Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids

This article is about the television series. For other uses, see Fat Albert (disambiguation).
Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids

L to R: Cluck, Bill, Rudy, Dumb Donald, Mushmouth, Fat Albert, Bucky, Russell, Weird Harold
Also known as The New Fat Albert Show
The Adventures of Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids
Genre Comedy-drama
Educational
Created by Bill Cosby
Ken Mundie
Directed by Hal Sutherland
Creative director(s) Don Christensen
Presented by Bill Cosby
Voices of
Theme music composer Ricky Sheldon
Edward Fournier
Opening theme Performed by Michael Gray
Country of origin United States
Original language(s) English
No. of seasons 8
No. of episodes 110 + 4 specials (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s) Bill Cosby
Producer(s) Lou Scheimer
Norm Prescott (1972–84)
Production company(s) Filmation
Distributor Group W Productions (syndicated)
DreamWorks Classics
Release
Original network CBS (1972–84), first-run syndication (1984–85)
Original release September 9, 1972 – October 27, 1973
September 6, 1975 – October 30, 1976
September 8, 1979 – September 16, 1981
September 1, 1984 – August 10, 1985
Chronology
Preceded by Hey, Hey, Hey, It's Fat Albert (1969)

Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids is an animated series created, produced, and hosted (in live action bookends) by comedian Bill Cosby, who also lent his voice to a number of characters, including Fat Albert himself. Filmation was the production company for the series. The show premiered in 1972[1] and ran until 1985 (with new episodes being produced on an "on and off" basis during that time frame). The show, based on Cosby's remembrances of his childhood gang, centered on Albert (known for his catchphrase "Hey hey hey!"), and his friends.[2]

The show features an educational lesson in each episode, emphasized by Cosby's live-action segments. In addition, at the end of the early episodes, the gang typically gathers in their North Philadelphia junkyard to play a song on their cobbled-together instruments, summarizing the show's lesson.[2]

Origins

The character Fat Albert first appeared in Cosby's stand-up comedy routine "Buck Buck," as recorded on his 1967 album Revenge.[3] The stories were based upon Cosby's tales about growing up in inner city North Philadelphia.[4] In 1969, Cosby and veteran animator Ken Mundie brought Fat Albert to animation in a one-shot prime-time special entitled Hey, Hey, Hey, It's Fat Albert.

The special, which aired on NBC, was a hybrid of live action and animation. The music for the special was written and performed by jazz pianist/keyboardist Herbie Hancock in 1969 and was released on the Warner Bros. album Fat Albert Rotunda. For the animated portion of the special, it was necessary to develop the actual appearance of each of the Fat Albert Gang's characters. For this, Ken Mundie relied on animator Amby Paliwoda, a former Disney artist. Paliwoda not only created all the Gang's characters, but painted a "group portrait" which was eventually shown on the front page of TV Guide magazine shortly before the showing of the special.

The producers wanted NBC to bring Fat Albert to Saturday mornings, but the network programming managers refused because the series was too educational.[5] Bill Cosby and a new production company, Filmation Associates, then took the property to CBS. The Fat Albert gang's character images were primarily created by the artist Randy Hollar with the assistance of one-time Disney animator Michelle McKinney, under the direction of Ken Brown.

Retitled Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids, the series premiered on September 9, 1972, on CBS. Production lasted for 12, though not continuous, years. It also spent another season in first-run syndication (1984–85). Three prime-time holiday specials (Halloween, Christmas, and Easter) featuring the characters were also produced. Like most Saturday morning cartoons of the era, Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids contained an adult laugh track, which was eliminated during the final season. The series was rerun on NBC Saturday mornings and on the USA Network in 1989.

On January 15, 2013, Bill Cosby posted the following on his Facebook page, "I'm telling you there are people at work who, I think, will make Fat Albert happen again. And it will be loved by all generations to come", hinting that the series might be brought back once again. No further word has been given yet.[6]

Characters

The Cosby Kids

Others

Lou Scheimer, Erika Scheimer, Keith Allen, Lane Vaux, Pepe Brown, Dementra McHenry, Eric Suter, and Gerald Edwards provided additional voices.

Episodes

Educational lessons and songs

Fat Albert was honored and noted for its educational content, which included Cosby earning a Doctorate in Education. In every show's opening Cosby would playfully warn:

"This is Bill Cosby comin' at you with music and fun,
and if you're not careful you may learn something before it's done.
So let's get ready, OK? (Fat Albert voice) Hey, hey, hey!"

During each episode, Fat Albert and his friends (aka The Junkyard Gang), dealt with an issue or problem commonly faced by young urban children, ranging from stage fright, first loves, medical operations, and personal hygiene to more serious themes (though toned down for younger children) including vandalism, stealing, racism, smoking, being scammed by con artists, sexually transmitted diseases, child abuse, kidnapping, drug use, gun violence and death.

At the end of most episodes (with some exceptions in the case of particularly serious themes), the gang would sing a song about the theme of the day. This sequence, similar to those seen in other Filmation shows including The Archie Show, has often been parodied. The musical sequence was dropped during the Brown Hornet/Legal Eagle years.

The series would enjoy one of the longest runs in the history of the Saturday morning cartoons.

Revamps and renames

In 1979, the show was re-titled The New Fat Albert Show and featured a new segment titled "The Brown Hornet" detailing the adventures of an African-American crime fighter in outer space whose design resembled a caricature of Bill Cosby, who also performed vocal talents on the character.

In 1984, the show was syndicated and renamed The Adventures of Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids. The lack of network restrictions allowed the producer to delve into more mature subject matter. A notable episode ("Busted") featured the kids having an inadvertent brush with the law and given a Scared Straight!-style tour of an occupied maximum security prison, even contained utterances (by the jail's inmates) of the words "damn" and "bastard" (Cosby had appeared in the beginning of the episode advising viewers that those words would be used as part of the story's dialogue to realistically depict jail life). Another notable episode, "Gang Wars", featured a child being shot and killed. Another new segment was added: "Legal Eagle", a crime-fighting eagle with a pair of bumbling police squirrels. Production of new episodes ceased in 1985.

Theme song

The theme song "Gonna Have A Good Time" was composed by Ricky Sheldon and Edward Fournier [8] and performed by Michael Gray (vocals), Kim Carnes (background vocals) and Michael Fournier (background vocals).[7][9]

A cover of the show's theme song, performed by Dig, is included on the 1995 tribute album Saturday Morning: Cartoons' Greatest Hits, produced by Ralph Sall for MCA Records. The song's chorus ("Na-na-na, gonna have a good time!") was also sampled for Fatboy Slim's 1998 hit single "Praise You".

Reception

Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids was named the 82nd best animated series by IGN.[10]

Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids received an Emmy nomination in 1974. Production of the final season of the series overlapped with the start of production of Cosby's live-action sitcom, The Cosby Show, which began airing in the fall of 1984.

In 1993, TV Guide named Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids the best cartoon series of the 1970s in its issue celebrating 40 years of television.[11]

In 2002, Fat Albert was placed at number 12 on TV Guide's list of the 50 Greatest Cartoon Characters of All Time.[12]

Availability

Syndication

As of 2013, Fat Albert is seen Saturday mornings on Retro Television Network (RTV), TheCoolTV, and weekdays and Saturdays and Sundays on Bounce TV, both of which are digital networks. It can also be seen weekdays on Angel Two (ANGL2), Kids & Teens TV (KTV), and World Harvest Television. Fat Albert is also available streaming online from www.HallmarkSpiritClips.com. As of July 2015, "Fat Albert" was no longer on Bounce TV's lineup.[13] Bounce TV had previously pulled the comedy series Cosby from their lineup in the wake of the Bill Cosby sexual assault allegations,[14] but it is unclear if the cancellation of the Fat Albert episodes are related to these allegations.

DVD releases

In 2004, Urban Works acquired the rights to the series, subsequently releasing several Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids DVDs including a two-volume collection featuring 24 episodes, as well as all specials to coincide with the theatrical release of the feature film adaptation. Volume 1 contains two DVDs with episodes 1–12 (airdates 9/9–11/25/1972), along with a CD containing the opening theme, the closing theme, and 12 songs from each of the 12 episodes shown in vol. 1 [15] Volume 2 contains two discs with episodes 13–24 (airdates 12/2/1972–9/13/1975), along with a CD containing the opening theme, the closing theme, and 12 songs from each of the 12 episodes shown in vol. 2.[16][17][18][19] In addition, Urban Works released a Greatest Hits four-disc box set and a five-best episodes set via Ventura Distribution.[20][21] In 2008, Urban Works lost the distribution rights and as a result all of Urban Works' DVD releases are now out of print.

In 2008, Classic Media acquired the rights to series and stated at the time that they intended to release the entire series on DVD.[22] Unfortunately this never happened as they only re-released The Fat Albert Halloween Special and The Fat Albert Easter Special on DVD via distribution partner Genius Products.[23][24]

On April 6, 2012, it was announced that Shout! Factory had acquired the rights to the series (under license from Classic Media) and planned to release a complete series box set on DVD on July 31, 2012. The release was postponed.[25]

On September 4, 2012, Classic Media re-released all three holiday specials together in one collection entitled The Hey Hey Hey Holiday Collection on DVD in Region 1.[26]

On June 25, 2013, Shout! Factory released Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids: The Complete Series box-set on DVD.

Other media

Gold Key Comics did a comic book adaptation of Fat Albert, which ran for 29 issues, from 1974 to 1979.

Film adaptation

In 2004, 20th Century Fox released a film adaptation of the series titled Fat Albert. The film stars Kenan Thompson as Fat Albert himself, Kyla Pratt, Dania Ramirez, Omarion, and Bill Cosby as himself. In the film, Fat Albert and the boys journey into the real world after jumping out of a television in order to help a lonely girl named Doris (Kyla Pratt) with her issues. Fat Albert enjoys being in the real world. But after a meeting with his creator, Cosby, he is informed that if he and the others don't return to the television, they will turn into celluloid dust.

See also

References

  1. William Henry Cosby, "An Integration of the Visual Media Via "Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids" into the Elementary School Curriculum as a Teaching Aid and Vehicle to Achieve Increased Learning" (January 1, 1976). Electronic Doctoral Dissertations for UMass Amherst. Paper AAI7706369. http://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations/AAI7706369
  2. 1 2 CD liner notes: Saturday Morning: Cartoons' Greatest Hits, 1995 MCA Records
  3. Cosby's character in the TV series _I Spy_, Scottie, when asked his name responded "Fat Albert!" while being interrogated. ["The Trouble with Temple", Season 2, 1967]
  4. Military.com. Transition Profiles  Bill Cosby. Accessed 20 November 2008.
  5. tvparty.com
  6. Bill Cosby's Facebook page
  7. 1 2 http://www.tvparty.com/satfat4.html
  8. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0396592/soundtrack
  9. http://www.discogs.com/Fat-Albert-And-The-Cosby-Kids-Fat-Albert-And-The-Cosby-Kids/release/3382192
  10. "82, Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids". IGN. 2009-01-23. Retrieved 2009-01-24.
  11. TV Guide April 17-23, 1993. 1993. p. 75.
  12. "TV Guide's 50 greatest cartoon characters of all time". cnn.com. July 30, 2002. Retrieved July 28, 2014.
  13. Current Bounce TV show lineup
  14. Bill Cosby reruns pulled from BET's Centric Network, Bounce TV
  15. Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids - The Original Animated Series, Vol. 1
  16. Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids -Vol 2 (1972)
  17. Fat Albert's Easter Special
  18. Fat Albert's Halloween Special
  19. Fat Albert's Christmas Special (2005)
  20. Fat Albert's Greatest Hits The Ultimate Collection (1972)
  21. Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids (1972)
  22. Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids DVD news: New DVDs Planned for Classic Cartoon Series | TVShowsOnDVD.com
  23. Amazon.com: Fat Albert's Halloween Special: Various: Movies & TV
  24. Amazon.com: FAT ALBERT EASTER SPECIAL, THE: Various: Movies & TV
  25. "Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids - Press Release Says ALL 3 Shows in Shout!'s Set, WITH Bill Cosby's Help!". TVShowsonDVD.com. Retrieved April 11, 2012.
  26. Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids DVD news: Announcement for Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids - The Hey Hey Hey Holiday Collection | TVShowsOnDVD.com

External links

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