The Barkleys | Andrew’s Funshine All-Star Superstar Supercade Saturday! ...Show 72

Be it ever so howl-ble,

there's no place like home

The Roman Holidays | Andrew’s Funshine All-Star Superstar Supercade Saturday! ...Show 72

Be It Ever So Humble,

There's No Place Like... Rome...

The Houndcats | Andrew’s Funshine All-Star Superstar Supercade Saturday! ...Show 72

Good day, readers. This is your chief.

At large is an average-height, barely-muscular man closely equipped with a ream of paper and vast creativity based on the real or fictional people, places, things and he either likes or dislikes. His name is “The Marauder”, and his game is wild, heavy personality-driven, shamely-written critiques and commentary of any piece of media he feels like.

Your mission: Read this review from of this short-lived Saturday Morning Cartoon centering around a skilled and focused team of bipedal anthropomorphic (two) feline and (three) canine spies traveling across the country and stopping villains from unleashing various types and portions of evil upon the country and the world with their A1 leadership, cunning maskery, futuristic gadgetry, hoss-style strength, okay timing and judgment and world-class, futuristic technology no one will ever see anywhere else, and stop him for making other poorly-timed and composed pieces. 

That is all. This parody will self-destruct in 5 sentences.

Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids | Andrew’s Funshine All-Star Superstar Supercade Saturday! ...Show '72

(This review will not discuss the… real life travails of its creator and star. We’re here to just take a look at the show itself. I hope you’re not disappointed.)

Hey. Hey, Hey! It's Fat-Ass Andrew! And I'm write an adequate and somewhat witty and milquetoast review for youuuu!

Kid Power | Andrew’s Funshine All-Star Superstar Supercade Saturday! ...Show 72

Welcome back to the show, everyone!

You’ve heard of the song “Ebony & Ivory”? Well, this next series takes the concept of “racial harmony and kindness” to another level. Oh and it’s 100,000x better.

Get ready to experience “Kid Power”!

Based on “Wee Pals”, the comic strip by Morrie Turner, this series centers on the young members of a club called Rainbow Power who face issues most kids face, and work together to solve and fix them in their own individual and collective ways.

Before we talk about the series itself, here’s a brief background about “Wee Pals”. Morrie Turner is a budding cartoonist, with a mentor in the one-and-only Charles Schultz (you know his main work). One day, after realizing that the comics industry is populated to the brim of characters that are white, Turner asked around why there aren’t any franchises that feature characters of color . After asking this question to Schultz, he suggested Turner create one of his own. Morrie took the suggestion to heart and get set on creating the first ever comic strip featuring non-white characters. And thus, his first attempt Dinky Fellas was born. But unfortunately, while it got published, it was for only one newspaper - the Chicago Defender. Turner was not deterred and refined his creation by adding more characters of other races and ethnicities leading up to the February 15, 1965 debut of Wee Gang. It’s start was rough and , as it was rejected by many newspapers for having black characters; only five agreed to distribute it. It was only after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. three years later that Wee Pals would grow as a comic strip with many more newspapers (dalies and weeklys) signing on to distribute, becoming a big hit and beloved read for kids everywhere, leading Rankin-Bass and ABC stepping in to produce and air (respectively) an animated television adaptation titled Kid Power.

Plots:

Now onto the series itself.

This series centers on the young members of Rainbow Club, a club that meets up each week to discuss whatever problem or issue one, some or all are facing. Along the way, they come across some issues; those issues . During that time, said member(s) then play out the(se) idea(s) with little to no success ideas thrown in to become the solution. But then they begin to realize that whatever weakness they had within themselves wasn’t a weakness after all, but a part of them that shows the best of them that shouldn’t be overlooked. 

The point of the series is to teach its young viewers that we are all the same, and - no matter what race you are - that being friends or at least people that care about and appreciate each other through our strengths and flaws makes for a much better world than one spun on hate, pain and destruction. Honestly, not only is it a great message to speak and live by in 1972, it's also still important and timely in 2022, before and beyond. 

Characters:

Nipper (Black) ()voiced by Charles Kennedy): He’s a sweet, precocious boy known for wearing an American Civil War kepi and his dog named General Lee (for some reason). He's based on Turner as a child.

Rocky (Native) (voiced by Jay Silverwheels Jr.): He’s a kind and respectful boy with strong pride in his heritage.

Ralph (white) (voiced by Jeff Thomas): He’s the bully and reckless. Honestly, there’s no reason why he’s a member of the Rainbow Club. Hell, the Wikipedia page of Wee Gang even says he's a bigot! But he does change a bit with each episode.

Jerry (Jewish) (voiced by Gary Shapiro): He’s the upbeat, loyal and most friendly member of the club with a very big heart

Connie (white) (voiced by April Winchell [daughter of Paul]): She’s a sweet and kind girl who’s bright and athletic.

Sybil (Black) (voiced by Michelle Johnson): Also sweet and kind, she’s also respectful and is close friends with Connie.

Oliver (white) (voiced by Greg Thomas): The Rainbow Club’s chubby and bookish leader

Diz (Black) (voiced by Donald Fullilove [whom also voiced Michael in The Jackson 5ive]): a chill, smooth-talking, shades-and-beret-wearing trumpet player (he’s based on trumpeter and jazz legend Dizzy Gillespie)

Randy (Black) (also voiced by Donald Fulilove): Oliver’s second-in-command with a (very) one-sided friendship with Ralph.

Wellington (also voiced by Gary Shapiro): a hip young boy who usually pals around with Diz

George (Asian of Chinese descent) (voiced by Carey Wong): A quiet boy with a vivid imagination who often speaks in Chinese parables (he’s also great friends with Nipper, Oliver and Jerry.

(There are more characters from the comic strip like Charlotte, Mikki, Trinh and Sally)

Voice Acting:

Despite their young age, I think the producers hired some very talented and charismatic kids to voice the members of the Rainbow Gang. And I’m very happy that the kids are of the same race and ethnicity as the characters they voiced and that are in the comic strip (or else it wouldn’t have been following Morrie Turner’s creation of and vision for his comic strip. And that it’d be racist and lazy of them to get white people to voice non-white characters).

Animation:

The series totally looks like the comic strip as it features that style of ink-and-paint. (Notice most of the characters’ eyes) The characters look very adorable (although the boys wouldn't like hearing that; and Ralph would clobber a young me if we ever crossed paths. Although he would get these fists too). The backgrounds also look clean, bright and amazing as well. 

Songs:
Each episode also features an original song tied to the plot and message composed and performed by The Curbstones. Each song features a -- that teaches young viewers on how `. While I like all the ones I’ve heard featured in the episodes I’ve seen, I can’t help but feel that these songs wouldn’t feel out of place in recording made specifically and exclusively for Sunday school or any of those religious tv shows for kids from back in the day like Joy Junction, Kids’ Club, Colby's Clubhouse and Circle Square (remember those? If you don’t… I really don’t blame you.) 

Laugh Track:

Yes, there is one, but it’s much more tolerable than one made for Hanna-Barbera. As mentioned in my reviews of The Osmonds and The New Jackson 5ive Show, the laugh track for Rankin Bass’s weekly animated series is much more nuanced and quieter and even features an applause track featured at the end of song segments. It’s just me but I love this; I despise laugh tracks because I know when to laugh at a joke if it’s funny, and they insult my intelligence every time I hear one; but if I want to watch an older cartoon with a laugh track (if my tolerance for one is high), I’d also want an applause track in one. Because if they’re trying to make an animated sitcom (some of them were actually written by sitcom writers [and I’ll reveal a couple examples later this season]), they have to take it all the way and feature one or else I’d tune out.

To be honest, I‘ve never heard of both the series and its source material until a few years ago. But if I lived in the 60s, I would’ve religiously read and loved Wee Gang - and by extension, I would’ve loved Kid Power if I lived back then, because it features characters that look like and represent me and my people; and (even with the with-it slang that was dated months after airing), they aren’t stereotyped . Because of Morrie Turner (who passed away in 2015; may he rest in power) and the vision he created for kids and adults to finally have a strong, solid, unforgettable representation of their and all races in America at a time where such was slim if not nonexistent (and this was after radio shows like Amos n’ Andy and Beulah -- of which the titular characters were voiced by white actors, and their tv counterparts -- which did have black actors portray the title characters but were still seen by many as playing black stereotypes). And thanks to Turner’s creation, more and more representation for African Americans and other races would grow -- although it would take until the 80s and 90s for it to become more and more and more desirable. I don’t see a series like this being made today -- probably because people won’t see the message as genuine or heartfelt to the cause or certain people wouldn’t 

As mentioned earlier, only four episodes (out of seventeen) are available to view on YouTube. So if you’d like to watch as much of the series as we’re lucky to have been given, please do so. Kid Power is a fantastic series with wonderful, loveable characters (and Ralph) and important, powerful lessons and messages teaching its young viewers about needed subjects including love, kindness, acceptance and friendships. Of course, it can’t hurt to have great jokes and kind original music to add to it all. Please check it out if you have a chance.

And that is my review of Kid Power.

I’ll be back next week when I travel back to 1914 and join a kickass group of furry spies traveling the country to stop villains foisting their fiendish plans on and swiping on the unsuspecting locals in their own goofy, wacky, crazy way known as The Houndcats.

I'm Andrew. See you next week.

Around the World in Eighty Days (1972 cartoon based loosely on the novel by Jules Verne) | Andrew’s Funshine All-Star Superstar Supercade Saturday! ...Show 72

"I MUST FIX THAT FOGG!"

"FIX TRICKS! FIX TRICKS!"

The Osmonds (1972 cartoon starring the band) [with The New Jackson 5ive Show] | Andrew’s Funshine All-Star Superstar Supercade Saturday! ...Show '72

 

"One Bad Apple don't spoil 

The whole bunch, girl/

Ohh, give it one more try;

Don't you give up on love"

Josie and the Pussycats in Outer Space | Andrew’s Funshine All-Star Superstar Supercade Saturday! ...Show 72

"Josie in Outer Space;

Pussycats are all in place..."

Remembering Betty White: TV Icon & Living Legend Passes Away at 99

Hello, everyone. As you all know (to the bitter heartbreak of us all), Betty White has passed away earlier today at the age of 99 - just 18 days shy of her 100th birthday. Personally, I'm shocked, stunned and saddened. She was one of my all-time favorites in the world of entertainment and her works are some of my all-time favorites in television history. 

Here is my history of watching the works of Betty White. 

Of course, like many kids of the time, I first watched her shine in her iconic Emmy-winning role of sweet-but-scatterbrained Rose Nylund on The Golden Girls during reruns of the equally-Emmy-winning series on Lifetime throughout the late 90s and early aughts. Since then, it changed networks (Hallmark Channel and TV Land among them), but I always watched because it was a damn near perfect sitcom, in part because of her charismatic, magnetic, vivacious and multilayered performance and her 1000-watt smile and disposition supported by an equally-talented cast (Bea Arthur, Rue McClanahan and Estelle Getty).

Throughout the years since, I would see her pop up on other sitcoms, talk shows, news programs and game shows - whether new or old. She was just as sweet, charming electric and funny as she was on The Golden Girls. Password (the original hosted by her late husband Allen Ludden), Match Game, To Tell the Truth, I've Got a Secret and Just Men! (of which she hosted and received a Daytime Emmy) are just some of the shows she's appeared on and excelled with her contestant partners and on her on own wits and skills.

Speaking of TV Land, her next sitcom -- Hot in Cleveland (on which she stars as offbeat and snarky but up-with-the-times caretaker Elka Ovstrosky) also became a fan favorite of mine, also in part because of her. Her performance as a half-bitter, half-caring, always drunken smart-ass was both hilarious and memorable and is unforgettable. Her hosting gig on Saturday Night Live is also iconic and unforgettable (and I bet the cast and former cast members who guested will also never forget it) and led to another well-deserved Emmy. And all it took was a successful campaign on Facebook after her surprisingly awesome appearance in a Snickers Super Bowl commercial.

She is also remembered for her roles on The Mary Tyler Moore Show as Sue Ann Nivens - a local cooking TV show host who is sweet and kind when the cameras are on, and salty, snarky and man-hungry when they're off; and Life with Elizabeth as Elizabeth - a housewife whose zany antics turn her marriage and home life upside down. On the latter, White co-created and produced on the series - the first woman actor in television history to do so, and receiving an Emmy nomination for her work. That is something that should be recognized as a major section of television history. 

Betty is also an avid animal rights activist, giving as much of her time to her fights to give our four-footed, furry friends as she does entertaining us on-screen. Her work with multiple organizations to give animals a better, sheltered and loving life has been documented throughout her life and career, and her efforts in such have been successful throughout the country, with many animal shelters opening up, animals being adopted and praise from magazines and millions for the love and care she's never stopped giving to the friends who needed it the most -- including several cats and dogs she's adopted over the years.

Over the years, I've had the privilege of watching the work of Betty White more and more with each series she starred in, and is always transfixed and amazed by her immense talents and endless charm.

She is one of the biggest, best, brightest, beautiful, brilliant and bombastic talents the world has ever seen. She will be missed, and her life and career will definitely live on for the rest of time and will stand the test of time. Thank you, Ms. White for all of your God-given talents, abilities and love. We are all forever grateful to have you as a vessel for the greatest pieces of American (and even worldwide) entertainment.