After
a decade d0minated by cartoons,
live-action shows came back to Saturday mornings, thanks to the success
of 'Land of the Lost' on
NBC.
Superhero
and adventure shows were in abundance, but violence of any kind was taboo.
CBS
presented another season of the 'Children's Film Festival' at 1:00pm,
with films from around the world. NBC had their own acclaimed film series
meant to broaden young minds at 12:30.
'The
Big Blue Marble' and 'Hot Fudge' were popular in syndication.
8:00 Pebbles and
Bamm-Bamm / CBS
The Flintstone teenagers and their wiggy pals tool around Bedrock,
make funny 'rock' puns and play groovy music.
8:30
The Bugs Bunny
Road Runner Hour / CBS
The only TV show my dad and I would
both watch together on Saturday mornings.
For years, Bugs sold orange flavored
Tang, the drink that astronauts drink.
9:30
Scooby Doo
Where are You? / CBS
Where he's always been - on Saturday mornings.
Scooby rip-off 'The Clue Club'
takes over this timeslot mid-season.
10:00
The Shazam /
Isis Hour / CBS
(debut)
Captain Marvel was a big hit in 1974, so he returned in 1975 (now
played by John Davey) sharing the bill with the live action adventures
of Isis, a female superhero who derived her powers from the Gods
also.
Isis might have been the Seventies' version of Xena, except no
violence of any kind was allowed on Saturday morning shows, so
these two heroes just flew around the town dispensing advice.
Today, Shazam star Michael Gray
and his wife run Casa Bella, a flower shop in Beverly Hills.
11:00
Far Out
Space Nuts / CBS
(debut)
Bob Denver (Gilligan) and long time New York City kid show host
Chuck McCann are loading food into a NASA capsule when they're
accidently blasted into outer space.
They are joined along the way by
their space-pet Honk in this live-action comedy.
11:30
Ghost Busters / CBS
(debut)
Before the movie there was this lame live-action show. Larry Storch
and Forrest Tucker ('F Troop') were two ghost chasers who are
teamed with a gorilla detective.
Kind of sad to see two once big
prime-time stars in a low budget Lou Scheimer / Norm Prescott
('Archie') production.
Produced and directed by Norman
Abbott (who directed 'The Munsters' and many other prime-time
classics).
When the movie by the (almost) same
name became a hit, a cartoon version of this series popped up
as the 'Original Ghost Busters' and lawsuits were filed and settled
over the next decade.
12:00 Valley of
the Dinosaurs / CBS
Year two (reruns) for a family lost in cartoon time.
12:30
Fat Albert and
the Cosby Kids / CBS
The fourth season opening episode deals with having respect for
authority figures. When did we stop teaching that by the way?
1:00 Children's Film Festival / CBS
This season's foriegn films:
"Me and You, Kangaroo"
is the story of a boy raising a kangaroo.
"Friends For Life" concerns
a lynx and a Russian forest ranger.
"The Boy Who Wore Spectacles"
was another Russian film - little Kuvy daydreams about besting
the bullies who torment him.
Hong Kong Fooey / ABC
(debut)
Reruns from the year before fill up this second season for the
Kung-Fu pooch; the same 17 episodes run over and over!
8:30
The Tom and Jerry /
Grape Ape Show / ABC
(debut)
The Grape Ape is a 30-foot tall purple ape who hangs out with
his talking Beagle buddy.
Tom and Jerry were resurrected
from Hanna-Barbera's Oscar-winning past in new, seperate segments.
This was the first of a three year
run, Mumbley (the snickering dog) joined the duo next year.
9:30 Lost Saucer / ABC
(debut)
Live action shows with two of the Sixties' biggest primetime stars
- reduced to appearing in a low-budget kid show.
Jim Nabors (his Gomer Pyle
series was number two in primetime when he quit in 1969) was Fum
and Ruth Buzzi (Laugh-in) was Fi, two alien space explorers who
accidently pick up an Earth kid Jerry, and his babysitter.
They spent their one season flying
through space and time trying to get the kids back home.
Moved
to noon mid-season, reruns were bundled with next year's 'Krofft
Supershow'.
There were two series featuring
Bob Denver on Saturday mornings this year. Makes
sense - reruns of the original 'Gilligan's Island' were more popular
than ever in 1975 as the show became the official babysitter of
the baby boom generation.
10:30
Uncle Croc's
Block / ABC
(debut)
Live action hour with Charles Nelson Reilly as a kid show host
named Uncle Croc, a guy who despised both his show and his co-host
- Mr. Rabbit Ears.
Jonathan Harris (Dr. Smith on 'Lost
in Space') played the show's director Mr. Bitterbottom.
Cartoon segments starring 'Fraidy
Cat', 'Wacky and Packy' and a cartoon version of M*A*S*H called
M*U*S*H, starring dogs, of course.
The show was demoted to half-hour status in October with 'Wacky
and Packy' as the only cartoon segment.
It was pretty unusual for a Saturday morning show in the Seventies
to be yanked mid-season, but this show was such a big bomb for
ABC that it was removed from the schedule altogether in February
of 1976 (along with the Gilligan cartoon) and replaced
with reruns of Groovie Goulies (1971) and then Super
Friends repeats.
11:30 Oddball Couple / ABC
(debut)
Paul Winchell's voice stars in the cartoon version of the long-running
ABC show 'The Odd Couple'.
Fleabag is a sloppy dog, and his roommate Spiffy is a fastidious
kitty.
Paul Winchell starred in the very first Saturday Morning kid
show.
12:00
Speed Buggy / ABC
Moves from CBS to ABC for a third season.
12:30 American Bandstand / ABC
Tavares and Gabe Kaplan guest-star on the season opener.
This season saw guests like the
Rhythm Heritage ('Theme from SWAT'), Eddie Kendricks,John Davidson,
Kool and the Gang, Natalie Cole, B.T. Express, George Carlin and
Freddie Prinze. ABC should just rerun this stuff on Saturday Mornings.
Sunday
Morning series starring Tom Chapin, produced, written and directed
by Lester Cooper. Educational in nature, this show is fondly remembered
for the original folksy tunes, written and sung by Tom Chapin
(singer Harry Chapin's bother). Different subjects were explored
each week, but in 1975 the show's focus shifted to bicentienial
themes.
'Make
A Wish' was one of those rare educational shows that kids actually
liked and parent groups lauded with awards.
The
premier episode of the Bicentienial season (on September 7, 1975)
looked back at the first trans-continental railway.
ABC AfterSchool
Specials now on DVD
8:00
Emergency
plus 4 / NBC
Reruns from the previous two season's episodes.
The 'plus 4' were kids named Jason,
Mat, Randy and Sally, who joined the cartoonic Gage and DeSoto
in responding to emergencies all over cartoonic LA.
As if the primetime series weren't
cartoon enough, this version lasted three years.
8:30
Sigmund and the
Sea Monsters / NBC
A year of reruns was scheduled, but the show was removed in October
and 'Josie and the Pussycats' was moved to this slot.
9:00
Secret Lives of
Waldo Kitty / NBC
(debut)
Howard Morris was the voice for a Walter Mitty real live kitty
that imagines himself in all sorts of cartoon adventures. Allan
Melvin provided the voice of Tyrone.
Episodes included: Cat Man, Catzan of the Apes, The Lone Kitty...
you get the idea.
Veteran kid's TV comedy performer "Uncle Johnny" Coons
used his imitation of Andy Devine for the voice of one of Tyrone's
henchdogs on the series. Mr. Coons also used his Andy Devine like
voice for the character of "Officer Heap O'Calorie"
for the UPA Dick Tracy TV cartoons).
9:30
Pink Panther / NBC
This was the last year of the original half-hour format. The
Pink Panther was one of the hottest cartoons on the Saturday
schedule.
10:00
Land of the Lost /
NBC
A second season brought new adventures of Marshall Will, and Holly.
In the season 2 opener, our landlost
family tries to help Cha-ka free a baby dinosaur named Dopey from
the tar pit.
ORDER
on DVD
NOW
10:30
Run, Joe, Run / NBC
A second (and last) season of original
episodes found Joe and a backpacker named Josh McCoy (Chad States)
teaming up together to travel the backroads of America.
Joe was a German Shepherd on the
run when he was falsely accused of attacking his master in a police
training camp.
In episodes this season, Joe and
Josh help a fisherman who's nephew won't go to school, encounter
a city-bred Indian who runs afoul of a wild bear, hunt down a
wanted fugitive from a plane crash, lose a vintage car and rescue
an elderly antiques dealer who runs afoul of criminals.
A lot of people write to TVparty!
requesting this show on DVD.
11:00
Return to the Planet
of the Apes / NBC
(debut)
Animated sequel to the popular (and surprisingly good) 1970's
movie series (and the short-lived 1974 primetime TV series on
CBS). Produced by DePatie/Freleng.
Typical plots: Jeff, TBill and Judy
trek to a human settlement near the mountain ranges when they
spot the apes playing war games with a WW II airplane.
In the Below World, Bill, Jeff,
Judy and Krador battle a lava flow when the apes find their lazer
gun.
Lasted only this one season.
11:30
Westwind / NBC
(debut)
Live action series starring Van Williams ('The Green Hornet',
'Surfside 6') set in Hawaii.
Steve Andrews (Williams) is an underwater
photographer who has a marine biologist named Kate (Niki Dantine)
for a wife, two adventurous children, Robin and Tom (Kimberly
Beck, Steve Burns), and a boat called the "Westwind". Together
they find fun and thrills in a tropical paradise, and who wouldn't?
Typical episodes: Steve and Kate are charged with kidnapping
when they take a new friend out on the boat, a vengeful cripple
kidnaps Robin, Tom comes to the aid of an old fisherman, Robin
and Tom are bitten by water snakes, and the crew is forced to
dive for treasure in shark infested waters, this time kidnapped
by pirates.
John Carradine guest-starred on one episode as an old sea dog
looking for stolen jade. This show lasted only one season.
12:00
Josie and
the Pussycats / NBC
Reruns of the original CBS series, before the Pussycats were blasted
into space. In this version, they are a rock band on tour, running
into espionage at every turn. In October, Josie was moved to 8:30
and 'The Jetsons' returned to NBC after a two month hiatus.
12:30 Go-USA / NBC
Back for a third year, with an emphasis on dramatic historical
pieces in honor of the upcoming Bicentennial (1976).
The previous year this show won
a Peabody award for excellence. The third season opens with a
drama about a slave named "Gordon".
In an episode titled "River Raft",
a poor family migrating across the country finds all of their
possessions stolen.
In "Deborah Samson", a girl disguises
herself as a boy to join the Continental Army.
Saturday Mornings 1974 Adaptations of former primetime shows are all the rage on Saturdays now.
Saturday Mornings 1975 Far Out Space Nuts, Shazam and Ark II are just a few of the action, sitcom and musical variety shows this season.
Saturday Mornings 1976 Krofft Super Show, and Ark II are just a 2 of the many action, sitcom and musical variety shows this season.
Saturday Mornings 1977 The most unsuccessful Saturday morning line up of the decade - flops everywhere as the networks lost track of what kids wanted to watch.
Saturday Mornings 1974 Adaptations of former primetime shows are all the rage on Saturdays now.
Saturday Mornings 1975 Far Out Space Nuts, Shazam and Ark II are just a few of the action, sitcom and musical variety shows this season.
Saturday Mornings 1976 Krofft Super Show, and Ark II are just a 2 of the many action, sitcom and musical variety shows this season.
Saturday Mornings 1977 The most unsuccessful Saturday morning line up of the decade - flops everywhere as the networks lost track of what kids wanted to watch.
After
a decade d0minated by cartoons,
live-action shows came back to Saturday mornings, thanks to the success
of 'Land of the Lost' on
NBC.
