When "Going Bananas" first aired in the fall of 1984, I was living in the New York City suburb of Saddle River, New Jersey (I was in my junior year of college at Fairleigh Dickinson University in Teaneck, New Jersey). I was lucky to have been in the right place at the right time since "Going Bananas" aired on NBC-owned WNBC-TV, Channel 4, in New York City.
"Going Bananas" was certainly funny (as well as inventive), especially the "Jungle Broadcasting System" sketches I alluded to in my plot summary above. Two other parts of that segment I remember was a takeoff on the "Little Rascals" called "The Mangy Li'l Rascals," with animals and voice-overs by actors doing kids' voices on one episode, and a takeoff on Irene Cara's then-recent hit "Breakdance," with a large white French poodle doing a Mexican hat dance and then some other dogs doing a conga line to that song, music-video style, on another episode a few weeks later (that video spoof took place in a soda shop; I do remember there was a sign above the counter that read, "Drink Pupsi Cola - The Paws That Refreshes"). I couldn't stop laughing when I first saw those!
Unfortunately, NBC aired "Going Bananas" during a time slot (12:00 P.M. - 12:30 P.M. Eastern time on Saturday afternoons) when some independently-owned affiliates across the country (blithely, capriciously, and cavalierly) blocked out the show and filled in that slot with their own locally-produced (e.g. those "Meet the Press" - style panel discussion shows dealing with local political issues that seems better suited for airing during the wee hours or early on Sunday mornings, when other shows of that genre usually air) or nationally syndicated programming (e.g. shows such as the now-defunct "America's Top 10," which would have been better for a time slot AFTER "Going Bananas"). If NBC had aired the show in an earlier time slot on Saturday mornings when everybody could have seen it, I'm sure the network would have run it for a full year instead of the initial 13 weeks, and other viewers would have agreed it was a riot! (When I moved back to Michigan in June 1986 after graduating from college, I told some friends of mine about "Going Bananas;" they all said something to the effect of, "What? Never heard of it." My suspicions were eventually confirmed: I recently discovered, via microfilm at a local library, the Detroit NBC affiliate and most mid-Michigan NBC affiliates refused to run the program, although the Flint NBC station tape-delayed "Going Bananas" and ran the show the following Saturday morning at 7:30 A.M.; an NBC affiliate in Grand Rapids - WOOD-TV, Channel 8 - DID air "Going Bananas" when the network did, so maybe there's a possibility some friends I knew in Lansing could have caught the show if they were able. The Toledo, Ohio NBC affiliate at that time (WTVG, Channel 13), although independently owned, didn't seem to have any problem adhering to the network's schedule since they aired it at 12:00 P.M. Saturday afternoons when NBC did, but most friends I asked couldn't receive that station (in 1995 WTVG was purchased by Disney/ABC and has since become an ABC affiliate; NBC in Toledo, Ohio is now on independently-owned WNWO-TV, Channel 24). They all agreed, though - after describing the above segments to them, my friends wished they also could have seen "Going Bananas!" Thank the Lord for network-owned TV stations....)
However, for anyone else who does remember "Going Bananas" and agrees with me, the show is on the list at TV Shows on DVD.com. So far it has only netted 17 votes; let's see if we can make that number more than 100 and let Warner Home Video - which now owns the DVD rights to all the Hanna-Barbera shows - know we'd like to see all 13 episodes of "Going Bananas" on DVD. It'd certainly bring back great memories of my college days, and all 13 episodes would easily make up a box set! (I highly doubt Warner Bros. Television will syndicate the reruns to local stations anytime soon, although someone I know told me that recently one of the Turner networks - either TBS or TNT - ran the "Jungle Broadcasting System" sketches of "Going Bananas" as short subjects between shows. If he's right, then I can only hope they'll be rerun again soon until if and when Warner ever decides to put "Going Bananas" on DVD!)
