Fat Albert

This article is about the animated children's television show. For other uses, see Fat Albert (disambiguation).

Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids
Left to right: Cluck (the gang's pet duck); Bill; Rudy; Dumb Donald {background}; Mushmouth {foreground}; Fat Albert; Bucky {Holding Fat Albert up}; Russell; Weird Harold
Also known as	The New Fat Albert Show The Adventures of Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids
Created by	Bill Cosby Ken Mundie
Directed by	Hal Sutherland
Voices of	Bill Cosby
Country of origin	United States
No. of episodes	109
Production
Executive producer(s)	Bill Cosby
Producer(s)	Norm Prescott Lou Scheimer
Production company(s)	Filmation
Distributor	Group W Productions (syndicated)
Broadcast
Original channel	CBS (1971-1984) First-Run Syndication (1984-1985)
Original run	Sept 9, 1972 – May 14, 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 the titular one. Filmation was the production company for the series. The show premiered in 1972 ^[1] and ran until 1985. The show, based on Bill Cosby’s remembrances of his childhood gang, focused on the lovable, oversized Albert, with his signature rumbling exclamation “Hey hey hey!”, and his friends.^[2]

Fat Albert primarily spoke to African-American youth in low-income families a segment of the population previously ignored by Saturday morning programming, but had an impact on children across the United States, regardless of race^[1]. The show always had an educational “lesson” emphasized by Cosby’s live cameos, and the gang always gathered in their North Philadelphia junkyard to play a rock song on their cobbled-together instruments. Cosby’s Kids had an upbeat attitude and were eager to learn, in spite of their apparent poverty.^[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 "T.V. Guide" magazine shortly before the showing of the special, and which contributed significantly to the special's large T.V. audience.

The producers wanted NBC to bring Fat Albert to Saturday mornings, but they refused because the series was too educational.^[5] Bill Cosby and a new production company, Filmation Associates, 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.

The series, now titled Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids, premiered on September 9, 1972 on CBS, and lasted for 12 years (however, it was not in continuous production). It also spent another season in first-run syndication in 1984-1985. Several prime-time holiday specials featuring the characters were also produced. Like most animated series 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 morning and the USA Network in 1989.

Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids received an Emmy nomination in 1974. Production 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 2002, Fat Albert was placed at number 12 on TV Guide's list of the 50 Greatest Cartoon Characters of All Time.

Characters

• Fat Albert — Voiced by Bill Cosby, based on his childhood friend Albert Robertson. The main character in the series, Fat Albert is the heart and soul — and often the conscience — of the Junkyard Gang; though he is depicted as being obese and unhealthy, he remains active through his love of sports, often taking part in different games along with the rest of the gang. Fat Albert works hard to maintain integrity in the gang and with others, and plays bagpipes/accordion (made from a radiator and an airbag) in the Junkyard Band.
• Mushmouth — Voiced by Bill Cosby. A chinless, linguistically-challenged simpleton who always spoke in virtual Ubbi Dubbi, tantamount to an overdose of novocaine in the mouth, according to Cosby's "Dentist" monologues. Mushmouth plays a homemade bass guitar in the Junkyard Band.
• Dumb Donald — Voiced by Lou Scheimer. A lanky but dimwitted fellow; he always wears a green long-sleeved jersey three sizes too big, and a pink stocking cap covering his entire face except his eyes and mouth. In the Junkyard Band, Dumb Donald plays a trombone made out of plumbers' pipe and a morning glory horn from an old Victrola.
• Bill — Voiced by Bill Cosby. A character based on Bill Cosby. Like the others, Bill is an all-around good athlete, but more often he spends his time trying, though not always successfully, to keep his little brother Russell out of trouble. In the Junkyard Band Bill plays homemade drums made from a discarded foot-pedal trash can using spoons for sticks.
• Russell — Voiced by Jan Crawford. Bill's little brother (named after Cosby's real-life brother, whom he often talked about in his monologues) and the smallest and youngest of the Junkyard Gang. He always wears a heavy jacket, boots and a Ushanka winter hat regardless of the weather. Russell is a frequent antagonist and has a penchant for telling things like they are, much to his older brother's consternation. Russell plays the xylophone in the Junkyard Band (made out of empty cans and a discarded coat rack).
• Weird Harold — Voiced by Gerald Edwards. A tall, skinny, beady-eyed kid who always wears a yellowish-brown dress blazer, a brown sock on one foot and a red sock on the other. Fat Albert's best friend, Harold is usually clumsy, except on the basketball court. In the Junkyard Band Weird Harold plays a harp made from bedsprings, and on occasion plays a "dressmaker dummy" in the percussion section. In the 2004 film, he is called "Old Weird Harold"; Cosby used this same name to refer to the character in the "9th Street Bridge" segment on his album Revenge, describing him thus: "Old Weird Harold - we called him that because he was 6'9", weighed 50 pounds. We used to use him to get the football out of the sewer."
• Rudy Davis — Voiced by Eric Suter. A sharply-dressed smooth-talker and huckster whose smart-alecky attitude is always getting him into trouble more often than out of it. But to his credit, Rudy has a good heart and often learns his lesson. His family is implied to be financially better-off than the others as he is the only Junkyard Band member with a real musical instrument, an electric guitar.
• Bucky — Voiced by Jan Crawford. As his name indicates, Bucky has a large overbite. Bucky plays a stovepipe organ in the Junkyard Band.

Recurring characters

• Mrs. Bryfogel  The kids' first teacher and mentor, a matronly black woman. In the "Brown Hornet" and "Legal Eagle" years, the kids went to a different school where their teacher and mentor was Miss Wucher, a blond Caucasian. (Interestingly enough, both characters were voiced by the same actress, Jay Scheimer, wife of executive producer Lou Scheimer)
• Mudfoot Brown — An old sage and unemployed vagrant who gives advice to the gang, often using reverse psychology to get his point across. (Also voiced by Bill Cosby.)
• The Brown Hornet — A Show-within-a-show about an African-American superhero (a parody of The Green Hornet), whose cartoons were watched regularly by the gang.
  • Stinger — The Brown Hornet's beefy sidekick whose gruff exterior masks a soft heart.
  • Computer (a.k.a. Tweeterbell)  — A female robot assistant to The Brown Hornet and Stinger.
• Legal Eagle — Another show-within-a-show, involving a crime-fighting cartoon bird and two lazy squirrel underlings.
• Margene — A white classmate and good friend of Fat Albert's. In one episode she and Albert ran for co-president of the Student Council and beat out two other candidates, both of whom were running on platforms of racism (one was black, the other Caucasian). A straight-A student, Margene occasionally got in with the wrong people but always managed to rebound; in another episode she got hooked on drugs, and yet another she got innocently involved in a violent white supremacy cult.
• Dennis — The skinny kid that followed all the bigger kids around.
• The Three River Blockbusters — The Junkyard Gang's main rival when it comes to competing in sports such as baseball and football. The Blockbusters stole the title of being champions in a competition called "buck buck".
• Pee Wee — A small boy who looks up to Fat Albert and the gang. Small in stature he may be, his best athletic skill is kicking a football at a long distance. When the bigger kids could not get anything out of a tight crevice, Pee Wee is there to retrieve it.

Educational lessons and songs

Fat Albert was honored and noted for its educational content. 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? Hey, hey, hey!"

During each episode, Fat Albert and his friends, collectively known as The Junkyard Gang, dealt with an issue or problem commonly faced by young children, ranging from stage fright, first loves ("puppy love"), medical operations, and skipping school to harder, more serious themes (though toned down somewhat for young children) including smoking, vandalism, stealing, racism, being scammed by con artists, child abuse, kidnapping, drug use, and even gun violence.

At the end of most episodes (there seem to have been 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.

Despite the reputation of educational children television series for being unpopular on commercial television, the series enjoyed one of the longest runs in the history of the Saturday morning cartoon timeslot.

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 a larger-than-life African-American crime fighter in outer space whose design resembled a caricature of Bill Cosby, who also performed vocal talents on the character. The way he talked seemed cut off in the middle of his sentences

In 1984, the show was syndicated and renamed The Adventures of Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids. In those episodes, the lack of network restrictions allowed the producer to delve into previous forbidden subject matter such as when the kids have an inadvertent brush with the law and are given a terrifying Scared Straight!-style tour of an occupied maximum security prison. Another new segment was added: "Legal Eagle", a crime-fighting eagle with a pair of bumbling police squirrels. The new episodes ended in 1985.

Theme song

The show’s theme song, titled "Fat Albert Theme", was written by Ricky Sheldon and Edward Fournier.

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.

Reception

Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids was named the 82nd best animated series by IGN.^[6]

Seasons and specials

• Hey, Hey, Hey, Here's Fat Albert — November 12, 1969
• Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids — 1972–73 (22 episodes), 1975–76 (14 episodes)
• The Fat Albert Halloween Special — October 24, 1977
• The Fat Albert Christmas Special — December 18, 1977
• The New Fat Albert Show — 1979–81 (23 episodes)
• The Fat Albert Easter Special — April 3, 1982
• The Adventures of Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids — 1984–85 (50 episodes)

(Total: 109 episodes + 4 specials)

In the Entertainment Rights listing, it states that "Series 1" (consisting of both Fat Albert and New Fat Albert) consists of 60 episodes. Therefore, there is one episode missing. It is unknown whether or not this "missing" episode refers to the one-off special from 1969. "Series 2" refers to the 80's syndicated episodes.

DVD releases

In 2004, Urban Works acquired the rights to Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids. They subsequently released several Fat Albert DVDs including all episodes of the original animated series in 3 volumes as well as all the Fat Albert specials around the time the movie version of the series was released. In addition Urban Works released a Greatest Hits 4-disc box set and a 5-best episodes set via Ventura Distribution. In 2008 Urban Works lost the distribution rights and as a result all of Urban Works' DVD releases are now out of print.

It was announced in 2008 that Genius Products had acquired the DVD rights to the Fat Albert series from Entertainment Rights and plans to release the entire series on DVD including re-releases of the content that Urban Works released. On August 26, 2008, Genius Products re-released The Fat Albert Halloween Special on DVD and on February 10, 2009 they plan on re-releasing The Fat Albert Easter Special. ^[7]

Original Animated Series (1972–73)

Specials

Urban Works originally released the Fat Albert Specials on DVD between March 2005 & October 2006. These are now out of print and the new rights holder Genius Products has begun re-releasing the shows on DVD.

Other

• Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids — Fat Albert's Greatest Hits: The Ultimate Collection 4 Disc Set: (released December 14, 2004)
• In 2009, Minisodes of several episodes of the show are available to view for free in the US on Sony owned Crackle.

Other media

• Gold Key Comics did a comic book adaptation of Fat Albert, which ran for 29 issues, from 1974–79.

• The Fat Albert film (starring Kenan Thompson) was based on the antics of Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids.

See also

• Little Bill

References

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 _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. ^ "82, Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids". IGN. 2009-01-23. http://tv.ign.com/top-100-animated-tv-series/82.html. Retrieved 2009-01-24. 
7. ^ Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids DVD news: New DVDs Planned for Classic Cartoon Series | TVShowsOnDVD.com

External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids

• Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids at the Internet Movie Database
• Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids at the Big Cartoon DataBase
• Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids at TV.com
• TV Party's Overview of the Series
• Toonopedia entry
• 80's Cartoon Central
• Opening Intro retrojunk
• Official Bill Cosby Site