kiakjones on May 25, 2008 at 10:51 AM

FYI: The Banana Splits now airs on Boomer at Noon, (?) and 12:30pm ET weekdays (I think – double-check that). I DVR it just for the nostalgia. My husband never saw the show, (they didn’t air it in the Midwest apparently,) so I DVR’d it for him so he could get some of my pop culture references which seem weird to him.

UHF in LA … mother’s milk of my childhood.

Callow youth! I recall watching Howdy Doody (live) and remember the excitement I felt when I found out that Walt Disney was going to produce a show called “Mickey Mouse Club.” Also watched the first “Wonderful World of Disney” show.

Now I’m going to go put in my hearing aids and take about 47 pills so I can get to the couch for my nap.

Longhorn Six on May 26, 2008 at 9:37 AM

Ditto!!! All kids in the neighborhood flocked to the only house which had a TV to watch Howdy Doody right before dinner.

The TV was a (naturally black and white: this was the early 1950′s) model with a magnifying glass attachment hung in front of the tiny screen so (if you didn’t sit too far to the side) you could see the picture details from several feet away.

The transition from vacuum tubes to transistors to the beginning of integrated circuits happened during the years I went to college. I ended up in computers, and currently run my own company selling business software over the Internet. Talk about Twilight Zone!!! We lived it!

(got through my whole “memory lane” rant without using the word “whippersnapper”, too…)

I always thought that my kids enjoyed them, but not nearly as much as I did: I’d often be laughing out loud at something the kids didn’t understand.

I sure wish some TV network these days could air something half as original and entertaining as these shows.

Wow, how long ago was that? Back in the late ’70’s?

kiakjones on May 25, 2008 at 10:51 AM

Callow youth! I recall watching Howdy Doody (live) and remember the excitement I felt when I found out that Walt Disney was going to produce a show called “Mickey Mouse Club.” Also watched the first “Wonderful World of Disney” show.

Now I’m going to go put in my hearing aids and take about 47 pills so I can get to the couch for my nap.

That’s the problem many entertainment venues in the US today suffer from: they undergo considerable political correctness, and end up being dumbed down after awhile. TV animation is no exception. It’s a shame thus, that if Jay Ward’s creations were to be produced again today, they’d probably be so watered down from the original concept and approach, you’d never be able to really appreciate them.

On a related note, I’ve recently been trying to take a look at Japanimation online, whether on Youtube or other video hosts. Like Jay Ward’s products, some of them have a lot more brains than the average Hanna-Barbera production too. I think Sandy Frank Entertainment missed a big chance to try and start up a better following for anime among grownups when they gratuitously edited Kyodu Ninja Tai Gatchaman (Battle of the Planets) to make it more kiddie fare when they bought the rights to broadcast it on American TV in 1978. I know that later on, they actually did restore some of the material they’d first edited out, but even so, I think a chance may have been missed to make animation more mainstream even among adults.

Some people thought that the “Ghost Host” voice was that of Orson Wells which it was not. Paul Frees enjoyed imitating Orson Wells for fun however.

LL

Extra Points if you can name the Heavy Metal Legend on vocals for this song, it came out in 1974 and was featured on ABC in the late 70s and early 80’s.

Joey1974 on May 25, 2008 at 4:29 PM

I was born in ’74 I shouldn’t use that as an excuse for not knowing but i will..

:}

:)

Ricochet Rabbit & Droop-A-Long 01 Atchison Topeka & Sam Jose

(I just did a search for “Ricochet Rabbit” on YouTube i remember this one when I was a kid.. )

The great thing about Rocky & Bullwinkle is that it made drawn for kids and written for adults!

Jack Deth

A similar sentiment was expressed by veteran Warner Bros. animator Chuck Jones, who said they made Looney Toons for themselves, not for the kiddies.

Speaking of the passing of Dick Martin and the Banans Splits, said show was based on Laugh-In.

Next to Ren and Stimpy. And Jazzy Man….. Jazzy

Wow…definetly “trippy”. I’ve never heard of this one before.
Although not a cartoon, Pee-Wee’s Playhouse was perhaps the trippiest Saturday morning fare for me.

JetBoy on May 25, 2008 at 1:59 PM

Then I suspect you never watched Lidsville!

The great thing about Rocky & Bullwinkle is that it made drawn for kids and written for adults! A tradition carried on with ‘Animaniacs’ and ‘Pinky & The Brain’.

‘Hoppity Hooper’ was quite good. Very much like R&B with William Conrad (Radio’s ‘Matt Dillon’) doing the voice-over introductions.

Jack.

It almost never airs any more, and for that matter neither does the original Rocky and Bullwinkle,, but Hoppity Hooper had the same satiric and even cynical edge that Ward used in his more successful creation

Well, never heard of Hoppity Hooper, however I watch Rocky & Bullwinkle daily on Teletoon Retro. Canada wins AGAIN.

Although not a cartoon, Pee-Wee’s Playhouse was perhaps the trippiest Saturday morning fare for me.