Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids

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Television series
German title Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids
Original title Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids
The New Fat Albert Show
The Adventures of Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids
Country of production United States
original language English
Year (s) 1972-1985
Production
company		 Filmation
Episodes 110 (+5) in 8 seasons ( list )
genre Children's series
Theme music Michael Gray - Gonna Have A Good Time (Fat Albert Theme)
Director Hal Sutherland
idea Bill Cosby , Ken Mundie
script Bill Danch , Jim Ryan
production Norm Prescott (1972-1984), Lou Scheimer
First broadcast September 9, 1972 on CBS
German-language
first broadcast		 November 13, 2001 on Junior
occupation

Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids ( Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids ) is an animated series that by comedian Bill Cosby has been developed and produced and by which he (in live action - frame narratives leads as host). He also lends his voice to a number of characters, including the eponymous Fat Albert. The series was produced by Filmation . It was first broadcast in 1972, and in 1985 it was discontinued. The show was based on Bill Cosby's memories of his own childhood. The main characters are the lovable and overweight Albert with his distinctive exclamation “Hey hey hey!” And his friends.

Fat Albert was primarily aimed at African American youth from low-income families, a target group previously largely ignored by the Saturday morning program. However, the show had an impact on children in the United States regardless of their race. In addition, the program contained educational elements, which were highlighted by the clips by Bill Cosby. The gang always meets in a junkyard in North Philadelphia and plays on their self-made instruments. The Cosby Kids were despite their poverty optimistic and willing to learn.

history

The character Fat Albert first appeared in Cosby's stand-up comedy format "Buck Buck", which appeared on the 1967 album Revenge . The stories were based on Cosby's accounts of his childhood in the central city of north Philadelphia. In 1969, Cosby and Ken Mundie brought Fat Albert to television with the animated primetime special Hey, Hey, Hey, It's Fat Albert .

The special that aired on NBC was a mix of live action and animation. The music was composed and played by jazz pianist Herbie Hancock in 1969 and was released on the album Fat Albert Rotunda with the Warner Music Group . For the animated part of the special it was necessary to develop an individual appearance for each character. For this, Ken Mundie relied on the animator Amby Paliwoda , who previously worked for Disney . Paliwoda not only designed the individual characters, but also produced a "group picture" that may have been used on the cover of TV Guide magazine shortly before the program was broadcast .

The producers asked NBC to air Fat Albert on Saturday morning, which program executives declined because the show was too instructive. Along with a new production company, Filmation Associates, Bill Cosby brought the show to CBS . The images of the characters of the Fat Albert Gang were created by Randy Hollar together with Disney animator Michelle McKinney under the direction of Ken Brown.

Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids first aired on September 9, 1972 on CBS. Production spanned twelve years, but was not continuous. Another season was initially released via Syndication (1984-85). In addition, three prime time holiday specials were produced for Halloween , Christmas and Easter . As with most Saturday morning cartoons of that time, there were at Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids laughter of adults from the laugh track , but accounted for in the final season. Reps were made Saturday mornings on NBC and 1989 on USA Network .

On January 15, 2013, Bill Cosby posted the following statement on Facebook : “I tell you, it is people at work who I believe will get Fat Albert going again. And it will be loved by all generations to come ”with the hint that the show may return in the future. However, there have been no new announcements since then.

characters

The Cosby Kids

  • Fat Albert (voice: Bill Cosby; vocals: Michael Gray) is based on Cosby's childhood friend Albert Robertson. He is the main character of the series and the conscience of the gang. Although he is overweight, he is athletic and enjoys doing sports. He always wears a red shirt and blue pants. Civic Fat Albert is wiser than usual for his age and is working to maintain the gang's integrity. He is the lead singer and plays bagpipes - accordion (made from a funnel, a cooler and a bag) and occasionally the bedspring.
  • James "Mushmouth" Mush (voice: Bill Cosby) is a simpleton with a narrow jaw and thick lips. He always wears a red knitted hat and a blue scarf. He also speaks in the game language Ubbi Dubbi , which sounds similar to an overdose of procaine , which Cosby takes up in his 1983 film Bill Cosby: Himself . In the band he plays a self-made bass guitar .
  • "Dumb" Donald Parker (voice: Lou Scheimer ) is lanky and moronic and Rudy's best friend. He always wears a green jersey that is three sizes too big and a pink hat that covers his face except for his eyes and mouth. In the band he plays a trombone made from a pipe and a horn made from a phonograph . In the film, he takes off his hat and discovers that he has a pretty face.
  • William "Bill" Cosby (voice: Bill Cosby) is based on Cosby himself and hosts the show. Like the others, he is a good athlete. He spends most of his time keeping his little brother Russell out of trouble - mostly without success. Like Fat Albert, he's more sensible, but sometimes a bit stubborn. In the band he plays a self-made drum kit from a trash can with a foot pedal and spoons as sticks.
  • Russell Cosby (voice: Jan Crawford) is Bill's younger brother (based on Bill Cosby's real brother) and the smallest and largest of the gang. He always wears a heavy blue jacket, a yellow scarf, red boots and regardless of the weather a dark blue ushanka . Russell often makes derogatory remarks and blunt observations, which his brother displeases. He often criticizes Rudy and picks up his harshest insults for her. His catchphrase is “no class.” In the band he plays a xylophone made from empty cans and a discarded wardrobe .
  • Weird Harold Simmons (voice: Gerald Edwards) is a tall, thin and clumsy child and always wears a gold blazer, a brown sock on one foot and a red sock on the other. In the band he plays a harp made of bed feathers and occasionally a "tailor's dummy" in the field of percussion . In the film it is called " Old Weird Harold".
  • Rudy Davis (voice: Eric Suter) is a fashionably dressed, cocky street vendor, whose know-it-all manner often gets him into trouble. He's Dumb Donald's best friend. Rudy's high spirits and his dismissive demeanor are often the cause of conflicts. However, he actually has a good heart and learns from his mistakes. In the band he plays an improvised banjo made from a broomstick and a spool of sewing thread. Outside the band, he plays an electric guitar (personalized with a capital "R"). He also always wears an orange flat cap , a pink vest, a pink turtleneck, purple jeans with flaps and boots. In the film, his personality is different and he is portrayed as a friendly gentleman who falls in love with the main female character Doris ( Kyla Pratt ).
  • Bucky Miller (voice: Jan Crawford) has, as his name suggests, a severe overbite . He's fast and athletic and plays a stovepipe organ .

Other

  • Miss Berry is the children's teacher. She is later replaced by Mrs. Breyfogle . In the later seasons, the children attend another school where they are taught by Miss Wucher . All three characters are originally spoken by Jay Scheimer, Lou Scheimer's wife.
  • Mudfoot Brown (voice: Bill Cosby) is a wise old man who is unemployed and homeless. He often gives advice to the gang and uses paradoxical intervention to convey his views. He's also a good storyteller. (In the film he only appears at the beginning and at the end, but is not mentioned by name; there he is spoken of by Earl Billings .)
  • Brown Hornet (voice: Bill Cosby) is the main character on a show about an African-American superhero that the children often watch. It's a parody of Green Hornet .
    • Stinger (voice: Lou Scheimer) is the beefy buddy of Brown Hornet. A gentle heart hides behind its rugged exterior.
    • Tweeterbell (voice: Erika Scheimer ) is the robot assistant to Brown Hornet and Stinger.
  • Cluck - A duck who accompanies the gang in the early episodes, but doesn't appear after the first season. (3 episodes)
  • Legal Eagle (voice: Lou Scheimer) is an eagle who appears in another cartoon series within the show and fights against criminals.
    • Moe and Gabby (voices: Jan Crawford & Gerald Edwards) are two lazy squirrels who work as police officers with Legal Eagle.
  • Margene (voice: Erika Scheimer) is a classmate and good friend of Fat Albert. In one episode, she competes with him for the student council, thus knocking out two racist candidates. She is a good student, but occasionally ends up with the wrong people, from which she always recovers. In one episode she becomes addicted to drugs, in another she finds herself innocent in a violent cult.
  • 3 River Blockbusters - The gang's opponents and competitors in sports such as baseball and American football . The blockbusters win the championship in the "Buck Buck" competition in the series "Moving". In the original, they get their votes from Gerald Edwards and Eric Suter, among others. In the film, the group is made up of other members and is led by the Crips spoken by Catero Colbert .
  • Pee Wee is a young boy who takes Fat Albert and the gang as a role model. Although he's small, he shoots long shots in football. When the big kids can't take something out of a little hiding place, Pee Wee takes over.

Other figures originally received their voices from Lou Scheimer, Erika Scheimer, Keith Allen, Lane Vaux, Pepe Brown, Dementra McHenry, Eric Suter and Gerald Edwards.

consequences

Educational content and songs

Fat Albert was known for its educational content and earned Bill Cosby an honorary doctorate. At the beginning of every broadcast he warns with humor:

“This is Bill Cosby comin 'at you with (lots of) 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! "

“This is Bill Cosby who comes to you with (lots of) music and fun and if you're not careful you can learn something before it's over.
So get ready, OK? (Fat Albert voice) Hey, hey, hey! "

- Bill Cosby

During each episode treat Fat Albert and his friends a problem or issue, often have to do with the children, such as stage fright , first love, surgery, or hygiene , but also more serious issues such as vandalism , theft , racism , rape, smoking, confidence trick , Sexually transmitted diseases , child abuse , kidnapping , drug use, gun violence and death.

At the end of the episodes (with a few exceptions on the serious subjects) the band sings a song on the subject. This sequence is similar to content on other shows such as The Archie Show and has often been parodied. During the time that Brown Hornet and Legal Eagle were shown, the songs were dropped.

The series was one of the longest running Saturday morning cartoons .

Changes and renaming

In 1979 the show was renamed The New Fat Albert Show and received the new section "The Brown Hornet" about a black crime fighter in space whose appearance resembles a cartoon by Bill Cosby, who also lends his voice to the character.

In 1984 the show was released via Syndication and renamed The Adventures of Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids . Since the regulations were less strict there, one could also deal with topics for older children. In one episode ("Busted"), the kids came into conflict with the law and received Scared Straight! a guided tour of a maximum security prison ; inmates even use words like "damn" and "bastard" (Cosby explained at the beginning of the episode that the words are used as part of the dialogue in the story to realistically portray prison life). In the episode "Gang Wars" a child is shot. The program was expanded to include the "Legal Eagle" section, in which an eagle and two clumsy squirrels fight crime. The 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 and sung by Michael Gray (vocals), Kim Carnes (background vocals) and Edward Fournier (background vocals).

A cover version of Dig appeared in 1995 on the tribute album Saturday Morning: Cartoons' Greatest Hits, produced by Ralph Sall for MCA Records . The chorus ("Na-na-na, gonna have a good time!") Was also used by Fatboy Slim in 1998 for his song Praise You .

reception

Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids was rated 82nd Best Animated Series by IGN .

Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids was nominated for an Emmy in 1974 . Last season production coincided with the start of production of Bill Cosby's sitcom The Bill Cosby Show , which first aired on NBC in the fall of 1984 .

In 1993, TV Guide magazine rated Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids as the best cartoon series of the 1970s in its 40 Years of Television issue .

In 2002, Fat Albert was ranked twelfth on TV Guide's list of the 50 Best Cartoon Characters of All Time.

publication

watch TV

As of 2013, Fat Albert was broadcast on Saturday mornings on Retro Television Network (RTV), TheCoolTV and on weekdays and weekends on Bounce TV . On weekdays the program could also be seen on the defunct Sky Angel channels Angel Two and Kids & Teens TV as well as on World Harvest Television . Fat Albert was also available from streaming service HallmarkSpiritClips.com.

In July 2015, Fat Albert was removed from the program on Bounce TV. The comedy show Cosby had previously been removed from the program due to the rape allegations against Bill Cosby, although it was unclear whether this was also the reason for the removal of Fat Albert . A few months after reruns of The Bill Cosby Show were reinstated in December 2016, Fat Albert was also broadcast again in March 2017 , but was taken off the program again in late April 2018.

In Germany, Fat Albert was only broadcast on the Junior channel. The first broadcast took place from November 13, 2001 to April 18, 2002, another episode was first broadcast on November 23, 2004. The 18th episode of the eighth season and the specials were not broadcast in Germany.

Home video

So far, Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids has not been published in German on VHS or on DVD, but in English the program has already been exploited several times for the home video market.

In the mid-1980s, Thorn EMI Video released multiple editions of Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids on VHS as part of their Children's Matinee series of animated programs , with three episodes per tape. Three more cassettes followed later at Video Treasures, including the three holiday specials.

In 2004 UrbanWorks Entertainment acquired the rights to the series and released Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids in two editions with a total of 24 episodes on DVD, including all specials and the film. The first edition included two DVDs with episodes 1 to 12 (first broadcast from September 9 to November 25, 1972) and a CD with the opening and closing titles and a song from each of the twelve episodes. Issue 2 includes episodes 13 to 24 on two DVDs (first broadcast December 2, 1972 to September 13, 1975) and one CD from each episode, one song and again the opening and closing title. In addition, a four DVD box with 20 uncut episodes and the “five best episodes” was released through Ventura Distribution .

In 2008 Classic Media acquired the rights and announced that it would publish the entire series on DVD. In fact, only The Fat Albert Halloween Special and The Fat Albert Easter Special were released through Genius Products.

On April 6, 2012, Shout! Factory announced to have acquired the rights (as a license from Classic Media) and to want to publish the entire series on a DVD box. The set was released on June 25, 2013.

On September 4, 2012, Classic Media again published the three holiday specials on the DVD The Hey Hey Hey Holiday Collection .

Adaptation

With Gold Key is a comic adaptation of appeared Fat Albert , which includes 29 issues, which were published from 1974 to 1979.

Movie

In 2004 , 20th Century Fox released a film version of the series called Fat Albert . The film was starring Kenan Thompson as Fat Albert, Kyla Pratt and Bill Cosby. In this sequel to the series, Fat Albert and the boys jump into the real world to help girl Doris (Kyla Pratt) overcome her social fears. The guys like it in the real world, however, Fat Albert is informed by its creator, Bill Cosby, that if they don't return to the television world immediately, they will crumble into celluloid dust.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b 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. ↑ a b CD liner notes: Saturday Morning: Cartoons' Greatest Hits, 1995 MCA Records
  3. ↑ Cosby's character in the TV series "Tennis Rackets and Cannons", Scottie, responds during an interrogation to the question about his name "Fat Albert!" ("The Trouble with Temple", Season 2, 1967)
  4. ^ Military.com: Transition Profiles - Bill Cosby . Retrieved November 20, 2008.
  5. ↑ Jazz Articles: Herbie Hancock: Energy in the Environment - By Jeff Tamarkin - Jazz Articles . Retrieved May 12, 2016.
  6. ^ Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids / Classic TV .
  7. ↑ George W. Woolery: Animated TV Specials: The Complete Directory to the First Twenty-Five Years, 1962–1987 . Scarecrow Press, 1989, ISBN 0-8108-2198-2 , pp. 142-145 (accessed March 27, 2020).
  8. ↑ Bill Cosby's Facebook page
  9. ^ A b Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids: Part Four .
  10. ↑ Fat Albert . December 25, 2004.
  11. ^ Fat Albert And The Cosby Kids - Fat Albert And The Cosby Kids .
  12. ↑ 82, Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids . IGN . January 23, 2009.
  13. ↑ TV Guide April 17-23, 1993, p. 75.
  14. ↑ TV Guide's 50 greatest cartoon characters of all time . July 30, 2002. Retrieved July 28, 2014.
  15. ↑ BET's Centric Network and Bounce TV have pulled Bill Cosby reruns .
  16. ↑ Episode Guide . In: fernsehserien.de. Retrieved May 15, 2020 .
  17. ↑ Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids - The Original Animated Series, Vol. 1 . March 8, 2005.
  18. ↑ Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids - Vol 2 . October 11, 2005.
  19. ^ Fat Albert's Easter Special . March 8, 2005.
  20. ↑ Fat Albert's Halloween Special . September 6, 2005.
  21. ↑ Fat Albert's Christmas Special . October 11, 2005.
  22. ↑ Fat Albert's Greatest Hits The Ultimate Collection . December 14, 2004.
  23. ^ Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids . December 14, 2004.
  24. ↑ Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids DVD news: New DVDs Planned for Classic Cartoon Series - TVShowsOnDVD.com . Archived from the original on February 1, 2008.
  25. ↑ Fat Albert's Halloween Special . July 1, 2012.
  26. ↑ FAT ALBERT EASTER SPECIAL, THE . July 1, 2012.
  27. ↑ Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids - Press Release Says ALL 3 Shows in Shout! 'S Set, WITH Bill Cosby's Help! . TVShowsonDVD.com. Archived from the original on April 15, 2012. Retrieved on April 11, 2012.
  28. ↑ Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids DVD news: Announcement for Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids - The Hey Hey Hey Holiday Collection - TVShowsOnDVD.com . Archived from the original on August 12, 2012.
  29. ↑ https://comicvine.gamespot.com/fat-albert/4050-29840/

Web links