March 2, 2009

The Alvin Show

The Alvin Show is an American animated television series that was the first to feature the singing characters Alvin and the Chipmunks. It aired for one season from 1961 to 1962 on CBS.
February 26, 2009

The Flintstones

Meet The Flintstones in this prehistoric Hanna-Barbera production. Primetime's first animated series was also the longest running until The Simpsons came along. Not so coincidentally, the two shows aren't all that different--even if the former emerged in the sixties, the latter in the eighties. Fred (Alan Reed), patriarch of the cave-dwelling clan, may be marginally more intelligent than the similarly blue collar Homer, but most storylines still revolve around his more dunderheaded moves.
When The Huckleberry Hound Show debuted in syndication on October 2, 1958, it launched the Hanna-Barbera empire--and radically changed the course of American animation.
February 26, 2009

The Jetsons

The Jetsons (1962) was the third primetime series from the Hanna-Barbera Studio, after The Flintstones (1960) and Top Cat (1961). Although the show was cancelled after its first season, it proved a durable Saturday-morning favorite, running for more than 14 years on all three networks.
"No one buys gorillas anymore," laments Mr. Peebles in the initial installment ("Big Game") of this Hanna-Barbera animation. The shop owner has looked after Magilla (Allan Melvin, The Brady Bunch) since he was a baby. Customers take the snappily-dressed simian home, he messes everything up--they bring him back. Looks like Peebles (actor/director Howard Morris, The Atom Ant Show) is stuck with the big lug. Granted, little Ogee (Jean Vander Pyl, The Flintstones), who makes her debut in the seventh episode ("Come Blow Your Dough"), would love a pet gorilla, but the redheaded tot is always short of cash.
Quick Draw was usually depicted in his shorts (which were set in the American Old West) as a sheriff. Quick Draw was often accompanied by his deputy, a Mexican burro with a stereotypical Spanish accent named Baba Looey.
Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! is the first incarnation of the long-running Hanna-Barbera Saturday morning cartoon series, Scooby-Doo. It premiered on September 13, 1969 at 10:30 a.m. EST and ran for three seasons on CBS as a half-hour long show.
March 3, 2009

Spider-Man

Spider-Man ran from 1967 through 1970 on ABC, and imprinted its theme song, "Spider-Man, Spider-Man/ Does whatever a spider can / Spins a web, any size / Catches thieves--just like flies" on a generation of viewers.
March 2, 2009

Top Cat

So the swinging theme song immortalizes, "the chief, he's the king, but above everything: he's the most tiptop Top Cat!"... In the tradition of great screen conmen--one of the few with a visible tail--"Top Cat" holds a top spot in the hearts of cartoon fans.
March 3, 2009

Underdog

Underdog is an American animated television series that debuted October 3, 1964, on the NBC network under the primary sponsorship of General Mills, and continued in syndication until 1973, for a run of 124 episodes.
March 2, 2009

The Yogi Bear Show

Yogi Bear began as a secondary character on The Huckleberry Hound Show (1958), but he proved so popular, he was given his own series in 1961. A conniver and a schemer, Yogi frequently proclaimed he was "smarter than the average bear." His gentle pal Boo Boo always pointed out that Ranger Smith wasn't going to like his latest plot to steal "picanic" baskets from visitors to Jellystone Park, but that never stopped Yogi.

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