{"id":92068,"date":"2025-09-12T00:01:11","date_gmt":"2025-09-12T07:01:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cartoonresearch.com\/?p=92068"},"modified":"2025-09-11T22:35:34","modified_gmt":"2025-09-12T05:35:34","slug":"cereal-killers-of-1975-fifty-years-ago-on-saturday-morning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cartoonresearch.com\/index.php\/cereal-killers-of-1975-fifty-years-ago-on-saturday-morning\/","title":{"rendered":"Cereal Killers of 1975: Fifty Years Ago, on Saturday Morning"},"content":{"rendered":"

There could be many an argument made for when the \u201cGolden Age\u201d of Saturday Morning television took place. So much of this is subjectively filtered through a lens of nostalgia. But, when it comes to making that argument, the decade of the 70s could definitely be a contender for the mantle of one of the \u201cGolden Ages.\u201d<\/p>\n

During this decade, Saturday mornings had become a vital part of network programming, and some of the most memorable and offbeat shows debuted.<\/p>\n

Part two of this three-part article travels back in time fifty years, when Jaws ruled the box office and our pop culture conscience that summer, and Welcome Back, Kotter<\/em> was just about to debut, to remember those new animated series that premiered on networks during the fall of 1975.<\/p>\n

ABC<\/strong><\/u><\/p>\n\"\"<\/a>\n

The fall of \u201975 saw the debut of Hong Kong Phooey<\/em>, with Scatman Crothers as the voice of the title character, an anthropomorphic dog named Penry, a mild-mannered janitor whose secret identity is the title, crime-fighting character. A unique, original show, Hong Kong Phooey has become one of Hanna-Barbera\u2019s most iconic series.<\/p>\n

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“The Great Grape Ape”<\/p><\/div>Hanna-Barbera also returned to their animated roots with the characters that started their career, Tom and Jerry<\/em>. The studio produced new, animated cartoons of the cat and mouse, and paired them with one of their most offbeat creations in The New Tom and Jerry\/Grape Ape Show<\/em>. The latter portion of the series focused on the exploits of a child-like, giant purple gorilla (voiced by Bob Holt) and his sidekick, a dog named Beagle Beagle (Marty Ingels).<\/p>\n

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Animated versions of prime-time shows were a trend in 1975, and one of ABC\u2019s most popular sitcoms of the time was The Odd Couple<\/em> (which had just ended its run). Fifty years ago, this fall, DePatie-Freleng adapted the show as The Oddball Couple<\/em> for Saturday mornings. Instead of neat-freak photographer Felix and sloppy sportswriter Oscar, the animated series featured a cat named Spiffy (Frank Nelson) and a dog named Fleabag (Paul Winchell).<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Also on ABC, Filmation Studio would provide a twist to the Saturday morning \u201cformula,\u201d with Uncle Croc\u2019s Block<\/em>. Meta, before meta was a thing, this live-action\/animated series was a sitcom-like look behind the scenes of the titular kids\u2019 show. The host, Uncle Croc, played by Charles Nelson Reilly, who bitterly hated his job, made life miserable for his conceited director, Basil Bitterbottom (Jonathan Harris). <\/p>\n

In addition to providing parodies of almost everything at the time, from Evil Knievel to The Six Million Dollar Man<\/em>, Uncle Croc\u2019s Block also featured new cartoon shorts: M*U*S*H,<\/em> a parody of M*A*S*H<\/em>, starring canines at an arctic medical outpost, Fraidy Cat<\/em>, about a cat who has used up eight of his nine lives and Wacky and Packy<\/em>, about a caveman and a wooly mammoth who are transported from prehistoric to contemporary times.<\/p>\n

Uncle Croc\u2019s Block<\/em> didn\u2019t fare well with either critics or audiences, and due to its poor performance, ABC didn\u2019t order any additional shows from Filmation.<\/p>\n