Sunday, April 24, 2022

Bonus: Forgotten Cartoons Based on Prime Time Shows

Everyone remembers watching cartoons on Saturday while eating cereal in their pajamas. Since I didn't include any cartoon shows in my regular posts, I chose to post on some here. Specifically, cartoons that were based on prime-time TV shows. There are far too many to list in one post, so I will list a few that have stuck in my mind. More can be found in this link. Also, some prime-time series were made into animated specials (some can be found here).

Fonz and the Happy Days Gang: The gang from Happy Days (minus Potsie) went on time-traveling adventures, trying to get back to Milwaukee in 1957. Going them were Cupcake, a "future chick," and a dog, Mr. Cool. The intro, narrated by Wolfman Jack, is below:


Laverne and Shirley: The famous duo joined the army in this animated version of the hit series. Their immediate superior was Sgt. Squealy Pig, voiced by Ron Palillo (formerly of Welcome Back, Kotter):


The Fonz's and Laverne and Shirley's respective shows joined forces in 1982, welcoming another cartoon segment based on a hit show. Months after Mork and Mindy left the air, its characters were brought to animated Saturday morning TV:




And one that wasn't actually based on a series, but rather on the star of a popular prime-time show, The Gary Coleman Show. The cartoon was based on a made-for-TV movie starring the Diff'rent Strokes cast member, The Kid with the Broken Halo.  Coleman's character, Andy LeBeau, was dispatched to help a child in need and resolve his problem by his supervisor and fellow angel, Angelica. The antagonist in each episode was Hornswoggle, who tried to mess up Andy's plans. Andy's friends (who didn't know he's really an angel) included Tina and her brother Spence, Bartholomew and Lydia.



Another celebrity who was popular in the 1980s, Mr. T of The A-Team, also had a Saturday-morning cartoon based on him. 

3 comments:

  1. Oh gracious! I used to watch those shows all the time long, long time ago.

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  2. I don't think I knew these shows were made animated. Wow

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  3. I absolutely LOVED "Fonz and the Happy Days Gang" when I was a kid. Maybe it spurred my interest in time travel stories?

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