Saturday Morning Musical Kid's Shows of the 1960s and 1970s Part Four

In 1968 The Banana Splits Adventure Hour and The Archie Show sparked a cycle towards kid's shows incorporating music on the American broadcast network's Saturday morning schedule. The cycle peaked in the 1970-1971, with no less than six such shows debuting that fall. While no other season would see quite that many musical children's shows debut, the cycle would still continue for several more seasons.

For earlier shows in the cycle fictional bands, such as The Banana Splits and The Archies, were created for the shows. In the 1971-1972 season, there would be one inspired by an actual band. The Jackson 5 had proven to be one of Motown's most successful acts of the late Sixties and early Seventies. They had their first no. 1 single, "I Want You Back," in 1969. By the end of 1970 they had four consecutive no. 1 records. With music oriented cartoons dominating Saturday mornings, a cartoon based on The Jackson 5 perhaps seemed like a natural extension of the group's success.

The Jackson 5ive was produced by Rankin/Bass in conjunction with Motown Productions. The animation was provided by British animation firm Halas and Batchelor and the Japanese animation firm of Topcraft. The Jackson Five did not provide their voices for the cartoon, with voice actors assuming their roles. That having been said, each episode would feature songs by The Jackson Five.

The Jackson 5ive debuted on September 11 1971 on ABC. It proved successful, running for two seasons.

Debuting the same day, but on CBS and a later time slot, was The Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm Show. The Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm Show was historic as the first televison spinoff of the highly successful primetime cartoon The Flintstones. On The Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm Show,  Fred and Wilma Flintstone's daughter Pebbles and Barney and Betty Rubble's son Bamm-Bamm were now teenagers. The show then centred on Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm, and their friends, rather than their parents.

Music played a role on the show, with Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm having formed a rock group called The Bedrock Rockers. The songs for the musical segments were written by such composers as David Gates of Bread, jazz pianist Elliot Lawrence, and others. They were performed by a group The Ron Hicklin Singers, who also recorded commercials, various television show themes, and even Patridge Family songs. Amazingly enough given the talent involved in the creation of the songs, it appears The Bedrock Rockers released no single nor any albums. Flintstones fans may remember that Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm had seen some recording success when they were still toddlers in the mid-Sixties. In 1965 "Open Up Your Heart," a song performed by the two kids on an episode of The Flintstones was released as a single. That same year a Christmas album featuring Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm was released.

The Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm Show ran for one season before being revamped as The Flintstones Comedy Hour. On the new show the first half hour focused on Fred and Barney, not unlike the original show, with the second half hour centred on the teenaged Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm. The show lasted a single season in the new format.

The Jackson 5ive and The Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm Show were the only new musical cartoons to debut in the 1971-1972 season, but the 1972-1973 season would see four new cartoons debut and a revamp of an old cartoon debut on Saturday mornings. This was the most musical kid's shows to debut on Saturday morning since the 1970-1971 season.

The first to debut was another cartoon based on an actual musical act. The Osmonds had appeared regularly on The Andy Williams Show. Starting with "One Bad Apple," which went to no 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, The Osmonds began seeing success on the music charts. With the success of The Jackson 5ive, it would then perhaps be natural that there would be a cartoon based on The Osmonds as well. The Osmonds was produced by Rankin/Bass with the animation provided by Hass and Batchelor. The Osmonds did not provide their own voices, which were provided by voice actors. That having been said, Osmonds songs did appear in the episodes.

The Osmonds did not meet with the success that The Jackson 5ive had. It only ran one season on Saturday morning before moving to Sunday morning for one final season.

Opposite The Osmonds, on CBS, was The Amazing Chan and the Chan Clan.  The Amazing Chan and the Chan Clan was very loosely based on Earl Derr Biggers's original Charlie Chan novels and the many movies made in the Thirties and Forties. The cartoon gave Charlie Chan ten children. While Charlie Chan's "Number One Son," "Number Two Son," and "Number Three Son" all appeared in the movies, on the cartoon Charlie's sons all had different names. While his eldest sons in the movies were Lee (Number One) and Jimmy (Number Two), his sons on the cartoon had names like Henry, Stanley, and Scooter. There was a Tom Chan on the cartoon, whose name would correspond to Charlie's Number Three son in the movies, Tommy Chan.

Given the cycle towards musical cartoons, it should come as no surprise that Charlie Chan's children on The Amazing Chan and the Chan Clan had their own rock group, The Chan Clan. They would perform a song on each episode. The music for the show was produced by Don Kirshner, who had earlier produced the music for The Archie Show. Despite this, no album nor any singles were released in relation to the show.

The Amazing Chan and the Chan Clan did not prove successful. It only lasted one season on CBS.

While The Osmonds was based on an actual music act, a show debuting later that day on ABC was a spinoff of a live-action, primetime sitcom. It was Brady Bunch creator Sherwood Schwartz who approached Filmation about creating an animated series featuring the kids from The Brady Bunch. The end result was The Brady Kids. The Brady Kids centred exclusively on the children from The Brady Bunch, with neither their parents nor the housekeeper Alice appearing o the show. In the first season the child actors from The Brady Bunch (Barry Williams, Maureen McCormick, Christopher Knight, Eve Plumb, Mike Lookinland, and Susan Olsen) voiced their characters, with voice actors taking over the roles in the second season.

As to the music on the show, it is sometimes forgotten that the kids from The Brady Bunch actually recorded albums, the first being a Christmas album in 1970, followed by Meet the Brady Bunch in 1972. The Brady Kids then included a musical segment at the end of each episode. As the children from The Brady Bunch were already recording albums, there were not any albums or singles specifically from the show released, although their 1972 album The Kids From the Brady Bunch used artwork from the show.

Opposite The Brady Kids there was a reboot of a slightly older cartoon on CBS. On Josie and the Pussycats in Outer Space, the band is doing a promotional tour of the launch site of a new spaceship when they are accidentally launched into space. New songs were recorded for the new show, although no album or singles were released. Josie and the Pussycats in Outer Space ran a season and a half on CBS.

It was later on September 9 1972 on CBS that what was the most successful of the cartoons to emerge from the cycle of musical kid's shows debuted. Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids ultimately lasted thirten seasons, although it slightly changed formats during that time. The character of Fat Albert had first appeared on the comedy album Revenge from now disgraced comedian Bill Cosby. On November 12 1969 a primetime special, Hey, Hey, Hey, It's Fat Albert aired on NBC. The animation for the special was provided by Ken Mundie, who had earlier did the animation for the opening titles of the movie The Great Race (1965).

Bill Cosby tried to interest NBC in a Fat Albert series, but the network expressed no interest in it. The project then went to Filmation, who had earlier produced The New Adventures of Superman and The Archie Show. It was then sold to CBS.  The images of the characters on Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids were very different from what they had been in the special, Hey, Hey, Hey, It's Fat Albert, particularly Fat Albert himself. The series' episodes featured a live action opening by Bill Cosby, as well as a musical segment at the end of the show. The Junkyard Gang (as Fat Albert and his friends called themselves) would sing a song about the topic that day's episode had dealt with.

The songs on Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids were written by Richard Canada and Sherry Gaden. They were produced by Richard Delvy. An album, Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids, was released on Paramount Records.

In 1979 Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids was renamed The New Fat Albert Show, and the songs were phased out. In 1984 the show moved from CBS to first run syndication, where it was retitled The New Adventures of Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids. It lasted until 1985 in syndication.

The 1972-1973 season would be the second biggest season for musical kid's shows on Saturday morning following the 1970-1971 season. The cycle would continue in following seasons, but never again would as many musical children's shows debut.