saturday_am_80s | 1980 NOON on CBS: FAT ALBERT AND THE COSBY KIDS

Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids was a Filmation animated series created, produced, and hosted (in live action bookends) by comedian Bill Cosby, who also did a huge chunk of the voices for the show (including Fat Albert himself). The show premiered in 1972 and *kind of* ran until 1985... See, up till 1983 they had been doing short-order seasons of the show - 6 to 8 new episodes per season - but then between 1984 and 1985 the cranked out some FIFTY NEW EPISODES of the cheaper, lower-quality "The Adventures of Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids".

It should also be noted that this was the year that they replaced the "Junkyard Rock Band" segments of the show with Fat Albert and the gang rushing to their clubhouse to watch the latest episode of "The Brown Hornet" (Also voiced by Cosby).

What do you think? Have any good memories or thoughts to share about Fat Albert and the gang? Come at me with comments and fun, and if you're not careful you might just learn something before we're done. So let's get ready, okay? Hey, hey, HEY!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Dood. You know it's aired on every Saturday morning here, don't you? Channel 7.2, from 8:00 AM - 11:30 AM: Fat Albert, Ghostbusters (not The Real Ghost Busters), Archies, Bravestarr, She-Ra, He-Man, and Mr. Magoo. A decent Saturday morning lineup, plus little extras at the end of each episode, in the form of terrible quality or offensive racist shorts, like the old Pinocchio or Dick Tracy or Wizard of Oz shorts. Archies is terrible and the commercials aren't all that great, and you don't get the PSAs, but it's still pretty good overall.

I pretty clearly remember the episode about shoplifting, but not much else in particular. I also remember the difference in the episodes with The Brown Hornet. I was young at the time, but I could tell they weren't quite as good and was a little disappointed when they showed those. I guess I was already becoming a cartoon connoisseur. XD

What is the name of that channel? Because I WANT IT!

~*::Meow::*~

It's a Seattle-area local broadcast channel called Retro TV.

They have affiliates all over. Check their Affiliates section to see if there's one near you:
http://www.myretrotv.com/

I just did. It's a free over the airwaves channel in the area. Naturally, since I have cable, it hasn't come to me yet. Soooooooooon!

~*::Meow::*~

With the theme song kindly provided by none other than BOOTSY COLLINS.... Man, put this on and I'm staying PUT.

Between Fat Albert, the vinyl records of Cosby's stand-up routines (including the ones that led to the creation of the cartoon) that I played to death and still have, and his TV appearances on everything from The Electric Company to his own Cosby Show, the man was a gigantic part of my childhood and adolescence.

Was the animation itself groundbreaking art? No.
Was the content and structure? Absolutely.

"If you're not careful, you just might learn something" has been part of my vocabulary for nearly 40 years now.

I was rather inordinately content to be living around the corner from Cosby Ave when I had my dinky little offcampus apartment in Amherst MA, named for one of UMass's funniest alumni -- and not an honorary degree. He earned his doctorate in education there in the mid-70s; his dissertation included using Fat Albert as a teaching tool.

Na na na gonna have a good time....

I just learned something! I've always thought Bill Cosby was awesome, but now I'm even more impressed. I didn't know he earned a doctorate in education, but it makes sense. He's really been a great positive influence and I'm glad to have had the opportunity to experience his work. ^_^

He is an amazing man in so many respects. He still shows up at UMass-Amherst alumni events when he's in the mood to, it's awesome XD

Definitely one of my faves growing up!

Na na na gonna have a good time!!! Hey, hey, HEY!

LOVE this show!

~*::Meow::*~

As a kid, I loved this show. As an adult, I find it unbearably dull and preachy. So, YMMV.

I also remember Richard Pryor's attempt to copy it, with puppets. Didn't go so well. :-`

-The Gneech

You mean Pryor's Place? My dad wasn't too keen on it. He didn't think Richard Pryor should have been doing a kids show. I believe the words he used when explaining it to me were along the lines of "he's rude and crude and he uses lots of very bad language". I know I saw at least a little of Pryor's place, but I don't know that I watched even a whole episode. I was confused as to why they'd let someone like that do a show for us kids and I always leaned toward watching animation over live-action anyway.

Yeah, he was a very softened, kid-friendly Richard Pryor and... it just didn't work. He seemed, I dunno... lost?

-TG

Talk about being put out of his element. I may be misremembering but I don't think it was his concept; he was put up to it by execs looking to ride Cosby's trend... So very bizarre when people often see Pryor and Cosby as being the two far ends of the spectrum, but don't know Cosby was just as foulmouthed when he chose to be, until he decided to take his act in the other direction.

Loved his comedy, understanding the context it came from.

The COMPLETE series is due to be released on June 13 in a DVD set!!!!!!!!!!! You bet your sweet ass I'm after it...

Full and complete, from the 70s through the 80's?

Yep. 'S why the thing's the size of a cinderblock and over $100...

AMAZON PRE-ORDER LINK (http://www.amazon.com/Fat-Albert-And-Cosby-Kids/dp/B007RMQ56M/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1369318083&sr=8-1&keywords=fat+albert+and+the+cosby+kids+the+complete+series)

SHOUT! FACTORY LINK (http://www.shoutfactory.com/?q=node/174776)

"Shout! Factory has announced details for its complete collection for Bill Cosby’s educational comedy Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids on DVD. The release will collect all 110 episodes of the Filmation cartoon on a 15 disc set, including those episodes produced under the titles The New Fat Albert Show and The Adventures of Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids. For extras the collection will include still galleries and the one-hour documentary “Hey, Hey, Hey…It’s The Story of Fat Albert”, as well as three audio commentaries:

* “Gang Wars” – with Storyboard Artist Tom Tataranowicz
* “Have A Heart” – with Writer Robby London
* “Lying” – with Bill Cosby and Storyboard Artist Michael Swanigan. Hosted by Wally Wingert

Shout! Factory has scheduled the DVD collection for June 25th, 2013, selling for a MSRP Price of $119.99."

Yeouch. A bit pricey. I would guess there will be some good sales eventually, though.

Those Shout Factory DVD's rarely go down in price if I remember correctly... they know the audience that they're catering to :)

Yeah, suckers like me.... ¬_¬

XD

My SON now watches Fat Albert on netflix. Random guy in grocery had a Fat ALbert t-shirt and my son yelled out "MOM LOOK FAT ALBERT" and guy was so impressed my little one knew his favorite cartoon character. Adorable. Yeah, still a great cartoon!

Fat Albert is a paradox - I loved it growing up, which is why I sought out the episodes as an adult, which lead me to discover how great it is *now*, but wonder how I ever would have even watched it as a kid :/

1980 NOON on CBS: FAT ALBERT AND THE COSBY KIDS

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