1983 10:30 on NBC: ALVIN AND THE CHIPMUNKS

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I'd have to do too much googling to confirm or deny this so I'll just let all y'all correct me if I'm wrong; 1983, 10:30 on NBC brought us the first ever Saturday Morning "Reboot" of a cartoon*, Alvin & The Chipmunks.

Back in 1961, Alvin & The Chipmunks looked like this (please feel free to ignore the Nickelodeon branding):

Produced for prime-time television, this version of The Chipmunks was a fast-paced half-hour "Gag" show, with 2 musical segments, a "Clyde Crashcup" cartoon and a single, quick joke featuring The Chipmunks.

But here in 1983, the show was refined. The musical segments were gone, replaced by actual storylines and character development. The character of Dave Seville was finally established as an adoptive father rather than an ambiguously disassociated record producer with anger management issues. The artistic style of the 1983 show was smoothed out and standardized to fit in with all the other cartoons of 1980's Saturday Morning thanks to the involvement of Ruby-Spears, as opposed to the highly stylized 1961 version that had been crafted solely by Bagdasarian Productions.

This was a completely different cartoon.

From the very first episode of the 1983 version, they distanced themselves by having a guest appearance by Mister T and also by introducing "The Chippettes". Even the theme song (one of the best ever on Saturday Mornings) implied that this was an all-new, all different approach to the Chipmunks and it REALLY WORKED!

*(You may point out various Hanna-Barbera shows of the 70's such as "Yogi's Space-Race", "The New Scooby-Doo Movies", "Yogi's Ark" and/or "Laugh-A-Lympics" as previous reboots of cartoons, but those weren't reboots so much as sequels that just used the same characters in new situations. It's like the difference between "Star Trek III: The Search For Spock" and the more recent JJ Abrahms "Star Trek" movies)

SMHRS WATCH-ALONG IS COMING THIS SATURDAY, JULY 20TH!!!

[captain-slinky.livejournal.com]

CLEAR YOUR CALENDAR!!! THE SATURDAY MORNING HISTORICAL RECREATION SOCIETY WATCH-ALONG IS SET TO START THIS COMING SATURDAY MORNING!!!

The broadcast starts at 7:00am Pacific Daylight Time (10:00am Eastern Daylight Time) and will be a non-stop 5-hour recreation of a 1980's Saturday Morning Experience, complete with commercials! Join us in the chat room (link to be provided) to share your Saturday Morning with the rest of us, answer trivia questions, and show just how much you love these cartoons! Only one rule - NO PAUSING ALLOWED! Just like in the 80's, this show needs to run in real-time. If you need to go to the bathroom, wait till commercial. You need another bowl of Smurfberry Crunch, you run to the kitchen during the boring part of the cartoon. NO PAUSING THE VIDEO!!!

This will be a repeat of one of our previous Watch-Alongs, to help us get our footing, work out any kinks and give new members a chance to experience what we're all about. Besides, it's Summer - Summer is ALL ABOUT RE-RUNS :)

As always, we'll be starting the watch-along at 7:00 (PDT), 10:00 (EDT) in the morning on Saturday, July 20th, with half-hourly posts to this community for those who may want to sleep in and just join us later as well as links to the official chat. Not feeling like tuning in at 7am? Check the community at 7:30, 8:00, 8:30, or whenever to find a link to the point in our programming where you can jump in! Join in the chat and we'll be glad to tell you *exactly* where we are in the video ("Okay, when I post the word SYNC you should be at the 10:27 mark in the video... SYNC!")

Expect a solid week of Nag Posts where I remind you that this is coming and asking you watch-along related questions :)

Speaking of questions, if you have any about the Watch-Along, put them below in the comments thanks!