Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids
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Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids was an animated television series conceived of, produced, and hosted (in live-action bookends) by comedian Bill Cosby, who also lent his voice to the title character, Fat Albert. Filmation was the production company for the series.
The series, based upon Cosby's stories about growing up in the inner city of Philadelphia, ran on CBS television from 1972 to 1984, and spent a few more months in first-run syndication in 1984.
In 1979, the show was re-titled The New Fat Albert Show and featured a new segment called The Brown Hornet, a send-up of superhero cartoons starring a larger-than-life African-American crime fighter in outer space.
In 1984, the show was syndicated and renamed The Adventures of Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids. It ended the same year.
Fat Albert first appeared in various stand-up comedy routines performed by Cosby in the 1960s, then in a 1969 one-shot prime-time television special.
Filmation produced the show, which was noted for its educational content. Furthermore, 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. A live-action movie based on the TV show was released on December 25, 2004. There are plans to release the whole series on DVD over the course of 2005.
Characters
- Fat Albert - Obese, kindly, somewhat naïve teenager. His catchphrase: "Hey Hey Hey"
- Mushmouth - Talked with an odd lisp, putting the syllable "be" at the end of each word
- Dumb Donald - Wore a pink stocking cap over part of his face.
- Bill - based on Cosby himself
- Mudfoot - Elderly proprietor of the junkyard where the group often hung out. He often conned the group out of their money.
- Rudy - Flamboyantly dressed smooth talker.
- Russell - Bill's laid back younger brother, always wearing a winter coat and hat. His catchphrase: "No class.", usually used to insult Rudy.
- Weird Harold - Serves as Mushmouth's translator, a tall skinny kid who always wears a shirt and jacket, clumsy except on the basketball court
- Bucky - A kid with buck teeth
- The Brown Hornet - Show-within-a-show about an African American superhero (a parody of The Green Hornet) whose cartoons were watched by the group
External links
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- Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids (http://www.tvtome.com/FatAlbertandtheCosbyKids) at TV Tome
- 80's Cartoon Central (http://www.80scartoons.net/toons/fatalbert.html)