by Canvas, Inc. and featured
footage of the real-life stars in action.
On DVD.
The series aired for a single season
of 13 episodes, with the final being a clip show. If there were any chances of
it being renewed for a second, they were dashed the moment the series was
picked up by NBC. After the 1991-92 season, NBC decided to cash in on the
success of Saved by the Bellby revamping their entire Saturday
morning line-up to be more teen-oriented. They jettisoned all of their animated
programming in favor of live action shows for the programming block dubbed Teen NBC (or TNBC). After the
series ended, Buena
Vista Home Video released episodes
to VHS the following year. In 2007, NCircle Entertainment released
three episodes on a DVD called Slam Dunking with the Airman. DHX Media, current owners of the DiC
library, published seven episodes to one of their YouTube channels before their
merger and name change to WildBrain.
Denise seems unsurprised that something went wrong.
As for the pros themselves, Jordan
continued to play basketball until 1993 when he would retire and go on to play
minor league baseball for the Birmingham
Barons (as chronicled in the 1997 film Space Jam). The 1994-95 MLB
strike led to Jordan quitting and returning to the Bulls in 1995 until he
retired yet again in 1999. Jordan would return to play one final time in 2001
with the Washington Wizards for two years.
Jordan’s #23 was permanently retired. Gretzky continued playing Hockey with two
more teams until ultimately retiring in 1999. He was quickly inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame, bypassing the standard
three-year waiting period, and his #99 was retired league-wide. Jackson played
for two years with the White Sox in 1991 and 1993, with his sitting out 1992
for his hip replacement surgery. Jackson finished his career with the California Angels
in 1994, deciding to retire and focus on his family.
EPISODE GUIDE:
“The Slugger Returns” (9/14/91) – Clockwork Delaronge uses
remote-controlled robots in order to kidnap the Commissioner of Baseball.
“Short John’s Revenge” (9/21/91) – Short John Silver raids a Caribbean
island for its recently-discovered pirate treasure.
“The Perbots of Dr. Lobe” (9/28/91) – Dr. Lobe challenges the ProStars
in a game against his Perbots for the fate of a girl named Jill.
“Knightmare Riders” (10/5/91) – The ProStars are called to Scotland to
rescue a community from the Ghost Riders of Sir Vitus.
“Valley of the Snow Falcon” (10/12/91) – Ice Mancuso plans to hide
diamond masks in a mysterious kingdom in the Himalayas.
“Brazil Nuts” (10/19/91) – Captain Nemo Ipanema’s mining operation is
destroying the Brazilian rainforest in his bid to control the world’s supply of
Amazonite.
“Block Busters” (10/26/91) – Paulie Sludger sets his sights on buying
a neighborhood for his next toxic waste dumping operation.
“Gargantus and the Highway of Doom” (11/2/91) – Sheila asks the
ProStars to come to Australia to stop Gargantus and his gang, and rescue her
brother from their ranks.
“Rustler’s Rodeo” (11/9/91) – A gangster tries to keep Dusty Boots
from winning a rodeo and the prize money needed to pay off his family’s ranch.
“Roll to Victory” (11/16/91) – The ProStars have to keep the Pontiac
Hoods from letting a basketball charity be closed down.
“A Bite of the Big Apple” (11/23/91) – The ProStars are sent out to
find an archaeologist who disappeared.
“Clockwork Catastrophe” (11/30/91) – The ProStars have to retrieve the
Stanley Cup from Clockwork Delaronge.
“The Final Cut” (12/7/91) – Mom challenges the ProStars’ efficiency
and they try to prove her wrong by recounting past adventures.
This weekend, we continue our 2 year anniversary celebration.
As we celebrate, we figured we'd also take the opportunity to celebrate the various other programs enjoying anniversaries this year (at least at an interval of 5). Some we've covered, some we'll get to covering sooner or later, but all of them represent Saturday morning. For this installment, we recognize those shows turning 30. Yeah, let that sink in--you first saw these programs 30 years ago.
Take a walk down memory lane with us, and feel free to share your memories in the comments, or over on our Facebook group or Facebook page. We'd love to hear from you!
Now, without further ado, join us in celebrating...
This weekend we continue our 2 year anniversary celebration.
As we celebrate, we figured we'd also take the opportunity to celebrate the various other programs enjoying anniversaries this year (at least at an interval of 5). Some we've covered, some we'll get to covering sooner or later, but all of them represent Saturday morning. For this installment, we recognize those shows turning 25. A quarter of a freakin' century right here, folks.
Take a walk down memory lane with us, and feel free to share your memories in the comments, or over on our Facebook group or Facebook page. We'd love to hear from you!
Now, without further ado, join us in celebrating...
The show was a
combined spoof of the Olympic games and
ABC’s own Battle of the Network Stars; the
latter of which saw actors from all three major networks split into teams and
battling it out across multiple athletic competitions. Similarly, 45 characters
from across Hanna-Barbera’s library—as well as several new ones—were organized
into three teams to compete in outlandish sporting events for points that would
land them gold, silver or bronze medals once they were tallied up by the
episode’s end.
Now let’s meet our competitors:
The original Scooby-Doobies: Babu, the omitted Jeannie, Tinker, Speed Buggy, Shaggy, Scooby-Doo, Scooby-Dum, Blue Falcon, Dynomutt, Dee Dee Sykes, Taffy Dare, Brenda Chance and Captain Caveman.
-The Scooby Doobies: Featuring
characters primarily from the 1970s mystery-solving cartoons, the Scoobies were
named for their team captain, Scooby-Doo (Don Messick). Also appearing with him
was Shaggy Rogers (Casey Kasem) and Scooby-Dum (Daws Butler), Scooby’s
dim-witted cousin from The Scooby-Doo
Show. Joining them from Dynomutt, Dog Wonderwere Dynomutt (Frank Welker) and Blue Falcon (Gary Owens); from Speed Buggywere Speed Buggy (Mel Blanc) and Tinker (Welker); and from Jeanniewas Babu (Joe Besser). Jeannie herself and the characters from Josie and the Pussycats were also
slated to appear; going so far as to be included in early
model sheets for the show. However, Hanna-Barbera was denied their use by
their respective rights holders, Columbia Pictures and
Archie Comics (Babu was a
Hanna-Barbera creation). In their place was Hong
King Phooey (Scatman Crothers) and the cast from Captain Caveman and the Teen Angels:Captain Caveman (Blanc), Brenda Chance
(Marilyn Schreffler), Taffy Dare (Laurel Page) and Dee Dee Skyes (Vernee
Watson).
The Yogi Yahooeys: Yakky Doodle, Huckleberry Hound, Hokey Wolf, Wally Gator, Boo Boo, Yogi, Grape Ape, Blabber, Snooper, Augie Doggie, Doggie Daddy, Quickdraw McGraw, Pixie, Dixie and Mr. Jinks.
-The Yogi Yahooeys:
Featuring characters primarily from the 1950s-60s library of anthropomorphic
animal characters led by Yogi Bear (Butler). With him were his supporting
characters of Boo Boo (Messick) and Cindy (Julie Bennett), as well as Yakky
Doodle (Welker) from his The Yogi Bear Showsegment. Also included from The Huckleberry Hound Show(where Yogi made his debut) was
Huckleberry Hound, Dixie, Mr. Jinks, Hokey Wolf (all Butler) and Pixie
(Messick); from The Quick Draw McGraw Showwas Quick Draw McGraw, Snooper,
Blabber, Augie Doggie (all Butler) and Doggie Daddy (John Stephenson); from Wally Gatorcame
Wally Gator (Buter); and from The Great Grape Ape Showwas
the titular Grape Ape (Bob Holt).
The Really Rottens: Daisy Mayhem, Sooey, the Creepleys, Ortful Octopus, Dread Baron, Mumbly, The Great Fondoo, the Magic Rabbit, and the Dastardly brothers.
-The Really Rottens: the
bad guys of the series who resorted to all sorts of under-handed tricks to win,
which would often backfire. This was the most unique team in that the majority
of the characters were specifically created for the show. It was originally
intended to use the pair of Dick Dastardly and Muttley to lead the team, but
they were co-owned by Heatter-Quigley
Productions and made unavailable for the series. As a substitute,
Hanna-Barbera took Mumbly (Messick) from The Mumbly Cartoon Showand changed him from a heroic detective
to a villain since he bore a strong resemblance to Muttley and had the same
vocal effects. Dread Baron (Stephenson) was created for the show and made to
resemble Dastardly (revealed to be his twin brother in the Laff-A-Lympics comics) combined with the Red Max from Wacky Races. Dinky (Holt), Dirty
(Butler) and Dastardly (Messick) Dalton were cowboy brothers who appeared in
both The Quick Draw McGraw Show and The Huckleberry Hound Show, making them
the only other previously existing characters on the team. Rounding out the team were the Creepleys (Messick & Page,
respectively), who were based on a combination of The Gruesomes from The Flintstonesand Mr. & Mrs. J. Evil Scientist from Snagglepussand Snooper and Blabbershorts, and their pet, Ortful Octopus (Holt), who was a hybrid of Squiddly Diddly and the
Gruesomes’ pet, Occy; magician The Great Fondoo (Stephenson), who took
inspiration from Abner K. Dabra from the book Yogi Bear and the Cranky Magician,
and his Magic Rabbit (Welker); and Daisy Mayhem (Schreffler), bearing a strong
resemblance to Moonbeam
McSwine from Li’l Abner;especially by having a pet pig, Sooey
(Welker).
Mildew Wolf and Snagglepuss.
The episodes were structured in a similar fashion to an Olympic broadcast
with an unseen announcer (Messick) and hosting and commentary by Snagglepuss (Butler)
and Mildew Wolf (Stephenson, replacing Paul Lynde) from the It’s the Wolf! segment of Cattanooga
Cats. As the series was on ABC, Snagglepuss and Mildew, along with
other Hanna-Barbera characters enlisted as guest announcers and judges, wore
the recognizable yellow jackets of ABC Sports announcers. Other Hanna-Barbera
characters would also make frequent cameo appearances in the audience or in
interviews with Mildew.
Dragon-ing in China.
Much like Wacky Races, the
characters competed all over the world and the Rottens would always be on the
verge of winning until their foul tricks cost them the lead, and occasionally
points. Unlike Races, however,
sometimes their tricks weren’t against the rules, actually allowing them to
win. The show was also a rare Hanna-Barbera production to not feature a studio
laugh track.
Grape Ape on accused of juicing in Harvey Birdman.
In the “Grape
Juiced” episode of Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law, Grape Ape (John Michael Higgins) was
accused of using steroids during the Laff-A-Lympics.
The Magic Rabbit also appeared in the episode “SPF” as a victim of
CyberSquatting. The Really
Rottens appeared in the “Ship’rect” episode of The Cleveland Showas
the crew of a boat in a Floaterboard Race. The “Ban on the Fun” episode
of Robot Chickenused the show in a parody of Steven Spielberg’s film Munichwith the
addition of Scrappy-Doo on the Scooby team. In the 2020 film Scoob!,
an arcade cabinet in an abandoned amusement park arcade featured a
slightly-altered Laugh-A-Lympics logo.
EPISODE GUIDE:
Season 1:
“The Swiss Alps and Tokyo, Japan” (9/10/77) – Downhill ski contest,
ice skating, toboggan race, sumo wrestling, one-point tennis, baseball batting
contest.
“Acapulco and England” (9/17/77) – Cliff diving, underwater relay,
speed boat race, Big Ben tower climb, fox hunt, skateboard polo.
“Florida and China” (9/24/77) – Swamp buggy race, waterski contest,
auto track race, rickshaw race, ping pong, gymnastics.
“The Sahara Desert and Scotland” (10/1/77) – Dune buggy race, fill up
the oasis race, lock ness photograph race, three legged kilt race.
“France and Australia” (10/8/77) – Tour de France bicycle race, Eiffel
Tower climb, boomerang throw, kangaroo race.
“Athens, Greece and the Ozarks” (10/15/77) – Pole vault, discus throw,
rail cart race, keelboat race.
“Italy and Kitty Hawk, North Carolina” (10/22/77) – Motor scooter
race, canal boat race, hang gliding, skydiving, hot air balloon race.
“Egypt and Sherwood Forest” (10/29/77) – Touch the tip of the pyramid,
camel race, armor foot race, princess rescue contest.
“Spain and the Himalayas” (11/5/77) – Bullfight, gypsy wagon race,
hang the bell on the abominable snowman, climbing Mount Everest.
“India and Israel” (11/12/77) – Tiger hunt, elephant bark race, sun
sail sledding contest, reed boat race.
“Africa and San Francisco” (11/19/77) – Jungle boat race, vine
swinging contest, roller skating, fishing.
“The Grand Canyon and Ireland” (11/26/77) – Burro race, tightrope
race, catch the leprechaun, hole-in-one golf tournament.
“Hawaii and Norway” (12/3/77) – Surfing, outrigger race, Viking
longboat races, long jump while wearing snowshoes.
“North Pole and Tahiti” (12/10/77) – Dog sled races, igloo building
contest, around the reef paddleboat race, sandcastle building contest.
“Arizona and Holland” (12/17/77) – Wild bronco riding contest, steer
roping, windmill riding contest, dyke building contest.
“Quebec and Baghdad” (12/24/77) – Lacrosse batting, Canadian tree
cutting, flying carpet races, magic rope climbing.
Season 2:
“Russia and the Caribbean” (9/9/78) – Siberian moose marathon, dancing
race through Moscow, porpoise race, Blubeard’s treasure hunt.
“New York and Turkey” (9/16/78) – Hansom carriage race, crown of the
Statue of Liberty, unicycle race, swimming relay race.
“South America and Transylvania” (9/23/78) – Bull lasso contest,
rubber rat race, spooky scavenger hunt, log roll race.
“French Riviera and New Zealand” (9/30/78) – Soapbox derby, free
flight kite contest, ostrich race, mud puddle tug-of-war.
“New Orleans and Atlantis” (10/7/78) – Antique aircraft distance race,
Chinese dragon race, sea horse race, mermaid rescue.
